#maybe he develops a different type of cursed technique

[fish-hooks]

jjk 214 spoilers

(just some thoughts on what others are theorizing)

ive seen some people speculating that the nature of Yuuji is that he was a Heian era sorcerer, but i feel that would completely take away from Yuuji's growth as a sorcerer.

We've already seen that he was using Sukuna's cursed energy to enhance his own abilities. and now that he's a fish out of water, he has to learn to use his own cursed energy to fight.

i guess the real question should be, is he going to develop a cursed technique of his own?

[megu-meow]

missin' you crazy - Gojo Satoru

gojo satoru x fem.reader

Summary: moments when Gojo misses you and tries to cope with you being away.

Satoru always did everything so that he wouldn't depend on anybody but himself. Growing up, he was given everything, he didn't have to do anything on his own - that shows when he moves into the Jujutsu Tech dorms and he's the only one incapable of doing his own laundry, however, he always preferred being alone for his emotional well-being. He was conditioned into thinking that friends, family, and lovers were only sources of weakness, and the Strongest must not have weaknesses. But people change in high school and that most certainly applies to the prodigy of the Gojo clan as well. Firstly, he befriends his classmate, a dark-haired kid with the ability of Curse Manipulation, Geto Suguru. The two of them click instantly, despite their different upbringings and their clashing personalities. They wreak havoc around campus together, making every teacher and student aware of their immense power and the dominance they have over the entire Jujutsu World. So when you get admitted to the Tokyo branch of the two existing sorcery schools, you are already aware of the potential your upperclassmen have. However, you're not the type to settle, so you challenge yourself to work hard enough to get to their level, and for the first time, Gojo Satoru meets someone he finds to be intimidating. Not only are you determined and hot-headed, but you're also kind-hearted and gentle. Satoru cannot help but blush every single time you ask him about his well-being or every time you bring him souvenirs from your missions from around the world. Gojo finds himself slowly falling in love with you, a big no-no for him, based on the teaching of his clan members. However, he wouldn't be the Strongest if he let anyone but him influence his decisions in life, so he asks you out anyway and is thrilled when you agree, because no matter how arrogant, spoiled, and insufferable you think he is, he also has a big heart and he's sweet, considerate and gentle towards you.

Over time, Satoru learns that you're sent away abroad a lot, given how your cursed technique consists of you being able to speak any language, imbedded with cursed energy that can manipulate humans, curses, sorcerers, and curse users alike. It's a unique and powerful technique that Gojo admires, one that is considered extremely useful around the globe. And with you, his favorite person on the entire planet, being away comes an unbearable amount of suffering - so he says.

The first time you take on a longer mission overseas, it's around three or four months into your relationship. Satoru is being driven back to campus by an auxiliary manager from the airport, where they dropped you off approximately ten minutes ago. His eyes are glued to the display of his overly expensive flip phone, an obnoxious message from you opened, one full of emotes he would usually consider silly, but his heart aches from knowing that this is the last point of contact he would have with you for the next two weeks. The year is 2006 and cell phones are not developed enough to maintain stable connection across the globe, so he knows he won't hear your voice or see your face until you come back to Tokyo. As soon as he arrives back on campus he looks for Shoko and Suguru, maybe they could distract him enough so that he forgets how much he misses you. It's a new feeling for him, it somewhat pisses him off, not one person was important enough for him before that he would experience how missing someone would feel like, but here he is. Miserable.

"You look rough, champ." Shoko teases from the top of the girls' dorm building, where she and Suguru are sharing a cigarette.

"What happened, Satoru? Did they run out of strawberry mochi at the convenience store?" Geto asks curiously. It's not every day that Gojo's smile is wiped from his face or the bounce is missing from his step.

"No, I don't want mochi right now." the white-haired sorcerer sighs dramatically, as he teleports to the roof and sits down beside his friends.

"Oh, something's definitely wrong. You always want mochi..." Shoko exclaims.

"I KNOW WHY HE'S SULKING!" Geto states with a wide smile, trying to contain his laughter "Didn't our beloved kohai, Y/N leave for a long mission today?"

"You're right, Geto, she did!" says Shoko, while Satoru stays quiet, his eyes focused on the ground under him, his long fingers fiddling with a loose thread on his school uniform. "Do you miss her already, Gojo?"

"I guess so... We didn't spend much time apart since we started dating."

"You're smitten, Satoru!" Geto says matter-of-factly and flicks his best friend in the head to annoy him even more.

"Yeah..." the wielder of the Six Eyes agrees and disappears in an instant, teleporting into his dorm room. He hopes that waking up early and running around helping you pack all day tired him out enough so that he could go to sleep straight away, but he's totally wrong: he's been tossing and turning for hours now, unable to sleep, thinking about how you're so far away, possibly still on a flight to get to your exotic destination. He's huffing, dramatically flailing his limbs around as he turns into his back, eyeing the blank, perfectly white ceiling of his dorm. He remembers the fluorescent stars decorating your room, he thinks about how calming they are when it's pitch black outside and there's no other source of light when he wakes up beside you in your bed in the middle of the night. He turns again and suddenly gets a whiff of your sweet perfume and he shoots up, looking around the darkness surrounding him. He spots one of your plushies that he gave to you on your second date, that time you went to an arcade and he promised he would get you any stuffed toy you wanted. His plan miserably failed, but then he used his technique at ring toss, wielding the air around so that he could succeed and got you the stuffed penguin you were eyeing the whole evening. He picks up the toy, bringing it close to his chest as he buries his nose into the soft fur in between his fingers. It smells exactly like you, a mixture of your perfume, your shampoo, and body wash as calmness takes over his tense muscles. Sleep comes easy after that and the next 13 days fly by just like that, he keeps the toy close to his person the whole time, having it around gives him a sense of security, one that he didn't realize existed while he was around you before.

After 14 days you're finally back in his arms, he's at the airport waiting for you, of course, with a bouquet of flowers and an explosive amount of energy. He swoons a bit when he spots you, in one of his expensive, black sweatshirts and he teases you for wearing it, however, you don't mind, you tell him without hesitation that it was the only item that could provide you the comfort to go through your mission without him. He smiles widely, pressing a loving kiss to your forehead, but he doesn't mention his newfound attachment to your stuffed penguin.

The second time you leave for nearly a month, Satoru is dealing with a lot. His best friend just recently left Jujutsu High to become a curse user, a murderer (Gojo hates referring to him as one, but it's the truth). You don't want to leave either, it's evident from the endless tears that are running down your face. You want to assure him, that you love him and you'll always come back to him, but the "L word" is not something you've said to each other before and you know talking about feelings is not the Strogest's forte, so you stay silent, trying to express your strong emotions towards him with long embraces, soft, loving kisses and mindful squeezes to his hands. He understands, more than ever, that you're just as committed to this relationship as he is, he knows you're not going to leave him like Suguru and you will never develop insane beliefs that would turn the entire Jujutsu World against you. You're more level-headed than that. So he decides, he's gonna confess to you, he's gonna admit he's irreversibly in love with you, but no words leave his mouth. He doesn't know why, he thinks it's because he recently lost one of the few people he allowed to get close to his heart and he doesn't want to admit something that would make him vulnerable. The real reason though, is that those words have never been spoken by the Strongest for anyone besides his mother. So he spends the whole time you're away contemplating his decision to let you leave without telling you how he really feels, his brain drifts towards the scene at the airport even while fighting a Special Grade curse he would consider amusingly weak on any other day. He doesn't sleep, he overworks himself, but that doesn't affect him as he conditioned his brain into healing itself constantly. However, at one point the tiredness takes over him and he shuffles instinctively towards your dorm room where he falls asleep instantly in between your familiar sheets. That night he dreams of you, he cannot quite recall the details, but he knows he wakes up with a smile on his face and that's the point where he decides he would tell you he loves you the moment he picks you up at the airport. He does exactly that and you say the words back in between tears because you're an emotional mess every time you two get reunited.

The third time, he's already a teacher at Jujutsu Tech and the two of you have your own house inside the school barriers. Satoru spends a lot of time on missions as well and he doesn't like leaving you completely alone, so knowing that you're safe inside Tengen-sama's protection gives him a level of calmness but he never stops worrying for you. However, it's the first time you're leaving him since you moved into your shared home and he suddenly realizes that home does not necessarily mean a place, but a person. The first time he truly felt at home somewhere was in this exact house when the two of you moved in, but without your music softly playing, the smell of your cooking lingering around and your soft hums/giggles it's not the same. When he gets home late from a mission he notices your absence from the couch, your curled up form waiting for him with tired, but happy eyes. The heater setting is the same as he put it on a few days ago, not slightly higher, because you're not around to complain about being cold. He walks towards your shared bedroom with his head hanging low and he looks around the usually comforting space with a lonely sigh. He walks up to your vanity, your jewelry box open, displaying all the beautiful pieces he gifted you over the years. Images of you wearing them run through his mind, the domestic scenario of you asking him to put on your favorite necklace for you in the morning. He always complies, leaving kisses on your neck and collarbones, inhaling your scent that never changed since high school. His eyes drift towards the slim band around his ring finger and he smiles, because you made an oath to return to him every time you leave.

A few days later you're back, as you get older your missions shorten because you finish them in a smaller time frame than expected. You're cool and talented like that. The house fills with your music and the smell of your cooking again, the giggles can be heard as well after Satoru starts tickling your sides while he admires the smile plastered on your face lovingly.

The fourth time, Itadori walks around campus, looking for his teacher. He's late for class and after an intense battle between the three first-year students, it has been decided that Yuji had to be the one to look for Gojo. However, he's caught by Principal Yaga, whose blood instantly boils upon hearing about Satoru's slacking out.

"Follow me, Itadori. I know exactly where that idiot is." the intimidating adult starts walking down the corridor, towards the staff offices. He guides the kid to your office and he opens the door widely. Yuji steps in and he instantly notices his teacher, fast asleep on your couch with a fluffy, pink blanket around him as he embraces your stuffed penguin close to his chest. This has become routine of Satorus over the years, as he slowly learned how to cope with your absence. He knows you spray both the blanket and the stuffie with your perfume before you leave because you know what he's doing every time. You've received numerous pictures of him in this exact state from Shoko over the years and your heart swells with love every time.

"Whoa, whose office is this?" Yuji asks looking around. He admires all the different memorabilia you’ve collected from your travels around the world.

"It belongs to Y/n-san. Gojo loves sleeping in here when she's away." the principal explains, as he tries to shake Gojo awake, but fails miserably because of his infinity.

"That's a bit creepy, isn't it?" the boy asks, not quite understanding the situation.

"Not when she's your wife and you're the clingiest person to ever walk on this earth."

"GOJO-SENSEI HAS A WIFE?" Itadori exclaims in shock, fishing out his phone from his pocket to text Nobara.

"Yeah, the prettiest one as well." they hear from the couch as Gojo gets up and stretches. "I'm sorry for being late to class, I don't get much sleep when..."

"...your pretty girl is out of town, we know Satoru! Now get back to teaching!" Yaga exclaims and Gojo mutters an obnoxious 'scary' into Yuji's ear.

The boy giggles and they both leave towards the classroom they're supposed to be in. As soon as they get there, Nobara bombards them with millions of questions, demanding to see pictures of the 'idiot that tolerates Gojo' and is surprised when Megumi scoffs at her, warning her not to refer to you as an idiot. However, Satoru is glad to show them all his favorite pictures and he tells the kids stories about you, ones that are new to Megumi as well. Gojo Satoru is not alone anymore, on the contrary, he hates being alone. However, over the years he learned how to cope. At least he knows you will always come back to him, no matter what. As long as he's surrounded by your scent, your belongings, Megumi, his other students, and the stuffed penguin is close by, waiting for you to come back is not as hard as he first imagined.

[majycka]

Megumi stans....we won, I guess? maybe just for now..

JJK 266 THOUGHTS AND SPOILERS AHEAD!

Aight megumi enjoyers, at least one of us has been in the trenches when Megumi was getting SHOVELED PILES OF SHIT ON for losing his will to live when he's a traumatized 15 years old boy having a valid reaction to a death of a loved one (aka who may I repeat, HEAVILY REITERATED in the manga is someone whose his entire desire to live hinges on). As of from the currents chap, I'm considering Yuuji's acknowledgement/understanding to Megumi's actions a W for us or idk maybe that's just me because he gives Megumi the empathy and understanding he needs in his crazy ass suicidal life, and it raises the question of whether this is gonna fully push Megumi for his comeback moment?

More yapping under the cut

In order to explain why the magnitude of this chapter is such an important development for Megumi, his trauma needs to be discuss first and, there's four people we need to go through to reflect his stages of life. Toji, Tsumiki, Gojo, aaaannd Yuuji! :D

TOJI, the dad who left for milk.

Although we barely see any interaction with these two (only one fight scene from them), Toji no doubt kickstarted the trauma of Megumi the moment he decided to left for milk and never return again. He's traumatized by the Zenin's which explains why he acted out in that way and abandoned his child. All he's life he's treated as the outsider for being the odd one out. He lashed out from it as he got stronger, calmed down when meet Meg's mom who then died, and went back to lashing out again, forgetting that he has a tiny son waiting for him at home. Big L for Toji.

I know that Gege reiterated in his interview that he wants to craft a story where there's no right and wrong people, but I'm gonna proceed to be harsher towards Toji here because he's the ADULT situation. Yes, a traumatized adult who's fucked up and not perfect, but I still hold him accountable in perpetuating Megumi's trauma because Toji proceeded to repeat the cycle of trauma that moment he decided to leave, thinking that turning over Megumi to the Zenin is the best option cuz he got The Ten Shadows Technique. From Toji's perspective, it seemed the better option because he was raised knowing his no cursed energy made him an outcast in his family. It's drilled to him that cursed technique was everything for Zenins, so of course, he thought that his son with a valued technique will make the Zenins, olympic gold medal holder of abuse, treat him better. But, heck no! Just look what happened to that Naoya, who despite being raised differently as Toji or Maki and Mai, ended up as a piece of shit. In the end though, I gotta give him the bareeeessst minimum because he kinda pushed Gojo to interfere with Megumi being sold off to the Zenins(which has another set of problems discussed for the later part of discussion).

I try to stay true in including Gege's intention in writing here, and also other nuanced perspective cuz that's the type of series JJK is that yes, Toji DID care for his son in the barest minimum and in his most emotionally stunted way.

However, the damage is done, and Megumi is left with no prime adult caretaker to protect/guide him with only an older sis to have any resemblance of it .

2. TSUMIKI, the manic pixie dream girl sister.

To define the term (as I've stolen from Google) , manic pixie dream girl (MPDG) means "a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist." They are often associated as love interest in movies, BUT I AM NO WAY SHAPE IN FORM ENDORSING MEGUMI SEES HER THAT WAY. Instead, I am using MPDG as a loose term to describe Tsumiki because like most MPDG, we barely know ANYTHING about her actually and we only saw her through the eyes of Megumi which is being pretty and dead.

Not essentially dead and not essentially just pretty because Megumi described her to be the model of a kind person and someone that Megumi wishes to protect, aka his greater purpose of life, which is yah, great, but we are stuck with this perception of Tsumiki. We don't know her, and I think the closest thing we got an unbiased perception of her is when she chucked a cartoon of milk to Megumi (she will call out his BS). This connects back with Megumi's trauma because who else are you gonna hinge your will to live on when the prime adults in your life failed you? He sees her in a brighter light in order to survive. A way of coping mechanism even.

AND YET, despite all his talk appreciating her kind traits and killing people in the culling game to get back to her, you would be surprised that instead of apologizing to her that he was all emo about, he was a dick to her when they reunited. 💀💀

And in fact, the narrative punishes him for this flaw.

To the point that when Sukuna took over his body, he "killed: Tsumiki in his hands which didn't just left Megumi the guilt and shame of being a dick to his sister before she dies but also the impression that Megumi was the one who "killed her." This makes Megumi an active participant to his own tragedy, and it serves a big slap on his face that he's also at fault here.

3. GOJO, the traumatized bro who tried his best.

This is definitely the raging hot debate of the fandom which is their dynamic, and my take breaks this perception of the uwufied Gojo a lot of the fandom seems to like. Yes, I do see Gojo as another perpetrator to Megumi’s trauma, another adult that failed him but not in such of a black and white way thinking of Gojo’s the wholly bad guy here. Believe it or not, he’s still a part of the chain of generational trauma, being a "chain" as in he's a victim AND perpetrator of the system. I called him the traumatized bro who tried his best here because as much as Gojo knows how cruel the jujutsu system is for the kids, he still unintentionally passes over the core mindset of such cruel system to Megumi since Gojo still did grew up in this system normalized in his eyes.

"Jujutsu Sorcerer is an individual sport."

I say "unintentionally passes" because no, Gojo doesn't have the same intention as Zenins/majority of the system who drills "strength is everything" in the most fucked up way possible. Yes, he enjoys Megumi’s company and treats him nicely. Yes, he sticks his neck out for him. Yes, he wants them to be strong so they can change the system. But this isn't about Gojo. It's about Megumi who still undeniably suffered from the accumulation of the few adults in his life failing him which includes Gojo. Gojo offers protection to Megumi. KEYWORD: Offers. It’s in exchange for Megumi working under Gojo as a jujutsu sorcerer. Now, for smol Megumi here, who truly going through the horror show of abandonment from his dad, agrees to it because apparently, according to Gojo, it’s the only way to protect his sister.

"I'll take care of things! But you're gonna have to work extra hard. I'm countin' on ya."

Annnd thus the cycle repeats! Although it wasn’t as bad as Zenin’s abusive environment Toji was raised, Megumi is still pushed in the same cutthroat environment of the jjk world that Gojo believed he can survive just because Megs has a valued powerful technique if only he himself fullfills his potential, like Gojo’s Six Eyes. BUT Gojo, who delights in his power, forgets a crucial part that…..Megumi isn’t like him!

Check out what Megumi has to say. (aka bud doesn't want any of that sorcerers shit and just wants a domestic life)

So the thing is, was Megumi ever asked his input in choosing to be a jujutsu sorcerer? Well, yah….and all it circles back to just protecting his sister and people like her. There’s a set of problems that comes with this mindset though that Gojo was valid to point out and that is Megumi doesn’t think about himself enough. “It’s ok to be selfish!” Gojo said in the context of being a stronger sorcerer.

But at the same time, he also gave Megumi the idea to that if he doesn’t work as sorcerer, then he won’t be able to protect his sister when he was a mere 6-7y/o boy.

You know that circulating meme of Megumi pulling Mahogora for minor inconvenience? Well, guess what that tells his suicidal tendencies in protecting anyone but himself. Kid got no sense of self-preservation because his self esteemed has completely tanked itself due to his abandonment issues, and now that he’s expressing how it emotionally and physically paralyzes him, he has every valid reason to do so.

Why, yes, Gojo was 19/20 at the time he first met Megs, still a kid, doesn't know shit, and has unaddressed issues being treated as The Strongest Weapon(here’s a dedicated gojo-centric meta I wrote previously about Gojo and his issues cuz he's one complicated fool). I describe this whole situation as an unaware traumatized kid taking in another traumatized kid which is not a fun mix to have, and I understand that Gojo ain’t exactly prepared for that kind of job.

HOWEVER, I’m way harsher to point out Gojo’s failure as an adult in Megumi in the later part of the series because at this point, Gojo's a grown adult, he waxes poetry in being responsible for the next gen , and we get to see his priorities throughout the series especially with the Sukuna’s fight, like seriously he had one legitimate fun fighting someone on par with him.

Gojo DELIGHTS in power no doubt, he chooses kids with most potential, he gets excited finding those kids, and this is the type of the closest dependable adult Megumi has in his life.

Yes, financially supported but Gojo isn't around much when he's working and on demand sorcerer almost 24/7. That's why growing up sure do sucked ass for Megumi especially when no one’s really there to guide and to keep an eye on your development AS A PERSON AND NOT JUST A SORCERER which the latter part is what unfortunately Gojo’s more eager to do.

4. YUUJI, the guy who just wants Megumi to know he matters to him as a person.

Yuuji and Megumi were definitely the highlight of this chapter because in the bleak world of JJK where everyone seemed to be succumbing to the repeated fuck ups of the previous gen (like that Yuta-Gojo situation), this chapter actually offers that THERE IS HOPE that the new gen can do better like what Yuuji just did that the adults in Megumi's life are too emotionally stunted to do. Yuuji take the time to listen to Megumi's emotional thoughts, what he feels as a person, and not just listen, but to understand and empathize. It even took lots of attempts for Yuuji to make Megumi open up.

He responds to Megumi's vulnerability with care and love, and Yuuji understands the pain Megumi is going through from losing his sister. With someone in pain like that, Yuuji knows he can't just go around saying "just live" to someone who's practically suicidal.

The treat of this all is when this scene comes next. Yuuji also shows his vulnerability and expresses that Megumi matters to him!

"It's lonely without you..Fushiguro."

This scene clearly parallels Gojo and Megumi's first meeting, so I'm gonna try to throw my two cents here and explain why Gege choose this direction. Remember what I said about Yuuji giving us the hope of the new gen escaping from the shackles of generational trauma? Well, I think this parallel is a way in saying that what Megumi needed when he was so young was someone to see him and his pain who's just a kid abandoned and forced to fend for themselves because the prime adults decided to to dip out. This is Megumi we are talking about here who's unaddressed issues stays hidden beneath all the pressure of him being The Ten Shadows Technique. He's valued for his technique. That's why Gojo showed up to meet him in the first place. That's also what the jujutsu system looked after for their child soldiers. Yuuji tries to break this chain of trauma their mentor unknowingly repeats. He'll show up for Megumi again and again because he's his dear friend even if Megumi's being difficult to be pulled out of Sukuna. And the beautiful thing is Yuuji didn't had some grand inspiring speech or grand offer to convince Megumi, he wasn't even sure Megumi will be up for it. Yuuji simply want to say that he matters to him. That understands him. That he's important to him so much he'll be sad when he dies, and it mattered.

"This is...Fushiguro Megumi's...!!"

And now that Megumi is showing signs in taking his body back, it's now his turn to save himself. Yuuji did his part, and for someone whose future has been controlled by everyone but himself, this time Megumi gets to decide what comes next.

[whalesforhands]

NVY NVY NVY?!?!?! SETTLE YOUR SORROWS??!?!? I WAS CHOKING ON MY TEARS HELP- WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME SUFFER SO?!?!?! The way Shoko and Geto were reminiscing abt mc in the smallest ways had me clutching my heart. And the way the little snippets from part 6 with Megumi meeting reader are in this chapter too *sobs*. BUT DOES THIS MEAN MC SOMEHOW COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD?!?!? MAYBE SHES IN THIS WEIRD SPIRIT PLACE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH??!?!? (I’m literally grasping at straws here for some comfort help). Also question. In this au, does Geto defect or no? Like does he murder those villagers for what they did to the twins? Cause I know Gojo reached out to him just in time before he snapped and things went canon but I was a little confused on the murder or no murder bit. ALSO I MUST KNOW BUT IN DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES HOW DO YOU THINK GETO WOULD RESPOND TO YUKIS QUESTION OF WHAT HIS TYPE IS??? I think it would be interesting cause Gojo and mc are almost polar opposite’s. ALSO I ADORE HOW YOURE DEVELOPING MC’S TECHNIQUE. The bubble barrier thing to contrast with Gojo and the outward use of cursed energy to contrast with Geto is just mwuh *chefs kiss*. ALSO EVERYONE SHE CARES ABT COMING TO THEIR GRADUATION AND HER SEAT BEING EMPTY WITH ONLY FLOWERS AND HER IDEAL NUMBER OF CHILDREN BEING ADOPTED BY GOJO AND GETO?!?!? Be right back I need more tissues. Also sorry its been a minute since I dropped in, life got kinda hectic. How are you? Have you eaten? Drank water? I hope you’re doing good!!

- 🍊 anon

always a pleasure to see u ard 🍊anon!!! i hope things have been going well on your end too. drinking as always has been fine, but i’ve been eating less and less as of late.

but you are right, i was trying to contrast dyf mc and the stsg’s cursed techniques

explanation: bubble barrier < - > infinity

(a shield that can not only protect yourself, but also others around you, contrasting infinity that only protects gojo. shield only holds up as long as the user has cursed energy. more cursed energy used, stronger the barrier.)

void < - > cursed spirit manipulation (not really, haha)

(where cursed spirit manipulation lets geto pull out and use cursed spirits, void swallows the user and only the user whole, and can store them inside for an indefinite amount of time. think of it as a storage closet for now.)

in dyf, geto does not defect. if he did, he would not have been seen at graduation ahahah, since yk, he would be a mass murderer?

as for the type of woman… i’ll let you have this because you’ve been my most reoccurring anon.

“What type of woman do you like?”

Geto pauses, eyes still upturned and smile still tight in his usual polite manner.

“Is that a joke?” He lets out a polite laugh. “I am already taken, you know?” His arms are crossed over his broad chest as he looks the special-grade sorcerer in the eye.

“Oh come on, lighten up a little!” Yuki’s laughing heartily, loud voice echoing throughout the hallway.

“Someone with their heart in the right place.”

Eh? That’s it? “Quite the answer you have there, don’t you, Suguru-kun?”

“It’s enough to sate you, and I am perfectly fine with that.”

[stellamancer]

Hello hello Niku, I'm the anon who had sent that ask regarding sending in ideas earlier today! ^^

First and foremost thank you so so much for your kind words and assurances, I'm happy to hear that sending the ask was okay, I was so scared of over stepping or that the way in which I phrased the ask would come across/sound a certain type of that I almost wussed out and didn't send it lol ^^; I totally understand not being able to get to an ask or responding within a certain period of time, life happens, you've got hobbies and there's absolutely zero obligations in any way! <:) (Oh and while I utterly adore the way you write Gojo😳 in regards to your initial response. Yes. Make him even more pathetic if you so desire. That wet napkin of a man is always in a grave need to be humbled, and I don't think anyone would complain at the thought lol)

But to get onto the whole reason I sent the ask in the first place, while the idea doesn't have much background or development, it's just stuck with me in such a way that I couldn't help but latch onto it and the possibilities that came with it!

So without further ado.... What do you think it would look like if Gojo got a mean case of amnesia? Be it permanent or temporary is completely undecided, but I just wonder how he would act. Would he be more serious/ toned down? Any more chaotic and an unabashed menace than what he already is? I just wonder about any and all differences that he would potentially have, be it personality, mannerisms, how he acted around/treated others, etc... I'd like to believe he would at the very least make enough haste to put 'remember who I am' on the To Do list, but he's just such??? An eccentric guy even with all of his memories, so it's an interesting head scratcher to imagine lol

Furthermore, because it's not enough to have one thought, but another, smaller one to latch onto the first. What if, while still suffering from amnesia Gojo essentially gets Isekai'd(?) into a world that is literally exactly the same in each and every way, but there isn't an ounce of cursed energy to be had. No sorcerers, no curses, nothing of the sort.

Plainly speaking, the jujutsu world has played a part in each and every aspect of Gojo's life, no matter how much he despised and fought it. So the idea of someone losing their memory is already quite unfortunate, no matter who they are, but to have to even attempt to re learn who they once were but also in a different world, one that is familiar, but distinctly off just enough, especially considering what exactly it is that's 'missing' in his case, sounds so incredibly lonely and isolating :(

Because realistically he would have no one to fall back to, to help him. It'd be a miracle if he stumbled upon a samaritan kind enough to give him the time of day. I imagine it'd be super overwhelming, and the ever growing sense of his existence just being so inherently 'wrong' would be?? Horrible (Because yes, he garners attention. He's pretty. But would anyone he approaches honestly take him seriously? Maybe readers the first one to finally take his words for what they are, maybe they meet when he's passed out outside of their job as they're closing up for the night and after an intense bout of screaming and a hurried sad excuse of an explanation on Gojo's part, some kind of odd understanding is had between the two)

(And in regards to the mentioned Isekai, I don't really know why/how this would happen, maybe when being sealed away he was literally just express mailed to our world, maybe he manages to finally beat the antagonist of the story/fulfills his role and the universe just??? Presses the evaporate button. Hell, considering all of the wild cursed techniques and energies going on in all of these intense fights it wouldn't surprise me if it made the worlds oddest cosmic cocktail and rips open a wormhole or smth lol)

Sksksksk that was an absolute monster of an ask, once more I hope that's okay lol ^^ hopefully my rambles weren't too wild and coherent enough, this train of thought has been going rampant in my head for the past couple of days and I just!!! Had to share it! Thank you so so much for your kind words and time, once again please know there is never any rush or pressure to respond, simply being able to write and send the idea off is more than enough for me! <:)

Oh, yes, I must make him more pathetic then. I'm actually not quite sure how, though, actually. I guess I would need to put him in a situation where he can display his pathetic loser tendencies (maybe I should consult Morgan over this…)

I'm gonna put the rest under a cut.

Anyway, Gojo with amnesia… I guess that depends on a couple things, like how deep is this amnesia going? Are we just wiping memories or does it run deeper and has he lost some character development too because I think there would be differences depending on these two scenarios. That said, I think that either way he would be more serious, maybe not necessarily more toned down, but a little less joking because he's missing his memories. But on the other side of that is that I don't think he'd be freaking out, or anything; he'd probably outwardly try to look like he's perfectly fine and nothing's wrong.

Then to be isekai'd. Your brain's really going for the double whammy there. To lose your memories and be transported to another world… I'd assume that he probably still can use his CT and stuff, though the amnesia also begs the question of how skilled he is with those. If anything, the Six Eyes probably still work, so he'd probably know right away that things do not look 'right.' Actually, I think he'd probably still need to use jujutsu because, like, then if he rememebred bits of pieces of his life while he's in this other world… he might think he's going insane. The mind-fuckery potential is wild! You could really play up the horror factor and I think that would be a lot of fun!

And then having a reader who is kind and open-minded and… I do think he'd try to do things on his own because he's kind of like that, so I think a reader would have to be like "I am helping you and that is that."

I think that using his boxing would be a good way to, like, easily whisk him away. But, if he's there temporarily it does seem a little bit sad. I mean amnesia, I feel like, usually ends up being an angsty trope so… are you a little angst gremlin anon? I mean how else do people get isekai'd… Gojo vs Truck-chan… who would win? LMAO. An other worldly wormhole could be good too… I think that gives the chance for other characters from JJK to pop up. I think if any of his students came for him and he asked them 'well who are you guys?' they might actually think he was fucking around and not actually amnesic. LMAO.

And no worries on ask length! I'm happy to soundboard for you or anyone else for that matter! I mean I did input some opinion, but I hope you don't mind that. But thank you so much for sharing with me!! uwu

[saiakv]

After a late night working on dismantling the cursed spirit's barrier on Gojo family lands, the two young sorcerers were spared an early morning wakeup. The sun was still making a lazy journey towards its zenith when a bubbly servant girl their age knocked on on the door of Suguru's guest chambers, presenting a tray full of food smelling fresh from the kitchen, two big bowls of rice with multiple dishes between them. "Good morning Geto-sama! You must be Satoru-kun's friend? He said he'll join you shortly."

Ten minutes later Satoru arrived, slamming the sliding door open with a huff and a flustered expression. "Not a word," he grumbled half-heartedly as he made his way towards his friend and the breakfast he'd had sent here for the both of them.

The boy looked like a completely different person. His hair combed back and somehow tamed from its usual chaos, and he wore a dark blue haori draped over light grey kimono, held together with a simple blue knotted himo. Every piece was simple and solid in colour, etched only with the most subtle of patterns along the edges of his obi and the symbol of the clan woven into the pattern of the cloth itself, visible in the refracting of light.

This is what he gets for not packing his own outfits for the week.

During his initial attempts to catch some shut-eye, there were vivid flashes of a blaring explosion. A putrid smell like rotten eggs; the chirping of birds silenced; suddenly his mind could accurately piece together why that curse was a grade one with the ability to perform complex barriers. Entrapment. He'd felt it inside the mountain they had been dropped off at by the appointed clan window, that the time-locked element of the barriers was connected to the curse's nature. And now it made sense, under new light. Miners would only have so long to run outside after gas had been detected. Although... there had been no evidence of an actual mining facility, which was the one thing that did not match everything else; a question that had been dangling from his tongue for hours on the ride back, alongside the pungent taste of orange, held back by the echo of Satoru's voice telling him about clans being more insidious than you'd think with their political games.

So, by the time the sun was well amidst its course, Suguru hadn't slept. But he had still made the most of his afforded rest, browsing over the dusty library books for information on curse manipulation. A thoughtful wrinkle was still creasing his brow as his fingerpad trailed down a line, free hand translating the kanji, as per usual. It made more sense of sorcery books to be written in such, for conceptualization purposes. Sometimes a vivid image could suffice for a sorcerer to grasp onto an ability they were previously unaware of — and the same had happened in his case. Except, from the conception of that idea to its execution, there awaited an arduous journey filled with relentless practice.

His eye narrowed over the picture diagrams following the 'merge' of two flyhead curses into a bigger curse. The author suggested starting small, with types that are similar to each other and working one's way up to higher grades and more complicated weaving techniques. Pen had been idly caught between his teeth, he had been pondering on the advantages and disadvantages of this technique development. 'Merging' would mean exchanging the versatility of his technique for raw power that could probably rival someone with similarly high cursed energy levels to his own. Though, apart from Satoru, there wasn't really anyone else like that.

The thought painted a small crease to his cheek — it was factual, yet still followed by a pang of guilt that maybe he was being arrogant. But then again, look at this place. The luxury surrounding him, the beautiful vantage of the compound from the guest room window, the feel of cursed energy in this place that was so pure and clean — like going from the tap water that was Tokyo's buzz of putrid cursed energy to a clear and filtered stream. If this visit to the Gojo clan had helped solidify one thing, it was his place among the strong.

So, it wasn't arrogant. With Satoru by his side, there was nothing they could not accomplish. The short work they made of this curse, earning mixed reactions from his clan, was definitive proof of it, if any. For once, Suguru felt it was okay to acknowledge his own sense of self-importance; if only in the quietude of the Gojo clan guestrooms.

After dunking his head in cold water to help with the puffiness around dark eyes, he took a long moment to press the provided towel into his skin and relish in the luxurious feeling. The comb had still been running through his hair, mind mulling over the thought of what might happen if he managed to weave all his curses into one using that method. There had been no mentions of sorcerers with his technique managing to do as much; but then again, all of them had disappeared from literary references quite young. Lost in his thoughts, his shoulders jumped with the knock, hair-tie slipping from between his teeth and all his hard work to slick his hair back undone. Hair was still slipping from the half-fastened bun when he answered with an inquisitive tone that soon turned to an affiliative smile. Satoru-kun, huh.

This girl must know him personally.

She would have made the perfect target to pry embarassing childhood stories from, if she had been a little older. Oddly enough, Satoru had never mentioned any friendly characters from his clan before; he certainly came off like he was very inexperienced around friendships when theirs had first blossomed. And — last but not least, he was not ... the easiest person to be around. But the exchange was kept brief ( 'Good morning. Ah, is that so... I will have to hope he does not take too long, then.' Bow. Smile. ' Thank you very much for the meal.' ) and Suguru was left with more inquiries and the delicious aroma of miso soup, rice and salmon to compensate for them.

Chopsticks clashed as his mouth watered over the idea of starting without his host — the second bowl of rice glaring at him every time he was tempted to pinch a bit of that melty-fluffy looking salmon. He had been on the cusp of giving into his desires when the door slid open a second time, with characteristic abrasiveness, and violet eyes stilled over the intruder.

Thick lashes fluttered as if struggling to comprehend just what he was looking at; vaguely familiar yet so different. He'd never really seen Satoru dress up before — his outfits prioritized comfort over style a lot of the time. But this ensemble was regal, from the fine stitching on the hems to the detailed patterns and the feel of luxury in the way fabric sat over his shoulders, accentuating his height and the curvature of his form. Satoru was brazenly handsome; but to see him donning elegance so naturally was a stark reminder of the fact that this boy used to have a life before Tokyo Tech — a very different one from the rest of their friend gruop. Though, his hair did remind Suguru of that one time when Kōryu licked his face and gave him a cowlick.

❝ — pft. Pft-hee-heee-hee-ha-haha! ❞

In either case, he could not remember a time when he reached for his phone faster than now; within seconds the camera had snapped once, twice— thrice to make sure. Oh, Shoko was going to love this. His eating utensils had to be placed aside in favor of holding onto himself as he folded over laughing.

❝ Satoru-kuuuun, please be careful not to get stains on your kimono! ❞

This was more rewarding than any generous breakfast or monetary compensation could hope to be. And as their morning together would progress ( with a lengthy intermission for rough-housing after this, no doubt ) Suguru came to realize that, for once, he did not mind the post-mission fatigue... or the fact this salmon tasted like oranges.

[wolfybugswriting]

Itadori/sukuna x reader

Summary: You go into a yearly rut, and this time Yuji catches you out of your room. He learns what's going on and decides to try and help you. Sukuna's a brat.

Warnings: amab gn reader(has a dick, but I try to not use gendered pronouns), masturbation, somewhat rough sex to even rougher sex w/ Sukuna, lots of biting, slight degradation? reader teases Yuji about wanting to fuck them, Sukuna is a brat, Yuji is super submissive, nice fluffy ending

Note(s): In this, the rut is essentially a side effect of your curse/cursed technique

Word count: 4.2k

With a huff, you slammed the snooze button on your alarm clock for the who-knows-how-many time - you hadn't been keeping count. Still foggy with sleep, and the side effects of your incoming rut, you didn't really care how late you slept in today. You'd managed to keep your situation a secret from your friends, feeling more comfortable dealing with it on your own. You told them that you were out on a mission, and would lock yourself up in your room until it subsided.

But now you were hungry, late in the evening; the others should be out by now, so you made your way to the kitchen. You took enough food to hold yourself over for a while longer, and it was a good thing too, hearing footsteps as you locked your door behind you.

Fucking hell- You could sense him from here, connected to both Itadori and the curse he hosted. You see, you were also a vessel. You housed the only curse that could rival Sukuna; one who was once his lover when they were human, until she was killed. She resented Sukuna for not trying to save her, but they were still connected to each other whether they liked it or not.

Shaking your head clear of your thoughts, you huddled into your haphazard mess of pillows and blankets. Maybe you could just sleep away your problem.

. . .

"Fuuucck..." You groaned, throwing your blankets off of you as your body was starting to overheat. This was one of the worst ruts you've gone through already, and knowing just how close Itadori's room was to yours certainly wasn't helping. You'd liked the guy for a while, his kind while sometimes a bit childish nature catching your eye. Then combined with your shared memories of Sukuna, thanks to your own curse, you were whipped to say the least.

Stumbling out of your room to get another water bottle to try and cool yourself off some, you froze at the sight of Itadori stumbling down the hallway towards you. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, jumping a little when he finally noticed you.

"H-hey, you're back!" His voice was lower, and scratchy from just waking up. You tried not to think about how else you'd like to hear his voice.

"Yeah... What're you doing up?" Leaned back against the wall, you made sure to keep some distance between the two of you.

Oblivious as ever, he moved to stand right in front of you, laughing a little. "Just getting a midnight snack, what about you?"

Gods he smells good- "Water." You grit out, unable to look at the other. Even in the dim lighting he looks good.

Shuffling back towards your room, you stuff your hands in your pockets. You couldn't be around him for too long; as in control of yourself as you normally are, you didn't trust yourself to not pin the pink-haired male to the wall and-

No, don't even think about it. You don't want to freak him out, you idiot.

"Are you ok? You don't look too good," the good-natured idiot came even closer, trying to look into your eyes. It was hard to see your flushed face in the dark, but he knew you enough by now that he could tell something was wrong.

You had to bite your tongue, not wanting to say anything about your rut, and besides you didn't want to focus on just how close he is, or how you could practically hear his heartbeat- or was that your own?

"'M fine. Just- I'm going back to sleep." You didn't wait for a response, though you could hear him ask about your water, and you quickly closed your door and dropped onto your bed with a heavy sigh.

. . .

"What was that about...?" he wondered aloud, a little worried. You were never really the super upbeat type of person like himself or Nobara, but you seemed grumpier than usual and he didn't like to see you upset. When you two had first met, he could hardly get a word out of you, but that was a long time ago; he hoped something hadn't happened to you, or worse that he'd done something.

Eventually deciding to get his snack, and a water bottle that he left by your door, Yuji went back to his room. He curled up on his bed with whatever he'd grabbed out of the pantry with a sigh. As a mouth formed on his hand, he frowned but waited for Sukuna to speak.

"You can tell something's different about them, can't you?" The curse grinned, knowing something his host didn't.

"Obviously. Why?" Though he'd gotten more used to Sukuna's presence, he still didn't trust him. To be fair, he hasn't given much of a reason to trust him.

Still speaking into the darkened room aloud, Sukuna pulled his memories to the front of his mind and sharing them with Yuji in turn. "You see, the curse your little friend shares a body with," an old memory, but it was clear as day. She had an almost scary resemblance to you. "We were lovers."

Yuji nearly choked on his food, surprised that the King of Curses could have had a lover, let alone said lover now inhabiting the body of his crush. It clicked in his mind after that moment why he always felt so drawn to you, even before the crush on you had developed.

"What happened?" While he didn't know why, he'd known of Sukuna's aversion to the other curse; he'd made it clear from the moment when you and Yuji had met.

"...She died." The curses voice rang in his head, the lips on his hand pursed into a frown. "She died, but even then our bond didn't break. Though she surely hates me now." He huffed and though he acted like he didn't care, Yuji could feel his concern, as strange as it was.

Though he could barely wrap his mind around all this, Sukuna still hasn't told him what was wrong with you. "So why are they so upset?"

At that, the mouth on his hand shifted. "They're going through a rut because of the nature of their curse, and they don't want to get you involved. Some ridiculous self-sacrificing act I'm sure." Yuji opened his mouth to ask what he could do, but Sukuna got there first. "It'll pass on it's own, though it won't be pleasant. There is something you could do though, if you can convince them."

He waited, getting impatient for the curse to get to the answer he was looking for.

"If you fuck, the rut will pass after." The blunt answer made his whole face and neck flush a dark red.

It took a minute to process the idea, letting everything sink in. You were ok, thank goodness, but because of your curse who also happens to be the lover - ex-lover? - of Sukuna, you are going through this rut and if you, his crush, fucked him it would pass. It was a lot to take in, so he decided that he'd sleep on it, then go to you tomorrow night. Obviously you didn't want them to know about this, but if there was something he could do, even if he was a little lot nervous to ask, he wanted to do it.

. . .

You couldn't stop thinking about Yuji. Your heart was pounding, and though it has since calmed down you certainly haven't. He was close enough you could see flecks of red in his eyes, close enough that you could've kissed him. You'd wanted to, that was for sure. But you didn't want to ruin your friendship with him, afraid of any number of things.

The two of you had a rocky start; you knew about him, and being Sukuna's vessel, though he had no idea of your existence until you'd met. With only what you knew about Sukuna, both from other sorcerers and your own curse, you were wary of the boy and didn't stick around him long enough to give him a chance to explain. But eventually, with a little help from Gojo, you two made up and became fast friends, the group often having meals together when no one had a mission.

It took awhile for you to realize what your feelings were on Yuji, simply writing it off as a different brand of friendship. It wasn't until yuji nearly died for a second time, and you weren't there to save him; you were so afraid that you'd never get to see him again, never hug him, never make dinner for the others again, laughing about this or that. You realized that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him, and you were afraid you'd miss the chance to tell him.

"You love him." The curse had said. "You're meant for each other. Like soulmates." She'd said, telling you what you were coming to realize yourself.

But you shook your head now, feelings not something you wanted to dwell on as it got later into the night.

Tossing around for a while in the messy sheets on your bed, you finally gave up and threw them off along with a majority of your pajamas, body too hot for comfort. Left in a pair of boxers, you buried your face into your pillow and groaned. Your thoughts drifted for a while between being too hot, sweat still sticking to your skin despite the fan at top speed, and your pink-haired crush.

You've always thought he was attractive, even before you got to know him. His bright smile lighting up any room, an aura of innocence around him. Then his strong physique, though you usually don't see it much between his hoodies and the Jujutsu tech uniform, but man, when you did; you'd like to run your hand over his abs, curious if they feel as strong as they look.

You wanted to touch him in a lot of places, really. His arms, definite muscle, but not too ridiculous like Todo's(Sorry Todo simps). His soft hair, though you've felt it before patting his head, being a bit taller than him and teasing him about it. His thighs, and definitely his ass. And you could only imagine the size of his package.

Biting your lip, you hadn't realized your hand drifting down your body as your thoughts turned, letting out a shaky breath. You'd definitely feel bad about it later, but right now you could only think about your hand being Yuji's as it rubbed against the bulge in your boxers. Flipping onto your back and pulling your underwear to your thighs, you shivered as the cold air hit your skin, sweltering as it was.

Even with your room being fairly soundproof, you kept your voice low, the idea of the object of your thoughts catching you both exciting you and making you anxious. You stroked lazily along the shaft, hips stuttering into your hand the closer to the edge you got. The thought of Yuji crying your name sent you over, dropping your head back as your orgasm washed over you.

After calming your breathing down, you cleaned yourself off. Despite feeling all sweaty, you didn't want to get up. Sighing, you decided you'd shower in the morning after the others left. It didn't take much longer to fall asleep, thankfully.

. . .

You woke up laying half off the bed, even the natural warmth your pile of blankets held getting to be too much during the night. You felt gross. Luckily, you couldn't hear anyone, probably out for lunch, so you could shower in peace.

Leaving your room in just a thin pair of sweatpants and a tank top, your grumbling stomach making your hunger known - you apparently didn't get enough food like you'd thought. You noticed a water bottle beside your door, grinning slightly as you knew who put it there. Shaking your head, you picked it up to bring with you; Yuji would probably try to talk to you when he got back, clearly worried about you. It's cute, but you wished you had a good way to explain your situation without him trying to help.

As much as you would like the idea, you didn't want to make it seem like you just wanted to use him to get through your rut. You wanted him so much more than that, but you couldn't say that, could you.

Quickly grabbing some more snacks, you hid away in your room again, growing tired of your four walls. With your ruts usually lasting around a week, you dreaded having to stay in your room for much longer, but you didn't want to be going on missions in your state.

. . .

The day seemed to go by agonizingly slowly, for the both of you; you in your room with only what you had with you for entertainment, and Yuji waiting anxiously to talk to you. Sukuna had told him earlier that it'd be best to try to talk to you once the others were asleep, as you'd probably be asleep most of the day anyways. That was usually the case, if you could you'd sleep as long as you could to avoid dealing with your body all out of wack.

Finally though, just as you were going to try and go to sleep, a knock sounded at your door. Yuji had to hype himself up to do it, with roundabout encouragement from Sukuna, his thoughts running rampant. 'What if you thought he was weird for asking? What if you got upset with him? What if it ruined your friendship? What if, what if, what if?' He was still fiddling with the hem of his sleeve when you opened your door, a faint look of surprise on your face. You'd started to think you were wrong, that maybe Yuji had forgotten about your interaction the other night or thought he'd dreamed it.

"Hey." You spoke softly, looking him over. He wasn't wearing much, similar to what you had on. He looked good in it.

"H-hey, um, sorry if I woke you, I just kinda wanted to talk?" Yuji smiled, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck.

You sighed, but nodded.

"So, y-you're," he blushed a little more, his cheeks already having been red, thinking about you most of the day - as well as what he planned to ask you. "You're in a rut, right...?"

Eyes widening, you blushed a bit yourself. "How'd you..." Your voice trailed off, confused.

Yuji tapped his cheek, "Sukuna, he told me. So... are you, o-ok?" He still wanted to make sure, even if he knew now what was happening and you confirmed it with your unsaid question.

After a moment, you opened your door wider and nodded your head back. "Y-yeah, just, come in and we can talk." You were careful to sit at the edge of your bed after closing the door behind Yuji. "What all did he tell you?"

"Everything, I think. The rut, the whole lovers thing between them," he gestured between you and himself, "and, um..." He looked away, unable to meet your eyes as he mumbled, just loud enough for you to hear. "The s-sex, thing."

Nodding in turn, you ran a hand back through your hair. "Right. So, why're you here then?" You could apologize for being harsh later, you wanted to make sure you didn't pounce onto him. And fuck the look he makes when he brings his eyes back to yours.

"I wanna help, a-any way I can." His face is completely red, so innocent looking, you bit your lip.

"I appreciate you wanting to help, but I can handle this on my own, Yuji."

You watched as he shuffled closer to you, take a breath and grab one of your hands. He looked into your eyes, so cute.

"Please, I want to help you! S-sukuna told me what it's like when this happens, and if I can help it, I don't want you to have to deal with all that!" Only Yuji could manage to look so sweet and innocent when talking about having you fuck him, even if it was just because of your rut.

He would look even cuter all fucked out, crying for you. You swallowed, looking him over again. You wanted to have your way with him, so badly, but you never wanted to put it on him like that. But... if he's asking you to fuck him. Well, maybe you could have him after all.

"...Are you sure about this, Yuji? I don't want you to do this just for me." But you do, really.

He nods, almost excitedly. To be fair, he'd be lying if he said he hasn't thought about you on top of him, fucking him into the mattress. He wanted you to feel better, and if he got to be with you in the process it was a bonus.

You smirk. "Words, Yuji."

His eyes widen, but he stammers out a soft, "Y-yes."

You bring your free hand to his waist, leaning in a bit closer. "'Yes', what?" Your eyes were darker than usual, clouded with lust, and it made a shiver run down the pink-haired males spine.

"Yes, I- I want to do this."

"Good." You press your lips to his, hungrily running your hand along the contour of his back.

He lets out a little noise as you kiss him, eyes fluttering closed. Fumbling with the hand not holding yours, he finally places it on your shoulder. You could hear his heartbeat, this time sure it was his, though yours was quickly picking up to match it. His lips are so soft, just like the rest of him, a bit of squish to him along with his muscle; you gave in to your wants and felt everything, moving from his back to his arms, down along his chest, squeezing his ass. He yelped at the feeling, and you took the chance to slip your tongue into his mouth.

Submissive through and through, he didn't fight it, but it was clear he didn't quite know what he was doing. But you didn't mind teaching him, spurred on by the little sounds he was making, almost whimpering. Unclasping your hands, he moved his opposite his on your shoulders and you let yours to wander beside the other.

His body was more than you'd imagined, and his sounds were downright sinful. You were just getting started though, pulling his shirt off and pressing not-quite-rough kisses along his jawline and down his neck to his collarbone. You hit a spot that made him whine, and you grinned, kissing and biting there. You could just see his expression from where you sat, pressed into his skin, and it sent heat straight to your core.

Gripping at your back, Yuji pulled you closer, entranced by you. "F-fuck, (y/n)..." His voice was soft, almost shaky as his breath stuttered the longer you nipped at his neck. He tugged at your shirt and you pulled away just long enough to take it off, taking his turn to admire your body.

Leaning forward, you caged your hands around his head, his wrapped around your shoulders. You kissed down his chest, taking off his sweats, surprised to find that he hadn't put any underwear on, and when you looked up at him he had his head turned to the bed.

You hummed, raising a brow at him. "You really wanted to get fucked by me, huh? Ready for me and everything." You lightly traced random shapes on his now bare thighs, watching his cock twitch in response.

Yuji whined, nodding, but kept his face turned away from you. You gripped his chin, turning it back. "Words, remember Yuji?"

He did his best to not just whine again, "Y-yes, yes I want you!"

You just hummed again, "Say it."

This time he did whine, long and drawn out, "Ahh~ I w-want you to f-fuck me! Please!"

You kissed him, muffling his noises, only pulling away when you needed to catch your breath. "Good boy." You didn't give him a chance to respond, wrapping one hand around his length and pressing a finger of the other into his hole. Yuji shuddered, his words cut off by a shaky moan.

It didn't take long before you had three fingers in, with the way he kept begging for more, pawing at your pants. Taking the hint, you stripped down, your own dick mostly untouched now very hard. You look at him, making sure he still wanted this. He nodded, muttering 'please's under his breath between moans.

You kept stroking his weeping cock as you pressed into him, until you bottomed out and you let him rest for a moment and get used to you inside him. He surprised you, rutting his hips into yours as his head dropped against the bed, body quivering under you.

"Fuck, fuck me, fuck me-e p-please!" Yuji whimpered, words punctuated as he grinded against you. You were right, he looked so pretty when he was whimpering and moaning for you.

Something in his voice made whatever restraint you'd been holding onto snap, thrusting into him at a merciless pace, though he didn't seem to mind, moans rising in volume and pitch. His eyes rolled back, and all you could hear besides his moans were broken pleads and your name. You had your head in the crook of his neck, and you growled, going from nips and kisses to biting, leaving large hickeys in your wake.

"I- I'm g-gonna- F-fuuu-uuu-ck-" The loudest moan he'd made throughout the night interrupted him, hips stuttering as he came, painting his stomach white. You came not long after, his body clenching around you so well. You were both panting, at some point Yuji had wrapped his legs around your waist, and you slowed to a stop still inside of him.

You pulled away to make sure he wasn't hurt, and you stopped when you saw tattoos that hadn't been there a moment ago. They must've switched accidentally, if the faintly confused look was anything to go by. But when the curse started bucking his hips, you growled.

"C-come on, I know you can take me too," he taunted, but the effect didn't work as well as he wanted when his voice was so broken and he moaned when you hit that one spot.

You huffed, but you grinned. "Who knew the king of curses was a fucking brat?" Thrusting once to make a point, he shuddered, still full of you. "At least I won't mind if I rough you up a bit."

Sukuna chuckled, sharp nails digging a little more into your shoulders. "You c-couldn't break me if you tried."

With that, you started up that same rough pace, smacking his ass. It was almost strange, not quite muscle memory leading you, moving to make him cry out the most. It was still Yuji's body, but with Sukuna in control, it snapped something into place between both of you.

'Soulmates'. You were brought together like this for a reason.

He kept trying to taunt you, but his words would always break away into a whine when you bit in just the right spot, or you'd smack him a little harder. Finally, he couldn't speak anymore than moan, pulling himself into you as he clawed at your back and shoulders. His voice broke as he came again, nearly crying as you sped up even more as you got close to finishing. You bit into his neck as you came, riding it out, slowing down to a stop for the second time.

"Satisfied now?" You taunt, and he whines.

Slowly pulling out, both of you moaning at the loss, though he was much louder, you relaxed. Yuji switches back after a moment, shuddering at the feeling of your cum leaking out of his hole. You sigh, standing to go run a bath for the both of you, letting Yuji know before he closes his eyes just in case he falls asleep in the meantime. He nods, so you know he heard you.

. . .

You ended up curling up next to each other, wearing some of your clothes, after you pulled off the dirty sheets. As the sunlight streamed through your window, you woke to your arm wrapped around Yuji's side. It was a peaceful scene compared to last night, though you definitely enjoyed yourselves.

"mm... Morning." Yuji looked up at you, a small smile on his lips.

You hum. "Morning. You alright?" He chuckles.

"I should be asking you that. But yeah. 'Lil sore, but yeah."

Nodding, you grin in turn. He probably won't be walking straight for a little while. "Good... Thank you, for helping with- this." You frown a bit, gesturing to yourself. He cups your cheek, waiting for a moment before smiling wider.

"'Course. I wanted you to feel better," he blushes a bit. "Aaand I might've been wanting you to- f-fuck me for a while..." His voice trails off at the end, pulling away nervously. But you pull him closer.

"I'm glad, cause I've been wanting to fuck you for a while too. Probably cause I like you. A lot."

He grins. "Me too."

[limitless-shadows]

Picking up gofushi crumbs from the manga pt. 3

Disclaimer: Beware of anime/manga/fanbook/light novel spoilers. This is just me commenting on the manga with the lenses of a gofushi fan. So... it’s just my opinion.

This section runs from chapter 26 to 79.

About character developments, gofushi first meeting, “Oh, nothing <3″, and others.

[Chapter 26]

Bless Yuuji’s imagination creating gofushi material LOL

[Chapter 32]

Megumi’s disappointed and nonchalant face when others connect “that moron” to Gojou www :surprisedpikachu: it’s even more funny when it’s Megumi who says that.

[Chapter 33]

Megumi being sharp at noticing changes in Yuuji. If he’s that keen, would he have sensed anything different on Gojou after Getou’s death?

[Chapter 45]

“You really can tell even with that guy’s drawing” Dang it, now I have to add great artist to my list of type standards.

Well, Gojou can do almost anything as stated in the fanbook, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he can communicate well with art as a medium. Ack, is that why Nobara said he had high standards.

I like how fast Megumi is able to dial Gojou’s number here www

[Chapter 55]

If Megumi never tells them anything, what do they think about the gofushi dynamic? Domestic feeling? lolol

Especially Yuuji, who can be perceptive (when he noticed that Junpei was being bothered by his teacher).

[Chapter 56]

Knowing Gojou’s schedule again.

[Chapter 58]

Aaah it implies that Megumi doesn’t usually ask Gojou to train him :(

"Is it that annoying? To ask me?"

...either doesnt want to ask him because he is annoying and/or because he doesn’t want to feel more indebted to him ;-;

I like the face that Gojou makes here haha like: eeeeh~ why is that? what’s wrong that you don’t want to ask me

Did Gojou realize Megumi’s self sacrificing tendencies from just the bunt? or did that already confirm previous suspicions? I liked the anime adaptation of it~

Of course Gojou would be so angry at that that his finger flick made Megumi's forehead bleed. Megumi who isn't growing up in the correct way to be strong enough as was asked from Gojou during their first meeting:

“You better get strong, don’t get left behind.”

And also Megumi throwing away his life in such a manner after Gojou protects him so much ;-; Gojou knows Megumi has plenty of potential but isn’t tapping on it effectively. Disappointment.

Then follows it up by asking him to be selfish so he can grow up strong (it's ok to ask your sensei for training! ;-;). Megumi freeing himself from the chains that bind him to a lesser self valuing is such an amazing character development.

Adding to it is that this flashback was used as the base for Megumi’s change aaaah

I also wanted to add that Ep23 was released 1-2 days before this post and it was such a great adaptation of this chapter with the sunset, the shadows and if that wasnt enough gofushi food, they went with the jujusanpo and and violinteacherhomewreckersformationbgaaah

what is formation a??? or c??? the gofushi interpretation of megumi’s gomeeeeeeeen?andsorrythatepisodewastoogoodImenjoyingthenewgofushiviolinarts

[Chapter 59]

A suspicious dude with white hair who is tactless.

Yaaay way to go with first impressions :D It's funny how Gojou hasn't changed and is still disrespectful in his speech XD

[Chapter 79]

Gojou guessing that Megumi already manifested his cursed technique...

While the fanbook said that he wanted to recruit a talented person, I also fancy believing that Gojou didn’t want Megumi to grow up under a harsh Zen’in training.

Ah. I like how Gojou kneeled down to talk to him about his father’s death. Imagine a 190+ cm tall stranger coming to you, a 6 year old, and telling you from that high up that he killed your father lololol

At this height, Gojou is near Megumi’s stature or at least close to seeing him eye to eye. That pose is also less threatening and even seems childish in Gojou manner lolol but that’s sometimes how Gojou approaches serious things: in a joking way.

Gojou has such a similar reaction where he doesn't say what he is thinking directly, but masks it. In the chapter where Todou says that they should continue with the exchange event, he questions Todou’s age XD and here he asks if he really is a first grader.

That right panel tho... what was going through his mind in that moment? Surprise? Pity? This kid is not normal.

Akutami-sensei Q&A mentioned that the one to tell Megumi about his father was going to be Gojou... and I wonder how it’s going to go? also, Gojou getting out of the box? aaa-

I wonder how it must have felt for Megumi... when the suspicious dude with white hair actually did take care of things. The fanbook with the following Q&A for Fushiguro:

Q: How did he become so insightful?

A: Maybe it's because he has negative thinking and doesn't just trust people.

Source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation)

Oof, his own upbringing made him like that. Especially with how he regards himself...

When it says that he “doesn’t just trust people”, Megumi then probably didn’t expect much from Gojou after their first meeting and is surprised when Gojou comes back :(

His father and mother leaving him, but Gojou coming back... although the situation doesn’t get better when later on Tsumiki goes into a coma and Gojou is sealed...

He will take care of things after a hehe~  ;-; 

---

Oh, yeah and:

Q: Has he known Maki and Mai even before entering the school?

A: Yes. When Gojo was working on Megumi and the Zenin clan issue, he took him to the Zenin house, so I think that's when they first met.

source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation) (same as above)

Seems like the Zen’in house is in Kyoto? Because of Maki and Mai’s birthplace not to mention Naoya’s kansai dialect. So... did they go on a trip to Kyoto? :D

---

Then, Gojou counting on shotagumi to work extra hard.... so he can be strong ;-; and maybe become part of his nakama group to change Jujutsu's society huhuhu

On the topic about being granted a choice, I only came to realize it after reading this excellent work, Close Your Eyes (To See) it’s a lovely soulmate fanfic, please consider reading it if you haven’t ^^. Megumi usually goes on about unfairness randomly granted on people, so to be given a choice about going to the Zen’ins or not is quite big. Particularly when it comes to how the Zen’ins would have treated Tsumiki, a non sorcerer. It’s too good.

The look when he says that ;-; counting on Megumi to get strong enough to rival Gojou? Then Gojou wouldn’t be the only one going against the conservative higher ups.

When Gojou closes his eyes, it seems to convey regret/resolution where he sets in motion his plan to reform the Jujutsu society so that no more sorcerers go stray or overwhelmed by duties following a rigid doctrine ;-; as if preventing them becoming like Getou. And thats so aaah because while I knew what Gojou's wish was, I didn't know the why behind it, and that would be a great reason. Megumi has been with Gojou since the start (or near the beginning of it), so it’s even more beautiful.

That transition from closed to eyes to the present where the 1st year trio wakes him up. Was he recalling all those events during the nap?

I- I just love Megumi's pouty face here. But it's still not that angry looking, more like, he is used to it (as always). Then my gofushi brain telling me that there is a hint of concern in Megumi's look- its almost affectionate. Could it be concern because he is worried about how much sleep he gets.

About Gojou’s sleep:

Q: How many hours does he sleep?

A: Seems like only for a short while.

source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation)

And Megumi being aware of his tendency to eat sweet things:

“When he’s busy, Gojou-sensei tend to eat more sweets like these, after all…”

source: JJK First Light Novel - Chapter 1 (fan translation)

aaaaaaaaaaah

Gojou lifting his blindfold to look at Megumi with his left eye because Megumi is on his left side.

Wait... it’s the same left eye from the second opening of the first season.... is that a hint.

The legendary “Oh, nothing <3″ with the heart~

Is he being fond of Megumi because of dreaming about their first encounter or because Megumi did get strong, or, or, both of those. aaaah what if it was from recalling everything that happened in the 9 years they've known each other? Calm down! Probably because he got strong comrades now! ;-; i-it’s not just because of Megumi! ...but I like how he has his body turned to Megumi only...

It's a "Megumi has been with him all this time (9 years) while he is trying to achieve his dream and he became this strong"

They... they just look so good together ;-; my gofushi feelings... Chapter 79 is special grade.

[Part 4]

[mistergrass]

Zodiac Mom Headcanons: Hatori’s Mom

This post in the series is a little different because it incorporates a lot of my headcanons about the dragon bloodline in general

If you’ve read my behemoth of a fic, you probably know the gist of it, but to keep it brief, here is the tl;dr before we get into the Mom Stuff

Other than the god, the dragon is the only member of the zodiac to come from one singular bloodline

No other zodiac bloodline can erase memories

Members of the bloodline, even if not cursed, are expected to become doctors and to learn the memory-erasing technique

Non-cursed dragon family members have the ability to erase memories with a lot of training, but it is not nearly as potent or powerful as when an actual dragon does it

(Also thanks to @lilbeehive​ for bouncing around ideas with me.)

Rat & Snake Mom | Ox Mom | Tiger Mom | Rabbit Mom | Dragon Mom

Hatori’s parents knew early on that a love marriage was never going to be in their future.

Hatori’s father is the grandson of a dragon, and the only child of his parents. It was decided from a young age that he would become a doctor, and once his grandfather passed away, it was also understood that he was expected to have a child — a child that would be the next dragon.

He doesn’t resent this — being from a well-known zodiac bloodline, he grows up knowing that his loyalties need to lie with the Sohmas and with the zodiacs. And, quite frankly, he’s very suited to medical work, especially the kind demanded by the family (which I’ll talk about more later on).

The point is, this parental situation is unique. The other zodiac mothers have varying levels of surprise when they find out their child is a zodiac. But to ensure the safe and healthy birth of a dragon, this is something that is meticulously planned in advance. That means the mother must have full awareness and revere for the curse.

Initially, Hatori’s father was engaged to another woman — the granddaughter of the former rabbit and a woman five years younger than him. The plan was to marry as soon as she finished high school, but a few months before their wedding the woman gets cold feet and runs away with a man she fell in love with in school.

It’s then that Hatori’s mother is chosen, as the great granddaughter of the former ram. She’s also three years older than Hatori’s father.

Almost immediately, Hatori’s mother is informed that — following a successful medical examination — she is now engaged to be married. She accepts this gracefully. Her family’s long-standing wealth and status come from their zodiac ties, as well, and she knows that this is a duty she must accept.

And, quite frankly, she was never a woman who thought much of marriage. It’s not as if she considers it a big sacrifice.

In a few short months the two marry. And suddenly these two very obedient, introverted people are stuck alone in an inn for their honeymoon, never having said more than a few words to each other.

Hatori’s father has also never been with anyone previous to this, and the two are rather socially awkward. Hatori’s father has always been the kind of person to put his studies first, which developed a very serious and aloof persona. Hatori’s mother is much the same, and has never really been one to enjoy a lot of company, regardless.

They both do their best to try and follow through with it, but Hatori’s father (fumbling through it all himself) recognizes his new wife’s nerves. Without any prelude, he stops before it can get any further. After a very long, weighted silence he says, “elephants can stay pregnant for up to 23 months.” When she states her obvious confusion, he simply replies “these things take as long as they take.”

They don’t say anything for the rest of the night, but Hatori’s mother finds she appreciates both his attentiveness, and his straight-forward (if bizarre) nature (she’s not the type of woman who enjoys being coddled or talked down to).

All things considered, they find they’re actually very suited to each other.

Neither ever develop true romantic feelings for the other, but neither ever really viewed marriage as a romantic institution to begin with. Them becoming each other’s closest friends ends up being the best case scenario.

In Sohma social circles, they’re considered the odd couple. Hatori’s father’s dry, monotone way of speaking tends to make the delivery of jokes or earnest questions come off harsh and offensive. While his wife, who has come to understand the nuances of his personality, never seems to care to bother to clear up misunderstandings this could cause — and even seems annoyed at people’s inability to read her husband with the same fluency she quickly acquired.

Hatori’s mother also takes a deep interest in her husband’s work. Not just as a doctor, but specifically as a zodiac doctor.

The doctor’s position is not only to erase memories, but to provide proper care for the zodiacs when traditional hospitals are not an option. In addition, because of the supernatural nature of the curse, and the longstanding tradition of zodiac doctors within the family, Hatori’s father not only studies conventional medical science, but old records kept from previous Sohma doctors, some veterinarian studies, and even holistic/witchdoctor practices. The true science behind the Zodiac Doctor’s work tends to become an experimental gumbo of many different healing practices through history. Something Hatori’s father is fascinated with, and tends to lean into more heavily than maybe previous generations had.

(He also becomes deeply superstitious as he gets older and continues his studies, which only intensifies after his wife passes away).

Hatori’s mother is also just as taken by his practice, and ends up becoming something of a research assistant for him. She’s a fast reader, a very quick learner, and overall an extremely intelligent woman. Something Hatori’s father values highly in his wife, and is more than happy to allow her into his work. In the last few months of medical school, she even reads over his final papers and makes corrections.

Eventually they’re comfortable enough with each other to have sex, which they only ever do in order to try and get pregnant. Two years into their marriage, and just as Hatori’s father is graduating medical school, Hatori is born — the first zodiac of this generation.

She does love her son, but just as she was raised that her life and marriage was not her own, she knows the same applies to her child. On paper, she is the perfect mother — home cooked meals, proper clothes, clean house, books and toys purchased. Yet, she has no real idea how to interact properly with a child, and generally treats her son like she would any other adult in terms of the expectations she places on him, and her general lack of verbal and physical attention.

She also takes up tutoring Hatori in what will eventually be his occupation. They study for three hours after each school day as soon as Hatori is old enough to spell. Though neither of his parents get angry easily, and both are generally very patient people, Hatori’s mother can still be very strict and has no problem scolding her son when he doesn’t pay proper attention.

However, Hatori’s father does insist that they have dinner together every night. Though his parents are strange, and seemingly-cold people, these dinners never feel forced. It’s clear to Hatori that his parents enjoy each other’s company, and because they treat Hatori as if he were an adult, it feels as though they enjoy his company, as well. Not quite the same as a loving pat on the head, or being told “good job”, but it’s something he remembers fondly as an adult.

Hatori, as a result, grows up very disciplined and with a deep sense of duty and loyalty that is exemplified by every aspect of his parents’ lives.

With the birth of other zodiacs, it becomes natural for the mothers to begin to befriend each other, as well.

Hatori’s mom and Shigure’s mom had already been family friends for as long as she can remember. Though Yuki’s mom and Kureno’s mom, with their change in status, also become incorporated in this circle.

She finds an unlikely friend in Kureno’s mother. She likes her earnest, down-to-earth nature, and her friendliness has always seems genuine. She does not, however, hold the same opinion of Yuki’s mother. Their problems start early on, and slowly escalate all the way up to the final years of Hatori’s mother’s life.

The problem is Yuki’s mother’s embarrassingly apparent desire for status. The way she acts, dresses, and talks all come across as desperate and irritating. Hatori’s mother, admittedly, is a bit of a snob. She’s been in a high-class family her whole life, which means she’s never had to think about acquiring status. She also has a very secure position as both the wife of the current Zodiac Doctor, and the mother of both the dragon and the first born zodiac of the generation. And when Yuki’s mother tries to insert herself into Hatori’s mother’s life, she is, politely, but undeniably rebuffed.

For that, she holds quite a grudge against the woman. One that only gets exceedingly worse a few years later when Hatori’s family become the first and only people to discover Yuki’s father’s extramarital affairs.

It happens like this:

Fed up with his wife’s needless possessiveness of him, and irritated by her instance that they become pregnant with a second child, Yuki’s father starts to become more and more distant in the months during Yuki’s mother’s pregnancy. By the time Yuki is born, they hardly even speak to each other. Six months later, Yuki’s mother decides to take a trip and leaves her children behind with a swarm of maids and her stranger of a husband.

Deciding he wants to sleep in his own bed for the night, and reveling in his wife’s absence, he invites one of his many mistresses to his house instead of a hotel. In the middle of the night, the woman is woken up by the sound of a baby crying. She finds the nursery, and in an attempt to soothe the restless newborn, she goes to pick him up.

Yuki’s crying may not have woken up his father, but the piercing, terrified scream of his mistress certainly did.

Yuki’s mother knew about his affairs, she knew about his slew of mistresses. But she had made him promise that no one else would ever, ever find out about them. What’s worse is when Hatori’s father asks to question them about what happened (a standard procedure before erasing anyone’s memory), he doesn’t even have the decency to show up.

But Hatori’s mother is there. And so is Hatori.

Though the young dragon boy is only ten, it’s a good opportunity to learn one of the most valued aspects of his future role. As his tutor, and as her husband’s unofficial research assistant, Hatori’s mother is also included in the process.

Yuki’s mother finds herself hating the woman’s calm, clinical stare as she is forced to explain the most grievous humiliation of her life and marriage.

Convinced that Hatori’s mother will eventually let slip the truth about her marriage, Yuki’s mother sets out to turn the other mothers against her. She even develops a small resentment for Ayame, who she is believes will learn the truth from his friendship with Hatori. Shigure’s mother, who has always been happy to follow the social tide, goes along with this very easily. Haru’s mother, new to the group, is also easily swayed against Hatori’s mother. Even Ren and Akira find themselves taking Yuki’s mother’s side, causing Akira to advise that Hatori’s mother no longer assist with her husband’s work.

This might have been a more devastating blow, if it hadn’t already become an impossibility.

What Yuki’s mother never seemed to understand, was that the family of the dragon deals in privacy. Hatori’s mother would never have told a soul about Yuki’s father. Hatori’s mother doesn’t even tell her own son when she starts to get sick.

Hatori’s parents believe that everyone’s affairs should be their own, and there are certain things you just don’t tell children. So for the two years that Hatori’s mother is ill before her death, no one other than their immediate family knows.

Hatori’s father is heartbroken having to watch his dearest companion slip away, and he leans even further into holistic remedies in order to try and aid her recovery. As a child, Hatori knows something is wrong but is never told what. But he has clear memories of coming home, his mother absent from the house again, to his father having deep, serious discussions around the kitchen table with men who called themselves shamans.

Eventually her illness gets so severe that she stays in the hospital full-time, though she still tutors Hatori over the phone. Her unexplainable absences from the Sohma social circles make it easier for the other mothers to believe that she’s snubbing them out, just as Yuki’s mom is saying. And by the time Akira orders Hatori’s mother to stop assisting her husband, she’s already been too sick to do so for months.

The only person who knows among the family, is Kureno’s mother. She comes to visit the hospital at least twice a week, and promises not to say a word to any of the other family members. They become quite close, in the end.

Her death comes as a surprise to everyone but her husband and Kureno’s mother.

At the funeral, Hatori doesn’t cry. Instead, there’s a heavy, leaden weight in his stomach for weeks. Though she was never conventionally affectionate, she was a consistent, reliable, and comforting presence that is suddenly gone. One that, in hindsight, he realizes he misses terribly.

Because his father is not an expressive man, Hatori wonders if his father even mourns her loss. That, along with his father’s general nature, causes a distance that lasts between the two for a long while. It isn’t until Hatori starts to apprentice with his father in earnest at the end of middle school that he realizes how wrong he was.

All the notes, research, reports, and every other contribution his wife attributed to his practice, Hatori’s father has preserved so reverently that they look more like freshly printed medical journals than well-used notebooks. Hatori isn’t sure he’s witnessed a greater demonstration of love. This is cemented further when he stumbles upon old research papers from his father’s days in medical school covered in abundant, but neatly written, notes.

“I like her handwriting,” his father explains. “It always helps me focus.”

This conversation becomes Hatori’s most prominent memory of his father after he also passes away two years later.

Friends with: Kureno’s mom, Shigure’s mom

Doesn’t like: Yuki’s mom

[another-sonic-blog]

The Fanfictioner Ch.1

Pineapple Pizza

The Fanfictioner

Pineapple Pizza

10K (ShadAmy)

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.

.

The moon was above them and although it was a cold night, they didn't care. Sonic got closer to Amy, emeralds eyes shone brightly with love and desire. He caressed her as he softly placed his hands around her face, pulling her closer to him. Amy licked her lips as they begged to be touched by the blue blur. They have fought to be together for a long time and now nothing was stopping them. Finally, they could express and show their love to the world with no restrictions, with complete freedom. Sonic got closer to his lover, their lips just a few centimeters away and then-

"Amy, what are you writing?"

The pink hedgehog slammed shut her laptop as she mentally cursed for not being more delicate. Today was filming day but she promised her followers that she was going to update a new chapter of 'Falling Petals' by tonight. Of course, like the good fanfic writer that she was, she always kept her promises.

Amy shifted her body from the chair to look at the standing blue hedgehog behind her. She tried to hide the panic on her face but it seemed like this picked Sonic's interest even more.

"Um... my shopping list?" That came out more like a question than a statement. Once again, she cursed under her breath because although Sonic wasn't the smartest hedgehog out there, he wasn't dumb either.

"Then why are you acting so ... strange?"

Sonic had the sincerest of interest. He cared for the pink one and her recent actions had just baffled him. Recently, Amy was acting quite strangely. Before Sonic was free to use her laptop whenever he wanted and now, she kept it to herself and hid it as her life depended on it. The blue bur knew that Amy likes to write from time to time but now? Sonic found her writing whenever he visited her at her house. She would be checking her phone constantly and even smiled as she typed on it. The thought had crossed his mind that maybe Amy was 'seeing' someone and the thought alone just made him pay more attention to her.

"Are you sure-"

"Everyone get on ready on set!"

Amy was saved by the show's director once again. She smiled awkwardly at her blue friend as she placed her laptop on her chair. She heard Sonic sigh in defeat and Amy felt a little bit bad that she made her friend and love interest worried. However, she just couldn't go to him and say 'Hey, I know I have been acting strange but it's because I am writing fanfiction of Sonic Boom and I don't want you to think I am weird.'

Amy greeted everyone as she stepped on set. The camera, lighting crew and just every who crossed her path. Of course, her friends were there as well looking as fresh as they could be. They were outdoors and currently they were filming Sonic Boom's most recent and most wanted episode 52 of season 1.

"Hey, guys! Amy greeted her friends, Sticks, Knuckles, and Tails as they waved their hands from right to left, Sonic followed from behind.

Amy's attention was focused on the red echidna who had sleepy eyes. This was very strange because Amy knew that Knuckles was one who appreciated his sleep especially because he always woke up early morning to go workout.

"Hey Knuckles, you alright?" Amy asked. "You look very sleepy.

Knuckles let out a yawn as he stretched his body. "I didn't sleep much I was binge reading this book I found online and-

"WHERE IN CHAOS IS SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG?" The director of the show screamed in desperation as everyone was ready to go but the star of today's episode.

" I still can't believe they hired Shadow the Hedgehog to do this roll." Tails said with a bit of amusement in his voice. "I mean he is the same guy who appeared in Chao in Space 2."

"And in Anti-Vengers the Final Game," Sticks added.

"And in Fast and the Glorious 8," said Knuckles.

"It makes me wonder if Sonic Boom produces that much money for them to pay someone like him," Amy looked from side to side, in hopes that the black hedgehog would appear. She hasn't met him yet and if she was completely honest, she looking forward to his approval.

"He is not that big of a deal," Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I mean, I was in Chao in Space 2 as well."

"Yeah, as a side character. Shadow was actually the protagonist." Tails was saying this because it was the truth and not to annoy his blue friend. However, it was quite funny to see Sonic jealous over at Shadow the Hedgehog's accomplishments. Tails were lowkey a fanboy of the black hedgehog, although he would never admit that out loud.

"What is all of this fuzz about? I am right here,"

Finally, the hedgehog that everyone was waiting for arrived. He had an energy drink on his right hand and in one gulp he drank all of it. He then turned around to give it to his assistant who quickly took the can away from him. He stepped on the set where the rest of 'Team Sonic' waited to start.

"Mr. Hedgehog, nice to meet you!" Tails said as he extended out his hand, shaking a little due to the excitement. "I am Tails Miles Prower and I-"

"Yeah, I know who you are," Shadow said with a monotone voice.

The yellow fox leaned into Amy's ear and he whispered, 'Did you hear that Amy? He knows me.'

"You are the only one who has ... descent acting skills," Shadow let out mocking laughter as he looked down on the rest of the 'actors.'

Everyone looked at him, offended at his comment. It seems like the rumors that the black hedgehog had a prepotent personality was true.

"Says the one who can only portray edgy characters."

Everyone turned to look at Amy in disbelief. Actually, she had thought of that in her head but in one way or another, it came out of her mouth. The set was filled with silence until Sonic let out a big laugh and wrapped his right arm around Amy's shoulder.

"That was a good one Ames!" Sonic said.

Shadow wasn't expecting that from the pink hedgehog in front of him. Who did she think she was? She was no one compared to the great acting career he has had. Of course, he wasn't going down without a fight.

"My apologies, I don't accept criticism from people who can't even act," Shadow replied.

"Well maybe if you did, you would get a different type of role from time to time," Amy replied.

By now Team Sonic was static. There was so much tension between the two and they had only met two seconds ago. Vermillion eyes met emerald ones and neither one of them wanted to quit the internal battle.

Shadow the Hedgehog had to admit, this was interesting.

"Shadow!" Sonic Boom's director interrupted the moment as he had finally eyed the black hedgehog. "You are late! What were you doing?"

Mia, a brown girl hedgehog, and Shadow's assistant was watching the scene unfold from afar. She watched the director seated on his high chair and to prevent Shadow from getting scolded, she answered on his behalf.

"He didn't get enough sleep yesterday sir-" Mia said loud enough but the director, who was an old and strict monkey, raised his hand and interrupted her.

"I want him to tell him,"

In all honesty, if it wasn't because he was the director, Shadow would have said something offensive. However, the black hedgehog always had a sense of responsibility and respect towards his job and especially to the director.

Shadow sighed and looked up to the director, "I was up all night on my phone ... reading."

"Hey, me too!" Knuckles said in surprise. "I was reading this really good story about our show and-"

"I am sure that whatever you were reading doesn't compare to what I was reading," Shadow interrupted him and rolled his eyes

The director faced palmed himself and loudly he said, "I don't care! Just make sure this doesn't happen again, Mr. Hedgehog."

Shadow couldn't say anything more. It was his first day on set and he almost wanted to leave ... almost.

"Yes, sir."

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.

The day ended worse than Amy expected. Shadow wasn't only prepotent, he was mean, rude and jerk. He took in every opportunity he had to bully and tease the hell at out of Amy. The black hedgehog mocked her acting, made fun of her lines and bumped into her multiple times.

And today has only been the first day of filming for this month's episode. Good thing that filming only took around two weeks to complete due that the episodes were short. They started every first day of the month. Today was September 1, they will finish on September 14 and they will have the rest of the month free. Thirteen more days to go, thirteen more days that she had to endure Shadow's presence on set.

She was quite disappointed when she found out who the real Shadow was. Just like her friend, Tails, Amy was secretly a fan of the acting he has done in the past. Although his roles were kind of repetitive, his acting was always exceptional. Even today, his acting techniques were really good, she even liked the character he was portraying.

Amy stretched her back as had finally reached the insides of her home. During today's break, she was able to finish the last chapter of 'Falling Petals' and to make it extra special, she wrote a 20 thousand final chapter. This chapter was filled with a lot of drama, romance, and fights which will lead to the second book. She couldn't wait to just upload it to her page so her readers will enjoy and maybe cry a little with her writing.

After showering and changing to her pajamas, Amy comfortably laid on her bed with her computer on her legs. She logged into fanfiction.com where she had already hundredth of comments in her work, reading for her to read. She always made sure to reply to them whenever she had the chance. The pink hedgehog even had created a bond with a couple of people who always commented on her fanfics. She scrolled down the comment section as she replied to them and a familiar username came into her screen.

"I've following your work since I stumbled upon 'The Forest of Dreams: A Love Story' and in all honesty, you are the best fanfiction writer out there. You improved so much and now every story you publish is great and you develop the characters amazingly well. Yesterday, I was re-reading all 30 previous chapters of 'Falling Petals' and I got late to work but it was worth it. I can't wait to read the final chapter tonight."

By: The Fanfictioner

Amy smiled to herself, she was always happy to read comments and it was one of the few things that kept her going through the day. She took a few moments to think about what to write and finally she began to type.

"This means a lot to me. 'The Forest of Dreams: A Love Story' was the first story I wrote and I am really happy you still enjoy it. I appreciate you a lot, I see that you always like and comment on my work. I'll keep working hard for you and my other readers. I hope you like the last chapter of 'Falling Petals' ... Thank you!"

By: A Rose Without Thorns

After she finished typing and hitting 'Enter', our adorable pink hedgie was now ready to publish the last chapter of her latest work. She uploads her writing file from her laptop, publishes it and waits for her reader's reaction. Amy closes her laptop and places it next to her, closing her eyes, the pink hedgehog drifted into sleep.

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"CAN YOU GUYS BELIEVE SONIC LEFT AMY TO GO SAVE THE WORLD?!" Knuckles, who has his bubbly self again was walking right and left on the set. "AFTER EVERYTHING THEY WENT THROUGH, HE LEAVES!"

"Knuckles, I am right here," Sonic said as he read a magazine. It was early morning and 'Team Sonic' was waiting for everyone to arrive. "Also, I am not going anywhere. I have to save enough folks on the island as it is."

"I am not talking about you! I am talking about the Sonic on the story I was reading!" Knuckles replied again. "The writer said that they will publish a second book, so I have hope that they will end up together."

Amy, who was sitting on the actor's small chair circle, was interested in what Knuckles was reading. Especially since it seemed like he read the last chapter of her most recent work.

"Out of curiosity," Amy began. "What were you reading?"

"I read 'Falling Petals' by A Rose Without Thorns in fanxfiction.com," Knuckles replied. "I just love the writer's stories, they are so good!"

Amy hid her evident blush by taking a sip of her coffee.

"What if Knuckles is TheFanfictioner? He did say that he stayed up all night reading and his comment right now sounds a bit similar to the one of last night."

"Wait, fanxfiction.com?" Tails who was quietly drinking tea finally spoke up. "You read fanfiction?"

"I do," Knuckles said, still not seating down on his chair. "We need to support fans that create free content for others and besides ... Some of these writers are way better than the ones we have here."

"That, I do believe," Sticks puts down 'Theories Magazine', the issue of this month was government space theories. She was reading a very interesting story about a project that was created on a space colony and it was shut down due that scientists created a powerful ultimate life form.

"Still, it's lame," Sonic said, still not looking at his friends directly. "I understand your curiosity Knuckles, but I still think it's a bit weird. Especially the writer ... It's so cringy."

"It's not! Look!" Knuckles pulls out his phone and shoved into Sonic's face, making him drop the magazine that he was reading. "Read the first chapter! It's really good!"

The blue bur leaned his head a little, as he tried to catch a glimpse of Knuckle's phone. He read the first lines of the story and a smirk crossed his face. He grabbed Knuckle's phone and stood up from his seat.

"Although I was always pushed away by him, Sonic the Hedgehog was the only one for me." Sonic made his voice sound in a higher pitch, pretending to be the female hedgehog of the story. "His green eyes, his strong form, and heroic personality were some of the things that made me fall in love with him."

Tails and Sticks began to laugh. Even Knuckles who wasn't laughing at the story itself, but at Sonic's overly bad acting, let out a giggle or two.

"See? This is so bad!" Sonic said as he pointed to Knuckles' phone.

The blue one noticed that Amy was awfully quiet, just there, seating on her chair. As to look for her approval, Sonic asked, "Don't you think this is lame Amy? I mean just the fact that you love me is ridiculous enough!"

"Yeah, haha," Amy looked down to the floor, as she tried to hide her evident embarrassment. "It is pathetic."

She had never felt such embarrassment before. The pink one started this because she enjoyed writing and loved to write about the Sonic Boom characters. However, looking at her peer's reaction made her wonder. They were the ones who interpreted the characters and they thought it was lame. Maybe, she wasn't as good of a writer as she thought she was. Doubt filled her mind and before she could say or do anything else, Knuckles jumped to say something.

"You all are just uncultured," Knuckled said as he took his phone away from Sonic's grasp "You guys will never know how deep and life-changing 'Falling Petals' is until you read it-"

"Will everyone just shut up?"

The prince of dark and gloom appeared and to say that he looked bad was an understatement. Shadow the Hedgehog had dark circles under his red eyes. He arched his back and his stance was way too weak. He even looked sick. Shadow walked towards his chair and sat down with a cup of black coffee on his hand.

"Well, did someone forget to read today's script or something?" Sonic said mockingly.

"I had a very emotionally draining experience last night, I don't need your jokes at this moment," The black hedgehog replied. He was wearing a black leather jacket and out of it's right pocket, he pulled out some shades and puts them on.

"It wasn't a joke," said Sonic. "There was a change in plans yesterday and we are supposed to record another scene today, did you read your script?"

At that moment, Shadow thanked Chaos that he was wearing shades because otherwise, everyone would have seen his confused face.

Just like he sat down on his chair, he stood up again.

"I need to talk to my manager."

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.

It was already 11 in the morning and they still haven't started filming. At this rate, they were just going to lose the day. It was September and the sunlight was running out short. Sonic Team was already eager to start but there was no sign of the director. Even less Shadow.

"Everyone takes one-hour break, come back at 12 P.M." The show director appeared. He had a tired face, one that showed that he was done with his job.

The director came into the circle of actors and approached Amy directly.

"Ms. Rose, I need to speak to you ... Privately," he said as he made a motion to follow him.

"Of course, Mr. Johnson," the pink hedgehog stood from her chair and followed the old monkey. Once again, they were supposed to be filming outdoors. They had closed a small part of Hedgehog Village so they could film. Her friends were on the other side while Amy and Mr. Johnson had already placed themselves behind the camera crew to get some privacy.

"Ms. Rose, I need a favor," Mr. Johnson said. Amy nodded, not expecting that from the director. "I need you to stay here and help Mr. Shadow the Hedgehog finish memorizing his script. I know you are the best at that."

Great, this is just what she needed. To spend her break time with Shadow, the rudest hedgehog she has ever known. She knew that this wasn't really a favor but part of her job and she normally wouldn't have cared. Amy was glad to help her friends memorize their scripts but Shadow? He was far from being her friend.

"I'll do it but, can I ask something?" Amy asked.

"Go ahead."

"Why is he here? Don't get me wrong but Sonic Boom doesn't seem like the type of show that an actor of his caliber would want to do."

The old monkey sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. "To be honest I don't even know either ... He just came in saying that he wanted to play a role in the show. He is charging us half the price he normally charges and this will definitely increase the rating of the show ... I know Shadow doesn't have the best personality but for everyone's sake ... Just be nice to him."

Amy nodded. She knew that Shadow was hard to deal with, but just like the director said, having the black hedgehog on the show will help everyone. More ranting equals more money. Also, there was a small part of Shadow that intrigued Amy. Why would he want to be in this show if he could literally be in anything he wanted? Maybe if she could make him open up a little she can find out.

The pink hedgehog looked back at her friends who were laughing again at her fanfiction as she saw that Sonic was once again holding up Knuckle's phone. Spending time with Shadow didn't seem so bad now.

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.

It took all the strength in the world to come to terms with herself. Our pink lady was backing out of the previously made decision as she waited outside Shadow's dressing room. She knocked once and she wished for Chaos that whatever Shadow was doing will stop him from opening the door. Amy looked around nervously, it wasn't like she was afraid of the black hedgehog, well maybe just a tiny bit. She was more scared of having to go through an awkward situation or saying something that might cost her head. Incoming steps were heard by the pink one and in a blink of an eye, Shadow was in front of her holding the door open for her to step in. She looked at him with an awkward smile on her face as she made her way in, in a sense, it was her way of greeting him. Yesterday, they didn't have the best of days but maybe Amy could make up for that by helping him. As she made her way in, she realized that his dressing room was way fancier than hers. All black, a bed, a small kitchen, and even a small dining room. For all, she knew this could a small house.

"So," Amy pushed her thoughts away as she sat down on the small dining table. "Today's scene we are going to be introducing your character ... do you know any of the script yet?"

"Not really, I wasn't notified about today's change and I didn't have time yesterday, " Shadow sat down on the chair facing Amy.

"No worries, change in plans happen a lot around here so it's best if you get used to it now," the pink hedgehog kept her eyes glued to the script. "Alright, your dialogue start on page seven so let's go from there. If we can't finish memorizing the script then we can improvise-"

"Why are you helping me?"

The question took Amy by surprise, finally, she looked at the black hedgehog in front of her who had a monotone look on his face. His right hand served as support for his face as it delicately rested on his right cheek. The sunlight coming from the window highlighted Shadow's features and especially his eyes. Vermillion eyes studied her deeply and Amy could see why he was so popular with the ladies.

"To be honest, because they asked me to and ..." Amy sighed as she shook away the thought. "Because a part of me wants to start again with you."

"We didn't have a good start, did we?" Shadow looked outside the window as if he was in deep thought. Three seconds pass in which Amy thought it had been minutes, a very unpleasant feeling ran down her spine. She wanted to end with the awkwardness but Shadow beat her to it.

"There's no way I am going to memorize all 50 pages in one hour," Shadow said as he looked back at the pink hedgehog.

"Then improvise!" Amy replied. "This is your character, create your own dialogue."

"I don't know who this character is! And I am sure not even the writers know," Shadow stood up from the chair and walked towards the small bed that was across the dining table.

Amy looked over at the black hedgehog who was resting comfortably on his bed.

"Then even better! Make it your own!" Amy raised her voice a little. "Look, for what I know your character, 'Shadow', is mysterious and rude but he actually cares for others. He just doesn't know how to properly show it."

Shadow looked over to Amy and with a plain expression he asked, "Meaning?"

Amy stood up from her chair and placed herself in front of the black and red striped hedgehog. She looked at him as she placed her hands on her waist. "Meaning that maybe he had a tragic past, something that explains his personality. It makes him an interesting character ... You can work something from that."

"I don't know, doesn't it sound too-"

Shadow would have never expected what happened next. At one moment, he was laying peacefully on his bed. The next moment, he was still laying peacefully on his bed but the difference was that Amy was on top of him. Her hands were placed on the sides of his head. Her legs were slightly touching his as she had positioned them to each side of his legs.

"You need to stop!" Amy said, her face very close to Shadow's. "You have beaten up my friends! Why are you after us?"

Shadow blinked multiples times. First, nothing made sense but his brain connected the dots. This was similar to the scene he read on the script. Where Sonic pinned him down to the ground after a fight. He was pressured and he only had a few seconds, what should he respond?

"I am not after you nor your friends! I am trying to complete my mission and you are just on the way!"

A few seconds passed in which Amy and Shadow only stared at each other's eyes. Amy was looking at him, surprised that he actually followed along with her plan. And Shadow? Where he was starting to get lost. Lost in the pink one's emerald eyes and for a small fraction of a second, he had forgotten where he was.

"That was good!" Amy said as she made Shadow wake up from his trance. "It's a bit vague but that leaves up to interpretation and further build-up for the story."

The pink hedgehog moved away and took a sit on the edge of Shadow's bed. She didn't think too much about it. However, Shadow couldn't let go of that thought that easily.

"You are a strange one," Shadow said as he sat down on the edge of the bed, next to the pink one. "Last time someone confronted me like that was Rouge and it was a different circumstance."

"Rouge as ..." Amy gulped. " Rouge the Bat? The famous actress?"

"Yeah, do you know her?"

"Of course, I do! She is the best actress of our generation! She is great!" Amy said excitedly. Shadow noticed that Amy's tail was wiggling from side to side, it was something that he would normally make fun of but he had to admit that it is cute on her.

At that moment, Amy remembered that a couple of days ago she was reading a celebrities' magazine. There was a rumor saying that Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat were in a secret relationship. She wanted to ask him about it but decided not to since that would be crossing the boundaries. Maybe she would ask ... Later on, if they ever get to be that open with each other.

"Anyways," Amy turned around to look at Shadow, who was once again looking at her with his vermillion eyes. "Should we practice a little more?"

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.

.

Filming the scene did not only go great but Shadow got praised from everyone after the shooting. Even Sonic had to admit that he had done a good job and Mr. Johnson went personally to Shadow and thanked him for his commitment to his character. Every time this happened, Shadow looked back at Amy and gave her a small smile to acknowledge her help. He didn't exactly thank her, but Amy knew this was the best thing she could get from him.

More days like this came. In two weeks, Team Sonic had slowly made up their minds that Shadow was going to be sticking around for some time. There was still some conflict from time to time but it wasn't anything that they couldn't handle. The black hedgehog would even 'compliment' the other members once in a while. 'Not half bad', 'Could be better but it wasn't horrible', 'If you are going to say that, at least keep your head up. It will make you look more credible.'

Shadow had slowly made his way into the Sonic Boom family and nobody was complaining. He still had his prepotency and pride, which he would show more often than his soft side. But at least he was trying. Amy Rose didn't care now. He wasn't interfering with her job nor she was interfering with his. They didn't have much communication since she helped him improvise. Maybe just the casual, 'Is there any coffee?' and a 'Yes, it's over there.'

It was the last day of filming and as usual, Amy said goodbye to everyone on set. She won't be seeing them until next month so she made sure she got to say her goodbyes to every last one of them. Finally, her friends were last. She didn't care too much about saying goodbye to them because she knew she will seem them in the next couple of days. Probably when Eggman is attacking or something like that. Strange enough, Eggman never attacked them on filming days, it was as if he knew and didn't want to ruin their day on purpose.

"I say we should go to the beach soon," Knuckles said.

"I am down," Tails said and Sticks nodded in agreement.

"Same," Sonic was then quick to turn around and face Amy who seemed to look at something or rather someone else. In hopes that she will give him some attention, Sonic raised his voice a little. "What about you Ames? Do you want to go to the beach?"

"What about Shadow?"

Amy's response wasn't the answer Sonic was looking for and instead, he proceeded to walk towards the pink hedgehog and placed his arm around her shoulder in hopes to comfort her. "I don't think he is the type to go to the beach."

"Should we at least invite him?" Amy said, still looking away. She was a bit embarrassed that Sonic was doing this more and more often. "I mean just out of courtesy ...It doesn't matter if he says no."

"I guess if you want to you can do that but ..." The blue one faced the direction that Amy was looking at. His green eyes met the black figure and a small hint of jealousy treated to overtake the blue blur seeing that Amy was giving too much attention to Shadow. "You are still coming with us, right?"

The pink hedgehog had finally faced her blue hero and saw a small smile placed on his lips. She returned it and kindly she said, 'Of course!'

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.

Shadow the Hedgehog was glad that the filming was done. A part of him was enjoying filming for this low-quality show but he still felt relieved that this was over ... for now. He walked outside the set where his beautiful black motorcycle waited for him. Today was going to be a relaxing night. Just him, a glass of wine and re-reading some of his favorite stories.

"Hey, Shadow!"

The black hedgehog recognized that voice, he turned around and met a running pink hedgie running towards him. Almost out of breath as if she had been looking for him everywhere. When she finally reached him, she took a few seconds to get air back into her lungs. Shadow watched every single moment of her and waited until she was ready to speak again.

"This month's episode is coming out next week. To celebrate the launching, my friends and I are going to the beach," Amy looked around, a bit nervous to look at him in the eyes. "I was wondering, I mean, we were wondering if you wanted to join us?"

Alright, this was something he had never experienced before. He was usually invited by other acting peers to go to parties and formal get-togethers where a large group of people were present. However, he had never been invited to such an 'intimate' activity before. Going to the beach? As like playing volleyball together? As building sandcastles? Doing a cookout and eating together after playing in the water?

Was Amy Rose that crazy?

"My apologies," Shadow said. "I am not interested in such things."

Amy mentally sighed in relieve, her job here was done. "It's alright! I won't see you for a while so if you need a friend, hit me up. I am one phone call away."

The rose hedgehog was already making her way out, she walked a few steps away until she felt something small hit her head.

She turned around again to face Shadow who was proudly playing with pebbles on his hand. "You said to hit you up if I need a friend."

Amy didn't know how to react to that. It was clever and even sweet of him. However, Amy didn't know until what extent he meant his words or if he was just saying it to tease her.

But she was about to find out.

"Well," Amy walked towards the black hedgehog, a small smirk decorated her face. She wasn't completely doing this, but she still decided to give it a try. She mounted Shadow's bike and placed her hands on the accelerator and the break. "I can be your friend right now."

It was very interesting, the strange dynamic that the two had. Shadow wasn't even complaining which even surprised him. He didn't let just anyone ride his bike, but if it was the pink hedgehog then maybe he could make an exception.

Her character and persona were just very intriguing to him. She was a simple hedgehog, very plain looking but still, there was something about her that attracted him to her.

"Very well then," Shadow said as he took a sit on his motorcycle. He placed his hands delicately on the pink hedgehog's hip, trying to touch as little as he could. They were close but Amy didn't seem to mind the contact at all. "Where to next?"

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.

There was a soft aroma that Amy couldn't quite describe yet. It was probably all the natural scents radiating off the jungle. If she was being honest, she didn't quite understand what was going at the moment. It was certainly strange for her to be this close to the hedgehog, more strange because well ... They weren't even friends. Just to strangers taking a ride together. Now that she thinks about it, this scene with Shadow was very ... Unusual. She didn't know much about the black hedgehog besides everything that she read on celebrities' magazines. Of course, they weren't too reliable.

The stars sparkled above them, the air caressed their faces and moved their quills along the dancing wind. Amy's mind drifted towards the dark hedgehog behind her. His hands were softly placed around her waist, trying to touch her as little as possible. It was actions like this that made the pink lady realize that there was more to Shadow.

Where could Amy take such a guy? Shadow was the most popular hedgehog in town and if she was being honest, Amy was sure that he had seen more of the whole island than her. She really didn't think this through, come on Amy ... What was a place that was good enough to surprise Shadow the Hedgehog?

Oh, wait there was a place.

The rosette hedgehog let out a small smile decorate her face. This might turn into an interesting night after all.

A tulip flower field that crossed through miles and miles of grass. All of them planted beautifully according to their color. Although it was dark, the moon provided enough light to differentiate the colors. Amy tried to not look at the dark hedgehog, but something inside of her was looking for his approval. After all, the pink hedgehog really admired the success of Shadow even if he didn't have the best personality.

Shadow's ear moved from side to side as he looked around the field of tulips. His face had a small smile and he moved his body from side to side as he tried to get all the view possible. Amy had to admit that the dark hedgehog being excited was a pleasant view to witness.

"Like what you see?" Amy asked as she approached the actor.

"I have to admit that I have never seen anything like this."

Shadow and Amy began to walk next to each other, following a soil path and the beautiful tulips were next to them.

Dammit ... This is getting awkward again. Why did I think this was a good idea?

There was a heavy silence in which only the crickets and the sound of shoes impacting the soil could be heard. The wind also helped the atmosphere to be less silent as the strong air made the tulips and grass move from one side to the other and they softly touched each other.

"How did you know about this place?"

Just like that, all previous silence was broken, Amy turned her head to look at the black hedgehog and immediately regretted it. The moonlight softly landed on his face enhancing his strong features. His vermillion eyes shone brightly and there was a certain confidence on his face that Amy couldn't quite describe. Wow, was Shadow the Hedgehog an attractive one?

"Well, to be honest, I kinda stumbled upon it," Amy answered as she looked away to make the small blush on her face go away.

"So you are telling me you found this place ... by accident?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Just the thought alone made Amy embarrassed. If she was completely honest, she found the tulip field on one of her many times chasing Sonic. When they were younger, she was a total fangirl. Always chasing the blue blur, but Amy was always left behind by Sonic. In one of those days, she was chasing him and of course, he ran away from her. In an attempt to keep up with him she ended up lost. She walked a lot through the jungle and when it was getting dark desperation began to hit her. Then, she ran at different directions until she finally came across the beautiful tulip field.

But of course, she wasn't about to tell him all that.

"Well to put it simply... I was looking for someone, lost track of them, and ended up here."

"And did you find the one you were looking for?"

It was strange even for Shadow to be this intrigued about someone else's life. He mostly would not talk or just talk the minimum. Nonetheless he saw this as a way to return the favor. She helped him learn how to improvise and in exchange Shadow will listen to her. Although to be honest, he didn't know if that was an equal exchange.

"Mmm ... Not really, but it's alright now. I do seem him daily-"

The rosette hedgehog shut down her lips as soon as the words left her mouth. Before, she wouldn't mind expressing her long history of loving the blue one but now ... Well, it was better to keep that a secret.

"Something tells me, that this has to do with the blue one."

She really thought she was about to have a heart attack. Shadow has been part of the 'team' for a couple of weeks and he already felt something going on between Amy and the blue one.

"Am I that obvious?" She asked almost in a whisper. The awkwardness between them was completely gone now. It was just two hedgehogs walking under the moonlight on a flower field and enjoying each other's company.

"No ... I just guessed, and well, you just confirmed it."

Amy thanked Chaos that it was night time because otherwise, she was sure Shadow would be able to see her intense blush. She also cursed at the God under her breath for making her so gullible.

"Don't tell anyone, Sonic believes I am over him and the rest don't know."

The dark hedgehog let out a small sigh, he looked over at the pink lady next to him. He nodded and reassured her.

"Your secret is safe with me,"

A thought crossed Amy's mind. One of her secrets had just being exposed, she was feeling embarrassed and awkward. The pink one concentrated on the black hedgehog next to her, this time she could tell he was relaxed. He didn't look annoyed nor angry nor gloomy like he usually does. What she was about to do was risky, the whole night could go to waste but as her secret has been exposed, she might as well get something worth knowing out of this.

"Since you know a secret of mine ... don't you think its fair for me to know a secret of yours?" With her peripheral vision, she could see the hedgehog had kept his relaxed face, making her feel more comfortable. "Only if you want to of course."

" ... What do you want to know?"

"I don't know ... Do you like pineapple on pizza?"

Amy kept walking but to her surprise, Shadow had stopped doing so. She turned around and faced the black hedgehog who was a few feet away from her. While she had a stern look on her face, Shadow had placed a hand on top of his mouth. However, his other actions could not lie. His eyes were closed and his ears were trembling a little. His body was shaking as he placed a hand on his stomach. Soft attempts of trying to suppress the air from coming out of his mouth couldn't be contained and delicate sounds were created.

Amy couldn't believe it... Did she just make Shadow the Hedgehog laugh?

"Are you laughing?"

At her question, the dark hedgehog made a small turn and completely gave his back to Amy, trying to hide his evident humor.

"No," he responded but small giggles were still coming out of his mouth no matter how much he tried to suppress them.

"That was a serious question Shadow! Do you like pineapple on pizza?

Amy's serious voice was the breaking point Shadow needed to let go. This time he was full out laughing, his voice echoed through the field of tulips and it was moments like this that Amy appreciated.

A few seconds passed and Shadow was finally able to control himself. When he turned around to face the pink hedgehog, he noticed a cocky smile on her face. Shadow blames himself and Chaos for letting him act so 'out of character' for him.

"So, are you going to answer my question?" Amy asked once again as Shadow walked past her, gaining his proponent posture back.

"Out of all the questions you could have asked ... You decide to ask me if I like pineapple on pizza?" Shadow watched the pink hedgehog take small running steps to catch up with him.

"Well, do you want me to ask more personal things? What about the rumors that you and Rouge the Bat are dating?" When the question left Amy's mouth, Shadow's face turned to one of nervousness.

"Why would you want to know that?"

"Rouge the Bat is my favorite actress, she is so beautiful and smart ...I just want to know if it's true .. I don't see her dating someone like you." Amy made eye contact with Shadow and a part of him felt strange because the pink one hasn't been this straight forward with him before.

"Wait ... What is that supposed to mean?"

There was a certain tone to his voice that made him sound offended and the pink one immediately panicked. She just didn't want to ruin the good moment she was having with the actor.

"Nothing! I mean, you are very attractive and all but-" Amy felt her muzzle get hotter by the second, especially when Shadow had a smirk plastered on his face. "I mean it's just that you seem to be very ... um, quiet and Rouge is very flamboyant, to say the least."

A few seconds passed in which Amy waited for the red striped one to say something or make any type of movement. However, nothing happened and our pink lady decided to break the silence once again.

"But of course you don't have to answer that, I prefer if you tell me whether you like pineapple on your pizza or not," Amy said.

"Is that information important to you?" Shadow asked. He looked at the pink one waiting for anything that indicated that she had changed her mind on the question.

"Well, I need to see if you are trustworthy."

"And the toppings I put on my pizza decide whether or not I am worthy of your trust?"

"Of course."

Just like the situation was strange for Amy, it was for Shadow as well. He had personally known Amy for a few weeks in which they had only talked a few times for no longer than 10 minutes. Now they were talking, walking together and sharing 'secrets'. Shadow had now realized that it was true about it being easier to talk about yourself to strangers. What was even more bizarre for the black hedgehog was that even when it came to meet other actors or strangers, they seemed to talk to him out of courtesy ... but Amy? She was genuine about getting to know him.

Maybe that was why he tended to let his guard down around her.

"To be honest, I don't know," Shadow began, "I've never had pineapple in pizza, so I don't know if I like it or not."

"Oh, then next time I'll take you to the best pizza place in the village!" Amy excitedly said as the previous embarrassment was totally gone by now.

"Next time? Who says there would be a next time?" Taking his previous proponent attitude back, Shadow rolled his eyes in annoyance, clearly wanting to anger the pink one.

"Well, I am sorry Mr. Doom and Gloom! I thought you were enjoying my company. We can just go home now if you want." Amy made a turn, showing her determination to just go back home. It was intended to follow Shadow's attempt to tease her and not meant to be taken seriously. However, it seemed like the black hedgehog did think otherwise.

"Come on Amy, if I didn't like you I wouldn't be here."

The sentence made Amy's heart skip a beat. After all, anyone would feel embarrassed if a boy as attractive as Shadow said those kinds of things naturally. It wasn't like she liked him in that sense it was mostly because she made a small realization.

"That line could work great for the fanfiction I am working on ... Thank you, Shadow!"

"Well, that's nice to hear," Amy said, trying to get the most out of the conversation. This could lead to some very good dialogue scenes. "And don't worry, I was playing with you, I like you too Shadow!"

Amy was waiting for the dark hedgehog to say something but instead, a puzzled look stayed on his face. He didn't say anything but the only thing that happened was that vermillion eyes met with emeralds ones. The dark hedgehog was in a trance, in disbelief and so, Amy questioned him one more time.

"Are you alright?"

"Uh? Yes, my apologies."

Shadow quickly turned around and began to walk once again on the soil path. He looked at the flowers from side to side and then at the moon in the dark sky.

He turned around again and faced Amy on the distance. She had a worried look but soft and gentle at the same time. Her face shone brightly and her emerald eyes were more beautiful than any Chaos Emerald Shadow has ever seen. Indeed, Amy was beautiful even when Shadow did not see her with romantic eyes.

Or so he thought.

Without him knowing, Shadow let out a small smile decorate his face.

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Amy had taken him to see other places. They were simple but Amy's small talk really made it memorable.

That night ended without any problems. Nothing else was said as they only enjoyed each other's company in silence during the motorcycle ride. Amy took Shadow across the island to see things he had never seen before. The moon provided enough light for them to fully appreciate the beauty of the forests, beaches, and even small villages. Amy let out a small smile whenever Shadow got excited about the smallest things. Did he see a pretty flower? His ears would move excitedly. Did he see a pretty view? Again his ears. Did he like the moon and stars? Ears. He was very expressive with them and Amy was found of such a cute act.

When their time as running out, Amy drove to her house. She thanked Shadow for the night and a sense of her told her that Shadow didn't want to say goodbye just yet.

She climbed out of the motorcycle and watched Shadow take her previous seat. The pink hedgehog was ready to enter her house but before, she had to properly say goodbye to those vermillion eyes.

"I'll see you next month Shadow," Amy said as she kept eye contact with the black one. "I hope you enjoy this month's chapter."

"Chapter?"

Holy shit.

"Episode! I meant to say, I hope you enjoy this month's episode!"

Amy cursed mentally at the fanfiction writer inside of her who was so used to saying 'I hope you enjoy this chapter.'

"I will ... I believe," Shadow replied.

"Well, you are a great actor," Amy said quickly. "Whatever you are on it, I am sure it will be great."

Her words weren't meant to come out of her mouth so easily. She said them so naturally that it caught her and Shadow in surprise. The pink hedgehog looked around nervously as she tried to hide the evident blush on her face. Amy wanted to disappear, to get inside her house, and just start writing the new fanfiction she had in mind.

A few seconds in which no one said a word until Shadow decided to break the silence.

"It will be great ..." Shadow said as he turned on his bike again, ready to leave. "Because you helped me along the way."

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The next day, Amy was happy to have some time for herself. She concentrated on writing today. The pink one had different ideas she would like to explore for her new story. Although she didn't have a title just yet. She had been thinking about writing a Sonic Boom alternative universe story in which everyone was part of a Resistance and they had to fight the forces of evil aka Eggman.

The rosette hedgehog, who was still on her pajamas, was laying on the sofa. Laptop on top of her, and a bag of chips next to her and the television on. She was writing peacefully until a 'ring' sound came from her computer. It was a notification from fanxfiction.com.

She didn't think twice about checking out the notification.

It was a comment from one of her loyal followers, 'The Fanfictioner.'

" After I got home yesterday I couldn't sleep and decided to re-read 'Falling Petals' I can't believe just how good this is! The characters are well written and the romance is well developed. Although I don't like Sonic's character much especially how he treats Amy at the beginning ... but overall it's amazing!"

The comment caught Amy by surprise. She had never gotten a comment before saying that they didn't like Sonic's character. The pink one wanted to know more about the opinion of her reader. She began to type:

"Thank you for the lovely comment! However, I would like to know why don't you like Sonic's character?"

The pink one-clicked enter and she thought that it will take hours for The Fanfictioner to respond. However, as to prove her wrong, the anonymous reader responded within a minute.

"Sonic was kind of a jerk to Amy at the beginning and even after he confessed to her, he treated her badly just because he is shy. I think if Sonic was truly in love then he wouldn't hurt her so much as he did. At least if I had someone I liked, I would never hurt them by avoiding them and leaving."

Wow, Amy was impressed. She had never thought about it that way. Amy had to admit that although her work was praised, she knew that she lacked in the romance department. Especially because she had never experienced it. Well, she does love someone and knows the feeling of it very well ... but her feelings had never been corresponded.

An idea popped in her mind.

"I had never seen it that way ... Actually, would you tell me more about your opinion about the characters and story?"

Once again after replying to the comment, it didn't take long to hear a reply.

"Sure, I would be delighted to talk to a talented writer like yourself. Do you have a Xiscord?"

She smiled to herself as she read the comment. It was nice to have someone who appreciated her work and without a second thought she began to type:

"Yes, I do, ARoseWithoutTorns#0923. Please add me."

Amy thought she would get some feedback from 'The Fanfictioner' and that would be it. However, it turned out to be more than that. Yes, there was great feedback but they also talked about themselves. It was strange for Amy because although she had talked to her readers before, it had never been to this extent. They talked about their hobbies, their daily lives, and things of interest. They texted and texted each other and the pink one couldn't think of anything else but to be happy that she had made a new friend.

TheFanfictioner#0619: I am so bored at home, I wish I could take a ride on my bike, too bad it's raining.

Amy had been so engrossed in their conversation that she didn't realize that it was raining outside.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: What a coincidence, it's raining where I live too! To be honest with you the first time I rode a bike was yesterday.

TheFanfictioner#0619: Really? How did that go?

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: Yes. I actually learned right there and then. I am pretty sure the guy I went with didn't realize that was my first time driving a bike.

Amy mentally laughed, yesterday was her first time driving a bike and she learned from the few times she saw Shadow driving it. She knew that Shadow would have never let her drive his bike if he knew that Amy didn't know how to drive. Therefore, she had to look confident enough so Shadow wouldn't doubt her skills. She was actually proud of her acting because Shadow seemed to not know that she was a first-time driver.

TheFanfictioner#0619: Well, your friend must be an idiot, its easy to know when it's a person's first time driving a bike.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: Well, he can be an idiot. He is rude but he can be nice ... Sometimes.

Amy's mind diverted to Shadow. He was indeed a very interesting hedgehog. And very unlike anyone she had known before. He was mysterious, quiet, and wasn't afraid to speak up his mind even when he seemed extremely rude. That's what she had gotten from him and the few times she had talked to the black hedgehog.

TheFanfictioner#0619: Maybe he is rude because he likes you. He doesn't want to be rude but he is unconsciously rude because he doesn't know how to deal with his feelings.

ARoseWithoutTorns#0923: Hahaha I doubt it! I think he likes someone else ... Besides, I have feelings for someone else as well.

The pink one made a disgusted face at the thought of Shadow having those kinds feelings towards her. Definitely, Shadow wasn't her type and she was sure that she wasn't Shadow's type either. The only thing that could happen between them besides a co-worker relationship was a friendship and that Amy didn't mind at all.

TheFanfictioner#0619: Well, that guy must be very lucky.

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This month's episode of Sonic Boom wasn't great ... It was fantastic. People were just loving the introduction of Shadow the Hedgehog into the story. After a few hours of being aired, people were already talking about it their social media and other types of platforms. Amy even had to admit that if it wasn't because she was already in love with the blue bur, she might have been a Shadow fangirl. He acted amazingly and he made his character relatable which was very hard to compel.

Right now, the pink hedgehog was comfortably sitting on her sofa, as the TV was on and she was scrolling to her fanfiction web page. Tomorrow she was going to the beach with her friends and maybe she could take her laptop with her to finish some writing.

An idea crossed her mind and to celebrate the brand-new episode of Sonic Boom, she decided to open up prompt requests.

She began to type on her laptop.

"Sonic Boom's new episode was really good, wasn't it? To celebrate today's episode, I'll be opening up prompt requests! Send it right away and I'll answer you as soon as I can!"

By: A Rose Without Thorns

The pink hedgehog clicked 'Enter' and soon after she began to receive multiple notifications. She opened one from a username she clearly recognized. This person was a loyal follower of hers and it was now her personal goal to give them the best story they could ever ask for.

However, her heart skipped a beat when she read the prompt request.

"As I watched this recent Sonic Boom episode, I realized that Shadow and Amy's characters have great potential to develop a relationship. Can I request a story where Shadow and Amy fall in love? Thank you."

By: The Fanfictioner

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A/N: Finally, 'The Fanfictioner' is here. I am super excited to continue writing this story, it's been a while since I have worked on a series like this. The chapters would take around a month or so to come out, not sure. But they will be long chapters ... So I hope you enjoy each and one of them! Thank you for reading! This story is going to have a little bit about everything. Romance, mystery, comedy and drama. 

I want to thank @redsunlight for the amazing artwork, please everyone check out her tumblr! Once again, thank you so much! I also want to thank @mysuperlaserpiss​, @nothing-fancy94​ and @justasadcloudpassing​ because they are just lovely people!

Ps. My other story "By Accident" will be uploaded soon too with a new chapter :)

Prologue: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/621393124729683968/the-fanfictioner

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/PeachesAndReams

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

(CONTENT WARNING: This blog post contains discussion of phobias, child abuse, and people doing the worst thing to intensify those problems. Those things are in the show, I didn’t just bring them up out of nowhere.)

Well, it’s that time again. Time to grab a balloon and tell my friends what I think of an episode of Ranma 1/2. We’re starting the first arc of season two with this episode, though oddly enough I feel like I mostly remember what stuff is going to happen in it. But maybe I don’t remember right? I’d love it if that is the case. Though...speaking of that...there is a certain character I have dreaded appearing in this series, and I’d hoped he wouldn’t appear for a while, but I checked and he appears this season. I...I thought I had more time. Oh well, let’s do this episode and I’ll worry about him when he gets here.

Okay, well, for the most part, this episode is actually a lot better than I remember it being. As it turns out, some of the details mutated in my head in the decade since I last saw it, and I actually thought things were worse than they were.

The episode starts in the Kuno manor, where our favorite swordsman is practicing to once again fight Ranma Saotome. But he’s not alone, because for the first time we meet Kuno’s henchman, Sasuke. He’s a ninja, and he’ll do whatever Kuno tells him to do, but he probably won’t do it very well.

From there, we see Ranma’s dad is training him in stupid ways again, and they get back to the house to find Shampoo has mailed Ranma something from China: a pink cat. That’s a problem, because Ranma has a severe cat phobia. It’s not random, either, Genma directly created it. See, when Ranma was 6, Genma thought he should teach his son Cat Fu, which he heard about from an ancient martial arts manuscript. The way to teach it is to cover the disciple in fish sausage and through them into a room with starving cats.

Obviously, that just ended up traumatizing Ranma, and the very next page of the book would have told Genma that training someone that way is very stupid. Kasumi, drawing on the common misunderstandings people have about exposure therapy, thinks that just inviting a ton of cats to be around will help, but of course it doesn’t, it makes Ranma even more distressed. Sasuke is hiding under the floorboards though, and he runs off to tell Kuno about Ranma’s weakness.

At first, Kuno says something about how he could never cowardly use an opponent’s weakness to unfairly win, but then he still makes Sasuke tell him about it, because he can still use it to win in an honorable way. The plan they go for is pretty ridiculous: they leave a note in Ranma’s locker that Akane’s been kidnapped, and he has to go to the gym to save her. But Akane is standing next to Ranma as he reads the note, so he knows that’s not true.

He goes anyway out of curiosity, only to find Sasuke there dressed up as Akane. With the wrong color wig. Even though the trap keeps failing, Ranma walks into it anyway because he has nothing better to do, until he realizes what is going on: cats. But Ranma manages to fight the fear and pretend he’s okay, hoping to just take Akane out of there, but then it becomes clear Sasuke took the extra step of also bringing an enormous tiger.

That’s when we cut back to Genma and Kasumi, and the old man explains that he tried curing Ranma of his phobia, but his way of doing so was to just keep throwing him at hungry cats, only changing the type of food attached to his body. All of it just made the problem worse, but it also actually led to Ranma developing Cat Fu. When Ranma gets scared enough, his mind just let’s go and he mentally becomes a cat.

That happens in the basement of the school, making it easy for him to beat the tiger and escape, just in time to kick Kuno’s butt without even trying. But he doesn’t stop there, and starts running around the school still acting like a cat. Akane follows him just as the dads show up. Genma says the only way to break Ranma out of it when he was a kid was with the help of a kindly old lady, but she’s dead. So, Genma tries dressing up and doing it himself. That fails, so they try catnip, forgetting that Ranma just thinks he’s a cat, so the stuff doesn’t really affect him.

The situation does kind of solve itself, as Ranma doesn’t attack Akane, as she’s afraid of, but instead curls up in her lap to purr. The whole school is watching, so that’s embarrassing for her, but then he kisses her and she freezes for a second before throwing Ranma into the school pool. Oh, and the pink cat is watching and didn’t like that. The curse activating returns his brain to normal, and Ranma has no clue why he was thrown in a pool. Akane walks home, cursing Ranma for doing that, but sounding conflicted.

So, the big thing I misremembered about this episode was I thought Genma did all the cat stuff with 0 thoughts about how it would affect Ranma and not giving a crap how it affected his son. That is actually not the case, he’s clearly really torn up about the phobia, though he still says some bad stuff about Ranma being ‘unmanly’ for having a phobia. He even tried to cure Ranma, a few times. It’s just that, well, his actions still traumatized Ranma. Sufficient ignorance is indistinguishable from malice, as they say. Genma is still, on the whole, abusive to Ranma in my opinion, but he’s not as bad as he could have been, I have to admit.

This was also just a funny episode. The comedy largely worked, even if some of the jokes didn’t quite land. Kuno and Sasuke were especially good, and I found Ranma fighting his fear both humorous and kind of inspiring. The man has a hell of a willpower. Not going to lie, the Cat-Ranma just immediately going for Akane’s lap and then kissing her was cute, I really liked that. Of course, I’m a sucker for anything with them, so I’m an easy mark there.

It’s also interesting how this works as the first part of a large arc, because if you didn’t know that was the case I can imagine thinking this was just a standalone episode. The pink cat was the impetus for the plot, but it’s what will drive the coming episodes forward.

One thing I found annoying was how different the dub and sub were this time around, in terms of script. The dub had a lot more bashing of Ranma for being scared of cats, including from Akane. That isn’t in the subtitled version at all, and I thought the episode worked a lot better there. I’m always a fan of taking liberties with a localization in order to make the story work better in the new country, but I don’t think we needed Akane insulting Ranma for his trauma.

Hey, a Character Spotlight again! Haven’t had one of these in a bit, and this one is for Sasuke Sarugakure. Let’s start with his voice actors. In the English dub, he’s voiced by Robert O. Smith. Does that name sound familiar? It should, I talked about him recently, since he’s the one who voiced Genma Saotome in the dub as well. His voice for Sasuke is extremely comedic, going for an over-the-top pathetic voice. He makes Sasuke just sound like comic relief, which he is. What’s interesting is what the other actor does with him.

In Japanese, he’s played by Shigeru Chiba, another voice actor from this show in Japan who is just known for a billion things. Standouts include Buggy the Clown in One Piece, Emperor Pilaf and Raditz in the Dragon Ball franchise, and dubbing over John de Lancie as Discord in the Japanese dub of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I was completely shocked to hear him play Sasuke with more gravitas, using a very serious voice that one would expect from a ninja, which clashed perfectly with the situations and his character design to make the comedy far better than in the dub. One of those rare times I’m actually preferring the Japanese version!

As a character, Sasuke is interesting because he’s not in the manga at all. For reasons none seem to know, the creative team for the anime decided to delay introducing minor character Hikaru Gosenkugi, and replaced him with Sasuke. We’ll get to Hikaru when he appears, but I don’t really mind Sasuke’s addition to the show. Giving Kuno a henchman just makes his dynamic even better, and there’s something I just really like to Sasuke’s almost naive way of trying to plot and scheme. I don’t actually have any deep analysis, at least not as of yet, just wanted to give him a moment in the Spotlight for being something interesting.

I didn’t expect to like this episode so much! It wasn’t great, there were parts I didn’t care for, but on the whole I’m happy to see my expectations overcome. I’m putting this episode in the middle of the pack, at the #10 slot. It was fun, but it has a lot of better episodes when it comes to making me smile. (Or cry.)

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’  

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?

Next time we’ll continue this tale with "This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!" which, as you might guess from the title, will introduce a new character. This one’s actually from the manga! See you then, y’all.

[mintmatcha]

can we see the noya fic???

oh yeah, part one and two are posted on my ao3 here

But here’s part one for you bad boys:

First Time: Nishinoya Yuu 

Rated: PG13

Fluff

Everyone you had ever dated had considered your friendship with Nishinoya strange, but you didn’t understand why. Sure, you two were closer than most friends, but that was just because you had lived down the street from each other for years. And yes, maybe it was a little strange that you would have him sleep over when your mother wasn’t home, but that was only because you liked watching shitty horror movies together. Yeah, maybe he should’ve been sleeping on the floor instead of in bed with you, but it shouldn’t have mattered. Your friendship was strictly platonic.

You were too busy texting your latest boy toy to notice when volleyball practice let out. Your orchestra practice always let out a little bit before Noya’s practice ended, so you would wait for him on the days where your practices overlapped. Usually, his overenthusiastic cheering would catch your attention before anything else, but today was different.

“Ready to go home?” you asked as you saw him approach from your peripheral vision, not even looking up from your phone. This guy you were texting was flirting with you pretty hard, you were sure that you were about to get some steamy messages if you just-

“Yeah.” Noya brushed by you and walked ahead.

Yeah? Just yeah? You looked up to your friend in confusion. He was never this quiet. Ever. He usually always had a story about his teammates or his classes that he was dying to talk about. You started following him

“Nishi? What’s wrong?” you asked, “Bad day of practice?”

“I’m fine.”

“Come on, don’t you wanna talk about your rolling thunder or something?”

“No.”

“Are you going to be like this the whole way home?”

“Maybe.”

You groaned, already tired of this game. You sped up to match his pace and took a look at his face. His brow was knotted, his eyes downcast to avoid your gaze. You nudged your friend with your elbow, trying to get any sort of reaction, but he just kept walking. Nishinoya was a sensitive individual underneath his boisterous exterior. If you didn’t take drastic measures to cheer him up, he would continue like this for at least the next week.

“I know it’s a school night, but my mom is working the late shift tonight. Do you want to come over and watch a movie with me? It’s supposed to be really scary and I’m afraid to watch it by myself. I’ll even make you food. “

“I should probably just go home-”

Time to whip out the big guns. “Please, senpai? I need someone to protect me.”

Your spikey headed friend turned to you, obviously trying to fight the smile creeping up on his face. “Well, if my underclassman needs me, I guess I can stay for a little.” he said, “But only if there’s popcorn.”

The two of you laid in your bed, separated by your laptop and a comically large bowl of popcorn. Noya lounged comfortably, head on your pillow and arm around a stuffed animal. The movie blared in the background, going on about some sort of magical curse. Probably. You weren’t really watching it. Instead, you had gone back to texting your new boy, who has stopped flirting and started telling you about his boring school work. Every time your phone pinged, Noya looked over.

“Is that the first year from Nekoma?” he asked.

“No way, he was so lame.” you scoffed, “This is just some guy from our school. ”

“It better not be anyone on my team.”

“Well, in that case,” you laughed, “I guess I’ll just break Ennoshita’s heart.” Noya launched the stuffed animal at your head, almost knocking your phone out of your hands.

“I’m just kidding! Calm down! It’s a second-year! I promise I won’t date anyone on your team.” you said,

Nishinoya paused the movie suddenly, avoiding your gaze again. “Can I ask you a question, Y/N? And you gotta be cool about it, because it’s, like, embarrassing and stuff.”

“Yeah, of course.” You put down your phone for a moment, only to pick it up again when it pinged a moment later.

“You’ve been on a lot of dates before.”

“That’s not a question, but yeah, I have been.”

“And you’ve liked all different types of guys.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Why don’t girls like me?”

You stopped typing mid sentence and looked over in shock. You tried to keep the heartbroken look off of your face, but you couldn’t help it. Seeing your best friend like this hurt you. He threw his arms over his face, trying to hide his expression from you. You sat up and moved the bowl of popcorn to the floor before leaning over him.

“Yuu, where is this coming from?” you asked.

“I maybe, sort of asked a girl out today. During lunch... And she laughed at me! Is it just because I’m short? Because I make up for my short stature with my coolness factor!” he huffed, “I mean, I didn’t actually like her that much, but she was cute! I figured, you’re always dating guys you aren’t super into, why shouldn’t I try to get a date?”

“Is this why you’ve been in a bad mood today? Because some girl was mean to you? It doesn’t matter what she thinks.”

“It’s not just that!” he said, “I’m the ONLY one on the team who- who- who-”

“Who?”

“Who hasn’t even had my first kiss!” Noya practically shouted. He threw his hands up in frustration, revealing his beet red face. “Even Kageyama has kissed someone! I mean, he’s really cool and talented, but he drinks milk! Every day! And he’s younger than me! The guy obsessed with milk has more girls than I do! I can’t get a single girl to even talk to me!”

Your phone pinged again, but you ignored the message.

“Yuu, I hate to break this to you, but you’re talking to a girl right now.” you said, “And I think you’re cute. “

That wasn’t exactly the truth. You found Noya more than cute, you thought he was hot. Those little moments where he would laugh too hard at a joke or get too excited about his volleyball technique made you warm just thinking about it. The moments during games where his shirt would ride up, exposing a little bit of stomach and hips… well, you thought about that on the nights where you were alone.

“Y/N, you don’t count!” he sighed in aggravation, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’re crazy hot, but you’re always dating other guys! It’s not like you would ever kiss me!”

With this, you impulsively leaned down and ghosted your lips over his in a chaste kiss. His lips were so soft against yours, you almost didn’t believe you had actually kissed him. You pulled away as quickly as you approached, studying his face for a reaction. Nishinoya’s arms fell above his head, revealing his wide eyes. He stared at you, unblinking, as the gears in his head slowly turned. The blush on his face somehow grew darker as his mouth fell open. You chuckled to yourself as you grabbed your phone once again.

“See? There was your first kiss. No big deal, right?” You laid back down and resumed your text conversation with your potential suitor. “Now you don’t have to feel self conscious.”

“Th-th-that didn’t count!” he stuttered after a moment of silence, his body seemingly still frozen, “You can’t just surprise a man like that! That’s so uncool! You have to at least give me the chance to kiss you back! You didn’t even give me a chance to use tongue so it doesn’t count!“

You phoned pinged again. “And it doesn’t count if you’re texting another guy while you’re k-kissing me!”

With that, you held down your power button, shutting off your phone before throwing it behind you. In a swift motion, you rolled over so your bodies were flush with each other, face to face. Taking his jaw in your hand, you slowly turned his face to yours. His breathing was fast and hot across your skin, sending a chill down your spine. His eyes were still wide with shock, but now they were focused on your lips, seemingly knowing what was about to happen.

“Yuu, I’m going to kiss you now.” you whispered as you closed the gap between you. He gasped as your lips touched him, and you used the opportunity to slide your tongue against his. His small body vibrated with a deep moan. Fuck, you’d do anything to hear that again. Against your own wishes you pulled away. You didn’t want to overwhelm him too much on his first (second) kiss. Keep it PG-13.

“Th-that didn’t count either. “ he murmured, lifting his hand into your hair and pulling you back to him. He was sloppy, but eager, practically smashing your teeth together in excitement. His free hand wandered down to your waist and gripped the soft part of your hip. A whine escaped your lips as he pulled your body closer. You broke the kiss, pulling back just enough to rest your forehead against his.

“Y/N, That didn’t count.” his voice was unsure, but he closed the gap between you greedily. You grasped his arm and slowly guided his touch up from your waist to your chest. His hand was trembling as it gently gripped your breast. You slung a leg over his as you broke the kiss once more, this time still ghosting your lips over his.

“Did that one count?” you joked.

“It depends- if I say yes, are you going to roll over and start texting that second-year again?”

You chuckled. “I’m probably just going to give you your second kiss .”

“You know, if you’re thinking about him it doesn’t count.” he said, “And then I’ll just have to keep trying until you forget about those other guys.”

“You were the only thing on my mind.”

Noya suddenly sat up, completely untangling himself from you to pull his own phone from his pocket. You watched as he fervently typed away.

“Yuu, what the hell?” you huffed, “Who are you texting?”

“I gotta let the group chat know about this, they’re going to be so pumped about this.” he grinned ear to ear, clearly thrilled about this development. “Tanaka’s going to be all ‘I told you that Y/N had the hots for you!’ Tsukkishima is probably going to say something sarcastic-”

You groaned and rolled your eyes. “Maybe I won’t kiss you again after all.”

Nishinoya looked up from his phone, his confident aura fully restored. “Ha! You wouldn’t be able to resist me. If you thought that first kiss was good, wait until-”

“Shut up and come back here.”

[artsybanchou]

I’m a big fan of 80s/90s anime and Ranma 1/2 played a big role in my childhood. The premise has sooooo much food for thought when it comes to looking at gender and specifically the performance of gender. I’m about to get INTO it, so, here’s your warning-- read more is a ramble. (LONG ramble)

Oh ho ho ho! WELCOME TO MY HELL!

Aight, so let me set the stage for you-->

Two people, who should not be parents, have a kid. The father, Genma, a fairly successful martial artist, takes their just-born son on a training journey without consulting the mother. By training journey, I mean that they travel all over the world with little to no money, either stealing from or scamming people in order to make sure they can eat, under the guise of training the son, Ranma, to become the greatest martial artist of the “Anything Goes” school of martial arts. One of the most frequent scams the father pulls is promising his son’s hand in marriage to various families in exchange for a dowry before running off with both his son and the dowry, never to be seen again. This-- inevitably-- comes back to bite them in the ass. But more on that later.

We don’t get to see a lot of Ranma’s childhood on the training journey, just the occasional incredibly horrific flashback to something that would become a national incident were it to happen in the real world. For example, at one point in time, his father finds a Chinese pamphlet of an ~ancient lost Chinese art~ that is INCREDIBLY POWERFUL!!!!! wow! It’s called Neko-ken. So he decides to teach his six-year-old this technique, although he can’t actually read Chinese so he does it based off the diagrams-- which detail a process of collecting a good number of cats, starving them for a few days straight, and then tossing his son, covered in fish sausages (possibly tied up, can’t remember), into the pit to fend for himself (and not be eaten alive) for hours on end. Surprise, surprise, Ranma comes out incredibly traumatized and with an intense fear of cats (something his father would’ve seen coming if he was able to read Chinese as the pamphlet says that someone would have to be crazy to try to teach someone this technique and that it causes severe psychological damage-- also could’ve been avoided if his father had any common sense or fatherly instincts, but hey that’s just asking too much of Genma). This is not the result his father wanted, so he tries to “fix” it by doing the exact same thing multiple times, just with different cat foods wrapped around his son because... I genuinely don’t know what his thought process was but yeah. So that’s just a tiny snapshot of what his childhood was like as well as how much of a massive idiot his father was. And since Ranma never interacted with his mother, guess who had the greatest influence in his development (yay........). (save him) (also this is based off my memory from watching the anime YEARS ago, so some small details might be wrong but the big, overarching “his dad is a terrible person” thing is still very much true even if some of these smaller details aren’t)

When Ranma is a teenager, his father brings him to a Chinese training ground full of cursed springs. The tour guide repeatedly tries to explain what exactly this place they’re visiting is, but the father and son pair are two hard-headed idiots and get right to sparring. Ranma knocks his father into a spring pretty quick only to be caught off guard when his father reemerges from said spring as a panda and grand slams our protagonist into another one of the cursed springs. Our manly man martial artist protagonist emerges from this spring as a dainty, busty teenage girl. /The horror./ The panic from both Ranma and his father’s deeply shaken fragile masculinities gives the tour guide enough time to reveal that they had fallen into the cursed springs of the drowned panda and the drowned girl (one guess who fell into which one) and that anyone who falls into a cursed spring will take on the form of the life form that drowned in it. They can return to their original bodies by being splashed with hot water but, from now on, every time they’re hit with cold (or even apparently lukewarm) water, they’ll change into these new cursed forms.

Now, I’m sure you all saw this coming from the type of man that Ranma’s father is based on everything I’ve said so far, but Genma is the worst(TM). So Genma is all, “no SON of MINE can be a GIRL! >:((((((” and Ranma, who has been raised for his entire conscious life by this man, and only this man, is also very much not Okay(TM) with this because he’s a man, a manly fighting man who was raised to be the manliest of fighting men who fight. He can’t be a GIRL. 

Except he totally can. Because these two start taking advantage of Ranma’s feminine body pretty much immediately in order to continue running scams so that they can eat and whatnot while traveling. Of course, Genma constantly shames Ranma by saying things like, “I can’t believe my son is such a failure of a martial artist, being a girl! I’m so ashamed!” and whatnot at every opportunity but especially when they are in an argument and Ranma is winning or if he needs Ranma to do something for him. He frequently manipulates his son by using this kind of guilt-tripping language as though it’s Ranma’s fault that his body is like this. Nevermind that they both frequently profit off of Ranma’s female body for scams, Genma still puts Ranma down for having it and Ranma internalizes that because he’s 15 and his father is the only person he’s ever known.

And I’m sure we all hate Genma now, as we should, because fuck Genma. What kind of woman would ever marry Genma? (And we assume a woman is married to Genma because how could a man this bigoted do anything other than marry a woman all traditional and whatnot). If only Ranma wasn’t taken from his mother so young. Maybe he would’ve turned out a better person~ Well, uh, bad news, lads :/  So, by the time we meet Ranma’s mom in the series, we’ve known most of these characters for a chunk of time. It’s already quite well established how terrible of a human being Genma is. Ranma may or may not have started the episode out admitting he doesn’t know much about his mom after being asked about her. A standard set-up. I don’t quite remember all the details of the episode, only the important things-- here’s the important thing: Genma’s wife, Nodoka, made Genma swear something to her before he took their toddler on a training journey all around the world. He had to raise Ranma to become “a Man among Men” (and we’ll talk about how she defines manliness) and, if he failed, then both he and Ranma must commit seppuku. 

Yeah, that's right. 

If her son isn’t enough of a man by her standards then he has to commit ritual suicide.

Her son who now transforms into a girl every time he is touched with at least a ladle’s worth water that isn’t steaming.

(hey have i mentioned save Ranma yet? save him seriously)

Her definition of manliness? All the shit the misandrists of tumblr swear is the inherent evils to all men. She thinks her son needs to be unapologetically forceful in /all/ he does. Especially in his romantic forays :///// (yeah this is going where you think it is)

When she does decide he isn’t manly enough (because Ranma was being sexually harassed by an old man who forcibly put him in a sailor outfit, no im not kidding, happosai, said old man, is a whole other element of the show that like holy shit) and tries to get him to commit seppuku, the solution the cast comes up with is to have Ranma “peek” at (his friend? girlfriend? fiance? frenemy? roommate? it’s weird-- technically they’re the two romantic leads but their chemistry is like -5 because she constantly physically hits him for things that really aren’t his fault and just ://) Akane while she is bathing and that will prove his manliness to his mother so that he doesn’t have to literally die. Will having Ranma be a fucking voyeur prove his manliness to his mother, you ask? Yep. This is Manly(TM) and so Ranma gets to live another day. Yay. Once again, molestation saves the day. (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa) All of this is played off as a joke, for the record. No character is really acknowledged as being “a bad person” for any of this behavior-- not molester Happosai, not trying-to-kill-her-own-child Nodoka, etc. 

So these are the people who made Ranma. Who shaped this kid with the ability to spontaneously switch between male and female bodies (presuming he has water on hand). Also, obviously, Genma had more influence seeing as Ranma never saw his mother between the ages of two and (I think) 16(?), but. regardless, these are the people who shaped his understanding of gender. For all intents and purposes, our lad should be such a pressure cooker of toxic and fragile masculinity that he just about commits seppuku himself every time he ends up in his female body. 

But he doesn’t. In fact, Ranma is largely comfortable in his female body as long as his father isn’t trying to hold said body against him (wait did that come out wrong?). Ranma has no hesitations taking on his female form for something as little as a discount on ice cream. He makes the statement, “when it comes to eating out, being a girl is the only way to go”-- because he’s able to get an extra scoop for being “cute”

There’s a scene very early on in the series about exactly that which has always stuck with me. It opens with Ranma in his female body at a cafe with Akane and they both order fancy ice cream parfaits. Ranma is extremely excited and exclaims, “I’ve always wanted to try one of these!” 

Akane replies with, “don’t tell me you’ve never had ice cream before.”

And Ranma proceeds to explain that he’s never had ice cream like /this/ because it would be too embarrassing for a guy. When Akane asks if he isn’t embarrassed now, happily shoving huge spoonfuls of ice cream into his mouth, he responds with, “hey, I’m a girl now. It don’t count.” Akanes shoots back with a “REAL girls don’t eat like that” (because our lad is eating with such gusto-- he’s living, he’s thriving, he is demolishing that parfait and there is ice cream all over his face) 

He goes, “I’ll eat it however I want.” And then finishes the whole thing off and proclaims that he wants to order the chocolate one next.

Moments like that were the ones where I loved the show the most. We can see Ranma’s insecurities about his masculinity (thank you /soo/ much for that genma) in that he isn’t willing to perform an ‘unmanly’ action in public in his male body. He can’t be *seen* eating girly ice cream. But when he is admonished for not living up to feminine standards in his female body (eat more daintily), he just goes, ‘i’ll do what i want’. Young me really resonated with that, being born with a female assigned at birth body and growing up in Texas. 

It feels like there’s a trans narrative buried in the steaming hot mess that is this work by Takahashi Rumiko-- and it is abundantly clear that was never her intention so I wouldn’t exactly recommend trying to give her an award or anything. She said that she wanted to write a work with a male main character but was so worried about how many male readers she had, she made the decision to make (as she described) a half-male half-female main character (essentially so she could have her cake and eat it too if you will-- all the self aggrandizing fantasies of a male protagonist her male readers could imagine themselves as along with a copious amount of fan service-- the great majority of which was at Ranma’s unwilling expense in his female body which like ://////// (remember that old man I mentioned before??)--  with the female protagonist body). And, like, I’m not saying Takahashi Rumiko is a terrible person or anything-- I don’t know what her beliefs are, I only know her works which are quite old at this point. Takahashi Rumiko is a big deal in the mangaka world because she was one of the first big shonen mangakas who was openly a woman. Normally, men wrote shounen (which literally translates to boys) manga and women wrote shoujo (which literally translates to girls) manga-- the genres were literally divided along gender lines in terms of their intended audiences but also, to a certain extent, their creators. If a woman wanted to write/draw shounen, usually she had to use a pen name that sounded fairly masculine in order to not impact the perception of her work. Takahashi Rumiko was working in that environment so I would understand why she’d want to be careful but, at the same time, I still kind of hate a lot of the things that she normalizes in her works. Especially assault. Both physical and sexual assault she constantly used as a punchline. Not as much anymore. Her most recent work I’ve read was Rinne and the punchline with that one was that the male lead is super poor, literally penniless, and is constantly starving so hahahahha humor amirite? Pain being funny seems to be her through line now that assault is off the table. At least he isn’t constantly getting whole ass tables thrown at him by his love interest as though that’s supposed to be a cute relationship dynamic (Akaneeeeeeeee). I digress. Takahashi Rumiko’s works played a big fucking role in my childhood from Ranma to Inuyasha to Lum (which I encountered well into my teens and therefore didn’t jive with at all because I’d finally learned sexual assault =/= funny and this was one of her more dated works) and so on and just--  I don’t know if I can watch her older stuff the same way I used to. I’m scared to try, honestly. Because some of the ideas behind her works are so interesting-- like Ranma 1/2-- but then you have to sit through episode after episode of a teenage boy in a girl’s body being sexually assaulted by a remorseless old man only to try to fight back at which point he is physically assaulted but also he still has to grovel to and respect said old man because he’s his father’s master and therefore he has to learn martial arts from him but the old man is constantly wagering Ranma having to pose for him in incredibly skimpy outfits if Ranma wants to learn literally anything and alsso RANMA IS FUCKING FIFTEEN/SIXTEEN JESUS CHRIST IS THERE NO FUNCTIONING ADULT ANYWHERE IN THE VVICINITY SAVE HIM!

I NEED TO DIGRESS

It feels like there’s an unintentional trans narrative buried in this anime. It’s not a fun one (but most trans narratives aren’t either so). This is a boy who knows he’s a boy-- even when his body disagrees. He frequently asserts that “he’s a boy” even when in his female body because he is. He’s a boy. He’ll reference being a girl “in appearance” like with the ice cream parfait scene earlier, but when it comes to identity statements, he’s always a boy. This narrative is about him navigating gender presentation and societal assumptions in order to live however he wants. He’s constantly contending with his own forms of gender dysphoria, whether that be his own gripes about doing anything unmanly (eating ice cream) or the very real threat of his mother fucking killing him if he does anything unmanly (aaaaaaaaaaaa), and he navigates tons of threats by choosing how he presents himself.

There are characters that are in love with the male “version” of Ranma and want to kill the female “version” of Ranma (who, for the record, goes by the name Ranko) and vice versa. The Kuno siblings are a great example. Kodachi is in love with Ranma (and is not above literally fucking using date rape drugs on him to get to him) and wants to fucking kill Ranko whereas Tatewaki Kuno, her brother, is in love with Ranko (the lovely pigtailed girl, he calls her) and has literally sent assassins after Ranma. Ranma essentially has to choose between being sexually assaulted or physically assaulted every time he runs into either of them in terms of what body he is presenting. 

I feel like I should let you know, ye who have actually read this far, that Ranma is able to protect himself pretty well from the assault. Like, our boy ain’t dead. Later on he literally fucking kills a god because he’s really passionate about martial arts so he puts all of himself into it and god damnit does his effort show but, honestly, his ability to protect himself shouldn’t mean that it is okay to assault him. Assault is assault. And just because he can fight back doesn’t mean he always does. Akane, his main love interest, regularly sends him through roofs and across town with the force of her Up + B (aka magically appearing hammer), usually for things that aren’t his fault in any way. Akane actually came to the conclusion that Ranma was a pervert when she (fully dressed) walked in on him (naked because he was in the bath) even though the bathroom was obviously occupied. She constantly gets mad at him for things that are beyond his control and then takes her frustrations out on him by literally beating him up and he never fights back-- which is admirable of him but also made me never want to root for their relationship because that isn’t a red flag, my dude, that’s a red planet. the whole of mars is out here trying to warn everyone that this relationship is the most toxic thing since RoundUp.) 

Usually, when watching a show, you get really invested in the character’s aspirations. You want them to ‘get the girl’, ‘get the promotion’, ‘become the pokemon master’ and whatnot. All I ever wanted for Ranma was for him to fake his own death and run far, far away from everyone who ever knew him as “Ranma”. He’d have to fake his own death, obviously, because otherwise his father and Happosai would track him down because, for his father, Ranma is a walking meal ticket and, for Happosai, Ranma is a teenage girl he can sexually assault at any time. Those two would chase Ranma to the ends of the earth if they thought he was trying to get away from them so--

Ranma. Help him.

There’s so much more to dissect with this show. It’s kind of accidentally a great way to look at gender presentation, especially all the terrible negatives that come with constrained gender roles. I use He/Him pronouns when talking about Ranma because it is abundantly clear that he sees himself as a man and I respect that. Sometimes nonbinary-me is like, but think what a gender-fluid icon our boy would be-- literally switching perceived genders via fluids-- and I think that version of Ranma would be a lot happier than the canon one but, I think the canon Ranma is an important reflection of what a lot of people go through, cisgender, transgender, and beyond, when trying to parse what it means to present a gender and the roles you’re supposed to play. 

Maybe Ranma can go on a journey of self-discovery with his own gender after faking his death and escaping Nermina. 

I was all over the place writing this but this isn’t an essay and I’m not being graded so ha fuck you (excpet no not really fuck you because you either a) read this whole thing or b)scrolled down to the bottom to see if i’d get to the fucking point already-- which for the record, I don’t really-- and either way it means you were a little curious what I had to say so thanks I guess). None of this is exceptionally well-thought-out. I wouldn’t exactly stamp this with any kind of official gender discourse seal. It’s all just food for thought. 

[banashee]

Please mind the tags and warnings for this one!

 Four Late Night Confessions (+ one mutual "I Love you")

 1)

 For all the trouble Clint has gone through in the last 20 years, getting an opportunity like this is pretty much the chance of his life. Even if he wasn't running out of luck and chances, he'd have taken it. Sure, Clint had been shot at and bleeding profusely when they offered him to work for SHIELD and start a new life, but even then, dizzy and in pain, not to mention half-starved and exhausted from months on the street, he'd known it might be his best - maybe only - chance.

 Now, one year later, Clint is stuck in a safehouse in the middle of nowhere. It's late at night, and he spends two hours tossing and turning on the thin, lumpy mattress before he gives up and kicks away the sheets. Sitting up on the edge of the bed, Clint groans in annoyance and rubs a hand over his face, through his already messy hair and back over his face. Letting out a long breath, he remains sitting there for a short while, then he finally makes his way out to the living room.

 The howling wind from outside creeps in, settles in his bones and makes Clint shiver in the cool air. He regrets not having put on a hoodie or socks, but he is also too stubborn to walk back now.

 To his surprise, the light in the small living room is on, and when he enters the room, his handler has made himself comfortable on the couch with a thick book in one hand and a steaming mug in the other. The room smells of coffee, and even though Clint shuffles in quietly, Phil looks up from his book as soon as he does.

 “Oh, hi. Can’t sleep?”

 “Hey Boss. Not really, no.”

 “There is more coffee in the kitchen, if you want any.”

 It’s nice to be known, Clint thinks, and makes his way across the room to go get himself a mug. There is no way he is going to sleep tonight, anyway.

 “Thanks.”

 On his way back to the couch, Clint pulls a book out of the shelf and he doesn’t really look at what it is. For one, he’s not sure he will be able to focus on the story. He also never had the opportunity to read a lot when he was young, which means he doesn’t know a lot about books to begin with.

 So, he just reads whatever he can get his hands on - thankfully, SHIELD safehouses often have a small selection of books, if only because some agents left whatever they finished behind for the next person to enjoy. Over time, Clint figures out what he likes - so far, he knows that he enjoys most fantasy and sci-fi books, and that dramas bore him to tears. He tries to stay away from those, but is otherwise open to pretty much anything.

 As it turns out, he grabbed a cheesy romance novel this time - oh well. As long as it keeps him occupied, he figures it’ll be fine.

 Except, it isn’t fine. Well, the book is. But Clint is not.

 No matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop thinking. His brain is running wild and he can’t stop thinking how he even got here. The mean voice in the back of his head keeps telling him that he doesn’t deserve to be here, doesn’t deserve to have this job. This chance.

     ‘You should have died years ago.’    it snarls at him sometimes, in the middle of the night when he lies awake and can’t calm down. The thing is, as hard as he works and as much as he is terrified of making a mistake and losing it all, Clint is also happy.

 He’s got a purpose in life, 3 meals a day and a warm place to sleep. He’s got a room on base to get back to. Sparse and impersonal as it is, it is still a home to him.

 There are people who actually give a shit if he lives or dies, which is honestly still new to Clint. Especially since he started working with Phil exclusively, he has learned what it is like to have someone who cares on a personal level. His handler is a very rare combination of competent badass, warm, honest, caring and protective.

 It is this mix of characteristics that made Clint like and respect the older agent from day 1, and it is definitely this combination of characteristics, paired with the fact that Phil is easy to talk to and that they spend a lot of time together, on and off the clock, that caused Clint to develop a huge crush on him in no time. But he’s got a lid on it - he has to. There is no way he can lose what he found.

 Without noticing, Clint has been staring at the same book page for about half an hour now and he’s got no idea what even happened in the plot. Also, his coffee has gotten cold by now. He curses under his breath and puts his book down in frustration.

     ‘So much for calming down’     he thinks and resists the urge to toss the book across the room. As much as he wants to do something like this sometimes, he hates useless violence, even when it doesn’t go against people.

 The short fuse he inherited from his father is unfortunate, but Clint actively tries to work against it. Anything that separates him from his old man is a good thing in Clint’s opinion - it’s enough that he looks like      he     did. There is no way he’ll allow himself to develop the same patterns of behavior.

 The book in his hand, cramped in white-knuckled, is shaking.

 “...Clint? What’s wrong?”

 He didn’t even realize that Phil stopped reading and is right in front of him now, without touching, but close enough to easily do so if it should be welcome.

 It takes Clint a while to find the words for what is happening, and he isn’t even sure if it makes any sense. After minutes of total silence, and Phil looking more and more concerned the more time passes, Clint lets out a long breath of air.

 “Since I joined… I’ve never been so happy. I’ve also never been so scared. I just - I don’t want to mess this up.”

 He doesn’t look at Phil when he says this, already embarrassed as soon as the words leave his mouth, but he knows that his handler - his friend - won’t judge him for it.

     2)

 The constant noise and vibrations of the jet feel like a jackhammer in Clint’s brain. He wishes, not for the first time, that he was physically able to screw off his head and several limbs for the duration of the entire flight, store them somewhere soft, quiet and comfortable and then reassemble himself upon landing. No such luck.

 He doesn’t even manage to sleep, even though he knows it’ll be many hours until they arrive back at base and there is plenty of time for a long nap. Clint turns in his seat to bitch about it to Phil, but the older agent looks tense and gravely as he puts his phone away in his suit jacket.

 The words get stuck in Clint’s throat, and instead of saying anything, he watches as Phil steps closer and sits down heavily in the seat next to him.

 He almost asks “Are you okay?” but he doesn’t - he knows the obvious answer is “no” because their OP went wrong in so many ways, it’s a near miracle they’re both only lightly injured - let alone alive. The same cannot be said for the dead civilians.

 Clint knows, before Phil even says anything, that he is feeling responsible for it. And really, after a few minutes of silence, Phil sighs with a shake of his head and tells Clint,

 “I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

 In reality, there was nothing they could have done - the intel had been wrong from the start, and there had been no way they could have known until it was too late.

 But Phil is running this OP, he is responsible for the calls made and the outcome will be on his head. It is a special kind of guilt, one that is hard to live with, even though he’d had to learn it early on in his career. Coping is an entirely different story.

 Right now, he is devastated. Agent Coulson is shoved back somewhere in the back of his head, while Phil, the human being, is trying to deal with it all.

 Clint doesn’t answer verbally, because he knows all of these things, but he scoots a little bit closer until their shoulders are pressed together. He offers company and comfort, resting his hand on his leg, open and palm up. It doesn’t take long for Phil to take it and Clint can feel the slight tremors running through him. He squeezes, just firm enough to be reassuring, but otherwise gentle.

 Neither of them talks for the rest of the flight.

       3)

 He is a sniper. Not exclusively, since he’s got plenty of useful skills, but the matter of fact is that, occasionally, part of Clint’s job is to kill people.

 He is good at it, because he never misses. And this is why Clint is so careful, always reading and re-reading the mission briefings, picking the plan apart with Phil again and again until he knows every single detail by heart.

 If he takes the shot, he knows it will be a kill shot - no questions there. So he wants to make sure that the necessity to rid the world of another human being outweighs all other morals.

 Usually, this takes a special kind of training and coping techniques. It’s not an easy or comfortable job, but Clint can usually deal with it because he knows that the people who end up in his scope do so for a very good reason. Usually, he doesn’t lose sleep over it, because he knows the circumstances and the backgrounds.

 He never enjoys it - he would be wrong in his position if he did. But if pressed, he would admit to being relieved - in some cases even satisfied -  to know that certain individuals are no longer around to hurt people.

 Sometimes, there is no kill order in place. In those cases, Clint takes the shot because he knows it’ll be either one of his fellow agents, an innocent person or himself who will be going home in a body bag if not the person he takes out. It happens.

 The point is, while it is certainly no walk in the park, Clint can cope with these situations.

 Right now though, he is kneeling on cold tiles, head stuck in a toilet while he throws up whatever he managed to choke down earlier. In his head, there are two main thoughts that are at war with each other, screaming at him and each other, leaving Clint shaking and disgusted with himself.

 The thing is, they didn’t know that the weapon smugglers ran a human trafficking ring as well. They didn’t know, not until they entered the other part of the building and were met with the terrified eyes of a few dozen people who had learned to expect the worst whenever the door opened.

 Clint is choking and coughing, clutching the cold porcelain with shaking hands. He knows that this OP ended up pressing all the wrong buttons for him. Too many things that hit just a little too close to home, too much that makes him think back to - no.

 In the warehouse, Clint can't remember a clear thought, he acts out of pure instinct. Things turn into a blur at some point, and all he knows it that he somehow freed all the people who were hurt by those fucking bastards, and then…

 A kind way to put it would be that Clint went on a rampage. By the end of it, none of the traffickers is left alive, and he doesn’t feel a smidge of guilt about it.

 After the fact, as much as he wants to say that they deserve it, Clint is terrified that this OP broke something in him. What if he crossed a line? What if there is no turning back?

 Another wave of bile raises up his throat and he spits and coughs until there is nothing left anymore.

 He is completely out of it, and he doesn’t even realize that the bathroom door is opening. It is only when Phil is next to him, rubbing small circles into his back that he catches on to the fact that he’s got company. It doesn’t stop him from shaking apart.

 “I killed 15 men today.” he chokes out, not even looking up. His gaze is blurry and cast downward.

 “I killed 15 men to protect the people they hurt. But I didn’t feel anything while I did it.” And this is the part that terrifies him most.

 Clint doesn’t regret what he did, but he is afraid of his own reaction - or lack thereof - in the situation itself.

 Adrenaline is one hell of a drug, he knows this. Clint is no stranger to getting things done and dealing with the feelings and the aftermath later, but this mission was an extreme situation, and frankly, he is way too shaken up now to think clearly.

 Breathing is incredibly hard, and moments later, Clint finds himself falling apart.

     ‘That’s a new low. Sobbing into a toilet bowl while being drenched in unspeakable things after a complete clusterfuck of an OP’     the mean voice in his head is sneering at him, but even now, Phil doesn’t leave his side. He keeps touching Clint, gentle and in an attempt to comfort, but he remains silent. That’s okay though. What do you even say after a day like this? It’s not like either of them knows a certain answer.

 It comes to no surprise that Clint is on mandatory leave after this, and that’s how it is until the shrinks and Director Fury say otherwise.

       4)

 Phil has blood on his hands.

 Not physically, at least not anymore - he is freshly showered and is wearing standard issue clothes while he is waiting next to the hospital bed for Clint to wake up.

 Just a few hours before, he’d been soaked in blood that wasn’t his own, desperately holding onto the man currently unconscious, hoping he’d survive long enough for help to arrive.

 There had been some time in between - well. Phil is fast.

 Right now, he is trying to keep his breathing carefully even, staring downwards and in front of him. He is carefully holding Clint’s pale and limp hand in his - there are scrapes and bruises, both from his time in the hellhole and from the IV line. Without even realizing it, his thumb is slowly stroking the cold palm of the other man’s hand.

 Phil would be lying if he claimed that he wasn’t - isn’t - utterly terrified of losing Clint. The two of them have known each other for many years, have worked together for almost as long. They know each other, care about one another, certainly more than is strictly professional. And maybe - just maybe… Phil doesn’t dare get his hopes up.

 Truth be told, right now he only wishes for Clint to wake up again, anything else can wait.

 Phil has had a lot of time to think, in the past few years in general, what with them being what they are. Then, he found his asset and best friend missing, which led him to tear the country apart to find him again. And he did, weeks after his disappearance.

 He finds Clint in an empty warehouse, tied to the ceiling in nothing but stained, ripped underwear. He had been unconscious at the time, pale and way too skinny, beaten bloody and with limbs that look twisted and broken.

 Thankfully, Clint is safe now, and it looks like he is slowly waking up. At first, he starts stirring, eyes still closed but twitching. His hand in Phil’s is twitching weakly and the beeping of his heart monitor speeds up, but all of this tells Phil that he is alive - Clint being alive is all he wants right now. Softly, he squeezes his hand again and then says,

 “Clint, you’re safe. Please wake up.”

 His hand is twitching again, but this time, his eyes are fluttering open. Clint’s breath is shallow and erratic as he is blinking against the dimmed lights in the room. He is panicking, which sadly doesn’t surprise Phil. He knows that waking up in a panic happens to Clint more often than not, even when he isn’t coming back to himself in a hospital bed after a no doubt horrifying experience.

 It is in the middle of the night, not that Clint would have any sense of time right now.

 Carefully, Phil squeezes his hand and tells Clint again that he is safe, repeating himself over and over until his wandering gaze stops and his heartbeat is slowing down a bit. His eyes settle on Phil, and Clint smiles weakly at him. Even though his face is a swollen, black and blue mess, the relief is obvious.

 “Hi.”

 Even with this short word, Clint’s voice is breaking and almost non-existent. Talking hurts - he gratefully accepts the straw from the waterglass that Phil is offering him.

 “Hey. Try not to talk, okay? You’re safe and I’ll be right here. You’ll be okay.” he promises, and it seems to ease a little bit of tension in Clint. He nods, indicating that he understood, but he is way too exhausted for anything else. He drifts back to sleep, holding the other man’s hand as tightly as he can manage in his sorry state. Phil squeezes back, and brushes a bit of hair away from his forehead with soft fingers. Clint is almost entirely asleep, but he still leans into the touch.

 It’s when he can manage to stay awake for longer than 5 minutes that they talk a little bit. Clint listens to his list of injuries and scheduled surgeries with an almost stony face, but Phil knows him well enough to be able to tell that he is scared.  Scared of losing his ability to shoot, losing his ability to be “useful” and therefore, losing everything he’s worked and fought hard for in the last decade.

 Even after so many years, Clint still seems to think so little of himself. It makes Phil want to go back in time and murder a few people.

 “What about - them?” Clint asks one night, and it is clear that he wanted to ask this for a while.

 “I took care of it - they won’t hurt you again. Or anyone else, for that matter.” Phil tells him, and it is the truth. It was messy, no doubt - but he would do it again. For Clint, he would do anything.

 “...Did you-?”

 “Yes.”

 Mutely, Clint nods. He doesn’t ask any more questions, mainly because he trusts Phil and doesn’t need any details, but also because he isn’t sure if there even is a proper response for this. Instead, he leans close against Phil, who wraps an protective arm around him while Clint is falling asleep once again.

       +1)

 “I was scared it would be too late.” Phil tells Clint quietly, and shifts a little closer to him.

 They’re still in the small room in SHIELD medical, and although Clint is getting better, they still don’t want him to leave yet. He gets more and more frustrated and even more cranky every single day, and Phil is trying his best to be there as much as possible. He knows why Clint hates medical, and he can hardly blame him for it. Too many bad   past experiences.

 “Me, too.” Clint confesses, and sighs unhappily. He’ll have a lot to work through, but for now, he mainly wants to get out of here.

 “While I was there… I kept thinking, I never even told you that - uhm. That I love you. Because I love you, Phil. I love you a lot.”

 Phil is speechless, but he smiles at Clint, surprised but utterly happy to hear this. It makes his heart beat so fast, he is glad that he isn’t the one currently hooked up to machines. They would go crazy, no doubt.

 “I didn’t want to die before you know that.” Clint continues, and Phil tightens the hug around him - he’d started to lay down next to Clint while he is stuck in the hospital, offering warmth and comfort, and it very much looks like he made the right call. Clint leans into him while Phil tries to find the right words.

 “I don’t want you to die at all. Because I love you, too - so much.”

 He can feel Clint smile against him before he hugs back just as tightly as Phil hugs him right now. He wishes he could touch him, hold onto him properly, but his arms are still in casts and bandages, so he’ll have to wait for a little while longer. But Phil is here, with him, and that is all he really needs right now.

 “Our timing is fucking awful, you do realize that, right?”

 The statement is so very Clint, not just because of it’s incredibly dry delivery, and it actually startles a laugh out of Phil.

 “Well, yes, that’s one way of putting it. Better now than later, though… I’ve wanted to tell you for ages, but…” he doesn’t finish the sentence, but he doesn’t have to. Instead, he leans forward, fully intending to cuddle closer to Clint, but the archer goes for a kiss instead. His lips are dry and chapped, but he is warm and alive in Phil’s arms, and that is all that counts.

 The kiss surprises Phil a bit, but it’s certainly not unwelcome. He kisses back, slow and gentle, letting Clint decide how much he wants right now, not just because he is afraid of accidentally hurting him. He would have let him take the initiative in any other case, too, and there are plenty of reasons for it.

 “Fuck, I really want to get out of here.” Clint says later, and Phil presses a small kiss against his temple while he makes himself comfortable against his shoulder.

 “I know - soon.”

 Clint leans into the touch and hums happily when Phil scratches his scalp with blunt nails.

 “Until then, I’m not going anywhere. Promise.”

+~

19 - Confession

Warnings: - hints at Clint's shitty upbringing - implied/references child abuse - blood and violence - talk about death and killing - mental health issues - vomiting - human trafficking (not graphic but still upsetting) - hospitals

[thyandrawrites]

What do you think a Villain!Eri would be like? Would she follow in Chisaki's footsteps with the plague doctor yakuza aesthetic? Or would she play up the demon image with her horn and be a Shigaraki-type Symbol of Fear? Or maybe the most sinister of all... Apple Thief Eri?

Apple thief Eri pfffffff

Ok, on a more serious note... I think that if Eri hadn’t gotten saved, there were really good chances of her growing to be a lot similar to Shigaraki; with a couple of exceptions. 

[cut for graphic description of abusive techniques]

See, both Afo and Chisaki used gaslighting to keep their victims docile and to prevent them from wanting to escape their clutches. Afo kept reminding Tenko of his trauma, insisting that he must’ve wanted the massacre, and that he was made for destruction; similarly, Chisaki kept reminding Eri of the time her quirk activated on her dad, insisting that she was cursed, and that everyone involved with her would die. 

We’ve seen how this repeated psychological abuse impacted Tenko’s psyche, and how he slowly began to believe the twisted version of reality Afo fed him. The more time he spent with Afo, the more he embraced that twisted narrative, to the point that he had to get physically separated from Afo in order to properly develop on his own, and grow as a person. 

We’ve seen the beginning of this with Eri as well. After getting hit by the bullet, Mirio had managed to get her out, and was leading her to safety. But then Chisaki manipulated her into coming back. It worked because by that point, Eri was fully conditioned to do as she was ordered. Chisaki was the one doing all the killing, but he still pushed the blame onto Eri. If she didn’t come back to him and Deku died, it would be her fault because she “forced his hand”. Because he made her believe that her existence is cursed. 

Now, the notable difference between Eri and Shigi is that Afo was a lot smarter with his gaslighting. Afo wanted something back from Tenko, not merely to use Tenko as an object like Chisaki did with Eri. So Afo used the carrot and the stick method. He offered Tenko shelter and stability, and then he gifted him the severed hands of his family. He hugged him and told him everything would be alright, and then he told him that he must keep the trauma fresh every day and keep suffering without moving on. It’s an emotional whiplash that made Tenko develop an unhealthy dependency onto Afo and at the same time made him embrace his role as a symbol of fear. 

Chisaki, though... Chisaki wasn’t as smart. He could’ve never done the same with Eri because he projected onto her. What he hated in her, was the same thing he saw in himself. His disgust towards quirks and his germaphobia only surfaced when Eri came into the picture, because of the similarities between them and his own unprocessed feelings of inadequacy that he harbored since he was a kid. So he made Eri a scapegoat, because he was unable to process his own feelings like an adult. His manipulation was purely functional. He just needed Eri to stay docile and not oppose his agenda. He didn’t want her to create trouble for him, and only saw her as a means to an end. He didn’t care how she fared mentally. In fact, he didn’t even see her as a person, as his boss also pointed out. 

All of this ramble to say: it’s hard to predict the long-lasting effects of abuse and manipulation... but somehow I doubt that Eri would end up embracing fully the narrative Chisaki created for her the same way Shigaraki did. Eventually, she’d stop trying to run away. She would probably grow as disillusioned as Shig because the heroes never saved her. Chisaki’s manipulation would work in that she’d start to believe that her existence is cursed, and that there is no other place to belong for her. She’d probably also start to see herself as an object, a means to an end. I don’t know if she’d embrace the same hatred for quirks and quirk society as Chisaki, though. Maybe she would, but maybe she’d just accept that she’s a cog in the Hassaikai machine, and never envision any possible other future for herself

wow, this got a hell of a lot more bleak than I meant it to be. It’s a good thing she got saved when she did! 

[raeynbowboi]

My Two Cents on Female Characters in Animated Television Shows

Recently, while discussing my disappointment with the lack of development for the girls in My Hero Academia, I received a rather pointed response that accused me of not caring about female characters at all. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as often girl characters are usually some of my favorites in most shows, but where I think this person got confused is that they mistook my criticisms for contempt. You can criticize something without disliking it. Although I laughed and rolled my eyes at the accusation being the staunch feminist that I am, I figured it was a worthwhile topic to discuss: the portrayal and characterization of female characters in media. Particularly, animated television products.

Even though I wasn’t alive at the time, let’s rewind the clock back to the 1980s. During this decade, most animated television series were more focused on selling toys to go with the product than telling a good story, and this was also the time when gendered products exploded. Boys watched He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers. Girls watched My Little Pony, the Care Bears, and Jem and the Holograms. The biggest shows usually had a gender division, though there were some shows that catered to children as a whole. What we usually got out of the boy shows is a cast almost exclusively male with maybe one or two female characters, such as with the 80s Voltron series were Allura was the only female character on the side of good. Likewise with girl oriented shows, most of the cast was girls with only a small handful of boys, though the Care Bears was an outlier due to having a rather fine mix of the two. During this era, if a girl was on the team, she usually didn’t do much. She was the damsel to be saved or the love interest to be smooth talked. She rarely had much more personality than “is a girl”. They were just kind of cookie cutter stereotypes who existed to be saved and supported by the real heroes. Some shows however did focus on strong warrior women such as She-Ra and Spider-woman. However, both of these were female spin-offs of boy shows and were again gendered products aimed only at female viewers.

The 1990s saw the emergence of shows with female leads that weren’t necessarily aimed exclusively at girls, but more often than not, it was more of a case of shows aimed at girls that just happened to attract a male audience. This happened with shows like The Powerpuff Girls or Daria, with Daria being a spin-off of Beavis and Butthead created to give MTV a female icon to draw viewership, as well as serving as a feminist icon and a voice of the disaffected nihilism of 90s teens. Shows aimed at a broader audience like Recess, The Magic School Bus, and Captain Planet started a trend of including more female characters, but it was still very common for the ratio to be tipped in favor of male characters. And this trope still remains at large to this day. This ratio is usually about 3:2 or 2:1 in a smaller group. Unless it’s aimed at girls or designed specifically to appeal to both genders, most products have more boy than girl characters.

Now with the 2000s, this is when my earliest childhood memories come back to me, and it’s the girls from this era of media that turned me into a feminist. I grew up on shows like Teen Titans, Avatar the Last Airbender, Kim Possible, and Totally Spies. This is when I would argue girl characters were really starting to really leap out and become actual people, though there were shades of this in the 90s as well. They were far more deep and complex than girl characters were in earlier media. Katara was still a maternal figure and a healer, but she had pride, a temper, and could be bossy. Starfire was a beautiful alien princess, but she was a warrior princess who was just as good in a fight if not better than her male teammates. Kim Possible was a super popular cheerleader, but she was also an honor roll student and a kick ass secret agent who retained her humbleness about it most of the time. While Clover was totally boy-crazy and fashion obsessed, she was balanced out by the academic Sam and the sporty Alex, and all three spies had episodes where they were the one saving the day and figuring out the problem. Fortunately, the 2010s have continued this trend of fleshed-out female characters, as shows have allowed female characters to exceed the normal parameters or expectations of their genders to treat them more like people, such as Flame Princess in Adventure Time donning very traditionally masculine clothing when she raps, both of which are not stereotypically feminine.

However, where Western Animation has progressed greatly, Shonen Anime has fallen majorly by the wayside. A common criticism of Naruto is that Sakura spent most of the time standing around doing nothing, and this sadly applies to all of the women. Kurenai is a Jonin level ninja, but she’s only ever shown in a single fight against Itachi and Kisame where she uses exactly one technique, and it’s used to show off how strong and cool Itachi is because he could counter her illusions with his own. Hinata is driven to become stronger due to being inspired by Naruto, but barely gets any screen time or skill improvement, and her only notable fight in part II is against Pain where it was a vehicle for her confessing her feelings for Naruto, and then triggering Naruto’s 6 tailed form so that Naruto could win the fight. Heck, Ino was standing ten feet away from the wanted terrorists that killed her teacher and she did nothing the entire fight. It’s not like she had mind control powers that would have been useful or anything. Sure the arc was for Shikamaru’s character growth, but even Choji did something and Choji sucks. And Tenten... Well she doesn’t matter. You could literally replace her with a lamp and nobody would be able to tell the difference. She’s just there because every squad must have a girl character.

So, now it’s time for the big feelings ouchie word: Strong Female Character. When people hear this they assume it means a character like Calhoun in Wreck-It Ralph, that tough as nails no bs cranky type of female who don’t need no man and yes, Calhoun is a Strong Female Character. And so is Katara. And Sadie Miller in Steven Universe. And Quinn Morgendorfer from Daria. Being a Strong Female Character isn’t about being tough or being a walking tank. Strong Female Characters simply have strong characterization. They’re well-constructed. Katara lost her mother when she was young and she had to take on her mother’s responsibilities, causing her to become very mature at a young age and to feel like anyone in need of help should get it because that’s her ‘job’ in a sense. Taking care of others is what she’s done since she lost her mother, it’s become her identity, and she could never reject that self-appointed duty without losing who she is as a person. Raven from Teen Titans pushes people away because she’s destined to destroy the world, and she hates herself for what she was created to do. She views herself as a living curse, and she doesn’t want to let people get close to her because it’ll hurt that much more when she has to fulfill her destiny and hurt the people that she cares about. Sadie Miller has only ever poofed one corrupted gem, but there’s a clear personality at play. She has low self-esteem and puts up with people telling her what to do because she’s a pleaser. She likes to make other people happy. Quinn is as classic girly girl as you can get. She’s shallow, vain, and bows to peer pressure. However, she voices that she doesn’t always like having to be like this, but that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have anything in common with her friends. She’d rather be a shell of her real self surrounded by friends than her true self and alone. As Daria points out, Quinn wears superficiality like a suit of armor because she’s afraid of looking inside and finding nothing. But in later seasons, she begins to embrace the things that make her stand out by becoming more openly invested in her studies regardless of what it makes people think of her, and honestly, nobody really cares. A Strong Female Character doesn’t have to lead an army to be strong, she just has to be a fully defined person. So, now let’s bring the discussion full circle back to My Hero Academia. Earlier I mentioned the standard 3:2 ratio for larger groups. That is to say, if there’s an odd number of main characters, expect one extra boy for every boy-girl set. Too bad in My Hero Academia, it’s a 2:1 ratio of 14 boys and 6 girls. That’s 30% of the class size. They barely make up 1/4 of the class. And of those six maybe three of them have strong personalities. Tsuyu Asui, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Mina Ashido all have very distinct personalities, stand out in the class, and and have been given noteworthy character traits. Tsu tends to favor logic over emotion but doesn’t always like that this is her go-to response because she’s afraid people will think she’s heartless. Momo has high expectations for herself, and had a whole arc dedicated to her disappointment from the tournament arc. And Mina has a clearly defined personality, flaws, and tends to speak the most of the girls in the class. While Jiro’s not necessarily flat, we know less about her than the other girls. Uraraka’s character is so fixated on being the cute love interest that she doesn’t have any other personality traits. And Hakagure’s only real gimmick is that she’s invisible, but other than that is just a stereotypical girl. There’s nothing wrong with a female character not being a central figure in the narrative. What is wrong is when female characters are left to being window dressing. Jiro’s parents are both musicians and Jiro seems to like music too so why is she trying to be a hero? We know next to nothing about Hagakure. Sure, there are boy characters we don’t know very well either. Shoji, Koda, Sato, and Aoyama are still largely underdeveloped. But see, it’s problematic not only because the ratio is so heavily slanted, but because the girls that need character development don’t get much screen time. Uraraka has used the disarming training she got from her internship a few times, but that’s not a personality or a character development. And what happened when she went to the Yakuza secret hideout? She got left outside with the rest of the girls while most of the plot happened inside with the boys. Heck, Nejire who is part of the Big Three, we saw the backstories and training for both Mirio and Tamaki, but Nejire was just sort of ... present. She wasn’t given a character. Now, does that mean that I hate the girls in My Hero Academia? Of course not! Tsu is one of my favorite characters, and I like Jiro. She’s cool. But that doesn’t mean that I’m happy with the level of development and focus they’ve gotten. They’re characters too and they should be allowed to be more fleshed out in the story.