#if young sakura had a forehead seal she would shape it like a heart <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[no-nic]

does the paper suck? do the markers suck? is there something wrong with me? [whips out good old watercolors, strategically covers bad parts of the ink drawing, whimpers internally]

🍒💕🌶️

experimenting with complementary colors (using red & green in a way that doesn't scream "christmas")

[mavda]

Beast Tamers

Ch.1 |  Ch.2 | Ch.3 | Ch.4(1) | Ch.4(2) | Ch.5(1) | Ch.5(2) | Ch.5(3) | Ch.5(4) | Ch.6(1) |

Ch.6: To seal a Beast (2)

Naruto opens his eyes and the moment he is conscious the pain starts to creep up on his body. He whimpers as he realizes he can't do much to alleviate the burning that courses from the tip of his feet to the top of his head. He starts breathing fast, too fast, and he starts crying the next moment. A wail of pain and need the maids pick up on immediately.     There is a rustle outside his room he tunes out as his discomfort grows with every second.     "Go get Lord Minato," one of the maids instruct to the guards outside. The two women check on him from the sliding door, and they try their best to soothe him without touching him. But Naruto is already full on crying and rustling on his bed.     Minato appears in a second outside, rushes through the doors and kneels beside his son with worry etched on his face. His hands touch his child and the moment he realizes nothing is really wrong with him aside from the burning from the seal, he calms. Minato wraps Naruto as much as he can with his bedclothes and brings him to his chest. The child clings to him and although he stops crying, he whimpers for his mommy between hiccups. And Minato's heart breaks for the umpteenth time this day.

    "My lord," a maid starts. Worried for the smell of burnt skin that slowly fills the room.     "It's okay," Minato cuts her, because what father could deny his son the touch of his skin for fear of a slight burn?     "Shall I call for a medic?" Asks the other maid.     "No, they are all busy already."     The maids fidget in their spots, and Minato sends them away. They try to argue that they can take care of the young lord, but Minato knows they won't touch him in fears of being hurt. They won't get close in fears of his seal breaking.     The door closes and Minato doubles over, crushes Naruto against himself, his little whimpers fill his ears, and Minato cries.     Silent, because no one needs to see him breaking. Alone, because he doesn't believe people will understand what he's going through. He cries and his chest hurts. They have taken everything from him.     His wife...     Naruto calls for his mother again and it only makes Minato hurt more.     Poor child.     Poor, poor child.     Forced to become a vessel at such a young age, forced to lose his mother, forced to become the head of the clan without a mentor.     Kushina would have guided him with such care, Kushina would have helped him shape himself to become an excellent man.     So Minato vows to protect his son with the care of a desperate man.     His son, the only trace of his love with Kushina. His son, the new vessel for the Nine-tails beast. His son, the new head of the Uzumaki clan.

Lady Mito finds Minato in his room, it's deep into the night and he's checking documents and reports one after the other. A candle lights his reading and at his back Naruto rests, sleeping soundly.     Mito gives a few steps into the room and falls to her knees.     Her face is stricken with tears and soot from the burning houses around the compound. Her hands still have traces of blood from her daughter, as she couldn't bear to say goodbye without bringing her to her bosom. She had been far away, far enough to only arrive now. Far enough to come back to a dead daughter, and the Beast sealed inside her grandson.     The Beast sealed inside her grandson. A child.     Minato looks at her, silent, and as Mito starts to open her mouth in an attempt to speak, as only little whines come out of her mouth, Minato stands, grabs the candle and checks on Naruto once more before going towards her.     "Maybe we should take this outside?" He asks, and there is not a hint of pain, rage, or sadness in his voice, and that somehow makes it harder for Mito to bear.     Minato lets her rest her weight on him. The moment they stand outside the room the change is immediate and yet measured. Minato's face fills with tears, but he makes no sound. Mito can see now that his eyes are red, that his face is haggard.     "I'm sorry," she whispers, because what else can she say.     Minato nods, closes his eyes in pain, "No one's at fault."     Mito looks back to his room, where Naruto is sleeping. "He..."     "I didn't have any other choice," Minato whispers, fast and almost unintelligible, "Kushina got pierced through her chest and the seal was going out of control," Minato remembers her face. The surprise, the confusion. "I got her a medic, but they couldn't do anything and the Nine-tails chakra grew and grew, so-" he stops, horrified at what he had to do. "I-"     "I... understand."     Minato lets his head hang, his breathing is erratic and Naruto's condition comes to the forefront of his mind. "Mito," he whines, "the Nine-tails chakra seeps out of him."     "The seal-"     "It's not the seal..." Minato raises his hands, covered in bandages, and then moves the clothes covering his neck, where Mito can clearly see charred skin. "It burns the skin, it charres clothing. Mito, he-" his voice breaks and he drags his hand over his hair, "his skin is falling off in some places."     Silence.     A day. A day since the attack, 24 hours and the beast's chakra is obviously too much for the child. "I should have been here."     "No one knew about this, Mito, don't blame yourself."     "Pass the Beast to me."     Minato shakes his head no, but Mito insists.     "With your sealing techniques you could do it, right?"     "You will die."     "So what? If we do nothing, then he will."     Minato looks her in the eye, hates that this is being placed unto him, hates that he is considering it.     "We can't," he says. And Mito gets close to his face.     "Why?"     "The seal is barely holding on, the seeping chakra is enough of a telltale, if we do anything to the seal before it can settle he..."     Mito falls back, her lips tremble and the tears start falling again. "When then?"     "When the seal settles, when it wears off on its own. Then, maybe we can try to do that."     "When will that be?"     "I don't... I don't know."

Hinata sits right beside Naruto. His breathing is hot and irregular, he's running a fever and the few times he has waken up he has turned to the side, grabbed the little basin next to him and threw up.     He would look at her, smirk and tell her that everything was all right.     And Hinata can only stay besides him, wipe his sweat off and stare out the window. Useless.     Lord Minato stayed till Naruto first regained consciousness and then left to keep as if nothing had ever happened. The man who had transformed into Lord Minato, Kakashi, is now guarding the place alongside Sai. Sakura had presented them to her, said that Sai is to become Hinata's personal guard, and that Kakashi is the leader of the special division under the clan head. Kakashi is silent, and although sharp and clearly capable, his attitude is aloof. Sai, on the other hand, is pale as a sheet and has a perpetual smile on his face, he speaks all of the right things at the right times and made sure to tell Hinata that they were there to assist in whatever she needed. Hinata hadn't called for them at all.      Hinata has not called for anyone else, for that matter. She helped Lord Minato bring Naruto back to his room and then remained next to him, dabbing his face to clean his sweat, keeping the wet cloth at his forehead fresh, and waiting for him to wake up and help... with whatever.     Lord Minato, Sakura, even Sai have told her that she doesn't need to stay here. That if anything happened she would be called. But she can't bring herself to walk away from this, from him.     She had thought her clan techniques were going to help. That her marrying into this family was of some consequence...     Is there any surprise that she can't help at all?     She understands that this is out of her hands, and yet she can't shake the feeling of uselessness creeping up on her. The moment Lord Minato had left to keep up appearances she had felt revolted. Naruto was laying in his bed, whining and tossing and turning, and he left? She understands that this is to prevent suspicion, to keep Naruto's situation under wraps, to prevent an attack, but...     Naruto had woken up, disoriented and shaken up. He had thrown up and without missing a beat, had called for his father. Hinata had thought it was a call for comfort, was ready to give it herself, but the moment she had told him that Lord Minato had gone back to his usual routine, Naruto had sighed in relief. "Good," as he spat into the basin, rested his head on the pillow and went to sleep in a second.     And Hinata understood.     Of course he wishes to stay with his son. She had seen his face before, of course he doesn't want to be away from him at this moment.     Naruto is the one who asks.     Naruto, who decided to marry her because his father had asked.     Naruto, who decided to love her in spite of being forced into an arranged marriage.     Naruto, who takes his responsibilities with a seriousness Hinata can't help but admire.     Of course it's Naruto who asks.     And of course everyone says okay.

Minato comes back late that night. Every report came back normal, and nobody has even noticed Naruto's absence.     Good.     He walks towards his son's room, looking to see him up and well. Like before. But Kakashi doesn't look him in the eye and even Sai is silent.     Lady Hinata is crouched over Naruto, dabbing his face with a wet cloth. Careful, conscientious, she barely hears him enter and she turns around when he's close enough to cast a shadow. She says nothing, but Minato sees worry in her furrowed brows.     "Lady Mito s-said he usually wakes u-up in the evenings."     That's right, Minato wants to say. But he gets closer, looms over his son, and dread starts to fill his body.     Yes, this type of things made him feel sick, and throw up, and feel awful, but he usually woke up half a day later, maybe at night, but he powered through. Naruto, who hates to see people fretting over him, over that damned beast inside of him. He would wobble and hurt and he would smile through all of it. And he would wake.     "Is th-this b-bad?" ventures Lady Hinata, already seeing through Minato.     "I don't know," he kneels on Naruto's other side, rests his hand on Naruto's chest. "This is unusual, yes, but we can't really know if it's bad," he lies.     Lady Hinata rests her hands on her lap and remains silent. Minato knows she's not dumb, but she accepts his explanation anyways, because just like Naruto, she's nice.     Maybe too much for their own good.     "How..." she starts, and Minato raises his eyes to her, "how many ti-times has his seal been re-reinforced?"     Minato answers without even thinking, "Thee times, Lady Hinata. This is the third time..."     "When...?"     "The Beast was sealed inside him when he was four, then we reinforced it when he was eleven, then seventeen... and now, twenty-three years old."     The numbers come quickly to Hinata, and she repeats them again and again inside her head. "Is my t-technique supposed to h-help with the seal?"     "Yes, but no,"Minato frowns as he looks at Naruto again, "your technique can't affect the seal, what your technique is supposed to do is help Naruto keep his chakra paths clear and as consequence help him not... need this as much..." Naruto whines and turns his head to the side. Hinata rearranges the wet cloth at his forehead with care. "The Nine-tails chakra is too powerful and it puts a strain on Naruto. He's... strong, and we've helped him learn to control his body as well as his output of energy, and yet... it's not enough. The Beast's chakra clogs his own chakra points and overburdens them, I'm sure-"     "I've s-seen them."     Minato scoffs, "Of course you have. Naruto has been praising your technique for anyone to hear since the moment he met you."     There's an exchange of smiles between them and Hinata has to cover her smile to hide her blushing. She feels herself grow sad immediately after.     "We're doing everything we can to help him, Lady Hinata," Minato adds, staring at her, trying to comfort her, "we are always on the lookout for anything new regarding seals, for ways to help keep his body healthy... anything."     Hinata nods but says nothing in fears of crying.     "Just... focus on having a happy life, all right? Naruto will wake up, if not now, in the morning. Don't worry. I know your marriage has a little bit of a burden placed upon it, but he has at least 10 full years to spend with you, all right?"     Hinata hides her face by looking at her hands. Ten? Just ten? And the tears pool at her eyes and start falling directly into her folded hands.     "And we will do our best to lengthen it as much as we can, my lady, so..."     Minato trails off, and even he can't keep on talking. Because even he's not sure Naruto will have those ten years. Everything is up in the air. Their predictions, their hopes, all but thoughts and wishes no one can be certain about.     So after a bout of silence, Minato stands, sits next to Hinata and lets his hand rest at her back.     "Whatever happens, we will be there for you both, all right? I can assure you that."     Hinata nods, whimpers an unintelligible thank you. Minato pats her back twice and then stands.     "We will station guards outside if you need anything."     Hinata lets her tears fall, checks on Naruto again and prepares herself to sleep. Right besides him, a little ways away as he turns so often, but with a hand close to his body. A hand that checks his face one last time before resting at his shoulder.     His fever is going down. He will wake up.     He will wake up.