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sharkpupsblog · 2 years ago

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😳 Call Me Maybe 🤭

A Katja x GN! Reader fanfic! (With lyrics from a classic…. Call Me Maybe by Carly Ray Jepsen)

WOOOOOO!!!! A 3rd fic for this silly!!! 🗣🐴 and another song fic 😳😳😳 been very inspired by songs lately! I hope u guys enjoy!! :D and huge Ty to everyone who reads my silly little fanfics it means so much to me!!! Anyways 😳 enjoy! 😳🐴

I threw a wish in the well Don't ask me, I'll never tell

Katja recently got a new phone. She had never had a phone before she did not see a reason for spending money on one. Because she didn’t have a phone finding her was hard when she was away from the Dark Core HQ and Sands got tired of only having two dark riders to send on missions, so he got Katja a phone. Katja learnt how to use her phone thanks to Jay, Sabine and Chiyo teaching her all about the stupid thing. She got their numbers as well as the one to Sands office and she headed out for the day with her phone on 50%. She rode around the valley of the hidden dinosaur and Mortifa got spooked when she heard a notification from Katja’s phone “what was that?” the mare stopped walking turning her head to the noise and Katja pat her comforting her. “it’s a phone it’s a thing I can use to communicate with people” Katja watched as Mortifa’s ears perked up “communicate with people?” she asked and Katja answered “yes” she was dry with her reply. Mortifa then pawed at the snow below her “maybe…you can use it to communicate with the soul rider you have taken a liking to?”

I looked to you as it fell And now you're in my way

After Mortifa had made that suggestion Katja went beet red and told her mare to be quiet. The two continued their ride around the valley not saying anything more. But while Mortifa walked Katja thought about what her mare had said.

I trade my soul for a wish Pennies and dimes for a kiss

When Katja and Mortifa got back to the oil rig Katja led her mare back to her stall making sure the horse was alright before going to her room. Once in her room Katja sat on her bed hugging her knees to her chest her phone laying in front of her. Maybe…she should try and get your number? She blushed looking away from the phone she knew what asking for your number meant she saw it in the horrible romance movie channels that Sands would not let anyone switch. She could not ask you for it what if you responded in disgust? What if you chased her away? She could not deal with that. But you were nice…at least you seemed so since you were always helping people running all around Jorvik always helping. The worst you could do was say no so she told herself she would try and ask you tomorrow. Katja got up she put her phone to charge, and she changed into her pjs laying down she went to sleep dreaming about how she would ask you for your number tomorrow.

I wasn't looking for this But now you're in my way

In the morning Katja went to Moorland she stood at the lighthouse she was looking for you gathering the courage to ask you while she looked for you. She couldn’t go into the stables because Justin would recognize her and would most likely chase her away and she didn’t want more conflict for today, so she just stayed outside the stables waiting. She sat on the steps of the lighthouse watching little moving pictures she learnt were ‘gifs’ that Chiyo was sending her. After the fifth horse gif Chiyo sent her Katja got bored she looked up and she saw you she stood up and she took a deep breath in. she can do this! She walked forward and you rode down the trail randomly stopping she stopped too confused to why you stopped then she saw Alex and a red-haired girl riding behind you so she turned around and decided she could talk to you tomorrow plus her phone was on 20% it was about to die she should charge it.

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy But here's my number, so call me, maybe It's hard to look right at you, baby But here's my number, so call me, maybe

It was Tuesday now and Katja was back in Moorland sitting in the same spot this time with Mortifa the mare grazed while Katja waited occasionally looking at Mortifa so she wouldn’t wander off and get hurt. The mare walked to Katja following the sound of the notifications from her phone and the scent of vanilla and cinnamon. she laid down next to Katja the woman thought she was about to roll but Mortifa just wanted to lay too tired to roll and she had her tack on she spoke “have you seen them?” she knew of Katja’s plan. Katja groaned “no not yet” her brows furrowed she had been waiting for a while. Mortifa laid her head on Katja’s lap and Katja allowed it giving Mortifa a pat “I don’t think they’re here today we should leave.” Katja looked down at Mortifa when the mare let out a snort her ears going back “you can rest” she knew Mortifa was angry because she wanted to lay for a while. The mare closed her eyes and Katja stayed sitting not wanting to disturb Mortifa.

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy But here's my number, so call me, maybe

It was Wednesday and Katja was back at the lighthouse once again with Mortifa. The mare had no tack on today, so she was rolling enjoying the warm sun and the cold grass that froze under her. While Mortifa rolled Katja waited and Chiyo was sending her gifs again this time of ducks doing odd things like going down slides into pools of water. She moved out of the way when Mortifa stood up not wanting to bump into the mare and scare her. Mortifa turned her head sharply her ears high and her nose high in the air as well “they’re here” she said, and she lowered her head “go talk to them I will wait here for you.” Katja let out a shaky sigh she was nervous why was she so nervous? She was a powerful dark rider and witch she should fear nothing. When she saw you coming around the trail, she gathered courage and started walking but she was suddenly stopped by her phone ringing she took it out of the thigh pocket on her leggings and she answered the call. Sands wanted her in Hollow woods to stop soul riders from destroying a dark core machine she told him she would be there. She hung up putting her phone back in her pocket and she rubbed her temples annoyed she called for Mortifa she got on the mare, and she rode to hollow woods.

I beg and borrow and steal At first sight, and it's real I didn't know I would feel it But it's in my way

Maybe not being able to talk to you was a sign from Garnok? Maybe she should quit this and give up?

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy But here's my number, so call me, maybe

Mortifa felt Katja’s insecurity, and she spoke wanting to comfort her rider. “We can always try again tomorrow” the mare said, and she kept galloping “we’ve had a bit of bad luck, but we shouldn’t give up” Katja groaned telling Mortifa to be quiet. The mare listened and she continued running guided by Katja feeling bad about overstepping, but she stopped when Katja gave her two pats. Even though Katja was a bit rude Mortifa knew Katja cared about her and Mortifa cared for her too.

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy But here's my number, so call me, maybe

It was Friday now. Katja did not bother trying on Thursday and she was not trying today either she was in Fort Pinta on babysitting duty. She sat on a beach towel under the shade of a beach umbrella Mortifa laid next to her flicking imaginary flies away with her tail. The mare was half in the shade and half in the sun she liked the warmth but not enough to have it cover her whole body. The mare’s ears perked up as she heard Chiyo telling Katja to “watch this!” Mortifa then heard a splash, and she assumed the girl jumped in the water.

Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad I missed you so bad, I missed you so, so bad

Katja was standing by the water now a bucket in hand Chiyo was making her hold it. She held the bucket out for Chiyo when the girl came running up to her with seashells “what do you want these for?” Katja questioned Chiyo. The girl dumped the shells into the bucket “just to collect them!” she looked back at the water they were in the little beach area that was reserved from the rest of the beach it was safe there. “Why don’t you get in the water with me? You can help me look for shells!” Katja shook her head “if I touch the water, it will freeze you know this” Chiyo frowned remembering that Katja froze everything she touched she felt bad for her. The girl then came up with a joke “maybe we can bring a blow dryer next time and melt away all the ice” she looked up at Katja smiling at her and Katja rolled her eyes “you’re so annoying” even though she said that she smiled too she cared for Chiyo and saw her as a very annoying little sister. She watched as the girl ran back into the water.

Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad And you should know that I missed you so, so bad

Katja looked away for a second and when she looked back Chiyo was building a sandcastle with another girl her age. The girl had two pigtails and she wore a swimsuit with a tutu above it which Chiyo complimented. Katja was a bit uneasy, but she let Chiyo play with the girl Mortifa was up now standing by Katja she spoke “is her guardian with her?” Katja answered the mare “no she’s all alone we should find her guardian.” Mortifa lowered her head making it look like she was messing with the sand below her and not talking “maybe you should scold them too for losing her.” Katja walked to Chiyo and the girl she asked the girl where her guardian was, and the girl went wide eyed realizing she lost her babysitter. Chiyo was about to suggest finding the babysitter she opened her mouth but before she could speak, she was stopped by someone yelling “Madison!” Katja, Chiyo and the girl all looked up as you and your horse came running to find the girl. Madison smiled and looked to Chiyo and Katja “they’re right there!” she stood up waving and you ran to her not seeing who she was with yet. Chiyo stood up hiding behind Katja and Katja blushed should she ask for your number? Should she walk away to avoid conflict? What should she do?

It's hard to look right at you, baby But here's my number, so call me, maybe

You got to Madison checking her making sure she was alright, and you told her to never stray from you again your horse also checked her sniffing her making the girl laugh. You looked up going to thank the person who found Madison and you stopped when you saw white hair your smile fading then you fully looked up seeing Katja and from behind her peeked Chiyo “Katja? What are you doing here?” you felt threatened “did you do anything to Madison? I swear if yo-“ Madison interrupted you “she didn’t do anything! She found me and I played with my friend Chiyo!” she looked back at Katja and Chiyo waved from behind her. You quickly felt awful Katja was just here doing the same as you trying to have a normal day babysitting you frowned “I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have been so aggressive”. You watched as Chiyo felt safe and she walked from behind Katja asking Madison to play when she said yes, the two girls ran into the water to swim. Katja swallowed she was nervous, and she realized she had not said anything she had just been standing there she blushed again embarrassed “it’s fine” she quickly spoke “we’re leaving anyways you can have the beach” she turned to call Chiyo back, but you stopped her “wait! Please I seriously am sorry please stay let the girls play” Katja looked back to you unsure. You saw the look on her face, and you tried to be friendly so she would not feel threatened “maybe we can sit down and talk while we watch them?”

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy But here's my number, so call me, maybe Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad I missed you so bad, I missed you so, so bad

Katja accepted your offer and she stayed at the beach watching Chiyo play with Madison. You sat next to her on a beach towel your horse behind you eating with Mortifa from a huge fruit cup you bought them. You looked to Katja “is she your little sister?” Katja shook her head “she’s the fourth general” you went wide eyed in surprise “oh…she’s so young though?” Katja nodded and frowned “we know”. Katja decided to open up to you only telling you this because she knew that if you told anyone else, she said this they would never believe you “she’s just like us we didn’t ask to be dark riders but she’s years younger than us she’s just a child” Katja looked down at the sand “we take turns babysitting her we take her riding, to parks or here to the beach to swim” she looked to you expecting you to look disinterested but you were genuinely listening. Katja continued speaking “we want her to have somewhat of a normal childhood” she shrugged “It’s a bit stupid but-“ you interrupted her “no” she was shocked by your interruption but she let you talk “it’s not stupid at all it’s really sweet” you smiled at her and she felt butterflies “you’re a good big sister” you used a corner of your towel to cover your hand and you nudged her. Katja blushed looking away from you not saying anything she went back to watching Chiyo.

Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad And you should know that

The sun was setting now the beach was getting cold and the water was now cold and not very enjoyable to swim in. Chiyo and Madison were out of the water sharing a plate of fries with ketchup which your horse was also trying to eat but they pushed your horse away laughing whenever they tried to eat a fry. The girls had their towels on their shoulders to keep them warm while they ate their fries and tried to stop your horse from eating them. When they finished the last fries Katja told Chiyo it was time to go the girl stood up walking over to Katja and Mortifa. Chiyo waved sadly at Madison and Madison waved back with the same emotion she was upset that her friend was leaving too. You noticed the looks and you smiled walking over to Katja “do you think Chiyo might be available for a playdate next week? I am babysitting Madison again next Friday and Chiyo seemed to have a lot of fun so…” as soon as Chiyo heard that she looked up at Katja “please!” she begged putting her hands together “please Katja!” The woman looked down at Chiyo and she huffed when Mortifa gently nudged her to convince her to arrange a playdate for Chiyo. “What time?” Katja looked up at you and you got your phone out of your pocket “how about I give you, my number? That way we can plan it and call if one of us has to cancel”. Katja was freaking out on the inside but managed to remain calm on the outside Mortifa nudged Katja again excited for her rider and Katja got her phone from her pocket too the two of you exchanged numbers and once that was done you said your goodbyes and went on your separate ways. Katja walked down the trail to Moorland with Mortifa and Chiyo she led the mare down the trail. Chiyo was on Mortifa’s back the girl was asleep, and she was covered by towels to keep her safe. Mortifa neighed happily “you did it!” she cheered for Katja “I knew you could!” Katja rolled her eyes and she told Mortifa to be quiet she then gave the horse two pats and Mortifa let out a happy neigh walking side by side with her rider.

❤️ So call me maybe 🤭

AHHH TYSM FOR READING HAHAHA HOPE U ENJOYED :D ❤️🐴🐴🐎🐎❤️

#ssoblr #sso #star stable online #katjassoxreaderfanfic #katjassofanfic #sharkpupsblogwrites!‼️🗣#lookingforssomoots💔

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dearkusuo · 4 years ago

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Unchanging

Synopsis: He was content with the simplicities life had to offer, while you sought out the world.

Pairing: Saiki Kusuo x artist!reader

Genre: Fluff, Slight Angst

Word Count: 3.6k

You first heard of him back in your second year of high school. There was nothing about Saiki Kusuo that stood out to you, but your good friend, Yumehara Chiyo, thought otherwise.

“Don’t you think Saiki looks like a prince? He’s so dreamy that I can’t keep my eyes off of him. He’s so cool and mysterious,” your friend blabbered. If by cool and mysterious, she meant cold and aloof, then you completely agreed.

Even the popular pretty girl, Teruhashi Kokomi, seemed enraptured by him, despite Saiki’s unwillingness to shower her any attention like every guy in school. She never told you about her crush on him, but it was obvious through her body language alone that she was smitten by the pink-haired boy.

You didn’t understand their fleeting infatuation for someone they hardly knew - never experienced the feeling of falling hard for someone from the depths of your soul that they were the only person you could think about. And you were perfectly content with that. You had bigger dreams to achieve than a small high school romance that wasn’t guaranteed to last long anyway.

The Okinawa school trip was an outing that all the second years in PK Academy were looking forward to, you included. Although you had a feeling that your friends, Chiyo and Kokomi, had different intentions for tagging along.

They must have been so elated that the three of you ended up in the same group with the boy they liked.

You carried on disregarding Kokomi and Chiyo’s painfully obvious antics to spend time with their beloved prince charming until later that evening when you decided to take a walk outside the hotel alone. You convinced yourself that a late-night stroll would be an enjoyable pastime, but really, you wanted to get away from the love-struck fantasies of your two friends who were oblivious of the fact that they were both pursuing the same boy.

You don’t know how long you’ve been wandering around, but by the time you returned, the hotel had disappeared from your sight. Two recognizable figures stood by a large hole torn on the ground. A battered ship had risen from the gap where the building used to be.

Toritsuka Reita from Class 2-2 stood next to your pink-haired group member while Saiki had a hand directed at the ship, indicating that he was the one causing it to float midair. Your jaw dropped in disbelief at the sight before you.

Saiki turned his head in your direction as if he knew you were there all along. He kept his usual blank composure, although you could recognize the wary look in his eyes as he stared at you. Toritsuka panicked upon the realization that you were there to witness the whole scene.

You didn’t know how you should've reacted when the two boys told you of their psychic powers.

“I won’t tell a soul,” you promised.

‘I know,’ Saiki’s voice echoed into your mind.

The rest of the trip went by smoothly after that incident. Kokomi subsequently spoke out about the crush she had on Saiki, and Chiyo announced that she had fallen for Kaidou Shun.

You shook your head in wonder at the orange-haired girl. It was astonishing how quickly she was able to abandon her feelings for one boy and move on to someone else so quickly.

You realized that love was brief and ever-changing like the ticking seconds on a clock. There was no point in wasting time on such a fickle emotion when the only thing you would devote yourself to were your ambitions for the future.

Nevertheless, a subconscious bond had been formed between you and Saiki after you learned his secret.

You shared a glance with the psychic from afar as Kokomi relayed to you the dream she had of the boy she liked.

He was kinder and a lot less indifferent than you originally thought. Saiki wouldn’t admit it, but you would notice the subtle acts he performed to help out a troubled stranger and the small deeds he initiated to prevent harm from coming across the people around him.

You finally acknowledged Saiki as a friend after he deliberately shared his umbrella with you during a particularly rainy day.

‘Good grief. I was feeling generous today, so this is nothing. Just make sure to come to school prepared next time,’ he had told you after you first rejected his help in worry of troubling him.

You found out much later that he could have stopped the rain with his abilities.

The empty café was tranquil save for the scratching of your pencil as you scribbled on your sketchbook. Saiki sat across from you, paying you no attention just as you did to him. His usual stoic expression was abandoned as he blissfully devoured his coffee jelly.

“I have a dream. After high school, I’ll travel around the world for a bit. I’ll join a bunch of art competitions and win a bunch of awards. Then eventually, I’ll go to an art school in New York so I can major in Illustration. And maybe I might even make a best-seller manga one day,” you mused.

‘Isn’t it a little too early for us to think about the future?’ Saiki retorted.

“Maybe. But I’ve had this dream for as long as I can remember.”

Art class was the subject you looked forward to the most in school. Not only because you excelled in many art mediums, but also because you took pride in the techniques you honed over the years of endless practice.

For the day’s lesson, you were to pair up with one person in the class and draw each other’s portraits. You casually looked around the room in search of anyone available.

From the corner of your eye, you noticed Kokomi rushing up to Saiki with an excited smile as she called out, “Saiki, do you want to-” a majority of the boys in class crowded around her before she could say her piece. Saiki walked up to you instead, asking if you wanted to pair up with him.

You glanced briefly at Kokomi, feeling a tad bit guilty for stealing her choice of partner while she was being surrounded by her group of fans hoping that she would choose one of them. But you couldn’t bring yourself to reject the pink-haired boy’s request.

Taking a seat from across each other, you adjusted your easel so you could get a better view of Saiki’s face. Despite the red tint dusting your cheeks from the intimacy of his peering gaze, you couldn’t bring yourself to look away from him. You perceived for the first time that Saiki was actually quite good looking.

You looked down at your page so you could sketch his appearance: the antennae on his head, his green glasses, soft pink hair, slender neck, smooth lips, chiselled face, sharp eyes. You looked up to take a quick peek at him again.

The constant blinking on his impassive face made your eyes widen in amusement and you frantically placed a hand over your mouth to prevent a snort from escaping.

‘Why are you laughing?’

“Because you’re blinking so much that it looks ridiculous,” you explained with a chuckle.

‘I have to keep on blinking so my x-ray vision resets. I’m trying to get a look at your face.’

You let out another coy giggle despite the heat rushing to the tips of your ears. He looked down at his paper to continue his piece with a warm smile barely present on his face.

You concentrated on your own illustration, marking down his affectionate expression before Saiki could return to his blank face, and showing it off as soon as you finished.

‘Not bad. Now take a look at mine.’

He flipped his paper over, exhibiting an intricate and beautiful portrait. The focused expression he depicted on your face while you drew him looked so alluring. You almost didn’t recognize it as your own, even though it was practically a mirror image.

"This looks way too realistic for someone who's trying not to stand out."

'It should be fine if it's you.'

You didn't understand what he meant, but his words caused butterflies to flutter in your stomach.

‘I need your help,’ A familiar voice spoke in your mind.

You jumped in surprise at the unexpected appearance of the pink-haired boy you had grown fond of. Your sketchbook flew out of your lap, falling right at your feet.

“How did you know I was here?” You asked with a huff.

‘In case you forgot, I can hear your thoughts. I know that sometimes you like to come here to the school rooftop during lunch.’

“Oh,” you uttered. “Well, since you came all this way to see me, what can I do for you?” You raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

'I need you to help me reject Teruhashi.'

You pursed your lips in uncertainty.

"Kokomi is my friend, and as her friend, you can't expect me to hurt her feelings."

'As my friend, you can't expect me to lead her on when I don't ever intend on returning her feelings. She'll get hurt either way. All I'm asking is for you to help me avoid her so she'll get over me.’

You knew he was right, but you were still unsure of meddling in a situation you weren't a part of, especially when it involved the feelings of your close friend. You looked out the window in contemplation.

“Why are you asking me? Mikoto would be a better choice.”

‘I trust you more, so it has to be you.’

You ignored the churning in your stomach as you casually threw your hands up, giving in to his request.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

‘Thank you.’

Saiki bent down on one knee, reaching out to grab your fallen sketchbook.

“I can pick that up myself, you know, or you if you wanted to help me that badly, you could’ve done that levitation thing you always do.”

‘I know.’

He held the book out, watching you through his glasses while he knelt by your feet. A saying Chiyo once told you a long time ago reverberated at the back of your mind: “Don’t you think Saiki looks like a prince?”

You gripped the sketchbook in his hand. Saiki’s gaze burned on your orbs as your image reflected off his green lenses. Neither one of you let go, even when your fingertips brushed against one another.

“What colour are your eyes?” You wondered.

‘Violet.’

“Major in Economics at Sayftee University and major in Literature at both Komman University and Ahvraj University,” you read out Saiki's school survey. “These are all surprisingly in character for you, but do you really have no dreams beyond living an ordinary life?”

‘I’m too busy thinking of ways to stop the volcano eruption to worry about my future.’

“You have a point there. Any luck with that?” you inquired.

Saiki shook his head.

“I guess that means we’ll be second years again.”

You didn’t keep track of how long time had been looping, and you found that you didn’t really care since you were already accustomed to the familiarity of your seemingly endless high school life. You were happy, even if it meant that the dreams you’ve been chasing for so long were slipping farther away from your grasp with every day that passed.

‘No, it’s about time I put an end to this.’

Saiki’s determined expression was embedded in your mind.

Your screams of disbelief were muffled by the pillow you held against your face.

You had vowed to yourself since you were young that you wouldn’t grow attached to anyone. After all these years, you had to go back on your word just when you were about to leave.

Now was not the time. Not here. Not with him.

Kokomi and Chiyo took it upon themselves to pay you a visit after you skipped school for five days without notice. The dark circles under your eyes and your sunken face visibly worried them.

“I’m in love with Saiki,” you murmured, gazing sullenly at your blue-haired friend. “I’m sorry.”

Kokomi’s face fell, but she showed no signs of surprise.

“I already knew that. It was obvious with the way you always look at him,” she lamented. Kokomi cupped your balled fists in her hands and looked at you wistfully. “He rejected me a few days ago, so you don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings. I think you two would look good together.”

You felt tears threatening to spill over your eyes. Whether it was from relief that Kokomi accepted you so easily or pain from your unfortunate situation, you didn’t know.

“I’m leaving Japan after we graduate,” you disclosed.

A dejected silence fell upon you three until Chiyo spoke up, “For how long?”

“An indefinite amount of time.”

“Are you ever coming back?”

“I don’t know.”

Their glum faces only worsened your mood.

“Why have you been avoiding me?”

You tensed at the accusing tone directed at you. Saiki’s piercing gaze was pointed at your shrinking figure.

No matter how much time had passed since the loss of his abilities, you doubted that you would ever get used to the sound of his voice resonating out loud, or the enchanting shade of his eyes, even if they looked dangerously menacing at the moment.

“I wasn’t avoiding you. I was just busy studying for exams and doing other stuff,” you explained weakly.

Saiki’s deadpan expression indicated that he didn’t believe your lie.

After a few minutes of squirming underneath his scrutinizing gaze, you gave in and told him your worries, “I’m leaving the country soon. I think we should stop talking to each other so that it won’t be so hard for us to say goodbye.”

You pushed past him. You didn’t know where your feet planned on dragging you, but you figured anywhere was fine so long as you could get away from him.

The familiar warmth of Saiki’s hand wrapped around your own, stopping you from taking another step away. You didn’t dare turn around as you felt your heart thumping wildly.

“I won’t ever ask this of anyone else, so I’m begging you not to push me away,” he pleaded. He placed your hand over his chest, giving away the heavy pulsing of his heartbeat.

You could never say no to him.

Memories of the last few years ran through your mind as you smiled at the nostalgia. You took one final glance at your high school building before turning your back on it, striding towards the exit.

You stopped at the sight of a familiar figure standing under the shade of a cherry blossom tree. Saiki must have known that you were staying much later after the graduation ceremony, all thanks to his restored powers.

‘Good grief. Were you really planning on leaving without saying goodbye?’ His voice resounded in your head.

You didn’t respond as you watched the wind blow through his hair, the sun illuminating the affectionate smile on his face, the violet obscured by his green glasses, and the petals dancing around the two of you as they fell to the ground. The timing was right. The mood was right. Everything was right.

He rubbed the back of your hand while you reached out to intertwine your fingers with his. The warmth that radiated off his skin felt like home.

He knew, and you knew that he did. After all, you could never hide your secrets from a psychic, no matter how hard you tried. However, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him how you felt.

“Goodbye,” you pulled away from Saiki.

What was the point of confessing your feelings to someone you would never see again?

Paris, France was one of your destinations out of many. Most people romanticized the capital as the City of Love, but the only reason you were even there in the first place was to visit the Louvre, the world’s largest art museum.

Influenced by the art and the romantic ambience, you sketched out the scenery around you, deliberating how you could embody the city on paper. If you were to draw a picture of love, what would you envision?

Maybe, it would look like pink locks tousled by the spring breeze, or the reflection of your eyes searching for violet orbs through tinted green glass. It might have been the lingering warmth on the fingertips of someone who trusted you enough to share their deepest secret, or the gentle smile that was reserved only for you during the most intimate of moments.

Your love was constant and unchanging. You realized that now. No matter how much time had passed or how many countries you visited, you always found yourself thinking about home.

Ever since you were a young student in junior high, you had hated the thought of giving up on your dreams to pursue a flighty, insignificant relationship. Six years ago, you threw away your chance at love to focus on your aspirations. There was no point in thinking back on what might have been. You shouldn’t have.

You made a name for yourself through the many art competitions you joined, winning a few awards here and there. A while back, you finished your Bachelor's Degree in Illustration at a famous art school in New York. Things were coming together quite nicely.

Your high school days almost seemed like a lifetime ago. The memories that used to be the center of your universe, the laughter you shared with your friends, and a not so ordinary boy with psychic powers were at the back of your mind. Everyday life without the only person you've ever loved became the norm for you.

You recently got a job offer from a famous publishing company in Japan after you posted a short comic that blew up in popularity. The editor in chief sealed the deal with you after you sent him a promising draft for a manga you had planned out.

It had been years since you’ve been to the country, but your return and the nostalgic surroundings brought back old recollections that made you feel like you were a teenager again.

The chief took it upon himself to give you a tour around the company, showing you the work environment and the employees. He guided you through the different floor levels, offices and workrooms, and acquainted you with the higher-ups. But he had yet to introduce the editor you would be working with.

"There he is."

The chief led you towards the figure of a man who had his back turned to you. The pink tuft of hair on his head and the silly-looking antennae shaped into joysticks poking out of his scalp were noticeably familiar. But you couldn’t believe it.

He turned around, green-tinted eyes boring into yours with the same neutral expression you used to see every day. Even when you had anticipated who it was, you couldn’t help the breathless gasp that escaped your lips.

"This is Saiki Kusuo. He will be the editor in charge of overseeing your work,” the chief introduced to you.

You took the hand Saiki held out for you, shaking it courteously. His blank expression didn’t fade, but his eyes softened under your gaze. The warmth on his grip was just as comforting as you remembered, like the welcoming embrace for a loved one returning home.

Neither one of you let go.

"Well, since it's already after work hours, you guys should grab dinner and get to know each other. You'll be working closely for a while, after all," the chief suggested before leaving you and Saiki alone.

A hushed silence washed over both of you as the world disappeared before your sight. The image of a cherry blossom tree on a sunny spring day was evoked in your mind.

He sat next to you in a secluded booth of the café you used to frequent, away from prying eyes.

"What happened to majoring in Economics and Literature?" you asked.

Your body was angled in his direction while you engaged him in conversation. Despite the many years apart, you and Saiki had fallen back to the easygoing relationship you once shared.

'I finally had time to think about my future, and I realized that this is what I wanted.'

“You wanted to be a manga editor like your dad?” you prompted.

‘Not quite.’

Saiki was composed as usual as he turned to face you.

'I have a dream. After you accomplished your goals, we would find each other again and spend the rest of our lives together. And maybe we might even make a best-seller manga one day,’ he mused.

Your heart was beating rapidly in your chest. The words you couldn’t bring yourself to say on the day of your graduation poured out unthinkingly from your throat.

“I love you.”

He placed a hand on the back of your neck, closing the distance between you.

‘I know.’

Your lips crashed into his, moulding perfectly as they moved against one another. You gripped his shoulders, pulling him in as he snuck an arm around your waist. Your eyelids fluttered shut, relishing in the sweet sensation of his taste.

You only pulled away minutes after to catch your breath. His forehead leaned against yours, the tip of your noses barely skimming each other. The look of adoration in his eyes revealed that he felt the same way.

No matter how long he waited, your love for each other was unchanging.

#saiki x reader #saiki k x reader #saiki kusuo x reader #saiki #saiki k #saiki kusuo #the disaster of psi kusuo saiki #saiki kusuo no ψ nan #the disastrous life of saiki k.#saiki no psi nan

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hobbitsnapes · 4 years ago

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Aizawas nurse part 1

A short Shouta Aizawa story.

What close to a decades worth of love between two quiet UA staff can do, when finally presented time to confess to what they’ve felt all these years. And what blooming love can grow, just by small glances and nibble touches. (I suck at summaries)

“Thanks recovery girl.” Izuku chirped, looking down at his now completely healed finger. It still amazed him, how she’s able to heal any and all wounds just with a simple smooch.

Drowsiness took over him, which made it difficult to notice the woman from across the room.

His head whipped to the door, hearing the sounds of footsteps approaching before seeing, Ochako? And Aizawa?

It finally hit the young boy when he saw just how ill she looked, nearly falling if it wasn’t for their teacher who was caring most of her weight. “Hey, Uraraka is still feeling ill so I thought I’d bring her down here to get checked up.” He says, voice the same monotone level that it always is. Face looking tired and drained as it usually does.

“Bring her on over here.”

Izukus head again whips around to the other side of the room, heart stammering in his chest before he looked at her.

He hadn’t even noticed her, not once did he think there’s be another person in the room.

She wore the same lab coat as recovery girl, only difference was the light blue dress underneath.

The only thing that made her stand out was her hair, the strands standing out against her rather plain attire.

Icy white hair pulled up into a messy bun with some pieces falling out lay atop her head, the shine from the sun giving them almost the same aura as shotos ice.

Her eyes, a bright, icy blue, that stand out against her skin. Only thing is, her eyes trained not on him.

He watched as both their eyes train on one another, soft smiles on both their faces as neither breaks their connection. It’s as if they’re in a trance caused by both of them, neither wanting to break that bond as aizawa walks the young mans sick friend over to her. Not once did their smiles leave their faces.

Izuku sat quietly in all mights office, patiently waiting for his mentor to finish making both a cup of tea.

Both sat and discussed the young mans training, and subsequent failing of controlling his newly acquired quirk.

They soon got to the discussion of the young boys home room teacher.

“Hey Uh, all might. I’ve got a question?” He asks, finishing the last sip of his tea. “What is it?” Toshinori asks, looking at the young boy. “There was, another nurse in the room when I went today. I’ve never noticed her, and, her and Mr. Aizawa, they, had this look-“ Toshinori let out a deep laugh, coughing up a bit of blood due to the chuckles leaving his body. “So you saw it too.” Toshinori says, voice laced with laughter. Izuku looked at him in question. “Alright, let me fill you in kid. Now I don’t know a whole lot, being that this is my first year teaching. But, they’re a very well known duo around here.” “Are they together?” Izuku asks. “No but they might as well be. They both started working here around the same time. Her quirk, is similar to recovery girls. But, rather than your body using energy to heal you and making you tired, it’s the opposite for her. From what I’ve been told, they’ve always shared that look. It’s like they’re the only people in the room, it’s like they’re in a trance. They do it every time they see one another.” “Do you think they’ll ever become a couple?” Toshinori lets out a sigh at the question. “They’ve been this way for close to a decade. Everyone hopes that this year they’ll finally admit their feelings but it’s never happened. Both are extremely quiet, and don’t see one another like us teachers see one another. So to be completely honest, I don’t know.”

Tears stream from her eyes as her heart pains in pure agony, throat tight and burning as she grazes her hand over his face, well, what she could touch of that is.

The USJ had been attacked the day prior, villains of all kinds gathered to from what she heard, kill Toshinori. Or as they know him as, all might. But both the kids sadly were involved. Never had she felt so helpless as she tried helping as many of the traumatized children as she could. That was, until he was brought in.

“Shōta!” She yells out, heart throbbing in pain as she runs to the door. Grabbing a hold of him as gently as she can, she carries him over to one of the beds. He lay unconscious, body badly disfigured, bloody, severely beaten with blood pooling from every cut that littered his body.

Even with the help of recovery girl, they weren’t able to heal him beyond keeping him alive. Nearly losing him multiple times, making her heart burn in deep searing pain as she tries with all her might to wheeled any and all energy she had left to heal him.

A whimper leaves her bitten lips as she pulls his shirt up from his torso.

Deep gashes and bruises litter his pale torso, making tears fall from her eyes as she looks. Never, had she felt a deeper pain in her heart and soul than to see him nearly on the brink of death. But never had she been so proud, proud to know he did this for his students. He could’ve given up, let the villains kill every single one of them. But he didn’t, he let them beat and torture him for so long, just to protect those kids. And now it was her turn, to help the injured man who nearly sacrificed his life, just for his students.

Taking in a deep breath, that catches at the end due to the still falling tears, she reached her hand down. Her hands lay atop his chest, taking in a deep breath as she closes her eyes. Putting all focus to reach out past just his chest, to every inch she can manage.

All her focus was on him, pulling every ounce of her energy to healing his wounds. Not once did she think about the consequences of using up all her energy on him. Not once did she care. As his recovery was more important than her health.

Her chest burns in pain as each breath grows harder to manage, feeling light headed as she pulls as much of her energy into her hand and to his body.

Her entire face grows hot as she forces herself to push even harder, even with how badly she wants to fall to the ground in complete exhaustion, she refuses to give up until she physically can’t no more.

That moment came to fast for her to comprehend, one moment, she felt the energy surge through her to its last moment, to feeling herself shut off, falling back into the cold hard floor.

That never came though, as she felt arms wrapped around her just as she was about to plummet to the ground.

“Hey hey hey! Stop! You’re overworking yourself Y/N!” Toshinori exclaimed, nearly falling over himself due to his weak body. He was glad he had walked in when he had, seeing her falling unconscious right before he caught her.

“But I need to help him Toshinori! I can’t just watch him lay here in pain WHEN MY ENTIRE QUIRK IS TO HEAL OTHERS!” She yells out, tears streaming from her eyes, head falling forward as she feels herself sinking into unconsciousness herself. That was, until both of them heard it. It was small, but both could hear it a mile away.

Shōta let out a small groan, so small they hardly heard it, but both their faces lit up like the sky on a dark night.

It was small, but it was progress.

Shota lets out a groan as he tries taking a step off the bed, arms screaming out as he tries pushing himself up.

Her arms quickly wrap themselves around him, nearly carrying all his body weight.

His heart fluttered in his chest, throat tightening up as a flush blooms to his cheeks. The feel of her arms around him, her body so close to his as she helps him take another step, the sound and feel of her breaths hitting his skin, nearly made him fall over in pure admiration.

“That’s it, a couple more and we’ll be good for today.” She soothes, slowly helping him walk across the room.

It was small, small steps each day they would take. But ultimately, those small steps, truly was the aid to his recovery, and it wouldn’t have been possible, if it wasn’t for her being the one to help him.

Shouta let out a sigh as he walked beside Hizashi, the loud man trying to lift his spirits about this party.

It was a relatively warm night, for being in the middle of October. But that warmth did nothing to ease the discomfort he felt about this party that was held once a year.

She sat idly as she held one of the students' heads in her hand, humming a small tune as she helped to relieve the exhausted child’s headache. “Thank you Miss.” they yawned, finally feeling the persistent shooting pain go away. Giving them a warm smile, she planted a soft peck to the top of their head. “Of course dear, now, head back to bed alright?” The child sat up from the seat they were sat in, looking back at the kind woman they’ve all come to love. “Have a goodnight miss.” “Sweet dreams dear.”

She sat as she waited for the next student, knowing that there would be some to venture here in the night.

Since the attack on the school, many of the kids who were involved would come down late into the night. Some would fake ailments, but others would come out and say they were frightened. Frightened of them breaking in, frightened of the memories they held behind their eyes, frightened of sleeping. And that’s where she’d come to save them from those fears. Sitting and talking with them, losing sleep herself, just so she knew they could get a full nights rest.

“Deary, can you do me a favor?” She looked up from her paper at the elderly nurse, eyes catching sight of the soft smile on her face. “Of course, what is it Chiyo?” It brought a smile to grow on the elderly woman’s face. Having her be one of the only people to call her by her first name. She thought of her like her own, after working with her for close to a decade.

“I want you to pack up your things, go get ready, and head to that party the teachers are holding in the lounge.” A small gasp left her lips at the statement, heart fluttering in her chest. “But I-“ “that’s not a question or an idea. That’s me telling you deary. You’ve been working your little tushy off with not only these kids at night, but you haven’t even taken a night to yourself in years. So go, have fun. Your lover will be there tonight.” She teases, making her roll her eyes at her. “Shouta isn’t my lover Chiyo.” “Never even mentioned his name dear.” Chiyo teases, making the young woman flush.

She sat up from her chair, walking over to the taller woman. “Go, have fun. It’s a sad night for him, he could really do with someone to cheer him up. So go, be young again. I know I wish I did at your age.” This causes the young woman’s heart to soar in her chest, tears brim her eyes as a smile blooms on her face. Reaching down and pulling her into a hug. “Thank you.”

She took in a deep breath, reaching down and smoothed her palms down her dress. She knew this wasn’t anything extravagant, but she did have an off the shoulder black dress that came to about her mid thigh that she had only worn once. It was in her early twenties she wore this, surprised that it fit now into her late twenties.

She finally stepped through the door, eyes catching everyone in the room.

Everyone turned when she opened it, smiles on each of their faces as they watch the shy nurses eyes look around the room. They knew exactly who her eyes were searching for, and it made them chuckle when her eyes finally stopped, a soft smile on her face.

Her eyes trailed around the room, trying to search for a mop of wavy black hair. Fear bubbles in her throat, what if he did come? It wouldn’t be absolutely horrible, being that over the years she’s made friends with just about everyone in the room. But it still brought joy to her to have him with her. Especially since they were both out from their job for once.

Before long, her eyes finally caught sight of him, her heart skipping in her chest as her stomach fluttered.

Black button up shirt neatly tucked into a pair of fitted black pants, hair pulled halfway up while the bottom lay softly against his shoulders and back.

Both their eyes met, eyes locking as smiles grow on their faces, everyone letting out small chuckles.

She managed to calm her nerves with a glass of wine, the effects making socializing with her co-workers easier than normal. Even with working with all of them for years now, she still felt rather shy and nervous around them.

Her eyes again searched around the room for him, but she came up empty.

He let out a sigh as he gazed over the small balcony, puffs of smoke escaping past his lips, clouding his vision.

~“Wanna try some?” Oboro asked his friend, passing him the half smoken cigarette. Shouta rolled his eyes, giving his friend a stern look as his answer. “You know that’s gonna kill your lungs right.” He sighed. Oboro laughed at this, puffs of smoke invading his face, making him cough. “Nah, this won’t be what kills me.” He chuckles.~

No, a lone cigarette wouldn’t kill his friend, but the memory still holds as a fond one, especially today. Today was the anniversary of his death, a day all that knew him remembered. But nobody held the same weight as Shouta, Hizashi and Nemuri. That’s why they held this party every year, for them. So they can celebrate him, and many take their minds off of the day.

This was one day a year he would go light a cigarette, the smoke not only reminding him of that memory, but of his friend.

The chill October air sent shivers up her arms as she stepped out, or maybe it was seeing him, looking out over the balcony.

She walked over to him, heart fluttering in her chest. Neither muttering a word as they stood together.

That was until she looked over, spotting him inhaling the smoke from his almost finished cigarette. “You know those are gonna kill your lungs right?” She chuckled, making him laugh under his breath. “Used to think the same thing back in the day. Still kinda do, But it’s why I don’t have one often.” A small smile tugged at his lips, hers matching the same as she looked at him. “But still, ones still not that good for you.” He shrugged his shoulders at this, “yeah, but hey, I’ve got you to help me if it does hurt me right?” He says, eyes looking into hers. Her face flushed at this, making her turn her head from his dark eyes. “Yeah, I guess you do Shouta.” She chuckles.

“Besides, I’m gonna need the energy tonight.” He sighs, “oh?” She asks, head slightly tilted as she looks up at him. “I’ve gotta deal with an extremely drunk Hizashi tonight, this is one of the only nights he gets absolutely shit faced. And then I won’t be sleeping much tomorrow night cause I’ve gotta grade essays that were taken today.” He sighs, leaning slightly over the railing, head in his hand. She couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at this. “I’m sorry about that, and yeah, he was getting kinda bad right before I got out here.” He sighed loudly at this, rubbing his tired eyes. “That’s for telling me, I should be bringing him back then, he’s a fucking menace when he’s drunk.” Both chuckling at this.

“I should be heading back now, but, it was great talking to you.” He sighed, eyes gazing into hers. A soft smile played on her lips. “Yeah, I’m glad I came. And hey, if you need anything, you’ll know where I’ll be.” “Yeah, I’ll definitely remember that.” He whispers slightly, smiling as he looked down to her.

Her hands work delicately through izukus hair, brushing back the mop of curls from his face as she hums slightly.

He had called down to the nurses office, calling and asking for either one of them to come to his dorm. She heard as soon as she answered the call, he wasn’t feeling right. Having been hurt that morning for god only knows what again. She knew it would cause the poor boy more damage if he walked all the way down to the nurses office, especially with just how exhausted he sounded. So she took a trip to his room, hoping to calm his body down from the pain as much as she could to hopefully get him to rest.

Her hands card through his hair as his eyes slowly shut, the clear exhaustion written on his face. “Thank you miss.” He whispered, voice slightly slurred. Smiling at this, “it’s not a problem Midoriya, you feeling better?” “Mhm.” He mumbled, eyes closing as he hugged his pillow closer.

She stood up from his bed, turning to walk out as she thought he had finally fallen into a deep slumber. But not before she felt his hand grasp hers, making her turn around and look at him. “Please, can you go check on mister Aizawa?” She tilted her head slightly at hun, brow raising slightly. “May I ask why?” “He, he didn’t look so good today. He looked even more exhausted than he normally does. And I know he’s grading out essays tonight so he’s gonna be even more tired. And, I see how much happier you make him when you’re around.” He mumbled, voice slurred further as he fought off sleep.

She chuckled at this, placing her hand against his cheek. “You and your caring heart, always looking out for everyone. This is why you’re gonna become the #1 hero one day young Midoriya. And alright, I’ll go check on him.” He gazed up at her, eyes brimming with tears that she whipped away. “Have a good night Midoriya.” She whispered, kissing the very top of his head, walking away as she shut his door.

He’d feet carried her all the way to his classroom, eyes catching sight of the light streaming from the window through the dark hallway. Her heart speed up the closer she got, hands shaking slightly as a ball formed in her throat. What if he didn’t want her there? What if he wanted to be alone as he graded? What if she just walked down to her dorm, never mentioning what the young boy said as she carried on with how they’ve interacted all these years.

All these questions swam in her mind like tadpoles in a pond, not once stopping to realize her feet still carried her to his door.

She finally stopped once she reached it, her stomach tying in knots.

She was already here, already at his door.

She took in a large breath as she grabbed the handle.

#aizawa x reader #shouta aizawa #eraserhead #mha imagines #mha headcanons #mha fanfiction #bnha

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five-rivers · 4 years ago

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Long Night in the Valley Chapter 2

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Everyone turned to see Midoriya standing on the stairs to the beach, looking down at them. None of them, least of all Shouto, had ever seen that expression on his face before. That… flatness that almost rivaled his own.

Uraraka took a step forward. “Deku?” she asked, uncertainly. Suzuki, the commission instructor, threw his arm in front of her, blocking her path.

“Whatever that is,” he said, voice strained and low-pitched, “it isn’t Midoriya Izuku. Saito’s quirk doesn’t allow for the subject to have an avatar in the dreamscape without a lot of practice. There’s another quirk at work here.”

“You need to leave,” said Midoriya, descending a single step. “Now.”

“It could be a result of his own quirk,” said Aizawa, who nonetheless had a hand on his capture weapon. “He’s had odd reactions to mental quirks in the past. Jumping to conclusions is illogical.”

“We have evidence Midoriya Izuku is working for the League of Villains,” said Suzuki, backing away from the stairs, slightly. “By the rules laid out in the standard—”

Shouto tuned Suzuki out, by now quite convinced that the man had nothing particularly meaningful to say, in favor of examining Midoriya.

It was Midoriya. Just, a Midoriya that was annoyed, defensive, and maybe a little offended with just a touch of something else. Which was a weird combination on Midoriya. Especially as muted as it was. Midoriya’s expressions, no matter what they were, were always so big.

“—I am recruiting you to aid this investigation and determine the League of Villain’s plans!”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll make you leave,” growled Midoriya.

Wow, for someone who was the embodiment of sunshine, he could be really threatening. Then again, sunburns were a thing, so maybe it wasn’t too surprising.

“You’re here against my will, after coercing me into allowing a quirk to be used on me. I want you out.”

“Eraserhead, I suggest you restrain this projection, whoever it belongs to.”

“I’m not going to warn you again,” continued Midoriya.

“I suggest,” said Aizawa, “that you listen to him. We can ask Midoriya about this when we’re all awake and not in his head. Like you should have done in the beginning.”

Midoriya tilted his head slightly to one side.

“I agree! This is very unethical,” said Iida, chopping at the air. “This is basically an interrogation, and Midoriya is a minor! You need parental permission!”

“Which, before you start talking about him willingly participating in this course,” said Aizawa, “he has explicitly withdrawn. Not to mention his mother signed those opt-out forms, so her permission is withdrawn as well.”

“You can’t be serious—”

“I am,” said Aizawa. “Take us out. This whole thing is illogical.”

“I can’t,” said Suzuki. “Saito is the only one who can shut down her quirk prematurely.”

“What?” said Uraraka. “There’s no way for you to contact her in an emergency? That’s really dangerous!”

“That’s not what Saito Yume said, either,” said Midoriya, flatly. “’The dream state persists until either I release it, the people involved break free, or eight hours pass.’ Implying that there’s another way to break free. One that you, by necessity, must know. So, leave. Or I’m going to start to defend myself.”

Suzuki took a deep breath. “I am here,” he said, “to complete a mission given to me from the Hero Commission. Your refusal to comply with the terms set out in your licensing agreements will be noted.”

Midoriya brought his head up straight again and squared his shoulders. His hands clenched. He was wearing gloves, Shouto noticed. Not the gloves that went with his hero costume, but work gloves. He’d seen the landscapers who worked at his family home wear something similar.

Why?

“Fine,” said Izuku. “Then I’m going to kick you out.”

“That’s impossible, you—”

“I know this beach very well.”

Abruptly, the pristine white sand was covered in towers of trash, separating Shouto from the others. Suzuki’s insistence that Midoriya was a spy had already had him on edge. This put him fully into battle-mode.

He dropped into battle stance, and carefully froze one of the trash piles in front of him, making an icy stair to the top. His first priority was to find Aizawa and his classmates and regroup. To do that, he had to get a better vantage point.

He jogged up the stairs, noting, absently, that he was now in his hero suit, not his school uniform. What had he been wearing before this turned into a fight? He hadn’t particularly noticed.

He reached the top just in time to see Midoriya bludgeon Suzuki with a piece of rusty rebar.

Alright. Maybe that wasn’t Midoriya.

Aizawa wasn’t fast enough getting around the piles of trash. He would have tried to scale them, but there was no safe place for him to grab on to. The piles were simply too unstable, too untrustworthy, too poorly shaped.

He arrived just in time to see Midoriya, or what looked like Midoriya, impale Suzuki with a pole.

Before his mind could fully process the problem child attempting what looked a whole lot like murder, he had him wrapped in his capture weapon.

Midoriya had the gall to look confused, if only slightly.

“Todoroki,” Aizawa barked, spotting his other student on top of one of the horribly dangerous trash mounds. “First aid, stat.”

“Yes, sir,” said Todoroki, making an ice ramp to glide down.

“Midoriya,” he said. “What was that?” Perhaps it was illogical to ask, but he still couldn’t quite believe his eyes.

“I was testing to see if he’d wake up and go away if he got knocked out,” said Midoriya. He made a tiny, not-quite-shrugging motion. “This is just a dream, after all.”

Alright. That was true, but it was still incredibly disconcerting to see Midoriya act so callously towards the life of another human being. Although he was unsure how many times Midoriya had hit Suzuki, and certain places of impact were less lethal than others, blunt force trauma, especially to the back of the head, could still be deadly.

There was the sharp report of a gun, and Midoriya jerked forward, blood leaking from some invisible wound to drip down his face. Then he vanished.

He turned towards that utter bastard Suzuki, eyes blazing, only to find him entirely encased in a glacier except for his head.

While Aizawa had been trying to train Todoroki out of reflexively encasing human beings in ice, due to frostbite, hypothermia, and other potential health issues, he was willing to let it slide. Just this once.

“I told you,” said Suzuki, teeth chattering. “That isn’t your student. And even if it was, he’s a traitor.”

“Sensei,” said Todoroki, “what are we going to do?”

“First,” said Aizawa. He didn’t get beyond that, because Uraraka was abruptly launched from behind a wall of trash, trailing a makeshift tether of salvaged bungee cords.

“Found them!” exclaimed Uraraka. “I don’t see Deku, though!”

“First,” said Aizawa, feeling exhausted despite technically being asleep, “we regroup.”

Toshinori was supposed to be teaching a third-year heroics course.

He wanted to be with Izuku at the Hero Commission training, even if he was retired, with only a retiree license to his name.

He was in the nurse’s office, getting his brain checked by Recovery Girl, because sudden debilitating headaches weren’t on the long, long list of symptoms he’d come to expect from his injuries and medications.

Chiyo was worried he might be having a stroke, an aneurism, or some other sudden, lethal, brain condition. She’d used her quirk on him at once, and the pain hadn’t stopped. She’d said that, at least, it should stop an aneurism from getting worse.

Toshinori hoped it wasn’t brain cancer. As far as personal abilities went, all he had going for him right now was brainpower and a stupidly high pain tolerance.

He closed his eyes against the bright lights of the room. Everything seemed too bright and blurry. Sounds warped oddly in his ears. The fabric of the bed underneath him felt gritty against his fingertips.

It was like he wasn’t entirely here.

Oh, the joys of hallucinations.

(Something like urgency pushed against the back of his mind. Whispered Eight, and help, and Nine.)

(Something was going more wrong than usual.)

He waited for Chiyo to step out of the room before he snuck out.

Izuku emerged from sleep with a choked gasp, heart racing, head spinning. Where-?

It took him several fraught minutes to get his breathing under control and recognize where he was. The room for the Hero Commission course. His classmates and teacher were sleeping next to him, as well as the commission instructor. What had his name been? Something with an S?

Thinking was hard. It was like his brain was occupied with something else and he kept having to nudge it back on track. It was like—

He shook his head, which pounded with the movement, distracting him further. He—He should—

What?

An odd sensation overtook him, and he found himself slowly, cautiously standing up. It wasn’t like Shinsou’s quirk, where his body was out of his control, but more like he was almost sharing control, somehow. Like he could, at any point, take control back. And he did, just to test the theory, stopping for a moment, his hand halfway to his backpack.

But that was hard, and he really wasn’t up for much in the way of decision-making, and the others were quite adamant that he had to get out now. They’d know. He trusted them.

They picked up the backpack.

Eight was coming. They could trust Eight.

The door slammed open. Izuku froze. Several heroes in costume and a man with a suit and a commission nametag stood in the doorway.

“Get him!”

Four moved so differently from Izuku. Precisely, like he knew exactly how his opponents were going to act, where they were going to be. It reminded Izuku of how Sir Nighteye moved.

In seconds, they were in the main hall, sprinting past crowds with the help of One for All. Izuku felt bad about leaving Aizawa and his friends, but they knew, they weren’t targets. Izuku was.

Izuku didn’t know how they knew that, how he knew that.

Parking lot. Streets. Alleyway. Rooftops. His UA uniform was too attention grabbing. They dropped his blazer behind one of the rooftop ventilation shafts and tugged off his tie. The button down by itself was less attention grabbing. There was nothing they could to about his pants. Alley again. The people chasing him could track his phone. They needed to get rid of it.

Preferably in a way that wouldn’t immediately tip their pursuers off to the fact they had gotten rid of it. Sending them the wrong way would be a good distraction, would buy them time.

They slipped onto a bus and dropped Izuku’s phone into a woman’s purse. Hopefully, she wouldn’t notice the change in weight for a while.

Six and Two were very good at this kind of thing. Not to mention One.

It would probably sound weird to an outsider, but it was comforting. The experience and care of the past users wrapped around him like a thick blanket, making it so that Izuku didn’t mind so much about his distraction, even though he wished he could help more.

He got off the bus. They needed to find Eight.

“Just so you know,” said Aizawa, several registers shy of conversationally. “If you’ve harmed my student in any way, I will do everything in my power to make your life a living hell.”

“Nothing here actually affects the mind of the subject,” said Suzuki, rolling his eyes. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t use Saito’s quirk.”

“Your information hasn’t exactly been accurate so far,” said Tenya, pushing his glasses up and frowning. Suzuki had, in fact, been fundamentally unhelpful. “In fact, I believe you have outright lied to us on several occasions.” He glanced at his classmates for support and did a double take.

Standing behind Uraraka, half-hidden behind a beaten-up old refrigerator, was Midoriya. A smaller, slimmer, younger Midoriya, who was wearing an ‘ALL M’ t-shirt, thick gloves, and… and an awfully large amount of rope?

He was also crying, silently, and staring at Suzuki.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said. He pulled on the rope. The refrigerator came free, destabilizing the pile of trash it had been supporting.

It all came tumbling down.

Ochako managed to avoid most of the debris coming for her, and slapped most of the remainder, making them float with her quirk. Even so, by the time the dust settled, she was covered in scrapes, the pink fabric of her hero suit torn—

Wait. Hero suit?

Whatever, she was asleep, and the more important thing was to find Iida, Todoroki, and Aizawa-sensei. They had been in the direct line of the collapse. She was pretty sure Deku had been able to get out of the way.

“Shouldn’t have done that.”

“Five-point touch activation. Seems to affect buoyancy of objects. Possible martial arts background based on movement.”

Ochako spun to face not one, but two small Dekus. The new one was, if possible, even smaller than the first and wearing a gakuran. He had a notebook spread out across his left arm and was writing in it at lightning speed.

“Hands are a possible weak spot, but a known one. Be careful of kicks.” Gakuran Deku’s words devolved into mumbling, but t-shirt Deku was still nodding, so he must understand.

T-shirt Deku also had a length of pipe. Ochako did not like where this was going.

Then again, the whole point of this exercise was to learn how to defend one’s mind. She couldn’t exactly fault Deku for doing just that. She dropped into a fighting stance and grinned.

It was nothing short of a miracle, Aizawa decided, that they hadn’t been killed yet. Then again, it was possible that Midoriya, despite his obviously altered and disturbed mental state, was still holding back against them.

Which was annoying. Because neither of the two small Midoriya-lookalikes was particularly strong. Nor did they appear to be using Midoriya’s quirk, despite the fact that Aizawa, Iida, Uraraka, and Todoroki had no trouble using theirs. The problem was that they were terrifyingly intelligent, just shy of ruthless, and had an incredible home-field advantage in that they seemed to know the location and nature of every bit of trash on the beach and in that they could evidently make it disappear and reappear at will. They also avoided head-on combat whenever possible, letting the terrain do their work for them.

Fighting them was, in fact, like fighting someone with a quirk completely unlike Midoriya’s. With a fighting style completely unlike Midoriya’s.

And that made Aizawa wonder, because all too often, he caught Midoriya trying to replicate All Might’s style, and if he did that when he could be doing something more like this—

But this wasn’t the time for such speculation.

He pulled Todoroki away from a trap again (he evidently hadn’t yet grasped that Midoriya was attacking them), and then jumped away from a chain reaction caused by whatever Uraraka just threw.

Unless they wanted to spend the next hour being beaten up by the problem child… “We need to get somewhere he has less control over the environment.”

“Off the beach?” suggested Uraraka, panting. “He said—He said he knew the beach well, so…”

Aizawa nodded. That was good thinking. Where were the stairs?

“You need to leave!”

“We’re trying, problem child!” snapped Aizawa, and, miraculously, that made Midoriya hesitate. Aizawa pulled Todoroki towards the stairs. The others were able to follow on their own.

They made their way up, and as soon as they hit the top step the previously clear sky opened up and it began to pour. Aizawa was soaked through in seconds.

Wonderful.

However, the attacks—which had been relentless up until this point—stopped.

“We left Suzuki,” observed Iida.

Aizawa held back a groan.

“Who cares?” asked Todoroki.

“We do,” said Aizawa. “We can’t let him run around unsupervised in Midoriya’s head.”

“I think he might have gotten crushed,” said Uraraka. “He was still in your ice, wasn’t he, Todoroki?”

“Yeah,” said Todoroki. “Trash should stay with trash,” he mumbled under his breath.

“We have no idea how any of our quirks will function long-term in a dream,” said Aizawa, not addressing the trash comment because he honestly sort of agreed. “Nor do we know what his quirk is.” He sighed. “We may also have to consider that he is correct and Midoriya is compromised.”

Predictably, there was quite a bit of protest.

“He may also have other information regarding the situation at hand,” said Aizawa. “Which we need.”

There was a rattle among the trash heaps, and Aizawa turned to watch Suzuki drag himself out from under a mound of trash.

“You left me!” accused Suzuki, loudly. “You almost let that gremlin kill me a dozen times!”

“Well,” said Midoriya from behind them, where he absolutely hadn’t been a minute ago, “then maybe you should have left when I asked."

#bnha #long night in the valley #my writing #fanfic

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applepiry · 4 years ago

Text

Hibiki’s BackStory Part 1

Anything in BOLD TEXT is Hibiki’s special phone speaker’s voice speaking. It is a mechanical made voice, but it is from a data bank of Hibiki’s speech he’s put into it so it does have his mannerisms in speech! It also does sound a bit like his actual voice, just at a decent speaking volume.

This is the first part of Hibiki’s first day at UA in first year! It also tells the story of his history, and how he came to be in Recovery Girl’s care.

TW for: Death and Bullying

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

Age 4…

“Reiki… you feel really warm…” the small raven haired boy said, whimpering as he touched his baby sisters forehead.

Four year old Hibiki had been left all alone, with his infant sister. His father was supposed to be watching them as their mother was on the night shift at the hospital but had stepped out to get things from the store. The boy knew he could use his singing to do a few different things, but he wanted to be able to heal his sister. His mother was a healer, and it was all he had ever wanted.

His sister’s small cries made him whimper, and he thought of the song his mother had sung to him, hoping and begging it would work. He started out humming to get the melody, before taking a deep breath and singing as best as he could. His sister began to glow, her cries subsiding as the discomfort of the fever disappeared. Her large eyes fluttered as she yawned and settled down as Hibiki stopped singing, taking a deep breath when he was done.

Hibiki smiled wide, feeling that her fever was gone and considering she was now sleeping, must not have been in any pain. The small boy began crying out of happiness, so glad he was going to be able to take care of his sister. She would never have to be in any pain, as long as he was around.

Age 7…

Smack! Whack!

Hibiki was on the ground, getting kicked and punched by a group of boys from his elementary school. The current beating he was received after he had refused to do the other kids homework. He was the smallest in his grade, and it was easy to pick on someone who didn’t have a physical quirk. Plus, Hibiki had sworn never to use his quirk to hurt anybody. He could heal with it, and that was all he would do with it. He was just going to have to get better at avoiding others.

When the others left, bored by the lack of reaction Hibiki had, he sat up and wiped the blood from his face with a red colored handkerchief. Sighing, he got up and looked down at himself, grimacing at all the bruises as he checked himself over. While he could heal others, he could not heal himself. He’d have to tell his mother, or let these heal on their own.

Wondering towards home, he was slow and careful not to catch any attention. However, a boy with blond hair had come running up to him and tried to see how he was doing. Hibiki didn’t remember much about this boy, as he had insisted he was fine and ended up running all the way home, even through the pain.

Walking through the door, he was tackled right away by his sister, a now four year old Reiki with bright red eyes looking up at him.

“Nii-san!” she said, her loud pitch making his ears ring, causing him to gently push her back.

“Reiki, be careful,” he said with a soft whine, rubbing his ears.

“Oh, sorry,” she said with a small pout. Her quirk had showed up and was similar to their fathers, only hers depended on her pitch of voice to use it to manipulate things.

“Just remember to watch your pitch, okay?” he told her with a gentle voice. He slipped around her and headed to his room, trying to avoid his parents. He didn’t see either of them as he ran past the living room and kitchen, making it to his room right as he heard his father call for him. He closed the door quickly, and would lie and say he didn’t hear him if he asked. Hibiki quickly got to work cleaning himself off and making sure all his wounds won’t be visible. He hated lying to his parents, they were so nice, but he really didn’t want them to get involved with the bullying. They would only worry...

Age 15… Beginning of February

“Hibiki, you’ll be switching high schools,” his mother's voice came as a surprise as he stood outside his room, about to go in before she had stopped him.

“What?” he said, shocked. He was going to a decent middle school right now, close to home, and doing well in it, and had picked the neighboring high school to continue being close to home. Why was she suddenly saying such things?

“You got a recommendation to UA High!” she told him.

“What?” he repeated, still not sure what was going on. Had he even applied? No, he hadn’t. He had never even thought of going to UA.

“Yes, remember my superior I told you about? Who works there? Well, anyway, I mentioned you have a quirk capable of healing, like mine, which is very rare, yaknow? And well, she insisted you go to UA and study under her. Her name is Recovery Girl.” his mother explained.

Hibiki stood there, rather in shock. He knew the part of his quirk was rare, but hadn’t ever thought about applying to UA. Now UA wanted him? But he wasn’t planning on becoming a Hero…. Wait, that’s right, they had general studies as well, and had some of the best teachers in the entire country… Maybe he would get a great job at a hospital with this opportunity.

“I’ll go,” he said, looking at his mother with determination. She grinned at her son and patted his shoulder, telling him how proud she was of him for coming so far.

“You’ll be an amazing hero,” his sister had told him when she found out.

“Ha, thanks but I dunno about hero?” he had said.

“Saving people is a heroes job, and that’s what you do, nii-san!” she had replied.

About a month later….. Middle of March

Hibiki stood there in the hospital in shock, staring at the charred bodies of his family members. He had been at a friends house when his house had been broken into, and the robber used his fire quirk to set the entire house ablaze to cover his crimes, not realizing the family was asleep inside. His parents and sister had perished in that fire, unable to escape from the hellish nightmare as the fire spread all around them. The roof had collapsed in on them, trapping them even further. He had heard the coroner telling the police they had died slowly, and in a lot of pain. He had no idea who he was going to live with, his closest family was in Brazil and he doubted they would even take him in. His mother had been disowned by the family when she had fallen in love and married a Japanese man.

Hibiki began sobbing in the hospital hallway after he had said goodbye to the bodies of his family, shaking heavily. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. His sister was supposed to become a nurse, and his parents were supposed to be here for him until they grew old. Feeling a presence, he looked up a bit, seeing a small, older woman standing in front of him.

“Hibiki?” she said, her voice was kind. “I’m Chiyo Shuzenji, better known as Recovery Girl, I was your mother's superior at work. I am so sorry to hear what happened…” she said, sitting beside him and pulling candy out of her pocket, offering it to him. “Your mother… she was an amazing woman.” she said, sighing softly.

Hibiki stared at the woman, looking at the candy and taking it with a shaky hand. He held it, staring at the colorful wrapper but not speaking a word.

“The police said they are trying to contact your family but… would you like to stay with me until they find someone?” she asked him.

Hibiki looked back at her, his eyes showing his shock. This stranger was going to take him in? Slowly, he nodded, sobbing again as he wrapped his arms around the womens small frame, unable to help himself any longer. He needed to hold someone right now. Anyone.

Sure enough, none of his family wanted him. And his father’s parents had only had his father, and had passed away about two years ago, so there was nobody from that side who would, either. Hibiki had nowhere to go. Well, almost nowhere. Recovery Girl quickly agreed to adopt him, excited by the thought as she had grown fond of the young man. The government had agreed it would be a perfect match, and had given her guardianship over Hibiki, and put any of his parents assets in a trust for when he needed money, and would get full control over it when he turned 18.

Hibiki wasn’t up to starting school the first month, still a hollow shell of his former self without his parents, his little sister he had cherished so much. Recovery Girl had allowed him to stay back for a bit, not wanting to push him. He had his uniform, and had been told which class he was going to be a part of, but he just did not want to go. Even after witnessing the sports festival and seeing how many kids got injured. If this had been months ago, he would have been so eager to go heal those kids.

His mother had done this for him. So he could become a Healing Hero, and help others like she had. His sister had always told him she believed he was going to be the best hero ever with his quirk. But now, they were gone. And he felt like that dream was too. He no longer wanted to be a hero, now only wanting to be left alone. Recovery Girl had agreed he could wait until after his first birthday without his family before going to school, but after that he needed to at least try going to school. He had agreed because she was so nice to him, there was no way he could tell her no.

A few weeks after the Sports Festival…. End of May

“We have a new student joining us!” Snipe told the students of his homeroom, 1-C.

Everyone was naturally confused, as new students during the middle of the school year were very unusual. They stay quiet so their teacher can finish. “He was supposed to start at the beginning of the year but due to unforeseen circumstances, he couldn’t join us until now.” he told the students. “Please come in, Shimizu,” Snipe said.

The sliding door opened, revealing a fluffy raven haired boy with bronze skin, his eyes the color of the golden sun. His eyes held a dark violet color under them, the dark circles under his eyes making it obvious how tired this boy is. Under his right eye, and his lower left lip were moles, his chin soft yet not quite round, and cheekbones just barely visible. He was about average height for the males in the school, standing at about 177 cm. Dressed in the usual male uniform, with a loosely put on tie, he suddenly let out a loud yawn as he stopped next to Snipe and turned to face the class.

Not a very good first impression, most of the students think.

“Please introduce yourself, Shimizu!” Snipe urges.

“My name is Hibiki Shimizu. It’s nice to meet you,” he says, his voice soft and barely able to be heard.

“Huh?!” most of the students shout, a little annoyed with this guy.

“Ah- my quirk uses my voice so…” he says, still softly, to Snipe. He goes through his bag and pulls out a phone, which makes the students look even more puzzled. He presses a button and a mechanical voice plays.

“My quirk requires me to sing, so I do not speak freely, or loudly, so forgive me.”

“Oh!” a girl says, “That’s neat, what is your quirk!?” she asks excitedly.

Everyone agrees they would like to know. Everyone aside from one boy in the back, who’s being awfully quiet. Hibiki had noticed his lavender hair right away, as lavender was one of his favorite colors and it was unusual to see such a color of hair, even in this quirk-filled world.

“It has been dubbed ‘Holy Voice’, and it allows me to control various things with songs that I sing.” the recording plays after Hibiki hits a sequence of numbers into it. Hibiki wasn’t really very interested in telling them the specific’s though, and hoped they would not pry. They would see him in PE classes, after all.

“Wow, that is so cool!” someone says.

“How are you not in the Hero course!?” one student asks.

“I do not want to be a Hero.” the recording plays. Hibiki looked at them all with tired, but serious eyes, honestly hoping they do not pry any further.

DING. DONG. DING. DONG.

“Ah, that’s the bell. Well, off to the Gym!” Snipe says, ushering the students to leave. “And see me at lunch, okay, Shimizu?” he says.

“Yes, sensei.”

“That’s totally weird,” he hears a student whisper to another. It makes him let out a breathy laugh, though, enough to make him curl his lip into a half-smirk.

The girls that saw the smirk started to swoon, shocked the tired looking boy could look so... hot when he had that smirk on his face. Maybe the new boy wasn’t so bad!

--------------IN P.E..------------

Oh, wrong… All the girls watched as Hibiki ran away from every single attack, dodging easily but never attacking back. He only ran. Hibiki made sure nothing hit him, his movements as if he was a cat avoiding being sprayed with a water bottle. While they weren’t perfect, they worked enough so he didn’t get hit.

By the end of class, everyone was frustrated and tired, having gone after Hibiki to see him use his quirk. But, they had failed by the end of it. The teacher wasn’t all that happy he hadn’t used it, and scolded him, telling him the only way he could improve was to use his quirk.

Hibiki hadn’t taken the words to heart as he went to change and went off to his next class, now having regular studies until it was time for more training after lunch. He wasn’t here to learn to fight, anyway, but knew it was essential. That’s why he had mastered dodging, not one for physical contact. In fact, he hated being touched by people.

Going through classes was fine, as he was good at school work, and it required very little contact with any of the others. At least, until he got called into the principal's office right before lunch.

“Can you take him, Shinsou-kun?” Ms Midnight said with a large grin.

“I can go on my own, miss,” Hibiki tried to insist.

“Don’t be silly! It’s hot to help new students! Go now, Shinsou!” Ms Midnight said.

The lavender haired male stood and nodded, heading to the door, “Yes, ma’am,” he said as he nodded fort Hibiki to follow him.

The two walked silently towards the principal's office. It was nice, but odd, as Hibiki was used to others chattering away or asking him questions.

“Here we are. See ya,” Shinsou said with a wave before heading off.

Hibiki blinked, not used to such an unfriendly person like himself, but he shrugged and knocked on the door.

---

“Come in,” Nezu said from behind the door.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Hibiki said after he went inside, tilting his head a bit. He had met the small, animalistic principal when Recovery Girl had introduced them yesterday, letting him know that Hibiki would finally be coming to school.

“Yes! Shimizu-kun, will you come with me to class 1-A?” he asked, suddenly on Hibiki’s shoulders.

Hibiki seemed generally unfazed as the principal sat on his shoulders as he walked down the hall, being directed by him as he had no idea where he was going. A few passing students gave odd looks but always said hello to the principal.

When they got to the classroom, Nezu had Hibiki knock on the door. A lazy-sounding voice replied, “Come in,” prompting the raven haired male to open the door.

“Principal Nezu?” the teacher said, a bit confused but his face relaxed when he seemed to remember, seeing the golden eyed boy who Nezu sat on. Hibiki noticed this man resembled him a lot, or rather he resembled him? Either way, they both had the same exhausted look.

“Aizawa! Do you remember that student I told you would be joining you in the afternoon from class C?” he said happily, now situated in Aizawa’s scarf looking item.

Hibiki tilted his head, confused at this new information. He hadn’t been told he’d be with another class in the afternoon.

“Ah, right.” Aizawa said, sounding bored, “Students, this is Hibiki Shimizu from Class C. He’s a new student, but because of his quirk, he’ll be joining us, and class B, during the afternoon for training. We wanted to introduce you all before training so we can just jump into it.” he tells them.

“Ooooh, whats your quirk!?” an all pink girl asked, sounding just as excited as his classmates this morning.

“Aw man I was hoping it’d be a hot girl!” a purple boy whined, but nobody paid him, or the person who hit him, any mind.

Hibiki looked at Nezu and Aizawa, wondering if he should answer.

Nezu nodded, “It’s okay to tell them. You’ll be working with them all after all, probably very frequently, you know?”

Hibiki pulled out his phone, pressing a button. “My quirk is called Holy Voice. I can do many things with it, but my main focus is healing others.” the recording plays his answer.

“What?! A healer?!” the students sound shocked, as they naturally would be. After all, being able to heal others was a very rare quirk to have. Most of them were only aware of Recovery Girl who had such a quirk.

All the students are chattering excitedly, asking questions over one another until Aizawa just glares, and they all go silent. Hibiki looks at Aizawa with a bit of admiration, wishing he could do that.

“One question at a time. Raise your hands,” he said, frowning as he glared at his students.

A green haired boy raised his hand first, looking extremely eager. “Yes, Midoriya?”

“What else can your quirk do? You said you can do a lot of stuff with it? Do you mean your voice?” he said, rattling off questions one after another.

Hibiki blinked, a bit taken back by the amount of questions. He heard Aizawa sigh beside him, “Just one question, Midoriya,” he told him.

“O-Oh, sorry.. Erm… How does your quirk work?” he asked shyly, his face bright red with embarrassment as he fidgeted in his seat. Hibiki took notice of all the scars littering his hands that clutched a notebook and pencil, and could tell he was going to be busy with this person in particular.

After some tapping on the screen, the phone began to play another recording, “When I sing, depending on what I sing, I can do various things. I can heal people, cause people to see illusions and shatter, disintegrate, destabilize or stabilize living and nonliving objects.” His quirk was a perfect combination of what his parent’s quirks had been.

“What the fuck?” said a blond boy with red eyes.

“Woah,” said a few students.

“Wow, you sing?” a girl with a cool haircut and odd ear-lobes. Wait, where those mic plugs?

Hibiki didn’t answer immediately, but instead made his way to her desk.

“Yes,” he said once he reached her side, using his own voice instead of the phone. “Are those mic plugs? 3.5mm?” he asked, looking down at her in her seated position, staring at her with golden eyes.

“Ah-!” she made a startled sound, her face going a bit pink as she jumped back, “Hey! Don’t get so close so suddenly!” she said, frowning.

“Oh, apologizes,” he said, stepping back. “I noticed your ears and they interested me,” he said, his monotone tone reminding everyone of the way Todoroki had been back at the beginning of the year. However, there was an almost childish way about the way he said the words. In all reality, he was just curious if she sang too, liking to find others with hobbies like his. He was just… awkward.

“Well, in any case, Shimizu will be sitting in on your training in the afternoons when you do combat training, so that way we don’t have to bother Recovery Girl all the time.” Aizawa said, cutting the conversation short.

“Since he also has defensive and offensive capabilities, he’ll be directly involved as well.” Principal Nezu said from Aizawa’s shoulder.

Hibiki softly glared at the principal, not wanting to be in combat training but he didn’t say anything against it. He walked back to the front, making note of every single student in this class. All of the blondes he was going to have to avoid, just looking at their faces, he could tell that much. One looked angry, one looked like an idiot and another looked loud. The one with the tail seemed normal, but Hibiki was always cautious. Actually, most of the class looked like they were going to be annoyingly loud to Hibiki. Except maybe, like, two of them?

Yawning again, he rubbed his left eye a bit as Aizawa and Nezu talked for a moment before the bell rang again.

“Alright, see you all after lunch,” he told the other students. Nezu told Hibiki to go to lunch as well, but Hibiki had to find his way to the staff room first to see Snipe.

Hibiki waited until nearly all the students had left, staying close to the teachers acting as if they were talking to him too. He really did not want to make friends with any of these guys. Sure, he knew as a future doctor to pro heroes, he had to get along with them but all of them seemed too much for him to really handle.

He had nearly made it to the staff room when he was caught by a group from 1-A, who all seemed very eager to get to know him. Five students stood in front of him, blocking his path as they all tried to introduce themselves at once.

“I’m Tenya Iida! I’m the Class Representative for 1-A. It is a pleasure to meet you!” the tall dark haired boy said, extending his hand.

“I’m Izuku Midoriya,” said the green haired boy. Ah, the scarred boy.

“Oh! I’m Ochako Uraraka!” the brown haired girl said with a bright smile.

“Call me Tsu,” the black haired girl who resembled a frog said, pointing at herself.

“And I am Momo Yaoyorozu! I am the Vice Representative for 1-A. It is so nice to meet you.” the tall black haired girl said, her hair in a tall ponytail.

Hibiki stood there, his eyes a bit wider than usual from the shock, unblinking for a good few moments.

“Um, are you okay?” Uraraka asked, stepping closer. Hibiki had to force himself not to step back and run.

He nodded, her words pulling him out of his shock, pulling out his phone and typing into it.

“I am Hibiki Shimizu,” the speaker played, “Nice to meet you all.”

“Oh, do you not want to talk to us like you did with Jirou?” Tsu asked.

Hibiki tilted his head, a smirk crawling onto his face as he exhaled a breathy laugh.

“My quirk requires my voice. I do not use it often. I do not mean to be offensive.”

“Oh, right,” she said, blushing a bit.

“So, where did you transfer from?” Momo asked.

“Homeschool.” That’s right, they had no idea who he was or that he was supposed to have started here originally. Well, easier to lie than explain.

“That's highly unusual for anyone with a quirk. How did you come to end up at UA?” Iida asked, staring at Hibiki with questioning eyes. He seemed very stern to Hibiki, and he didn’t like his tone.

“Recovery Girl is my guardian. She recommended me.” Another kind of lie.

“What? She has kids?” Tsu wondered out loud.

“Wow, so you got in on a recommendation?!” Ochako asked, sounding shocked.

“I suppose so, yes.” They weren’t sure who’s question he was answering, but assumed it was Uraraka’s.

“That’s impressive. Only four other students are even in on recommendations, and two are in class A!” Momo said.

Hibiki tilted his head in curiosity, which prompted an answer.

“Me, and Todoroki-kun. The one with red and white hair?” Momo said with a smile.

Hibiki thought back, remembering each student's face and matching the bicolored eyed boy with the name Todoroki for future reference.

“Ah, yes, him. He looks like he’ll need to be healed often. Actually, you two do as well.” the phone spoke, Hibiki looking directly at Midoriya and Iida. “Wreckless, that’s the word.”

Tsu laughed, which caused Ochako and Momo to join in with her.

“How rude!” Iida said, shocked the new student would say something so… right? After meeting him. Not that he would admit such a thing. He didn’t really see himself as reckless.

“You can probably tell for me, huh?” Midoriya said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Hibiki nodded at Midoriya, choosing to ignore Iida for now.

Thankfully for him, Snipe had come to find him and found him not far from the staff room, and took him away from this awful encounter. He’d have to see them later, but that was later. After lunch. He could pretend nothing had happened in that short of time.

Of course all hope of that was dashed when Snipe merely told him he would meet Class B tomorrow, and sent him on his way. Hibiki groaned softly as he headed for the cafeteria, wondering how crowded it was, but he knew it was going to be ridiculous.

Making his way into it, he tried his best to slip around the crowds of people, and nicely for him, he was rather average. He wasn’t too tall or short that he stood out much, he liked that. He wanted to blend into the wall and disappear when he saw more students from 1-A, hoping they wouldn’t try to talk to him like the others had.

But then, he noticed the mic plug girl, and changed course, now wanting to talk to her. She was with a boy with odd elbows, one of the blondes; the loud looking one, and the all-pink girl. Hm, he supposed it would be worth conversing with them to get to know the only other one who looked like she enjoyed music as much as he did.

The loud looking blond boy noticed him first, “Oh hey new kid!” he shouted, waving frantically.

Hibiki wanted to turn on his heels but forced himself to smile a bit, trudging forward in his attempts at making a friend. He took out his phone and typed into it.

“Hello. I am Hibiki Shimizu. Just call me Shimizu. It’s nice to meet you all.”

“That is so interesting!” the pink girl said, looking at the phone.

“Is that a special program?” the elbow-boy asked.

Wow, these students are nothing like the ones I met earlier. Hibiki thought to himself.

“Yes, I made it myself.”

“Wow that is so cool!” the pink girl and blond boy said together.

“Wow, by yourself?” the elbow-boy asked.

Hibiki nodded and turned his attention to the mic-plug girl. “May I have your name?”

“M-Me? Oh, it’s Kyouka Jirou…” she said, holding out her hand for him to shake.

“Jirou…” Hibiki said in his own voice, taking her hand and gently squeezing, his thumb going over the callous’ on her hand. “You play many instruments, too.” he said, his voice quiet as if Jirou was much closer than she was. Jirou’s face became hot and she pulled her hand away.

“I do, so what? … Wait, did you say too? You play?” she said, cautious at first before becoming excited.

Hibki nodded, glad he had finally gotten what he wanted to get across.

“That makes sense considering your quirk is singing!” the pink girl said.

“That’s cool, what do you play? Oh, er, I’m Hanta Sero, by the way,” said the elbow boy, holding out his hand.

Hibiki took it and shook it once before letting go.

“I’m Mina Ashido!” the pink girl said, realizing she hadn’t introduced herself.

“Denki Kaminari!” the loud blond said, grinning and getting a bit too close.

Hibiki moved back, shaking a bit. Jirou seemed to notice, so she put herself in between the two a bit.

“So, yeah, what do you play?” she asked, smiling.

Hibiki slowly stopped shaking, taking a deep breath, taking out his phone.

“Piano, guitar, bass, drums, flute and the saxophone.”

“Woah, that's so cool!” Kaminari said. “I play the guitar!” he said, grinning.

Hibiki looked at him, a bit shocked this boy could play anything. Maybe he would be able to find friends here after all. Wait, no. He wasn’t here to make connections. He couldn’t allow himself to emotionally connect with anybody.

“I play a few things too,” Jirou said, making him look at her.

The rest of lunch flew by, with Hibiki mostly listening to the students as they all talked about their interests. Every now and then, Hibiki would give vague and general answers about himself, but he was trying very hard not to reveal much about himself.

When the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, Mina grinned at him, “Are you ready to see Class A in action?” she asked.

Hibiki nodded a bit, “I suppose so.”

#oc story #bnha oc story #mha oc story #mha oc #mha story #hibiki shimizu #bnha oc #applepiry #applepiry.content

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little-ki · 5 years ago

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50 Day Challenge: Baki (Goodbye Summer)

Read on AO3 - 50 Day Challenge Day 6: Baki

Prompt: Go to your nearest book. Turn to page 51. Find the first line of the last paragraph on the page. Use that line to start your scene.

Collection of the Most Beautiful Poems By: Xu Zhimo

Page 51: 悄悄的我走了 (Quietly quietly I am leaving)

WHY SO MUCH ANGST ASDKASKD. Some people might recognize this passage. For those that don’t, Xu Zhimo is one of China’s most famous poets and these passages are from his poem “Second Farewell to Cambridge”.

I actually used the first passage to start this piece because it starts with the same line as the last paragraph so it’s still valid!! But yes!! Here!! More angst!! (Also this was much longer than expected so more under the cut!)

Song Inspiration: Goodbye Summer �� f(x) and D.O.

Quietly, quietly I am leaving Just as quietly as I came Gently, I wave goodbye To the clouds in the western sky

They knew that it was going to end.

No matter how many moments they spent together, the memories they made, or the sweet murmurs into each others’ ears; this had an expiration date.

Hikari had been personally asked by Elder’s Chiyo and Ebizo to help with the sealing of the Ichibi. She was infuriated that they wanted to take the risk and ignored their messages until Karura personally asked for her assistance. Hikari sent lengthy letters that detailed the risks and complications that could occur, but realized they were adamant and would continue regardless of her answer. After making arrangements with her team she packed up her notes, supplies, and emergency supplies, and made her way to Suna. Everyone had been waiting for her at the entrance and she calmly greeted Temari, Kankuro, and Sasori, and ignored everyone else. It was petty but she was irritated, the sun was blazing, and the disbelieving stares from her assigned escort only served to further irritate her.

Baki’s first impression of their special guest wasn’t… great. He’d long heard rumors of her feats on the frontlines, where she only healed children that were forced onto the battlefield and those that held no ill will (no one could understand how she could differentiate their intentions). She had saved two of Suna’s most revered puppeteers and was especially trusted by the Kazekage’s wife after rescuing their eldest after being kidnapped by rogues. But it wasn’t until the Land of Grass tried to abduct her team that she earned the moniker, The Grim Reaper’s Wife. Grass now ran as a matriarchal country which infuriated their former patriarchal leaders to constantly cough up blood. With the tales of her exploits he hadn’t expected her to be a 4’11” child.

Hikari spent the first couple of months in the Kazekage’s residence, alternating between conducting check ups on Karura and Gaara, playing with Temari and Kankuro, and discussing the sealing with Ebizo and Chiyo. Initially, the Kazekage had tried to hover wherever she went and often demanded her to explain every action. She encased him in a block of ice after tolerating his behavior for two weeks, leaving him unable to move or speak, only able to watch and listen. Her escort had always remained a quiet shadow at her side until she moved against the Kazekage, only to find his feet stuck to the ground and encased in ice. He’d sent wind blades her way, which she blocked with a transparent wall of ice. She could still clearly remember the sheer shock in his eyes (and despite her initial disbelief, the flare of respect that had begun to burn).

Baki had wondered if the rumors were exaggerated until he saw her utilize her ice release without moving a muscle, the sheer control she had over her element choked the anger he felt when she trapped the Kazekage in ice. Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo had enjoyed that immensely and constantly utilized it as a threat when they felt that Rasa was going overboard. The memory of the sheer power in her eyes still left him breathless when he remembered it (especially at night). From there he begun watching her even more closely than before. He started to notice that she entertained the children by eating through her masks, and how she easily became sun burned but still refused to remove her mask. The more he thought about her mask, the more curious he became about what was underneath.

Hikari had noticed the change in her escort. It was clear in the beginning that he was only doing it out of obligation, always keeping at a distance but still mindful about her privacy. Nowadays he had been more proactive, interacting more with the children, asking questions as she worked and had even offered to show her around Suna. He remained professional and polite and if not for the blaze in his eyes, she would have thought nothing more about it. What she didn’t understand was why it bothered her so much.

Baki made sure they spent more time together, showing her their markets, academy, and training grounds. He watched her take her time at each location purchasing local trinkets, speaking with the children, and even showed him personally why some swore that her presence on the field meant your time was up. One day, after a particularly brutal match, they were sitting in a cave on the training ground to cool off. He was sitting against the wall with her sitting in front of him and her hands pressed against his chest. Others had mentioned how soothing her healing charkra felt, and despite how often they had been in this position lately, he still had to avert his eyes from her form. This cave had become their favorite and he began to dream of this moment, with the green glow of her hands illuminating her eyes and the beam of the sun that seeped through the ceiling giving her the halo she deserved (she was his angel).

Hikari had kept her cool. She genuinely enjoyed her time with Baki, who was knowledgeable and polite and found herself looking forward to their discussions. He often told her stories passed down from their people and she found his frank but kind nature refreshing. After months together they had integrated into each others routine, until one day he didn’t show up outside her door for breakfast. She knew he had a mission the day before, but he always made it a point to come by for breakfast the day after he returned. A chill went down her spine when Chiyo came by that night to bring her to the hospital, her heart dropped when she saw his still form on the operating bed.

Baki woke up once during the operation and thought he was dead until he saw her standing at his side. He closed his eyes despite the pain, knowing that he would be fine if she was there (she would hit him when he tells her this later). The second time he woke up, she was sleeping with her arms resting on his bed and the moment his hand touched her head she got up in shock and instantly started checking him again. She kept her head down until he gently pulled her into his arms and felt her tears fall onto his chest. He hugged her tightly against his beating heart as she trembled from the freight (she never told him they lost him once on the table). The third time he woke up, she was still asleep in his arms but her mask was no longer on her face; he pressed a kiss onto her temple and tucked her impossibly close, not able to form words for how he felt.

Hikari stared at the family in front of her. The sealing was done. It was over. After spending 8 months in Suna, her job was done. She had checked the mother and son vigorously and had trained medics to watch over their condition with the promise that they could consult her through letters as needed. There was just one thing left for her to do.

They spent their first and last night together.

It had been beautiful, passionate, and tender, lasting until the sun began to peek through the horizon. By sunrise, only a note remained beside Baki.

Quietly, quietly I am leaving Just as quietly as I came Careful not to brush away with my sleeve The faintest wisp of a cloud

Authors Note:

I tried playing with a lot of things in this piece, and before you blame Hikari let! Me! Explain!

Hikari's status is neutral and she is very well known as THE Healer that doesn't align herself with any village. If she entered a relationship with Baki, not only would that be considered her "aligning" with Suna, and other villages may not be very accepting or feel threatened by that.

With Gaara just being born and still not knowing how to work with the Ichibi, Suna would be very vulnerable to sneak attacks or ambushes, and basically any attacks. So BOTH parties are aware their relationship wouldn't work (at this moment).

#wow this was long #TOTALLY made up for not reaching my goal yesterday :')#but yes more! angst!#cause apparently this list wants me to be in pain #50 day challenge #naruto #naruto fics #naruto drabbles #baki #baki drabbles #baki fics

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anerdinallherglory · 5 years ago

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Approaching Sun (25)

Author’s Note:The first day of SasuSaku month?! Yeah, I’ve been working my fingers to the bone to get this out tonight. Surprise! Summer has officially ended for me, so this will be my last chapter for a few months as I get back into the swing of teaching. So sadddd…. BUT I typed 12 pages for you guys and typed two chapters worth in one. And it’s a good one ;) Have a good rest of the summer. OUT.

Pairing: SasuSaku

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

Chapter 25: Without a Heart

Speaking with Satou was one of the most difficult things Sakura had ever done. Satou was angry at the world; angry at his Kazekage for involving their village in the war, angry at Konoha because of their relationship with Suna; angry at Sakura for not having been able to see his wife before she died and save her life. Everything Isao had told her about his father was true. Satou blamed everyone he could and detested his only child because of the constant memory he represented of Rina.

The man’s eyes had turned glassy once as he screamed and pointed a finger at the Kazekage who remained emotionless. But then Isao walked down the stairs, already ducking his head and cringing at his father��s voice. When Satou made eye contact with his son, the tears vanished, and he shot out of his seat and glared icily at the boy. “You—” he began, but then Gaara stood, reminding Satou of his presence.

The Kazekage decided that it would be best if Satou was removed from the children’s mental health clinic. He was sent across the street to the hospital where Sakura felt like it would be beneficial for the man to be attended to. Sakura was starting to realize that maybe children weren’t the only ones that benefited from a mental health clinic. How was there supposed to be hope for the next generation if the previous one passed on their grievance to their children?

She expressed this concern to Gaara as they walked together towards the Sunagakure entrance. The Kazekage had received the news about Isao from Kankuro before his brother left and when hearing that Satou had returned, Gaara knew he would most likely be seeking out the child. Gaara hadn’t been a moment too late when he, too, decided to make a trip to the children’s clinic. After reasoning with Satou, Gaara turned to Sakura and expressed his desire to take her to watch the sunset—something Kankuro had told him their guest had yet to do for herself. The Kazekage felt like the event would be a good respite for the both of them.

“To assume that peace would be enough for this generation has been our error in thinking,” Gaara responded thoughtfully, “However, peace has always been the ultimate goal to prevent more pain in the future. It will have to be enough for them.”

Sakura contemplated his response for a minute as they strode down the main street towards the western exit of the village. The ninja of the last war fought for this dream, but when a few took account of their losses and sacrifices, some believed that very dream to be a lie now that they suffered personally from unhappiness. Satou was not the first that Sakura had encountered to feel this way, but he was the only person that Sakura knew of to be taking it out on his own child, which in turn, without help might be damaged himself and angry later on. The steps that Sakura had already taken towards this epidemic were the right ones, but what more could she be doing now that she knew there was moreto do?

“It has been an inaccuracy,” she agreed as Gaara peered over at her change in facial expressions, “to think that only children could suffer. What if we included adults in our mental health program too?”

Gaara’s eyes tightened a fraction in thought as he considered her words, so she added, “It would be harder, but maybe somebody could help these people.”

Without even a second of hesitation, the sand-wielder commented, “Somebody like Naruto.”

Naruto. Somebody like Naruto who could reach down into someone’s soul and find the light there. Naruto, who had a permanent effect on everyone who he came in contact with. Naruto Uzumaki had been able to stir the hearts of Zabuza, Nagato, and Obito, inspiring them to fight for his dream. He was the ninja who never gave up on his friend and brought Sasuke back from the darkness. Even this very Kage, who walked casually beside her, had once been considered a demon before Naruto had gotten to him.

“Like youLord Kazekage.” Gaara’s expression of shock was what made Sakura giggle. Gaara had not been expecting anyone to ever compare him to the ninja he admired most.

He didn’t say anything, so Sakura decided to elaborate as they finally reached the canyon opening at the back of the village. “You remind me of him a lot, actually. Whenever you lead us to war after your speech, I had thought at the time that not even Naruto could have inspired so many people at one time. You have a gift.”

She could see that the words moved Gaara. His face lightened slightly as he nodded a thanks in her direction.

When the two of them finally made it through the rocky break in the walls, Sakura stopped dead on her feet at the long-awaited sight. The sunset was just how Kankuro had said it would be: absolutely beautiful. The sand dunes were high in the horizon, a dark, uneven backdrop for the sun to fall behind. The sun was currently balanced on the knife’s edge of the farthest peak, trailing a woven blanket of every color of orange behind it.

“Oh wow,” Sakura exclaimed as soon as she stepped out of the shadow and the auburn light illuminated her features. As she said it, Sakura began to hover suddenly as Gaara summoned up the sand at their feet, a compact disc suddenly materializing beneath them. Sakura had never been afraid of heights before, but when the floor shifted, her stomach almost came up her throat. Before she could even ask what was going on, Gaara was stepping off the sand cloud and onto the lowest of the two ridges of the jagged end of the north-west wall. The kunoichi tailed him quickly as the sand began to crumble, and Gaara walked ahead of her like he wasn’t quite aware of how unusual it was to fly people around on sand.

“You do this often?” Sakura called out as the sand platform blew away in the wind and she stood staring out at the vast expanse of desert that rolled in amber waves before her. She had never been this high up in her lifetime. Sakura felt like she was on top of the world as the evening breeze ruffled her hair and she turned to look over the tops of the stucco houses belonging to Suna.

“Sometimes when I need to get away and think, I come up here,” he announced, taking a seat a little down from where she stood, an arm propped on his knee as he too gazed out at the place that shared his name sake “Gaara of the Desert.” Even though Gaara was the Kazekage and had an official office, Sakura suddenly realized that she was beholding at a king who was sitting on his real throne. Sakura took that as her cue to do the same, so she plopped down too, choosing to dangle her legs over the edge of this giant seat.

“Thanks for bringing me up here,” she said after a second, realizing suddenly that he might not share this with many people.

Gaara offered her a small grin, “I never got to really thank you for what you did for my brother; what your team did for me.”

Ah. So that was it. When the Akatsuki came and abducted Gaara, Kankuro had been attacked and poisoned by Sasori. After developing an antidote that saved Kankuro’s life, Sakura had joined the rest of her team to help rescue the Kazekage. Even though Chiyo had been the one to technically revive Gaara by giving him her life, it seemed that the Kazekage still felt indebted to Team 7 and other leaf shinobi involved. That was why Gaara was being especially kind during this visit.

Sakura had seen Gaara several times before over the last couple of years and had met mostly with him during conferences or when he was around several advisors and council members. The last time she had convened with only him and his siblings, it was because Gaara had concerns about Sasuke (or rather unbeknownst to them at the time, it was actually a double of Sasuke.) Sakura supposed this was why she met with Gaara’s official and down-to-business persona more often than this normal, approachable version of him. It was so strange, Sakura thought as she observed the ninja a few feet away from her, how this leader with a heart had once been the monster Sakura had stared in the face as she stood guard over Sasuke. How different he was now in contrast to who he used to be. The Kazekage had a bigger love for this village now than he had ever possessed in hatred, and it was a vision that gave Sakura hope for her own goal to restore happiness to this generation and the one before. If Gaara and Sasuke could come back from such darkness, why couldn’t everyone else?

“You’re a friend,” Sakura told him, “and to be honest,” she confessed, “Naruto considers you one of his closest companions and your support of him and our village has been payback enough.”

And then Sakura told him about Naruto, how he was doing, what he had been up to recently, and what he was doing currently. Of course, Sakura couldn’t contain the news that had only been recently shared with Sakura, herself. Gaara was surprised and overjoyed to hear about the new member that Naruto and Hinata would soon welcome to their family.

And then the Kazekage admitted something to her that he had been thinking about doing in regards to family. “I wouldn’t be against adoption, myself. It’s something new I am considering.”

“Really?” Sakura beamed, delighted too for this man who would make any child an excellent father figure despite having a bad past with his own.

“The children’s clinic has had its own impact on me, you could say.”

Sakura smiled again at such a compliment and the Kazekage added rapidly, “I think I’ll wait a while yet to make an official decision. Something that big needs a lot of thought.”

Sakura couldn’t help but agree. Gaara was the Kazekage after all, and a very young one at that. His responsibilities grew by day and a child would definitely complicate things. Sakura also imagined that the council probably pressured him when it came to marriage and other long-term commitments. Everything would probably be filtered through his advisors, first.

Sakura sighed, thinking of her own future. She was on such unlevel ground with Sasuke, who knew if she would ever marry or have children with the love of her life. If not with him, would she ever find that sort of happiness with someone that lead to building a family? She had told Sasuke she wouldn’t move on, and maybe in her heart, she never would. If this was to be her outcome, then she could always adopt like Gaara. Maybe someone like Isao, who needed a mother desperately in their life, would be the child to make Sakura a mother.

It seemed Gaara’s main purpose of visiting was because he needed to talk to her about some intel, because he announced to her, “I’m afraid I’ll be rather occupied during the next few days; Kankuro too. We have had some trouble along the border between Sunagakure and the neighboring counties.”

Sakura’s ears pricked, and her eyes widened at the information. Her thoughts immediately jumped to Sasuke, who she imagined to be in the desert surrounding Suna this very minute. What if something had happened? Before her overanalytical brain could begin creating imaginary scenarios, Sakura asked, “What sort of trouble?”

He clarified by saying, “Rumors mostly about travelers. A few have been stirring up trouble as they pass through local towns. Kankuro has gone to investigate these reports.”

Sakura sincerely hoped this had nothing to do with the masked ninja that had attacked her and Sasuke during their passage through Tanigakure. She quickly relayed the story to Gaara, recalling all the details as if it had only occurred yesterday. The Kazekage listened patiently and even asked her to illustrate the strangers several times so he could commit the description to memory.

“I should have mentioned it earlier,” she apologized once she finished conveying the distressing event.

“I’m just glad you did,” the Kazekage solaced positively. “I’ll inform Kankuro immediately.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sasuke Uchiha had been stuck in that damn core dimension for three nights straight. After his failed attempt to circumvent it completely by transporting directly to Kaguya’s connected sand dimension, Sasuke had spent the night laying on his back in the dirt. As he rested immobilized in the sand, Sasuke remembered how Kakashi used to get physically after overusing his sharingan; his former sensei, not being an Uchiha, would be bedridden for days as the result of depleted chakra levels. Sasuke knew that the same thing was happening to him. According to Hogoromo, Sasuke was the reincarnation of Indra, and an Uchiha at that, and was therefore a natural candidate for the Rinnegan once Hogoromo’s chakra had been introduced. In other words, it wasn’t an issue of heritage that was causing this fatigue, but he knew it was similar to Kakashi’s situation in the matter that Sasuke was overusing a power that had not once belonged to him. More simply, it was like overusing the Mangekyo once gained; that is until one achieved the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan through transplant of a relative’s eyes and then no longer experienced the negative side effects.

In any case, Sasuke hadn’t been able to hardly move the first night after the attempt and had contemplated just how he would be able to achieve the next step in this dimension traveling process. First, he desperately needed more chakra. Granted, he had never been able to do what he had done before, and Sasuke believed that his theory of being in the dimension’s double (the desert) was what had made summoning its portal even possible. He needed more chakra; had to have it despite his efforts around it. It was the only way to pull this off.

On the second and third nights, Sasuke had managed to walk over and find a small incline of rock and took shelter under the ledge while he rested. Sasuke had thought that if he recovered quickly enough, he might try teleporting to the sand dimension a second time at the same spot where the rift in time-space might be weaker now. Maybe thatwas his next step. But when the next morning came, and Sasuke could manage heavy walking, he found himself stumbling slowly across the vast red dune dimension in the opposite direction—back south towards Sunagakure. While his body worked up enough chakra to teleport back into his own realm, Sasuke had decided to hike the distance in this dimension, so that when he teleported, he wouldn’t have much travel time left towards the village.

Sasuke didn’t admit to himself at first that it was his reoccurring thoughts of Sakura that had him calling it quits early. The Uchiha had dreamt another delusion again where Sakura needed his protection from an unknown enemy and when Sasuke woke, he had reasoned with himself that it was all imaginary and there was no need to worry. Regardless, Sasuke found himself on his feet soon afterwards. He knew without a doubt that his female companion was more than capable of taking care of herself and was probably focused on her own work without a second thought about him, but his worry still persisted. Sasuke felt that he at least needed to check on her just to make sure that she was being careful, cautious, and of course, not overworking herself. Naruto and Kakashi would want him to while she was in his care, right?

What Sasuke also told himself as he neared the end of his journey, was that he needed time to contemplate his current issue with chakra reserves and recover completely anyway. Maybe Sakura could advise him in this entire situation, being one of the world’s leading experts in medical science.

When the tomoes finally reappeared on his Rinnegan, Sasuke breathed in and ripped a hole in space, a black vortex spiraling in the air before him. When Sasuke stepped through the portal, he reappeared on the dunes bordering the northern wall of the Sand Village. Sasuke breathed in the sudden surge of oxygen blown to him from the western wind and noticed that the sun had almost completely set. It was dusk now and a purple sky greeted his return. A few minutes more and darkness would completely settle on the Sand Village. Sasuke thought it would be best if he headed straight to his lodgings since that was where Sakura would soon be heading if she was leaving the hospital. Or at least, he hoped so.

When Sasuke made his way along the wall towards the western opening—the same path he had taken on his way out of the village—he soon realized his assumption about Sakura’s current location had been wrong. Her voice rang like a familiar hailing bell somewhere in the air above him, and when he located it as he rounded the corner, his relief was a palpable weight off his shoulders. His pink-haired teammate was sitting up on top of a bluff near the exit, unhurt and completely unaware of his presence as she watched the sun sink below the mountains of sand at his right. The very next second Sasuke realized that she was talking to a person sitting next to her and Sasuke’s relief turned acid as he narrowed his eyes at Gaara, the Kazekage who was apparently partaking in the sunset view with her.

So, he thought to himself, Sakura had been fine all along. The entire trek here he had been thinking of her, and it made Sasuke a little bitter to see her free from the same type of thinking. From the looks of it, she was morethan fine.

Sasuke checked his unmasked glare then, because he was suddenly peering up into the scrutinizing assessment of the silent Kazekage, who had been observing every emotion that Sasuke had let slip onto his face. In the second that Sasuke’s eyes had fallen on Sakura, Gaara must have sensed the Uchiha’s presence and had focused on him before Sasuke had even registered the sand-wielder. Sasuke wiped his expression immediately with embarrassment of being caught, inclining a respectful nod towards the ninja who was currently their host. Sasuke should be grateful to the man for looking after her, not showing him disrespect.

Gaara turned to Sakura then, mumbling something quietly that not even Sasuke could register. He assumed it was a farewell because the Kazekage stood as Sakura gazed up at him, still oblivious to the eyes that watched her from below. Gaara picked a kunai out of his pocket and stuck it into the ground beside her before stepping out onto a platform of sand that materialized before him. With a gesture towards Sakura, Gaara lowered himself on the other side of the wall and disappeared over the tops of the village buildings.

Just as Gaara had anticipated, Sasuke summoned the small amount of chakra it possessed to switch places with the kunai that Gaara had put in place for him; the simple act made Sasuke feel even more guilty for the look he gave him seconds earlier. The Uchiha’s guilt changed to shame when he appeared on his feet beside his travelling companion and Sakura jumped up with joy at seeing him suddenly beside her.

“Sasuke?” she exclaimed, walking up to him and beaming up at him. “I didn’t know you were back!”

“Just arrived,” he grunted tiredly, instantly relaxing by taking Gaara’s seat on the ledge. “Why are you up here?”

“To watch the sunset,” she innocently gestured outward towards the sky. “I hadn’t done so yet, so Gaara brought me. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Sasuke tried not to be annoyed at that statement. In what circumstances had the Kazekage or Sakura thought it a good idea to bring up sunset viewing? Sasuke supposed he still wasa little bothered because before he could stop them, the words came out. “And what did the Kazekage say?”

Sakura crouched down on her knees beside him and began explaining their entire conversation. Sasuke’s irritation was replaced with intrigue as Sakura educated Sasuke about the reports of criminal-like activity on the outskirts of the village. Gaara had made the effort to talk to her about this because it would help explain his and Kankuro’s upcoming absence over the next few days as they investigated the rumors. Sakura had also informed the Kazekage about their most recent encounter with strange ninja. At the mention of it, Sasuke was just relieved to hear that ninja hadn’t made an appearance here while he was away. Sasuke also felt relieved that the entire situation was now in the Kazekage’s hands. Perhaps the encounter with their attackers had been a random occurrence after all and Sasuke wouldn’t have to hear anything more about it.

As she continued to catch him up, Sasuke leaned wearily against the wall of rock behind him and watched her talk from the corner of his eye. Sasuke noticed abruptly that she was wearing the clothes that he had bought for her before he left. Despite the plainness of the style, she made them work wonderfully and Sasuke was thankful that he had guessed the fit right. The looser, more modest top had been intentionally picked and swayed around her agreeably. The light was fading now as stars began to prickle the dark purple horizon and a large rosy moon, too, made an appearance on the skyline. Sakura’s braided hair was a shade darker in the dimness and Sasuke recognized that it was longer now, just below her shoulders.

Soft fingers suddenly brushing his had Sasuke refocusing on Sakura’s words. Her expression was one of concern as she assessed him for any signs of injury, a lifelong habit. As Sakura leaned forward with fretful assessment, Sasuke pressed the fingertips reassuringly that dangled over his palm. “Just a little tired is all,” he admitted.

Sakura didn’t take her hand away as she scooted back against the wall beside him. Sasuke didn’t move his either, even though he tried desperately to convince himself to. He really shouldn’t have grasped her fingers, Sasuke told himself. But this wasn’t bad, was it? Their hands were just grazing one another; that didn’t mean they were holding hands. He wasn’t violating a boundary by resting his knuckles against hers.

“Tell me,” she spoke evenly, seemingly unaffected by their sudden nearness, “what you’ve been doing for the past three days.”

And so he did. All of it. Her face changed to one of uneasiness again as he explained why his absence was so long. He had run out of chakra and spent two days waiting for enough of it to return before he could make the voyage back. He enlightened her about his plan for the next attempt, trying it twice in succession, the first to open the door, and the second effort a day later while using the same door to see if that would get him further.

When Sakura pulled away her hand abruptly and placed it on her leg, Sasuke frowned and fisted his own in response. He backtracked, trying desperately to remember what he might have said that would make her upset. Sasuke instantly knew something was wrong and wanted to ask her about it, but Sasuke had a sinking feeling that it was related to him.

He was saved the trouble of asking as Sakura beheld the sky again and said quietly, “You didn’t say goodbye. I didn’t know that you had left.”

Sasuke looked down into his lap, fisted hand now resting on his knee. The Sasuke a few years ago would have instantly responded with “I don’t have to tell you anything” but he wasn’t that Sasuke anymore. He wanted to tell her that he had tried to go to her but had lost his nerve when Kankuro came out of the greenhouse and caught him looking for her. The reality was that he didn’t have enough steel to stray from the comfort zone of his reserved behavior in front of others. Maybe privately, just between them, Sasuke could have found her and told her he was leaving. But how could he explain that to her without looking like a total coward?

When he hesitated to reply, Sakura whispered in the darkness. “I thought we had a ‘partnership.’”

He returned his gaze to her then, recalling their conversation on the way here about a trust that involved the both of them working together. That’s what he had wanted. A partnership where he wasn’t the sole receiver. But how could a partnership work while they were away on separate missions? He had his own mission and she had hers. Sasuke couldn’t help but feel annoyed about this entire circumstance. Hadn’t he just come back to check on her? Wasn’t he getting distracted from the one goal that the entire world depended on him for?

“I’m sorry,” he admitted quietly. Then he added, “This is how it is for me. I have to leave when I can—”

“You can at least tell me you’re leaving,” Sakura interrupted, still not making eye contact with him. It unnerved him for her to do so. She alwaysmade eye contact with him. “I understand that you have to leave; I don’t expect any different. But a part of a partnership is communication.”

Communication? Between two people who couldn’t ever really be together? He cared about Sakura; he really did. If all she wanted was communication, couldn’t Sasuke give her that? Isn’t that what she had asked of him back in the Leaf too? “Stop dodging me,” she had tried to bargain. More of her words rang in his memory: "We don't have to be together to love each other, Sasuke.” So, maybe they didn’t, but communication alone wasn’t a relationship that Sakura deserved.

She added again at his silence, “Remember when I had run off to bathe in the woods and you came to find me?” Sasuke instantly wanted to say ‘no’ just out of mortification but Sakura finished by saying, “You had asked me to tell you where I was going before I ran off. How you felt in that moment is how I felt when I realized that you weren’t coming back to our room. I need you to do at least that—to tell me you’re leaving.”

Sasuke’s heart softened and his resolved wavered. It was the imagining of her in that equal amount of distress that had the Uchiha fessing up. “I meant to say goodbye. I went to the greenhouse, but…you were talking to people—so.”

Sakura turned to meet his eyes then and Sasuke felt both shyness and instant relief at the action. To the Uchiha, it was a sign that Sakura’s resentment was passing. Sasuke thought that he might personally prefer the animated angry Sakura that gave him a black eye to this silent one.

“You did?” she asked, her voice lightening considerably. She searched his face for more information that Sasuke didn’t want to give her. The whole point was that he didn’t right?

Sasuke’s smirk was a reaction that his body didn’t make often. “I’ll leave a note next time.” He would do at least that for her—say goodbye in some way.

“I’ll take it,” she smiled in response, elbowing him in the chest and leaning her side fully against his own despite his surprised expression. She ignored him and watched the moon’s progression as it turned into a snowy white, all color gone from the atmosphere now. Her warmth was a comfort that Sasuke hadn’t realized he’d missed while he was away. When they had parted, Sasuke had felt like he had lost his arm again, and now, it felt like a limb had been given back to him. No, he realized, not a limb. An organ. She was one of several pieces of his heart, a valve that Sasuke knew he couldn’t live without—didn’t want to live without. But he had to. Like Itachi had for the world, Sasuke would have to cut out his heart and learn to live without it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sakura found herself incredibly nervous as they made their way through the dim alleyways of Sunagakure towards their housing. Unlike Konoha, whose evening streets were alive with activity and lights, only the occasional lantern lit a window in the Sand Village. Sakura theorized that perhaps it was a fire risk to brighten the streets with firelight being that heavy winds traveled between buildings and rushed houses. The wind was especially strong at this very moment as she and Sasuke strode up the path towards the little inn adjacent to the hospital. It didn’t seem to be bothering Sasuke much; the only thing that flapped around him was his poncho. Sakura, on the other hand, clung desperately to her unravelling hair that was a perfect metaphorical illustration for her unraveling nerves.

“Welcome back sir!” Chie exclaimed as the two of them entered, her eyes quickly assessing Sasuke’s unexpected return. Sakura couldn’t help but notice how recurrently dead the place seemed despite the inn-keeper’s claim of full capacity four days ago.

Sakura expressed her thoughts to Sasuke as they made the climb together up the two flights of stairs. She only spoke because there wasn’t anything else she could think to say. “Don’t you feel something off about this place? All the doors are shut like they’re full, but I haven’t met a single soul while here.”

Sasuke answered emotionlessly with, “That’s because no one else is here; at least not on our floor. I think it’s intentional.”

Sakura blinked at that statement. “Our host seemed certain that we had one of the last remaining rooms. What do you mean by intentional?”

“Gaara vacated the place. I thought at first he did it because of safety measures, but I’m not sure.”

Safety from what? Sakura frowned when she quickly realized Sasuke was talking about himself. Did the Kazekage really think that lowly of the ex-convict Uchiha that he would actually evacuate an inn? Sakura chose to give Gaara, the man who had taken her to see the sunset, the benefit of the doubt. It seemed Sasuke was doing the same. She blushed as she considered the other possibility. The only other conclusion she could make was that Kankuro and Gaara had taken the time to ensure their safety… or privacy. That thought did not help her tangled anxiety.

When Sasuke opened the door to their room and walked in, Sakura couldn’t help but hesitate. He glanced back at her, reading her as easily as a book, and in response, Sakura giggled awkwardly/apprehensively before crossing the threshold and closing the door behind her.

After a few minutes of mutual silence, Sakura suggested hurriedly, “How about you take a seat and I’ll check on you really quick before you go to sleep. Just to make sure you’re okay.”

He nodded, possibly too tired to argue with her. The Uchiha was practically dead on his feet and it was hard to tell if he was experiencing even a fraction of the turmoil that was currently taking place inside of Sakura’s stomach. It hadbeen more obvious when they first stayed together; she was the collected one and Sasuke had tossed on the floor all night. Now, it seemed it was reversed.

Her bed, she noticed was messily ruffled from two nights ago; she hadn’t been able to tidy it that morning because she was late and then had stayed at the hospital last night with Isao. Sasuke turned to his own bed instead, seating himself and beginning to remove his shoes. He reached behind him and pulled the poncho over his head, leaving behind the black high-necked long sleeve. Slipping a thumb up under his hair wrap, he removed the firm binding and sand showered from his hair. He shook it all loose and then dusted the loose sand off his pants and quilt.

Taking a panicky breath, Sakura made her way over to him and Sasuke stared indifferently off into space as she touched his forehead with her glowing fingers. He sighed unexpectedly and closed his eyes at her attempt to soothe the pulsing behind his forehead.

“Does that feel better?” she asked him, taking the palm of her hand and closing his eyelids with it. The green light of her jutsu flared again, and Sakura focused her energy to the back of Sasuke’s Rinnegan, soothing the optic nerve and the pathways connected to the brain.

She got an exhausted mumble in response to her question, which made Sakura grin. “I think I have a solution for your chakra depletion, too,” the kunoichi announced as she pulled forward Sasuke’s left shoulder. “It’s been a while. Let’s have a quick look at this arm.”

“You do?” he responded to her first statement, a small spike of energy returning as Sasuke shrugged off his undershirt, giving her easy access to the firm bandaging around what remained of his bicep.

“They’re not the best tasting, but I can make you my own version of the Military Ration Pills, or food pills, if you’d rather,” she offered, simultaneously stripping the dressings and placing a hand under his arm and raising it so she could easily observe the scar tissue. Sakura was pleased with the overall healing of this injury, but she still hoped that she might be able to rid Sasuke of the brutal scarring one day if he ever let her.

“The purpose of the food pills is to supply you with chakra for several days in succession. You’ll experience the same exhaustion afterwards, but these will help you get the chakra you need for a short period of time. You’ll have to eat many, but they should do the trick.” She explained all this while rewrapping the dismembered limb. “I first made them for Naruto back when he was trying to master chakra shape transformation while using shadowclones.”

Sasuke “tsk”ed at their headstrong friend and Sakura smiled again. “You can come with me tomorrow to the greenhouse, and I’ll cook you up a batch.”

. . . . . . . . .

Sasuke nodded sleepily at her offer. He had been correct in his theory that if anyone could help him figure out a solution to his current circumstances, it would be Sakura. Sasuke was knowledgeable about the use of food pills, but they weren’t the easiest things to come by; in fact, Konoha’s medics only made so many a year and Sasuke honestly hadn’t even took them into consideration. He supposed situations changed when you had a medic as a friend and she just happened to make a special recipe of food pills.

“There,” she nodded while tying off the end of his new bandage. Sasuke lulled at the feeling of her fingers dancing over his skin with such professional practice. He did a poor job of the wrappings with one arm, so it was nice to have someone else do it for once.

Sasuke’s fatigue rapidly faded as the pink-haired medic leaned forward to release his arm and her shirt slid slightly to the left across her collarbone. Spotting the dark discoloration of a bruise just beneath the bone, Sasuke’s eyes widened and his right hand shot out and grabbed Sakura’s elbow before she could turn completely around.

“What is that?” Sasuke scowled, standing as he rotated Sakura’s body to fully face him again.

“What?” she asked unknowingly, disquiet jumping to the planes of her face at his sudden forcefulness.

“This,” he growled, releasing her elbow and using the end of his fingers to move the fabric away from her skin. As Sasuke placed his fingertips next to the mark, he couldn’t help but compare the size of them to the spot, and he made the connection almost instantly.

“Oh,” Sakura frowned down at the purple blotch, suddenly realizing the bruise was there herself. “That’s— I didn’t realize—” she began, moving away from his touch, then stopped her words when she saw the murderous stare he was giving the miniscule injury.

“Who did that to you?” he breathed, red beginning to stain his vision. There was an electricity forming beneath his skin and Sasuke couldn’t breathe. Somebody had shovedtheir fingers into her chest. Bruised her. In that moment, Sasuke knew instantly that he’d find and mutilate that person, whoever it was, accident or not, for even daring to lay their hands on her.

“Sasuke,” Sakura was saying, trying to reach him despite the ringing in his ears. “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise me you’re not going to overrea—”

Making eye contact with her again, Sasuke stepped up to her and requested a second time for the name he was wanting, “Who was it?”

There was a moment of frigid silence between them as they stood searching each other’s eyes. And then Sakura’s hands found his waist and she slid them across his sides and buried her head in his chest. She clutched his bare back and spoke into his skin. “Stop. Let me explain.”

She clung to him like a stubborn leach as Sasuke tried remove her from his body. He tried reaching his arm down between them to pry her off, but her forearms remained secure around him. Damn her inhuman strength. His anger began to ebb as she awkwardly mumbled the story into his ribcage. During their skirmish, they had somehow ended up on the ground, and Sakura pinned his good arm to his side, pissing the Uchiha off because he knew that she was taking advantage of his one-arm-ness. The entire time Sakura described her experience with an unnamed patient’sunnamed father, Sasuke was crossly forced to listen to the episode via wrestling. Their tussle-talk ended when the Uchiha finally was made to agree with: “I promise I won’t do anything, just get off me.”

When her weight suddenly removed from his back and Sasuke flipped over with a huge breath of air, he shot her a glare. “Don’t ever do that again,” he hissed in the kunoichi’s direction as she grinned embarrassingly down at him.

She reached down for his hand and he reluctantly gave it to her. She was just fortunate that Sasuke was too tired to knock her hand away. As she helped him to his feet, she said, “I’m flattered at your concern, but I can’t have you going chunin-exam psycho right now—”

“What?!” he growled, and she dropped his hand. Stalking over to his bed, Sasuke sat firmly down and propped his pouty chin into his palm, feeling suddenly even more tired than before. “I don’t go psycho,” he grumbled despite the fact that they both knew thatwas an obvious lie. He’d gone crazyplenty of times. “And I’m not concerned,” he spit out angrily, tossing a pillow down on his bed and flipping onto his stomach. “Naruto and Kakashi would be—”

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved off his excuse and Sasuke stopped speaking; he still grumpily narrowed his eyes at her over the rim of his pillow before turning on his side completely, cutting off all conversation.

She didn’t take the hint, because seconds later she announced that she was showering and then going to bed.

“Hn,” he responded with more force and exasperation than he really needed to.

Okay, so, maybe he had gone just a little pre-psycho to this whole bruise situation. Sakura referenced the chunin exams and Sasuke recalled the incident she specified. When Sasuke had woken from his slumber, it was the effects of the cursemark that had the Uchiha turning his wrath on their enemies with fierce brutality. It was the rush of dark power that had turned Sasuke into a murderous “psycho.” So what was his problem now? A year ago, he wouldn’t have displayed something even close to the same reaction. He would have blamed Sakura for getting herself into the situation to begin with, and at the most, may have even told her to be more careful who she pissed off. But just a few minutes ago, Sasuke had felt like he did back in the Forest of Death, and yet he no longer had the cursemark. So why?

Sasuke had once always felt the desire to protect Sakura and maybe his reaction was just that feeling returning again now that they were friends again. It’s not just that, his own voice enlightened him.

Sasuke had in fact gone after Sakura when he heard about Kido kidnapping her, but the worst he had done in retaliation was surround ninja with fire and use genjutsu on one of them. But a few minutes ago… he was contemplating just how he’d stab more than fingers into the person’s chest who’d touched her.

Sasuke breathed out his anger again, hoping it would help him stop being so intense about it.

Sasuke couldn’t fall asleep as he tried to contemplate any other reason that would explain his actions besides the obvious answer. It had been obvious for some time now honestly, but Sasuke had denied it up until this point. Sasuke was in love with Sakura, and an Uchiha didn’t need to have a cursemark to be irrational when someone threatened his loved one. It had been a slow progression, but Sasuke had been slowly allowing himself to believe and accept the truth he’d always known. But what could he do about it now?

When Sakura finished showering, Sasuke pretended to doze heavily, so she put out the lights and padded lightly across the moonlit floor to her own bed. Despite how exhausted Sasuke was, he would never forget the night where he listened to the sound of Sakura’s even breathing as his heart ached, knowing that what he wanted, Sasuke could never have.

#approachingsun #approaching sun #sasusakumonth #sasusaku #ssfanfiction #sasusakufanfiction #naruto #Naruto Shippuden #postshinobiworldwar #sasusakutravel #sasusakumonth2019 #Sakura Haruno #Sasuke Uchiha #sasuke and sakura #sakura uchiha #sakura hiden #sasukeshinden #sasuke shinden

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ships-inside-your-head · 6 years ago

Text

to evade death’s hands

@awkward-toshinori

Toshinori was aware that he had saved Izuku from being choking to death from mucus that day - or was it more of a feeling like drowning? He was not sure, but all he knew was that his boy would be dead just because a villain wanted to abuse him as a living puppet. A chill of ice spread in him when he thought of it. Of course, the other boy almost died too because of his mistake, but he did not have the emotional bond to that kid, which linked him to the little green-haired one.

Young Midoriya had impressed him at that time and every time Toshinori watched him, as he cleaned this beach, which the blond only vaguely remembered clean, then a warmth spread through him. He could only be proud of him for doing all this on his own, without being able to call a quirk his own, and he made such progress, even though it probably did not seem like that to the boy himself.

He was glad that he had not taken his discharge too much to heart at the beginning. He knew very well the statistics that showed how few quirkless children and adolescents grew up. Many died at a young age commiting suicide, because they were victims of society, who believed that they were worth less - and those who reached adulthood could produce little in life, and in most cases had depression and it broke his heart. He could understand the pain of these people, especially when he thought back to his childhood, even if it was not as catastrophic as it was today.

And when he saw the boy gratefully accepting the bottle of water he handed to him and giving him a beaming smile, which brightened his tired face, he was grateful that he had walked under the bridge that day, so as not to meet the crowds, because they showed only fear and discomfort to his true appearance. He was thankful that he had met Midoriya Izuku on that fateful day and saved his life. ✩ Just in time, he hurried to the office of policeman Naomasa Tsukauchi, with whom he actually wanted to meet a few minutes ago, who happened to be his best friend and knew as much as any of his secrets and kept them as if they were a treasure and Toshinori was grateful for that.

"S-sorry, Tsukauchi-kun, I had to quickly stop a villain after I left Young Midori-", he breathed quickly, coughing as he put the paper cup of fresh coffee on the table, which the dark-haired took gratefully before his eyes slid over the figure of the hero and stared at him in surprise.

Toshinori paused when he saw the look. "Is something?" He asked, his voice taking on a more serious tone than before.

"Nothing bad, only ... you look better," Tsukauchi confessed, and the blond began to stammer. "W-what?", He began to cough again, this time strong enough that a bit of blood appeared and immediately Naomasa jumped up to hand him a handkerchief, which he always carried with him for a case like this.

"Thank you, my friend ..." Toshinori muttered after he had finished and sat opposite his best friend. "But please ... explain what you mean."

"You look healthier like you eat more. You have not looked so good for years, "explained his counterpart. The hero looked at him with dread, before laughing embarrassed and rubbing his neck. "That may be the case, Young Midoriya sometimes brings me food, which I can tolerate. I just can not figure out if he makes it or his mother. "

Naomasa smiled. "It's good. Glad to hear you allow someone to take care of you. "

The only answer was a shy smile. ✩ Some time later, Toshinori injured himself in a fight against an unknown villain, whom he was quick to arrest, but thevillain’s quirk that had to do with alkalis put a damper on him, even after flushing it with enough water. So he had no choice but to face Recovery Girl to get healed.

When she saw him, the older heroine merely sighed before pressing a kiss on his cheek. The weariness took possession of him immediately, but he did not feel as exhausted as he had the other times before. He managed to smile at Chiyo Shuzenji before her watchful eyes slid over his face.

"Hm. Strange, "she said simply, and instantly he tensed his muscles to be ready if the case arose. He was not sure what exactly, but he was always ready when he had to.

"What's weird?" He asked, staring intently at her with his electric blue eyes, and she gave him a slight grin.

"You're more rested than usual. Do you sleep more?" She asked him and he could not really interpret her expression.

He ducked his head, but still hesitated a bit with the answer. “... my successor is already so far in training and the responsibility that sometimes I can safely take a nap on the beach without anything happening immediately. Young Midoriya assures me every time that he would wake me up in case something should happen. So yes, I probably get more sleep than before. "

She hummed contentedly to herself. "Well."

When he asked why she was so interested, she skillfully ignored him and merely gave him a mysterious smile. ✩

"Ah, All Might! Come in! "It happily came with the ever-present grin of the director of U.A. and Toshinori did as he was told. The blonde bowed his head to the animal, which he acknowledged with a polite smile.

"A little bird told me that you've already found a potential successor," Nezu said, offering his guest a perfectly prepared tea, not that the blonde had ever expected anything else. "Are you continuing to pursue the plan to become a teacher here next year?" The white creature asked, the smile never leaving his face.

"Oh, of course I do! My Boy is trying to enroll here because it's his dream school and I hope he can do it, but ... we'll have to wait and even if he had to go to another heroes' school, I'd support him anyway. "

Nezu took a sip of his tea. "Sounds like you're serious about the boy."

"Oh, that's right! I'll give him One For All, whether he succeeds in the entrance exam or not, because I'm sure he'll become a great hero. He is already a good man, "with these words Toshinori beamed across his face. "I'll do anything to support and raise him!"

"It seems to me as if you had found a new task. That's good, "he said, taking another sip of his tea and shoving some notes to Toshinori.

"We have to discuss the curriculum ..." ✩ When Toshinori came home one night after watching Izuku practice and giving him tips, he got a huge shock when his old homeroom teacher, Gran Torino, was sitting on his kitchen counter and eating Taiyaki with a grim expression, which he had to brought with him, because the blonde could not eat these treats himself anymore.

"G-gran Torino!" He exclaimed loudly, and the familiar fear rose in him as he immediately remembered the brutal training he had to go through with his old mentor. In the end it had helped him, he did not deny that, but ... this method had prevented him from seeing the man as a father, instead seeing only a mentor, unlike Nana, who had been both a mother and a mentor.

"Toshinori!" The old man growled in his deep voice, his grim expression turning to surprise as he saw the blonde.

"Good that you do not rot away any longer," he grumbled, jumping off the counter and walking past the # 1 hero, flailing his cane against his legs, causing him to flinch and heading toward the door.

"W-what? Gran Torino? What did you want here, what- ", continued the younger, but stopped because the door fell loudly with a crash and Toshinori was still standing in the kitchen and did not understand what had just happened.

"What the ...," he began in confusion, but interrupted himself with a shake of the head. He had not understood his mentor when he was younger, but over the years he became more and more eccentric, and he was less and less able to understand him. Maybe that had something to do with the decline in contact between them, he was not sure. ✩ Toshinori realized a few things when he recalled the words of his confidants, after Izuku had approached him one morning with the words, "All Might, you look well today!" Then the little greenhaired man beamed at him and he could not help but laugh out loud.

"That's true! Since I've known you, I'm paying more attention to myself! "He said cheerfully, and only seconds later he realized what he had said and what that meant.

Izuku looked surprised at first, then smiled delightedly what the elder returned. "Then we'll start today's training!" He said, and enthusiastically the boy started cleaning the beach. He let himself sink into the sand instead.

He paid more attention to himself since he met Izuku and decided to train him as his successor. But why? It's true that the boy kept giving him food, but he could have refused anytime, but he did not. It was also true that he slept more often, because he often took a nap here on the beach. Before, he would never have believed that he could relax in a public place so that he really slept peacefully.

Toshinori had started to take more care of himself, to ... what? To live longer? To accompany the boy as long as possible on his way to Pro? He thought of Gran Torino's words, as well as those of Nezu. Yes, he had a new job, but had he gotten so bad that he let himself go so that he just ... rotted? He had not noticed. If that was true, then he could slowly begin to understand why everyone was so stubborn that he took care of himself.

The face of his former sidekick Sir Nighteye briefly emerged in his mind's eye and he winced violently. They had not parted well, because he was too eager to work as a hero again, while his friend had begged him to retire. He ignored it and lost a valuable friend.

Only now did he realize how close he was to dying, and only by his ignorance and stubbornness alone. He just barely jumped out of death’s hands. A little bit longer and it would have been all over. And all of this he owed to this hopeful, determined teenager.

His electric blue eyes remained on the figure of his successor.

No.

At this point, one could not only speak of his successor. Izuku was so much more and it was only now that he noticed. He knew that he was not the best at interpersonal relationships, but now he finally understood what the child was to him.

Izuku was his boy, his successor, his son in everything but blood.

But more importantly, he was all of his hope.

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vesperlionheart · 6 years ago

Text

Let's Meet At the Witches' Gathering - SasoSaku

Sasori watched in muted fascination as the puppets pulled on the chains connected to the woman’s wrists. It was so unusual to see his grandmother’s puppets employed in such a way. Chiyo was an older woman and not nearly as fit as she once was, but it looks like she went out hunting.

“It’s the last time, hopefully.”

Sasori turned to see the wrinkles around his grandmother’s mouth tug in a familiar grin. Her eyes were hidden in shadow, but he could tell where they landed. She was watching the woman the puppets brought in just like he was.

“Last time what?” he asked, playing dumb.

“Don’t act cute, it’s unnecessary,” Chiyo snapped. “You know what I’m talking about. This was the last time I’ll have to use my puppets.”

Sasori nodded slowly, and then stilled. “Why?”

Chiyo did her best to bend only enough so she was level with his eyes. She touched his shoulder and pointed the her puppets. “That woman there, the one in chains, she’ll take my place and protect this home.”

In his heart something rubbed the wrong way. His parents were supposed to protect his house. Mom and dad were supposed to come home to keep them all safe. Chiyo could do it when they were busy, but they didn’t need an outsider. They told him his parents weren’t coming back but he wasn’t sure what they meant by that. Mom and dad would always come back for him. Anyone else was unnecessary.

“I don’t like her.”

Chiyo cackled. “She probably doesn’t like you much either, brat. You think those chains are for decoration. I fought tooth and nail to get her under like that. I needed help in the end, but that’s not important. Her magic is blocked and she’s as good as can be like that.”

The puppets stopped outside the door that lead down to the basement cellars. Some were stocked with food, others were barred in with metal to keep livestock penned. If she was in chains that was probably where they would take her.

The puppets had to pause at the door while one of them undid the locks and lifted the latches. In that pause, she flexed her wrists and turned sharply, glaring over her shoulder up to the higher levels where Chiyo watched on with Sasori. Her eyes flared with magic that made them bright enough to see the color of, even from so far away. Her eyes were emerald fires that hated him to his core, he could tell.

The puppet tugged on her chains and she turned, snarling. Sasori watched as she dug her heels into the ground and pulled back with all her might, stripped of all her magic and as feeble as any other human. She was valiant in her efforts, thrashing and kicking when another puppet picked her up off her feet. She bit at what she could and tried her damnedest to get away. They tugged her down and he watched as she caught the edge of the doorway, nails digging into the doorframe. She held fast and it made Chiyo annoyed enough to flick her wrist and give the puppets a new command. It kicked her in the face and Sasori watched as she tumbled down the stairs to the cellar.

“I don’t think she wants to be here.”

Chiyo laughed at his simple words, reaching out to ruffle his short red hair. “You think so? What gave it away, the kicking or the screaming?”

“Why did you take her? She’s not going to help us.”

“She will if she wants those shackles off. Plus, she was too useful to ignore. Her talents were going to waste. I told you of the hidden villages, didn’t I? She was from one of the fallen ones.”

Sasori paused, recalling the stories his mother would tell him before bed, only to be interrupted by Chiyo inserting all the dramatic and tragic details. The hidden villages were where wizards, witches, sorcerers and magic kin of all sorts trained and worked until the purge. Government officials didn’t trust organized armies that they couldn’t understand, so all the witches were burned.

The last hidden village fell almost a hundred years ago, (eighty nine years actually,) but Leaf was one of the first to go under.

“How can that be? She doesn’t look that old!” he exclaimed. She had the smooth face of a woman just leaving her teenage years behind.

“I told you, she’s a witch. How old so you think I am, brat?”

Sasori’s excitement paused to answer in the most dull monotone possible. “Older than dirt.”

Chiyo cried out and slapped the side of Sasori’s head. “Petty brat. See if I ever do anything nice for you after this. Just for that I’m not introducing you to her for another eight days.”

“Why would I want to be introduced to someone like her? She hates us and I don’t care about someone like that.”

“Don’t lie, you’re interested in learning about her immortality, aren’t you?”

“Th-that’s it though!”

He flushed, knowing that he had been found out. His grandmother already knew about his fascination with things that couldn’t decay, like her puppets. Chiyo herself was over two hundred and forty years old, but the coven she had been born into weren’t known for their unending youth or long lifespans. Those from the land of whirlpools and leaves were more long lived than others.

“Keep to your studies and learn your manners. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon. A week or two in the dark and she’ll be in a better mood to discuss terms for cooperation.”

“Can’t you just make her do your stuff for you?”

Chiyo stepped away from the railing and Sasori moved as well to follow her back inside, out of the noon day sun. “I could compel her to move like my puppets, but not even I with all my powers can bend the will of another. That’s something saved for lesser witches, but we need not rely on their magic of the mind. No, if she has the right incentive she will put even my abilities to shame.”

“I don’t think you’re going to get her to do what you say.”

Chiyo laughed. “We’ll see.”

Sasori hated a lot of things, but few things he despised as well as waiting. He didn’t wait Chiyo’s eight days, but snuck down on his own after the first four, knowing it would be the easiest day to slip away on account of all his absent tutors. Few and fewer were trekking out to their estate in light of the marauders from the black waste.

The puppets were gone, but the bolts on the doors were still there. He undid then enough to get through, and left each door partially ajar behind him. The first few rooms were filled with foods and salted meats to last them through the winter. Chiyo’s dried herbs hung from the ceiling, far out of reach.

Deeper in, and to the right curve in the cellar’s floorpan, metal bars began to show up. Sasori passed three different pens for livestock before he reached the forth one. Unlike the other three, this one wasn’t empty.

Chiyo had called her Sakura, and he guessed that had something to do with her hair, and the story about her coming from the village hidden in the leaves. She looked like a cherry blossom tree out of season, limp across the thin stray, one arm draped over her eyes while the other hung in the air, held taunt by the shackle that connected her to the wall.

She didn’t stir when Sasori approached, and he wondered if that was because she didn’t hear him. He hadn’t been trying to be extra sneaky for her, only when he snuck in the first time.

He waited maybe a whole minute more, but when she didn’t move he grew annoyed. There was a stray stick on the floor across from the cells that he picked up to hit the bars with.

“Hey you, wake up!” he called. “She said you name was Sakura, so get up.”

Her arm slid up off her eyes, but the look she spared him was just as bored. “Why?” she rasped, voice dry and cracking.

“Because…because I’m here! Don’t you know why you were brought here? You’re going to protect the manor and the little lord, that’s me!”

Sakura eyed him up from toes to crown and then let her arm drop back over her eyes. “Unlikely. There’s no way someone as smart as Chiyo the Sand Witch would make so bad a mistake. Go away and leave me to sleep, boy.”

Sasori colored at her tone and clear dismissal. He didn’t care what she thought of him, but he was upset she had such poor taste. He was well born and an important person to the desert valley. His family owed the aquifers that made survival possible in the barren wasteland. People he didn’t even know respected him more than she did.

“My name is Sasori, you should remember it.”

“Not necessary. I’m not planning on staying here that long.” She shook the arm still chained to the wall. “She knows that too. I might have been outsmarted once, but her magic is still weaker than mine. Eventually I’ll be free. She can worry about what I’ll do to her then.”

“You sound like a wash-up.”

She was still for a while before opening her eyes again. They weren’t bright with magic like they had been the day she was dragged in, but Sasori could tell they were still free, even in the darkness.

“What’s a wash-up?”

“A has-been. Someone who’s no good anymore. You sound like a lazy, bloated old windbag that blows on an on about how great they are.” He waved his hand dismissively at her. “My grandmother is far stronger than you know.”

“Sure, doesn’t change the fact her magic is non combative.” Sakura settled back down into the hay, resting her arm over her eyes. “I give it another four days. No use remembering your name.”

“It’s Sasori.”

“See, I’ve already forgotten it.”

“You’re terrible, I can’t believe she thought you would be worth anything. I could probably protect this estate better than you.”

She snorted into her arm. “That’s very likely, seeing as how I wouldn’t lift a finger to help.”

“Once my parents come back we’re going to throw you out.”

“Great, thanks for that. Wake me up when that happens.”

Sasori wouldn’t admit it, but he felt a small part of his heart where his dreams were kept pinch and blacken. He had dreamed so often of the tales of heroes from fallen covens like the one hidden in the leaves. The stories of the hidden villages had enthralled him from cradle to knee. The woman in the hay wasn’t supposed to be so lackluster. Chiyo must of made a mistake. There’s no way the woman was from such an amazing place.

“Were all the other witches from the Hidden Leaf so pathetic? It would explain so much if this is all they amounted to.”

Sakura didn’t stir but Sasori felt like lashing out even more.

“It was a stupid place filled with stupid people, jut like you! I’m glad it’s not-”

The chain links were still clattering to the floor, some in broken bits, as her hand reached through the bars and yanked him up. Sasori smelled her flesh burning as Chiyo’s seals held fast. Her flesh was melting off in globs, but her strength didn’t waver.

He was eye level with her now as she held him up off his feet. “You don’t know anything, brat.”

Her hand was around his throat and with all the strength she had to break chains his scrawny neck was barely a challenge. He thought she would. She had the eyes for it, blazing with green fire and crackling with gold lighting.

But she dropped him and he landed on his feet, falling backwards when his legs gave out under him. His whole body was shaking in a way he couldn’t control.

Sakura pulled her hand back through the bar, bleeding and burned as it was from finger to wrist. She eyed it critically, not even flinching at the blood and gore of it. Her unmarked hand came up, glowing with green light and she used that light the teach her body the way of mending. Sasori watched transfixed as she reversed the damage, pulling blood veins back into place, sewing stitches of skin back together until they covered all the bones in her hand.

A minute later her hand was as good as new and she looked none the worse for it. Sasori knew other wizards could get winded from the simplest cantrips, but she wasn’t a wizard and she didn’t even seem phased.

He tried to make words, but they felt limp off his lips, ruined by the fear his body still suffered. “Y-y-ou-you…”

“Go, boy. I’m tired of hearing you antagonize me.”

She turned away from him and stood in the place above the hay, watching the far wall with a dead look in her eye. It was like she had turned herself off to the rest of the world and retreated into some far place in the far reaches of her mind. Her hands were fine and the shackles were a mess on the stone floor, but she still looked dead-faced.

“Sasori!” It was the only thing he could manage to say. “My-my name is-is Sasori!”

Then he ran out of the cellar as fast as he could.

Before the eight day when she was supposed to make her escape and when he was supposed to be allowed to see her for the first time, the south wall crumbled under the heavy body of a Goliath scorpion. It was the easiest way for the desert marauders to get in.

Chiyo had the servants run to the far places while her puppets surged to meet the attack, but with her ten skilled puppets, she could only manage the humans who trickled through. The giant scorpion was still roaming free.

Where were his parents? The could take care of the marauders and the giant scorpion together!

He climbed up high, looking down at the chaos below. Chiyo’s gardens were on the lowest floors, but her lab where experiments and poisons were concocted where all done in the tower where he hid himself.

The scorpion was right below him and it was turning, reaching for the base of the tower’s foundations. Twisting upwards it began to climb and Sasori scrambled for the miles and containers, looking for something that might help. He remembered which ones burned and ran back to the window’s ledge.

It was halfway up when he dropped the syrup that caught fire when his match landed in it. The scorpion slipped, but as the fire spread over its body it continued to climb, making up the ground it lost in stride.

“They’re impervious to fire, even mine, kid.”

Sasori jumped at the sound just over his shoulder. She stood there, leaning against the window with a bored look on her face. She was still as much a mess as he remembered her, and she smelled like desert and sweat.

He wanted to ask how she got out, but didn’t bother. If she could break her own shackles after four days she could probably break those bars after another four.

She turned and looked down at him instead of the monster creature. “Where are your parents? You said they would be here to protect you.”

Her tone wasn’t mocking, but bored. It made his face pinch as he thought the answer, but refused to speak it. He didn’t tell her about the bodies Chiyo brought back, or the two new puppets she made out of them. He didn’t tell her about the limits of life and death he hated. He just cried.

Parts of the tower crumbled and shook but she knelt down next to him, as calm as before, and watched him sob. A shadow stretched over the window as the scorpion’s body swelled beyond the frame’s limits, passing them over.

He trembled, scampering away as the body moved back enough to make room for the tip of a giant pincer. Sakura didn’t move as the pincer was too wide to reach her. The frame strained and wood shattered in parts, but the stone held, bound with magic as well as mortar.

“You can’t deal with these guys using fire. It’s pretty, but not nearly as effective,” Sakura said, finally standing. She sighed and turned her face to the window where the scorpion struggled. “Just watch kid, I’ll show you what my village was known for.”

He didn’t have time to ask what as green magic bloomed from a mark on her forehead and her whole body shifted as black lines leaked from the seal on her forehead down her arms and legs. The looked like thick black lines, but Sasori could see the layers of incantations upon layers of incantations overlapping from years of spell work. Her magic changed and shifted her body into something else.

Sasori stood to back away as Sakura approached the pincer and grabbed the tip. With a shove she sent it flying out the window, and he could see how the rest of the scorpion body almost followed its momentum as it slid down the tower. Sakura jogged to the edge and then fell, folding one foot behind the ankle and folding over. She tumbled right into the body with her fist raise and the thunder from her impact sent shockwaves for what felt like miles.

Sasori was knocked off his feet as the scorpion was shattered into pieces she fell through. When she landed the marks on her body were thicker and growing. Even from so far away he could see how magic leaked through her eyes like the stray tongues of fire.

Parts of her body burned with crackling gold magic as she raised a hand and burned alive a pair of marauders who weren’t wise enough to flee when they saw her handwork with the scorpion.

Transfixed, he watched from his tower as she channeled two veins of separate magic with perfect balance, defying limits he had always believed in. Her hair was a rose colored flame around her face as more and more of the enemies fell under her feet.

His throat felt dry.

Sakura used her spells to chase down the last of the would be invaders, sparing them little mercy when they begged for their life.

Eventually, she found Chiyo in one of the many useless parlor rooms inside the main building. She was nursing a bruise on her forehead and sipping something that smelled like chamomile but likely wasn’t anything nearly so innocent.

“You’re getting old,” Sakura huffed, reaching out to heal the bruise.

“I’m still your elder, little girl. Show some respect.”

Sakura pulled her hand back and then reached for a footstool to perch on, ignoring the other enormous armchair. “What happened to the boy’s parents? The lord and lady of this house are dead, aren’t they?”

“Both, yes. You don’t deserve the details.”

Sakura’s lip curled but she didn’t bite back in the sarcastic tone she had perfected from years alone. All her friends and family were long gone, and she was left behind with their memories and the secret to a cursed kind of immortality. If she had known her regenerative spells would take over like the weeds they were she might have elected to die out with the rest of her peers. It would be easier than living alone for over half a century while the last child died in his bed, wrinkled and gray. She wasn’t used to being kind like she once was. It wasn’t in her nature to be soft anymore.

“I’m not fond of children.”

“Liar,” Chiyo barked. “They adore you.”

“Not the same thing, and also not true. I left yours unsupervised in a tower, what does that say about me, huh? I can hang around for a handful of years until you figure something else out, but I’m not committing my life to anything. Your grandson might turn out to be someone formidable one day. Until then…I guess I could stay.”

“It’s really too much trouble to travel from this point,” Chiyo admitted. “Nothing but desert for daaaaaaays. You’d be bored out of your mind before you reached the nearest town.”

Sakura groaned at the woman’s sing song voice. “No wonder you’re constantly invaded. What else is there to do?”

“It’s necessary for my experiments. I need a radius of safety.”

Sakura waved her hand and gold magic sparkled, enchanting a nearby teapot to pour for herself a cup of black tea. A stick of cinnamon stirred itself into the mix along with the spices and milk before cup and saucer floated to where she sat.

“I’ll need my own space, and not just a single room, I mean space for my own experiments. Give me a corner of your gardens to use on my own,” Sakura said.

“A corner, no more.”

“And access to your own experiments.”

“Never!”

Sakura chuckled, taking a sip. She wrinked her nose at the dull temperature before gold magic made the tea steam once more. “That sounds like a ‘yes, as long as I don’t catch you’ to me. I’ll take it.”

Chiyo cackled. “Insufferable girl.”

“At least I didn’t scheme for all your protective wards to fall apart at the exact time a giant scorpion and seventeen wash up bandits from the desert found your fortress in the middle of nowhere.” Sakura shot the older woman a look of bored disbelief over her tea. “Classy, Chiyo, very classy of you.”

“I don’t take half measures to get what I want.”

“No, you don’t, do you.” Sakura looked over to the doorway where a miniature shadow still clung to the doorframe. “It’ll be interesting to see how much of that gets passed down.”

#SasoSaku #Sasori #Sakura #I'm weak for this ship #and I found this tag on twitter from earlier this year #魔女集会で会いましょう #it's super cute #Let's Meet At the Witches' Gathering #basically the theme is girl witch finds child/baby/monster and raises it #after years said child/baby/monster is her companion #like I said #Super cute #worth looking into #October is the perfect month #Sakura and Sasori were my OTP for this theme #I love them like this #my writing

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paulisweeabootrash · 6 years ago

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Retrospective Review: Rewatching Azumanga Daioh as an Adult

This may seem hard to believe if you are a younger reader or one who got into anime only recently, but there was once a time when recommendations spread by word of mouth, it was absolutely commonplace for anime seasons to last longer than 13 episodes, and the vocabulary of the anime fandom wasn’t nearly as full of internet-originated in-jokes. A time when the internet-savvy congregated on forums dedicated to specific topics instead of social networking sites, and the imageboards that generate so much of the internet meme landscape were just starting to take off among lonely nerds as an obscure haven for perverts, racists, and assholes instead of the role they have today as… uh… well... a well-known haven for perverts, racists, and assholes. A time when there was no such term as “weeaboo trash” because that Perry Bible Fellowship comic hadn’t been published yet, let alone used for that meaning. It wasn’t some golden age, but it was different, and today I’m taking a self-indulgent trip back to the end of that period, when I was in high school in the mid-2000s.

Azumanga Daioh (2002).

1. Why is this show important to me?

My introduction to anime consisted mostly of Pokémon and Sailor Moon, and took off with scattered episodes of several other shows that aired on WB and Cartoon Network, which were generally driven by action and combat. I can’t remember the circumstances or even who did it, but someone who owned, or perhaps pirated, a copy of Azumanga Daioh must have shown me a few episodes at some point.

Here was a show that had been on the leading edge of the moe trend a few years earlier, and although certainly available, such things were not yet common. Moe has, of course, taken over a large chunk of anime since, to mixed reception since it can range from innocently delightful to extraordinarily creepy. Azumanga is close to the innocent end of the spectrum, and absolutely delightful (as, BTW, is the author’s current ongoing manga series Yotsuba&!), with a softer, cuter art style than I was accustomed to and instantly-lovable characters.

It was clearly in a different genre and had a different sensibility about how to make a show, too. It had few repeated or filler elements, unlike any of the shows following the “monster of the week” formula. It was broken up into several vignettes per episode — a practice that I was familiar with from the format of many Nicktoons, but while American shows with that format told multiple self-contained stories, the short segments here were typically parts of larger episode-long stories, often focusing on different parts of the same event or different anecdotes about the same character. It showed us, the foreign audience, something about life in Japan, and at least for me was the first time I’d heard of distinctly Japanese school practices like applications for public high schools, students cleaning classrooms, or the particular kinds of seasonal festivals they have. It lacked story arcs driven by overcoming some enemy and instead was driven by character relationships themselves and the instantly-relatable experience of school. It was an encounter with something utterly different — and it made an excellent first impression.

Eventually, I bought a copy of the complete series of the manga it’s based on. Azumanga Daioh was originally, well, a manga, written by Azuma Kiyohiko and originally published in the form of a 4-panel comic strip that ran in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. See, it’s Azuma’s manga in Dengeki Daioh. Azuma manga, Dengeki Daioh. Azumanga Daioh. Ha. Clever. Anyway, in there, I encountered largely the same characters and interactions, a mix of believable school life and quick gags, just presented in a different format. I eventually got the DVD box set of the show, too, and I’ve rewatched a few favorite episodes several times, but this review is the first time I’ve revisited the whole series in years.

2. Who are all these people?

Rather than focusing on a small core friend group like Three Leaves, Three Colors, another much more recent adorable high school slice-of-life I greatly enjoy (and should maybe review?), Azumanga has a pretty large ensemble. Most of them are students and the “story arc” such as it is follows them through three years, from entering to graduating from high school, over a single 26-episode season. So rather than cover a plot synopsis, I think it would make more sense to dive into specific characters and their relationships. The show its at its funniest and sweetest with the dynamics of certain combinations of the main characters, and there are a lot of combinations available. Covering all of the recurring named characters approximately in the order we meet them (except a few characters who show up only in an episode or two each and another classmate named Chihiro who shows up on the periphery as a friend of Kaorin), let’s look at the relationships that stand out:

Yukari and Nyamo: Yukari Tanizaki, the English teacher who is the homeroom teacher to most of the cast, is unprofessional and insensitive from the first moment we see her, traits which are elaborated in later episodes into a sort of impulsive over-the-top-ness that clashes with the fact that she actually is a pretty good teacher. Emphasizing her less-serious attitude, students even refer to or address her by her given name (although the subtitles exaggerate this a bit by consistently calling her “Miss Yukari” when she’s usually just addressed as “teacher”). Minamo Kurasawa, the gym teacher, is a long-time friend of Yukari. She and Yukari (who calls her “Nyamo”) were even classmates at the same high school they currently teach at. In addition to being central to the gym class/sports-related episodes, she’s also Yukari’s more caring, approachable, and professional foil, which sets up interactions where Nyamo tries to be helpful and manage situations in the face of Yukari being antagonistic (and, outside of school hours, drunk) towards her and the students. Yukari in particular prods at Nyamo’s sore spots: being single and having done embarrassing things in high school.

Tomo and Yomi: Tomo Takino is 100% genki girl. I mean, come on, she’s the illustration for the TV Tropes article by that name. She��s not only enthusiastic, but loud, intrusive, and pointlessly competitive to the point of being just plain mean. She’s the kind of person who might mature into a less competent Yukari if she burnt out a bit. Koyomi Mizuhara, on the other hand, is much more serious and self-conscious, and although she still genuinely is Tomo’s friend and goes along with some of her silliness, she barely puts up with Tomo’s teasing and flurry of bad ideas. She is the Nyamo to Tomo’s Yukari, complete with Tomo enforcing a nickname on her, so she’s almost always called “Yomi” throughout. Yomi is much more considerate than Tomo, too. This often comes out in Yomi scolding Tomo’s insensitivity, but it’s also seen less directly when they are giving Chiyo (more on her below) birthday presents — Tomo offers first a joke that doesn’t go over well, then a magic wand she apparently expects Chiyo to believe will make her grow taller, which Chiyo dismisses, while Yomi offers a book which Chiyo enthusiastically accepts and says she expects to enjoy.

Osaka, Tomo, and Kagura: Ayumu Kasuga is a distractible and soft-spoken transfer student from Osaka whom Yukari, Tomo, and Yomi pester with misinformed questions and assumptions about her home city. Tomo, naturally, saddles her with the nickname “Osaka” as if that is her entire identity. The nickname quickly catches on, with even Yukari calling her that instead of her actual name in class. She is accepted as a friend by the other students who still consider her eccentric and baffling, but not annoying or embarrassing like you might expect. (In fact, the other girls react more and more to Tomo as the annoying and embarrassing one.) During the second year of school, she bonds with Tomo and Kagura (introduced as a star athlete from Nyamo’s homeroom during the first year, she becomes a major character in the second year) over their similar incredible forgetfulness and poor academics. Yomi calls them “bonkura”, translated as “knuckleheads”, and the three of them adopt the name for themselves as they study together — an idea which is doomed from the outset. The three of them together, or any two of them, play off each other wonderfully.

Chiyo and Osaka: Chiyo Mihama, a child prodigy who is only 10 years old at the beginning of the series, is so academically gifted it can upset and embarrass her classmates, but on the other hand is naive, and not just because she’s a child. She is in fact clueless about the outside world. She fails in the first summer break trip (ep. 5) to understand that the other characters’ families are nowhere near as rich as hers, and in the second summer break (ep. 14), even after a year and a half of being around high schoolers, she entirely fails to understand Nyamo’s off-screen explanation of “adult relationships” (kids innocently being oblivious to what sex is seems to be a common basis for jokes in Japanese media). Chiyo being five years younger than her classmates — and on the other side of puberty from them — also makes her lag far behind them in athletics. On the one hand, this makes her very self-conscious and afraid of being a burden on her classmates in team activities, and on the other, it sets up a running gag of Chiyo and Osaka teaming up to be by far the worst pair of athletes across the board. Oh, and Osaka’s dream about Chiyo’s pigtails in the New Year’s episode is one of the weirdest and most authentically dreamlike dream sequences I’ve ever seen. Although maybe that just says more about my own dreams than about the show.

Sakaki and Nobody (or, Multiple Kinds of Unrequited Feelings): Sakaki is considered effortlessly cool and somewhat intimidating — Kagura calls her a “silent lone wolf” — but she’s not big on that reputation. Students openly admire her, especially for her athletic talent, and treat her with distance and respect by almost universally calling her “Miss Sakaki” (since this is apparently her family name, not given name). She does not enjoy this treatment, but is also too private (and perhaps too insecure) to complain about or discuss it. She is indifferent to sports despite excelling at them, and doesn’t even recognize Kagura when she proclaims herself Sakaki’s rival, presumably because the first-year sports festival just didn’t stick out in her memory the way it did in Kagura’s. Despite calling it rivalry, however, Kagura quickly inserts herself into Sakaki’s life in a friendship that Sakaki responds to more with quiet tolerance than reciprocation.

Kaorin, meanwhile, mistakes Kagura’s one-sided friendly rivalry for a very different kind of attention, and accordingly treats her one-sidedly as a romantic rival (although she does eventually calm down about it). Kaori (family name not mentioned), usually addressed by the more affectionate “Kaorin”, is shown at first to ambiguously admire Sakaki, but it quickly becomes clear that she is infatuated with her. And, despite the insistence of many fanfic writers since, Sakaki never catches on to this, even with Kaorin gazing dreamily at her while dancing with her, or clinging to her arm while posing for a picture together. I'm sure, given how over-the-top she is, that Kaorin’s unrequited feelings are supposed to be funny, but I find it sweet and sad and end up rooting for her.

Sakaki and Cute Animals: Sakaki is not unfriendly, or even very socially inept, though. She gets along well with the main cast, especially Chiyo. But she is aloof, not just because of shyness but because she has a secret love of all things cute, especially cats and dogs, and gets caught up in her own thoughts about cute things. Although she loves animals, they don’t necessarily love her back. There is a series-spanning running gag with a cat in the neighborhood whom she repeatedly tries to pet, no matter how many times it bites her for doing so. In fact, in that very same episode where Kagura declares her rivalry, the strongest emotional reactions we see from Sakaki are horror directed at Kagura for scaring that cat away and, later, being moved to tears by a story she’s constructing in her head about another cat while Kagura is trying to talk to her. Sakaki’s thoughts on cute animals also yield a second running gag: "Chiyo's dad". An orange cat-like doll (evidently some kind of character or mascot in-universe?) that appears numerous times in the background early in the show appears in Sakaki’s New Year’s dream and introduces himself to her as Chiyo’s father, so Sakaki refers to the doll as “Chiyo’s dad” for the rest of the series without explanation, much to the confusion of the other characters. While he’s an inanimate object in the background before the dream, afterwards he appears as alive and magical, sometimes in Sakaki’s imagination and sometimes intruding into the real world as short transition clips between scenes.

Kimura vs. Everyone (mostly Kaorin): Last and certainly least, let’s consider Mr. Kimura, the literature teacher. Within a minute of the first time we the audience see him, Tomo asks him why he became a teacher and he blurts out that it’s because he likes high school girls. Which a group of creepy boys in the class call “brave”. Ugh. This presages chronic inappropriateness of varying levels from Kimura — from unsolicited suggestions for cheerleading uniforms to hanging out during gym class to watch the girls swim to heaping unwanted “favors” on Kaorin, to whom he is obviously attracted. Beyond the increasing variety of his inappropriateness, he doesn’t really develop as a character. He is, interestingly, shown as an otherwise decent person outside of school, but this is not portrayed as excusing him. Rather, it’s made clear that his creepiness is contextual, and his role throughout the series is consistently as a grotesque comic relief, not a sympathetic character. Kaorin even consciously tries to improve her opinion of Kimura because his wife is so nice, leading her to believe that this means Kimura himself must have good points to deserve someone like that, only to be immediately shown otherwise. We the audience are laughing at him, not with him, and at some points are genuinely upset at him on the girls’ behalf. Or at least, I hope that’s how the rest of the audience takes him.

3. Yeah, but there's some kind of progression, right, even if it's not really a story arc?

Again, it's not the kind of show that has an overarching goal or conflict. The goal, such as it is, is the characters' graduation from high school. The topic of what they'll each do after graduating comes up several times, as you might expect, but isn't that much of a plot point. Not all of the main characters even have clear plans laid out that we know of, but the plans we do know about match their established personalities well. Tomo changes her mind repeatedly between several half-baked ideas. Osaka decides at the last minute to try to become a teacher based on Chiyo straining to think of something fitting Osaka's... unique way of looking at things. Chiyo is perhaps overconfident, planning to study abroad in America despite being only 13 when she graduates. Sakaki anonymously showed interest in veterinary school early on, but didn't discuss it with her friends until much later, after she started showing her weakness for cuteness in front of them.

The main progression that happens is some evolution in the characters' relationships and attitudes. There is of course the progression from strangers to friends among the main cast, but also some character development growing out of things that started as gags. Osaka, for example, begins as the butt monkey of the class, but by the end of the first year, she is very well accepted by her classmates, and she even gets along particularly well with Tomo, who was originally shown teasing and stereotyping her the most but has now toned it down a bit. Nyamo’s miserable singlehood, previously a running joke, leads her to open up to the idea of trying matchmaking instead of dating. Sakaki becomes more willing to express her love of cute animals in front of the other girls, starting with Chiyo, and her running gag experiences with the hostile cat play out to a resolution when she adopts, of all things, an endangered wildcat which is the only cat that doesn’t bite her, then has a final encounter with the hostile cat where she tries to make amends. Chiyo's academic talents were met with light irritation and mockery at first, but by the end, her new friends are grateful for her help and rise in applause when she is recognized for her grades during the graduation ceremony. Kagura relaxes her Tomo-like tendencies more and more, and shows a degree of gratitude and sentimentality towards her new friend group that would’ve been shocking when she was first introduced. Even Tomo, usually the show's last bastion of immaturity, shows tiny bits of improvement: self-reflection and regret during a serious conversation with Yomi over what American audiences would call "finding your passion", and later leading the applause for Chiyo. To compare Azumanga to Three Leaves, Three Colors again, it’s true that this show doesn't go into as much depth in character relationships as that one despite running for more than twice the number of episodes, but I don’t think that’s a flaw in Azumanga so much as a combination of Azumanga’s larger main cast, gag comedy focus, and choice of a different “zoom level” on the main cast’s lives.

The show itself evolves a little bit, too. As it goes on, more episodes have segments that flow together and they contain more references to events in previous episodes. By the last few episodes, with graduation looming, it almost feels like it has become a conventional plot-driven show. The shift from shorter to longer segments, shorter to longer jokes, etc., is seamless — and pretty typical of comic strips where perhaps the author hasn’t “figured out” their own characters at the beginning. Surreal elements also get more common, like the “Chiyo’s dad” running gag and increasingly-elaborate looks into what characters are imagining. As I recall, these changes reflect the stylistic evolution of the original manga, but... uh... my copy of the manga is with my parents at the moment so I didn’t check myself on that.

4. How is it different in retrospect?

As I said, I first saw this in high school, so I was about the age of the main cast. Perhaps this was one of the things that made it so enjoyable. The characters seemed relatable, and I lacked the aversion to depictions of ordinary life that some people had because I didn’t have a particularly negative high school experience despite being decidedly uncool. (I was, in fact, neither interested in being cool nor in being self-consciously uncool, and was content with the set of people I got along with. I was never really an angsty teenager so much as a sad one.) My experience of the show is, if anything, even greater appreciation now. Some of that difference comes from knowledge and some from aging.

I’ve become a bit less of a poser and/or snob about some things since then. I’d seen a lot of obviously-atrocious dubs growing up, and they really put me off the idea that anyone actually cared about dubbing into English well. Since then, I’ve lightened up a bit, partly because it seems like nowadays distributors do a lot less 4Kids-style butchery of shows when they’re translated and partly because I’ve realized that there is plenty of bad Japanese voice acting, too, so sometimes the English version is just plain easier on the ears. So I’ve watched this mostly in the English dub this time around (some episodes in both to check the different versions of specific jokes) and I really enjoy it. The voices are character-appropriate and the English lines fit the lip movements better than the original Japanese voice track while only rarely resulting in rhythms and stresses that sound unnatural in English, which really impresses me.

Just from the sort of vocabulary one picks up by being weeaboo trash, I occasionally notice differences in meaning between the dialogue and subtitles when watching the sub version. And I even picked up on an interesting translation choice for a joke I hadn’t noticed before. When Yomi tells Osaka that Chiyo is a child prodigy in ep. 2, Osaka responds comparing Chiyo to a boy she knew growing up, resulting in her expressing a different misunderstanding in each version about how the boy was described by adults. In the English dub, Osaka says something about him “smarting off”, the joke being she thinks that means he’s smart. In the English subtitles, she says he was “precocious”, to which Yomi says she doesn’t think that meant he was smart by calling him that. This time around, I finally caught that the Japanese dialogue there clearly uses the phrase “otoko no ko”, insinuating that the boy is a crossdresser and/or gay. Even though I don’t understand the full Japanese joke, the implication is clearer than it was in English (because I, um, also didn’t think of the double entendre on the word “precocious” until now), as is the degree of the misunderstanding.

I appreciate now how many scenes are psychologically-savvy. Just in the episode in which the main cast of students move up to their second year of high school, we see two scenes that just click with me as “yes, people do this, and I don’t know why we don’t seem to notice it!”. I mentioned above Kagura wanting to compete more because of the sports festival while Sakaki thinks nothing of it at all, which hinges on the simple difference in the sports festival having been a memorable event in Kagura’s life but not Sakaki’s. That episode also features a scene in which Tomo eggs on her classmates to eat their lunches early because it’s a thing that (according to her) second-years do, which sets up Mr. Kimura to arrive the room for literature class, see everyone eating, and therefore assume he must be the one who has the time wrong and go back to the faculty lounge for his own lunch. This tendency to defer to others in decisions in our own lives, not through peer pressure per se but through assuming that something done commonly or confidently must be correct, is just something I don’t see portrayed or acknowledged much in Japanese or American media. And I love it. For those two scenes alone, this is one of my favorite episodes in the whole series.

As far as the characters, I still find the students charming and relatable, and I’m willing to bet that everyone knows someone like most of them in real life. They fit Japanese character archetypes to a certain extent, but are also developed enough especially in their interactions with each other that they come off as realistic to me. So they hold up well. But mainly, I find I have much more appreciation for the teacher characters as an adult. I can think of times when I’ve been the Yukari in a situation, whether that means being overbearing and inconsiderate when I think I’m being funny or whether it means or digging through a messy desk swearing that I know exactly where something is before creating a landslide. And I can think of times when I’ve been the Nyamo accidentally antagonizing the Yukari by trying to be helpful. I even appreciate Kimura, not because I think he’s relatable or a good guy, but because he’s distressingly realistic. His creepiness comes at the same time as genuine competence and, as far as we are aware, a normal and functional home life. It is widely-acknowledged yet never stopped by the administration, even though it ranges from unprofessional obnoxiousness to genuinely alarming sexual harassment. Kimura is unfortunately plausible and all-around frustratingly topical.

Revisiting these characters, I’ve also realized something about myself. When I first watched this show (and read the manga), I got a serious crush on Osaka. She would go solidly in the “endearingly pathetic” column if I were to evaluate her that way, and she also reminded me at the time of a few different confidently strange and spacy people I went to high school with. And then, getting older, I realized… She’s endlessly distractible by trivial things. She asks weird hypotheticals and follows odd tangents to other topics. She often misunderstands people. She’s hopelessly unathletic and clumsy. Oh no. I'm the Osaka of my circle of friends. So, uh, that’s a thing that happened, and I have no idea what to make of it.

Azumanga is relaxed, wholesome, and hilarious, and its characters and major events are believable even when highly stylized for comedic effect. When it's not in hyper-simple comedy mode, the art can be downright beautiful. It’s clearly an artifact of its time given, for example, the lack of cell phones (even basic ones) and persistence of film cameras, but that kind of aging happens to any show. The situations are still relatable despite not being topical, which makes me think — or at least hope — that this can last well into the future as something new audiences find worth watching.

—–

W/A/S Scores: 8 / 3? / 3

Weeb: There are lots of little things that will seem odd if you go in believing that Japanese school schedules and activities are the same as American ones, but anime is so saturated with high school comedies nowadays that it is much less weeb now than it was then to expect that background knowledge. Many non-school things like flower-gazing or the fact that seasonal fairs in Japan have different activities and expected clothing than in American ones will seem distinctly foreign but understandable to a naive audience, while a few episodes might need some looking up to “get” because they expect audience familiarity with things still obscure to most Western audiences, like lucky dreams in the New Year’s episode or the yōkai in the second culture festival episode. Mostly, familiarity with the conventions of other anime or of Japanese culture will enhance enjoyment but aren’t strictly required to enjoy it. The art style sometimes shifts for specific gags to a particular style of minimal-movement chibi characters on very simple backgrounds which is more at home in the 4-panel comic world in which Azumanga originated (and in pre-moe-era comedy anime, or at least the few I've seen) than in other manga formats or newer anime, creating an additional small hurdle even for those with different Japanese media exposure.

The show runs into more of a barrier with hard-to-translate jokes than anything else, leaving the viewer the choice between replacement jokes with similar general ideas in the dub vs. the occasional feeling that there should be a joke but you’re not quite getting it in the sub. One particular joke that they made no attempt to adapt ended up being utter nonsense in both the sub and dub unless you get that "Mr. Yukichi" refers to 19th Century Westernization advocate Fukuzawa Yukichi, who is on the ¥10,000 bill, and I gave the show an entire extra point on the Weeb scale just because I had to look that up.

Ass: Unless you’re Mr. Kimura, probably no “ass” score at all as far as sexualizing the characters, but there is the occasional sexual joke or implication. Even the obligatory beach episodes aren’t fanservicey in the way or to the degree that a contemporary moe high school show often is. Probably the single most sexual-looking thing is characters holding their skirts down in the intro, which is tame by comparison to anything released in the last decade. Kimura, however, does make the show unsuitable for audiences… well… younger than the show’s main cast, probably.

Shit (writing): I have very little problem with the bulk of the content. I think the show works and the characters are relatable and delightful. But I do have some gripes about translation, mostly in the dub. Although I still maintain the dub is unusually good in acting and synchronization, they do take more liberties than I’d like with changing jokes, and the dub and sub both lose some subtlety in how characters address each other, as mentioned before.

On top of that, there are some odd localization choices in the dub. For example, the way Yukari, their English teacher in the original Japanese, is not portrayed as teaching a foreign language at all in the dub, while still making a big deal of her foreign language skills outside of class, or how characters repeatedly say “taiyaki pastry” in the dub instead of just establishing once for the English-speaking audience that taiyaki is the name of a specific style of pastry and using the name “taiyaki” from then on. Also, I know this is very small and specific, but I noticed a place in ep. 17 where they inserted a strained pun in the dub where there was intentional awkward silence in the sub, so that’s just… weird.

Shit (other): The animation is often sparse, and although this is usually fine, it does sometimes come off as cheap. The biggest problem visually is that the DVDs I’m watching have noticeable and pretty frequent combing, which I was able to reduce but not eliminate by fiddling with video player settings. On the other hand, kudos to the director for hitting a sweet spot on shots that are lingered on or actions that are repeated for “too long” (e.g., Nyamo demonstrating chopstick use, or any of the scenes of Chiyo and Osaka failing at sports, or Osaka trying to wake up Yukari) because they end up hilarious when they could have been tedious.

Oh, and I love the soundtrack. Some people may also find the frequent use of recorders annoying, but those people are (1) wrong and (2) not writing this blog. The soundtrack is appropriately lighthearted and/or relaxing. The opening theme “Soramimi Cake” is catchy and accompanied by an opening credits sequence that decently shows who the main characters are. But “Raspberry Heaven”, the ending theme… ah… the sequence accompanying it is a beautiful dream and the music is movingly bittersweet for reasons I lack the music theory background to articulate. Like, this is a really weird example, but it conveys my feelings: have you seen Soylent Green? You know the scene where Sol is listening to a medley of classical music while he’s being euthanized? If the last thing I ever heard were “Raspberry Heaven”, I would die totally content.

Content Warning: Kimura.

—–

Stray observations:

- I think Kaorin may have been the first unambiguously gay character I saw in any anime. Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura would’ve beaten Azumanga to the punch with representation, but I grew up on the butchered-for-pearl-clutching-audiences versions of those shows.

- Kimura has, incidentally, produced one piece of lasting weeb culture. While trying to save his illustration for a proposed magical girl cheerleading outfit, he drops a picture of a woman. Tomo picks it up and wonders out loud who it is. Kimura responds, in heavily-accented English, “my waifu”. So… yup. We have him to thank for the whole waifu/hasubando phenomenon. Or, well, the terminology, since attraction to fictional characters is probably a phenomenon as old as fiction itself.

- More of a fun fact than a stray observation, Kuricorder Orchestra, who collaborated with Oranges & Lemons on the Azumanga soundtrack, recorded two Yotsuba-inspired concept albums, which are also adorable. They’re hard to come by in official copies, but I can’t help but notice that nobody seems to be stopping anyone from uploading them to YouTube...

- The background music in the cheerleading scene in ep. 6 is the “Grandpa Polka”, a.k.a. “The Clarinet Polka”, which fans of various other weird geeky media may recognize as the melody for the Candy Mountain song in “Charlie the Unicorn” and/or as the song between “Love Shack” and “Pump Up the Jam” in Weird Al’s medley “Polka Your Eyes Out”.

- My junior high, oddly, did have sports festivals somewhat like those depicted in anime, but I don’t hear much about other American schools doing similar things.

#weeaboo trash #retrospective review #anime review #azumanga daioh #this post is way too long

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sagara-megumi · 7 years ago

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SasuSaku Month - Day 2: Something More || [Fanfic] Prospective Partners II (Sakura)

Title: Prospective Partners II (Sakura)

Rating: K/G

Notes: I apologise for the extreme lateness of this story. I finished writing it last night and did some revision this morning. However the day has been a nightmare and to top it all, I ended up being away from home many more hours than I expected. I’ll start working on the 3rd prompt as soon as I publish this one. Despite its delay, I hope you enjoy it :)

Also, Inner Sakura will make her debut, and her words will be in italics and between ‘...’

Words: 2271

PROSPECTIVE PARTNERS II (SAKURA)

She would not be treated like an object.

Sakura punctuated each word in her thoughts with a punch on the bag that hung from the ceiling of the room, imagining the face of some uptight middle-aged pervert in a suit.

She had been in a foul mood since her grandmother had told her that there was a potential candidate to be her husband, a second son from an extremely prestigious family. She gritted her teeth and landed a kick on the bag, making it swing. Second sons were a pain. In the shadow of the heir of the family, they were thirsty for recognition but not willing to work hard since nobody gave them credit when they did. All for the heir's sake, people around them said. She had met a few, most of them men in their thirties, and even forties, used to live comfortably and ready to marry into an heiress' family and be a nobody if they could keep on doing it.

With her hands on her waist, she turned, panting, and grabbed the towel set on a nearby wooden bench, wiping the sweat from her face. Then, she took a bottle of water and took a big sip.

She had felt so angry at that sudden decision that she had locked herself in the training room behind the house and had been throwing punches at the imaginary man in question.

It was not that Sakura was against marriage. In fact, it had been one of her dreams since she had been a little girl. But she had also dreamt of falling in love, sweet moments and butterflies in her stomach, like in the stories she had been told before falling asleep.

Soon, she had learnt that to get the man of her dreams in her world, she could not wait sitting like an Edo Period lady and that she had to polish herself to be better than the other princesses. She had done everything they had told her to. She had studied hard, kept fit and taken lessons on good manners, tea ceremony and flower arrangement. Also, she had successfully managed to show a collected attitude, masking her true feelings and opinions, and voicing them inward. She could be listening and discussing politely a topic with someone at a gathering while dying to shove her shoe in their mouth so they would shut up.

Her efforts had been rewarding and, as she progressed in her academic life brilliantly, she had gone out with two or three men that her family would approve without any doubt, but it had taken her nowhere. She was too intelligent, too strong. Elite men did not want that, they preferred a nice delicate girl who said yes to everything, a pretty trophy wife. Sakura looked at her image in the mirror on the wall in front of her. She had never considered herself beautiful, her forehead was too wide and her body had built muscle from the contact sports she did. And, she lowered her sight to her chest, she preferred not to think about the size of her bust. Of course, she knew she had her good points too. She had a beautiful posture, a bright smile and big eyes of an uncommon shade of green.

So, she had focused all her efforts on her degree and her future as the successful head of her family hospital and laboratories. There would be time for finding someone to share that future with after that. And suddenly, a few weeks before, people around her had started talking about omiai and promising candidates, and she had felt the urge to express her strong opposition to the idea. To no avail, it seemed.

Furrowing her brows and gritting her teeth, she threw the towel on the bench, left the bottle of water next to it and bumped her glove-covered fists, turning to the punching bag again.

Hell could freeze but in no way was she going to marry someone she did not know, someone she did not love.

~o~o~o~

One hour and a half later, Sakura came out of her private bathroom after taking a long bath. She felt calmer now, but she knew that the issue would be the topic of the family conversations for a few days. She rolled her eyes as she stopped before her window and looked outside. Maybe she should give in and meet the man once, then refuse him flatly making up a reason. That way, they would try to find another one and leave her alone for a few weeks. And then, repeat the process.

There was a knock on her door and she turned from the window, giving her permission. An old woman wearing a cream coloured kimono and a dark blue obi with a single flower on the knot entered the room and closed the door behind her as Sakura bowed lightly.

Her grandmother Chiyo was a nice but traditional woman who knew when to be strict and when to be warm. And seeing her face, she realised that this time she had to be ready for the first.

“Good afternoon, grandmother” she smiled trying to keep a neutral attitude.

The woman smiled and took a seat on one of the armchairs in the middle of the room, motioning her granddaughter to do the same. She left something she carried on her hand on the table, something small, flat and pink. A folder. Sakura felt a knot in her stomach but breathed deeply and sat on the sofa the older woman had pointed to trying not to look at it. They stayed in silence for a few seconds and when Sakura grew impatient and was going to ask the reason for it, a maid entered carrying a tea set. She left it on the table and with a deep bow, she disappeared again behind the door.

When her grandmother did not make any move to serve the drink, Sakura took the teapot and prepared a cup for each of them, with a slice of lemon for the elder, with cream and sugar for herself. As she brought the cup to her lips, her grandmother decided to speak.

“I've heard that you've locked yourself in your training room for almost two hours...”

Straight to the point, as expected.

“Yes.”

“I think you had enough time to get used to the idea, Sakura. It's been a few weeks since the topic arose.”

“I made my thoughts clear on the point, and I believed that you understood my wishes.”

'Breathe. Behave.'

“You're already twenty-three, and you haven't had a special relationship in the last two years. So, it was just a matter of logic that we took the matter in our hands.”

'Ha! “Already twenty-three”, as if I was an old spinster!'

She remained silent, drinking some tea.

'Breathe.'

“I think nobody considers me old at that age.”

“Yes, that's true, but you're not getting any younger, the years will keep on passing by and you're too focused on your goals. And I'm not criticising you, quite the opposite. I like to see that you're becoming a strong woman, like the ones before you.”

'How strange!' her ironic side spoke in her mind. 'Grandma is praising herself...'

“But you needed a little push in that department. So, that's why I decided it was time to search for the perfect partner for you.”

Sakura sighed, leaving the cup on the table and folding her hands on her lap.

“I'll be frank with you, grandmother” the older woman looked at her directly. “I don't think it's the right time. I still have some years left to finish my degree and my specialisation” she replied in a very serious voice. “I'd like to, at least, finish my two-year trainee program before considering marriage seriously. I don't think I'll be able to handle the social responsibilities that come with tying myself to a household like the one you described this morning at the same time.”

“You can do both things. Your prospective husband's family isn't against you finishing your studies since they know they're essential for you to manage the hospital and the research laboratory when your time comes. So they will help you by planning your schedule according to your practicum and exams.”

'Oh, they don't oppose...' she thought sarcastically, clenching her teeth. 'Let's thank the gods for their consideration...'

“But I'm sure neither he nor his family wouldn't mind waiting a bit. He is a second son, right? So he must be learning the necessary abilities to help the family and the heir...”

“Sakura” Chiyo's voice had become a bit stern now. “Do you think that you're the only candidate they're considering? You're really mistaken if you think that a man like that wouldn't get the attention of quite a few women. He may be a 'second son' as you remarked, but he's an excellent catch and won't be available forever.”

'Nice. At least I'm not the only one treated like goods in a market... I was starting to feel special.'

“It's a great opportunity, maybe the best one you'll have. And you should take that into account.”

The young woman shifted uncomfortably. She was not used to talking about her most intimate thoughts and dreams with anybody. Still, if that helped her...

“But...” her cheeks became a bit pink and she lowered her gaze. “I would want to love the person I marry... You... and father...”

Her grandmother sighed a bit exasperated

“Your grandfather and I weren't in love when we got married. That came later” she took a sip from her cup. “Listen, Sakura. I understand that women nowadays are different from the ones in my generation, that they want to enjoy life, have a career and fall in love. But society still thinks that there's something wrong with a woman who isn't married or about to be when she turns twenty-five. Even though a bit dreamy, you've always been a level-headed girl. And you also know that your condition as an heiress makes you different from the rest of women. You have the duty, not only of preserving our legacy but of continuing the bloodline and pass it to them. People like us can't indulge in fantasies about an ideal life. This man” she said putting her fingertips on the pink folder and sliding it across the table to her “knows it too.”

She stood up and looked straight at her granddaughter.

“Consider this matter carefully, it's the best thing for you.”

She did not answer, she only nodded slightly in acknowledgement, without lifting her head till she heard the door close softly.

Immediately, she lifted herself from her seat and started pacing the room with fast steps.

Oh, how she desired to be in the training room again to let out all the frustration she was feeling at the moment. It had been like talking to a wall. With a scream, she punched the sofa, knocking it over with a loud noise. She breathed deeply and put her hands on her hips. At least, she felt a bit better. She turned her head, glaring at the offending rectangle of cardboard that contained his photos.

'The best thing, my ass! I don't want to do it!'

She took the folder and threw it against the wall with a cry of anger. It made a soft sound against it before falling to the floor.

She walked to it and picked it up. If she could, she would burn it, but then her grandmother would probably scold her long and hard. And she knew she could not stand it. Unintentionally, her eyes fell on the photograph.

Ink-black irises stared back at her and she paused in her inner ramblings about deaf grandmothers and cursed prospective husbands to take a good look at him.

The first thing her mind registered was that he was unexpectedly young. And that he looked vaguely familiar, as she observed his posture, his lean but clearly athletic body clad in an elegant dark tailored suit and his serious expression. He looked as enthusiastic about the idea of getting married as her, and that thawed her feelings a tiny bit.

She had to admit he was really handsome, like an actor, but not in a manly way. His features, though sharp, were soft, slightly feminine. His short spiky hair was parted on the right and some strands fell lightly on his left eye offering a casual detail in the solemn atmosphere of the image.

Well, he seemed a bit uptight, but at least he was not a middle-aged pervert in a suit.

“Uchiha Sasuke” the name escaped her lips in a whisper as she read it on his resume.

She tapped her cheek thoughtfully as she observed him once more. Maybe it would not be such a horrible experience to meet him once. He gave the impression of being a well-educated man, not only because of the list of academic centres he had attended; she could also see it in his eyes. And she never refused the chance of having an intelligent conversation. Also, it was always a good thing to have acquaintances everywhere. Who knew when they could lend you a hand...

However, as she put the photo on the table again and made a slight gesture with the hand, apologising to him for her earlier behaviour, a question kept on repeating in her mind.

Where had he seen him?

THE END

#Naruto #fanfic #ssm17 #ssm17d2 #sasusakumonth #Haruno Sakura #Uchiha Sasuke #SasuSaku #OTP

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