#naruto was already his first kiss anyways

[gaybitchfx]

Could I ask for an adult Sasuke x Naruto's twin brother? Like while Naruto has his dad's looks but his mom's personality, his twin brother has their mom's look and their dad's personality?

Welcome back to tumblr writing! I missed your writing - 🩶 (I'm so sorry if this anon is taken. It's my first time using an anon 😅)

✰𝓤. 𝓢𝓐𝓢𝓤𝓚𝓔✰

dios sabe que tienes que cambiar, cariño —★

oye como va mi ritmo bueno pa’ gosar mulata

★—oye como va mi ritmo bueno pa’ gosar mulata

got a black magic woman got a black magic woman —type o negative

𝓣𝓦: none!

SOMETIMES it was hard to tell how you and naruto were related besides in semi looks. you were more like your father, humble and collective as well as kind. and naruto was just..well, he was naruto. compared to naruto, sasuke didn’t mind how you clung to him whenever you had the chance but of course sakura hated it but oh well, she couldn’t do much but sulk in some corner.

AS the two of you grew up, sasuke had gradually grown an attraction to you but it wasn’t too obvious of course so you never entirely knew though he was pretty protective over you and would always insist on going places with you just to make sure you were safe. this allowed kakashi to already get a little hint he liked you, but he wanted you to figure it out on your own rather than someone telling you. it would be all the more romantic anyways.

AND so here the two of you were, both grown adults and living out their own lives. sasuke’s crush for you hadn’t wilted not once in those years and today was the day he was going to confess to you in hopes you would reciprocate his fillings. “hello.” sasuke said with a small smile as he took a seat next to you causing you to smile, your usual bright smile. “hey sasuke, how’re you? how was that mission kakashi sent you on?” you asked as you rested your elbow against the table you sat at allowing your cheek to rest on the palm of your hand. “it was alright, not much happened but i’ve been thinking for some time now..” mumbled sasuke as he didn’t break eye contact with you.

YOUR beautiful gray eyes were always so calming to him after all you did inherit it from your mother as well as your red hair. “and what have you been thinking about?” you asked him with a raised brow, ever so curious as to what has been on your friends mind for the longest now. “not much, just thinking about how we’ve been throughout all these years. and how i’ve liked you a lot for said years, more than a ‘friend’ really should.” he hummed softly causing your eyes to widen and cheeks to flush rather quickly as you blinked a couple times. “..really?” you asked him, your voice softer now as your heart beater in your chest like a drum, its pounding sound loud in your ears. sasuke nodded his head a little as he looked off to the side a bit, his pale cheeks flushed a tad bit though it was noticeable. “i want to spend to rest of my life with you only if you’re alri—” “YES YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES!” you practically screamed out and hugged sasuke ever so tightly, probably squeezing the daylight out of him in the process.

SASUKE let out a breathy chuckle as he hugged you back, liking the warmth your body brought and hearing how happy you sounded. “i’m glad you like me just as much as i like you.” you sighed out and placed a small kiss to the other man’s cheek causing his cheeks to flush a lot more than before. “i can’t wait to spend my life with you, my god, i need to go tell naruto and kakashi! those two were betting if you liked me or not.” you exclaimed and quickly sat up before placing another kiss to sasuke’s cheek and quickly left leaving him in cloud 9.

[earthtodora]

btw the idea of the epilogue giving ozawa screentime doesn't piss me off because i'm a delusional itafushi shipper who convinced herself that it was gonna be canon (it's shonen jump, of course they're not gonna make two guys kiss), but because it feels cheap, unearned, and out of place.

first of all, gege didn't even want to include that chapter in the manga. it was his editor who convinced him that there was need for a slice-of-life chapter, and something that will make yuuji's character even more lovable and show his kindness and humanity. the chapter did exactly that. it showed that even though yuuji's type is a tall girl with a big butt, when he's forced to pick (forced, because at first he says he doesn't like anyone, so it's not like he was harboring a secret crush on ozawa) he picks ozawa because he notices certain qualities in her that others don't, and that's what matters in the end. yuuji's type doesn't mean he's superficial and doesn't value personality.

second of all, the fact that gege didn't force romance on his characters is part of what makes jujutsu kaisen great. i think yuuji's arc is very compelling without any romantic subplots. it doesn't take anything away from his story if he doesn't have a love interest. it makes his journey feel much more genuine and relatable, and also shows that romance doesn't have to be part of everyone's story to be considered a complete one. if it had been built up and hinted at during the series, i'd have no problem with it, but to give him a love interest after the story is already over, and a completely random one at that, is a disservice to his arc. it doesn't feel earned. it just feels like "oh, i forgot to add romance so let's stick a girl in here and make her confess to the main character."

third, the only explanation i have for ozawa being added as an epilogue character is that it's supposed to be fanservice. like, it's common in shonen manga for the mangaka to address or confirm the romantic interest of characters in an epilogue or at the very end. we saw this recently with mha, we saw it happen with naruto, and now it might happen in jujutsu kaisen. the difference is, in jjk, there wasn't any sort of set-up apart from a long forgotten chapter about the female character liking yuuji. now, if it's fanservice, i'm thinking, how about considering the fans? cause, the most popular ship for yuuji isn't itazawa, i can tell you that. if you're gonna throw the fans a bone, give them the bone they want.

anyway. i know it's silly to rant about the epilogue before we even know what's in it. but, realistically, what other purpose could ozawa have in the epilogue besides the one above?

so yes, i am worried about the epilogue, but i'll keep my expectations low and hope for the best.

[patchofgrey]

Nejiten Family Head cannons

Read the material: Nejiten headcannons | Tenten head cannons | Neji head cannons

Here we go:

As parents:

1. Neji and Tenten were the first to get married. I’m going based off of the “promise” Neji made Tenten during the war. He probably promised to always be by her side, and probably insisted they get married. Hiashi was aware of Neji’s intentions, and since he was already familiar with Tenten, he gave Neji his blessing even if the elders did not.

2. Tenten was apprehensive about having children. Childbirth scared her, and she didn’t want her children to be branded with the curse seal. Luckily, by the time Naruto and Hinata were married and established, the act of using the curse seal was disbanded, and she did not have to worry about her children.

3. Neji and Tenten were the first of their group to have children; twins boys. In some divine act to mirror the situation of Hiashi and Hizashi, Tenten popped out twin boys; The eldest twin was named Nozomi and the younger twin was named after Neji’s father, Hizashi. Because Tenten does have some interest in spirituality, she wanted to honor the possibility that Hizashi’s soul could be within her child and give him a “chance at a new life of freedom”. Neji was a bit shocked at her decision, however touched that she would think of him in such a way.

4. Three years after the twins were born, Tenten gave birth to a girl, the same year as Metal Lee and the gang. With the twins already toddlers, Neji wanted as many kids as possible with Tenten. Tenten, convinced him to stop after their daughter; fully closing the factory and insisting that three was more than enough. Neji named her Meiten, after Tenten. He wanted her to share some commonality with Tenten and thought that Meiten had a nice ring to it when he called both of their names out loud.

5. All three children have the Byakugan. In my Hyuga head cannons, the Byakugan is a dominate gene with the BB coding. With Neji and Tenten’s genetics, all three children have the Bb genetic coding due to Tenten obviously not being a Hyuga with the Byakugan.

6. Neji is a girl dad. He loves his sons, and yet there’s something about his little girl that he’s just attached to. He tends to struggle with keeping himself in check in terms of smothering her with affection. The same struggle that he has to keep in self in check around Tenten to some degree. He could come off cold to his children at times, especially Meiten, but he is trying to not spoil his children, his daughter primarily.

7. Tenten insisted on training all children weaponry. Even if only one child inherited her perfect aim (Nozomi did in fact show talent for it), she wanted her children to be well rounded and not just focus on the Gentle Fist style of fighting. In fact, she focused on one weapon specialty per child; Nozomi with twin swords, Hizashi with a staff, and Meiten with Nunchucks.

8. Neji refused to go on missions while Tenten was pregnant and the kids were at least one years old. It was explained that one of Neji’s love languages are Acts of Service. He felt the need to stay by Tenten’s side and assist her in anyway possible; he would handle the kids while she got rest, take them to appointments, set up the nursery with the help of Lee and Hinata. Gai would give him props for completely devoting himself to Tenten in this way; very much so that Neji would get embarrassed by the constant praise.

9. Tenten was the proctor for her twin boy’s second round of the chunnin exams. It was quite the spectacle for her to watch her sons show off their genius to the crowd.

10. Neji and Tenten show subtle affection while around the kids. Because Neji is awkward himself when it comes to it, the most they do is hold each other and Neji will lightly kiss Tenten if they are around the children. Tenten will still hang on her husband, however will keep her hands respectably where they can be seen *wink wink*.

11. Neji and Tenten are very open and honest with their children. They encourage curiosity and critical thinking. They want their kids to be comfortable enough to approach them, while coming to conclusions based in their own problem solving skills. Neji encourages them to hang around Shikadai, who inherited Shikamaru’s high IQ.

12. Neji and Tenten instilled the “stronger than yesterday” mindset onto their kids. In an attempt at encouragement as well as motivation, Team Gai’s ideals were passed on between Nozomi, Hizashi, Meiten, and Metal Lee.

13. Lee has attempted to keep the green spandex tradition going. You can check out the mini comic page here to see how that turned out. Neji and Tenten kept the green spandex suits hidden from the kids; that hideous thing needed to be burned tbh…

14. Neji tries to be there for Boruto when Naruto is busy. He does try to make Boruto understand that his father is in a very important position and tried to support him as much as he can. Hinata appreciates Neji’s efforts, though Boruto is stubborn, just like his father. Neji doesn’t take any offense when Boruto calls him out for acting as if he was his dad, though the kid also acknowledged that Neji was in fact more present than his own dad and immediately felt like crap for snapping on his Uncle.

For the kids;

1. The twins caused some controversy within the clan. They were the first branch members to not be branded by the main branch. There were times that Neji had to put some of his relatives in their place while protecting his boys. The curse mark can only be removed through death as stated in cannon, it’s safe to say Hiashi had to control his nephew’s threats to his relatives if they even looked at his kids the wrong way.

2. The twins showed more aspects of Tenten’s outward appearance and personality than Neji’s. Nozomi and Hizashi are bubbly, outspoken, and clever in a mischievous way. However, they do share Neji’s ability to remain calm in certain situations and have inherited his determination. They also inherited Neji’s intimidation vibes and high patience levels.

3. Nozomi and Hizashi find their Uncle Lee to be quite the drama king. Much like their parents, Uncle Lee can be a lot sometimes, and the twins try to keep a straight face around him. It’s not that they don’t find him amusing or wise, it’s just that he tends to let the tears of youth flow a little bit too freely.

4. The twins are protective of their little sister. Metal Lee gets a pass for being friendly with Meiten because that is their Uncle Lee’s son. Meiten and Metal practically grew up together. Everyone else though, the twins can be quite intimidating depending on what’s going on.

5. Meiten inherited Neji’s calm persona and yet she can be quite the hot-head if pushed. When around Metal and Uncle Lee and Uncle Gai, Meiten will be the opposite of their energy in order to maintain some sanity. She has also picked up on Neji’s mannerisms such as pursing her lips together when annoyed, rolling her eyes, and over all having some kind of opinion that tends to be the opposing opinion.

6.Meiten finds her cousin Boruto to be a bit of a brat, but she does understand why. She knows that Uncle Naruto is always busy with being Hokage, and Boruto had even called Meiten “lucky” that her father was always around for her.

7. Nozomi and Hizashi are on separate teams. Nozomi’s sensei is Rock Lee, who gladly took the responsibility of training one or both of the Hyuga twins. Hizashi’s sensei is Kiba Inuzuka. Kiba was surprised to have Hizashi grouped with him, however Neji supported the decision on separating the twins. Tenten also wanted the twins to make their own friends, and be independent of each other.

8. Nozomi and Hizashi faced off during the chunnin exams while Tenten was their proctor. Oh boy, oh boy! Tenten could barely contain herself as she watched her boys fight to become chunnin. It ended in a draw with both boys fighting until they were completely drained of chakra. Neji and Tenten were pleased with the draw, both becoming chunnin anyway due to their skills.

9. Meiten didn’t get past the preliminary round of the chunnin exam fights. She was clocked by a foreign gennin. She was very upset with herself and refused to look her parents in the face after wards. Tenten had to tell her own experience of the first time taking the her and Neji took the chunnin exams; Tenten was also clapped by a foreign ninja, and Neji was beat by Meiten’s Uncle Naruto.

10. All three children are considered heirs to the Hua family business even with the last name Hyuga. Lady Chao-Xing Hua was very pleased that Tenten married into the Hyuga family, she hopes that one day, one of them will take over the family business. Tenten refused to take over, however her brother Shinten decided to and made Konoha a second head quarters for the business. Tenten does help from time to time, however she does not fully get involved.

If you want to see some of the kids designings, I got them for you right hereeee: Full Nejiten Kids designs

[hachimitsu-rofu]

Title: Random HCs Pairing: 「 Shikamaru x GN.Reader  」||「 Choji x GN.Reader 」 「 Shino x GN.Reader  」||「 Naruto x GN.Reader 」 「 Kankuro x GN.Reader 」||「 Kiba x GN.Reader 」 Plot: Some random relationship headcanons, reader is gender neutral as possible Warnings: N/A | Please notify if needed in ask format ’’’  ’’’  ’’’ Word Count: 3,087 Read Time: 11 minutes, 14 seconds ’’’  ’’’  ’’’ Author’s Note: Well I haven’t written anything in a hot moment, but here’s some headcanons I’ve had in my drafts for a while. If something needs to be tagged let me know! Anyways, please enjoy!

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「                                    Misc. HC’s                                   」

Nara, Shikamaru

☀ It’s already known he would be the best nap buddy. But you know what’s even better? Is he willingly, and I mean willingly! Stays up for you when you need him or want him to. (Although he’d much rather wrap himself in a blanket with you and call it a day.) But yeah. That five hour long play you want to go to? He’s up and paying attention the WHOLE damn time. Maybe complains a little, but he’s up! You need a study buddy? Well yeah- duh, he’s gonna help you with it. Though he will probably request a kiss here and there as payment though. Sparring partner? Also yes. Although he’ll try to end the session faster just so he can reap the reward of cuddling sooner.

☀ He is faithful but uh- he still does quite a bit of rubbernecking out in those streets. Man has eyes and he will be looking. Won’t touch the displays. So that is something if you’re wondering. He doesn’t feel very bad about it either because he doesn’t think much of it- and why should he if that’s all he’s doing. It’s not like he’s his old man who was actively partaking in his window shopping.

☀ When he first introduces you to his parents his mom is excited. Finally someone other than the Nara men she had be dealing with for so long! Not that she doesn’t love them that is. But when he sees how you and her interact he knows he made a good choice in calling you his.  Which just inflates his already giant ego more.

☀ He doesn’t talk about it, nor does his own father, but he does have a mild form of depression. It sneaks up on him and he doesn’t ever know what to do with it or himself. In fact it makes him more down trotted since he knows how to handle or do so much else. What he does know is that when he’s in this slump and you are beside him. He will have his face in your chest (even if you don’t have much), a hand interlocking fingers with you, and a quiet breath. In short you are a peace for him during the storm. Allowing him a momentary retrieve.

"Tsk.” Shikamaru was ready for the session to be over with already. He wanted to curl up into a ball with you in bed. Yet here he was, bent over the kotatsu table with you, helping you study for this irritating exam. He knew you didn’t really need his help even though you insisted on it. Glancing up with his charcoal black eyes, Shikamaru looked at you and sighed. He didn’t want to admit it, he liked that you wanted him around so bad- made him feel needed even if it was for something so benign. That small smile creeping up on his face that he didn’t even notice until he could feel the dimples form against his cheek. 

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Akimichi, Choji

☀ He would ditch spending time with Shikamaru to hang out with you if he could. Like he likes his best friend, but you? Opfh, he loves the fact you indulge in him for all that he is and could be. 

☀ Yeah sure he loves to eat and cook with you-- but do you know what else he likes to do with you? Video Games, man has bought so many co-op games just to play them with you! When you two are both able to you’ll usually end up having at least one date night that consists of all game playing! Mixed with popcorn and sodas and also a dedicated wind down movie session for when the games get too heated or you guys get burnt out. Either way you usually end it at that.

☀ He likes working with his hands. Likes being able to mess with things physically. That’s why when he finds out there’s a pottery class he takes it up and makes you some cups, plates, and little knickknacks. If you have a favorite animal he’s making it, favorite color(s) will be used as paints, like plants? Babe guess what you got a new pot! Cooking? Man be building you plates and what not.

Let him show you he loves you with whatever he can build.

☀ Please let this man do your hair. Please, oh PLEASE, let him do your hair, (If you have any that is.) You won’t be disappointed at all with the magic he can weave. Man can do all kinds of braids and styles like it’s second nature! It kind of goes along with the whole- working with his hands thing.        If you got curls (Such as 4C hair for example of this) he will give you some of the best hair care he can. When it’s time to wash out those curls, man is right there either to keep you company or to do the washing for you. He’ll wash them, dry them, and even willingly stand around for those long hours putting them into box braids. He’s committed to doing them right and does still try to be nice about it.       If you often wear scarves/hijabs he’s going to try and learn how to knot and tie them into some faux hairstyles. He thinks he almost has a faux mohawk style down- but it’s still rather messy. But he does try!       If you sport facial hair. Man is also going to help your trim and care for that too! He’ll help you scrub your face, put in that beard oil, and brush out any knots you might have! Plus he’ll help braid them to boot!       If you don’t have hair then that’s also alright. Man will instead help you with your facial routines and scalp care. (If you shave it, he doesn’t get a single nick on your head that’ s how dedicated he is!) You’ll be delighted at the care he does with putting your lotion on your face. He will sneak a kiss in though.

☀ If it’s raining he’ll try to focus on putting the umbrella on you even if you insist that he keep it on him. He doesn’t care if he gets a cold from it, he just wants you to be covered.  Besides, if he gets sick maybe you’ll take care of him. ☀ If you want to give him a treat that isn’t food related then a back massage would do best for him. You’d be surprised by how tense his muscles can get.

"AH! Y/N! Guess what!” Choji announces as he practically bursts through the front door with a bright eyed smile. Holding a delicately wrapped boxed to his side, bow and all. Only to present it to you like a child on their birthday receiving a gift themselves. “Go on! Open it! Take a look!” Practically beside himself with joy as he watches you take it from him. As if seeing you happy made him happy.

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Aburame, Shino

☀ He takes his time with introducing his partner(s) to his friends and family. He wants to be secure in knowing that whoever he’s bringing around will actually stick around. So if you meet his father in a proper introduction at home with the dinner and everything. Just know, he is very serious about you and he would hope you feel the same way too.

☀ Will usually seek you out to have lunch with you when he’s able. He likes having his meals with you so you two can talk about the recent events of the day and unwind a little before getting back to it. Although if either of you are unable to, due to schedule conflicts or what not. He’ll ultimately send one of his insects to just hang around you- with your knowledge of course. 

He finds tracking his partner without their knowledge to be quite a disrespectful thing to do. You should trust your partner after all.

☀ He isn’t the type to argue even with his petty instincts kicking in. He’ll only actively argue with you if the stakes are high and even then he’ll try his best not to let it get to him. He loves you and wants to handle things like adults.

☀ He will suggest you two do a class of some sort together! Just to have more quality time together despite any busy schedules either of you may have. Personally he’ll point out a sewing, knitting, or possibly some jewelry making. Just because that’s something you two could easily do at home as well! Not only that, if you do decide to make jewelry together you could always gift each other something to wear. Something you can keep on you to always know the other is there for you even when your thousands of miles apart.

☀ While he isn’t much for PDA (Public displays of affection) he still tries to keep a hand on you. This usually is touching the small of your back or hooking his pinky with yours. It’s stealthy and easy to hide, something that could be brushed off.  This isn’t to say he’s embarrassed of you, he just get’s flustered easily when other’s point out his soft spot. Which is you.

Sitting under the umbrella covered garden table set, Shino fixed his usually closely held sunglasses onto his face. He was just enjoying the warmth of the spring sun on his, unusually, exposed skin. Allowing you to see the traces and trails of the small almost invisible scars of his body. It almost distracted you from noticing what was in his hands. A needle and thread, looping some beads together. The beads were in a colorful array with flowers and beetles. Looking up from his creation he caught your eyes. Smirking at you from the side of his closed lips. 

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Uzumaki Naruto

☀ As we know the boy is actually good about taking care of plants! One could even say it’s a hobby of his! But what they don’t know is how many he grows just to gift to his partner. Yes, yes he grows his own favorites too. But if he knows his partner has a particular favorite- well then he is going to be growing a few bundles of them in his small apart. Just so he can have a piece of them around when they’re not available and something to gift them later when they come by. Although your smile is far more than enough of a reward for him to take in return.

☀ He’s a board game man and no one can convince me otherwise. Y’all got a closet full of them and come every Thursday night when you are both at home in the village you two will play. Sometimes you invite friends, other times it’s just you and him. It doesn’t really matter what you play together! He’s just happy to be with you.

☀ Yes, when he was younger he wasn’t the best at keeping tidy. But as he’s gotten older he’s gotten much better about it. Especially when he found out that you had a particular scent you liked to smell. It might be a little pricey but he’s going to grab the candle or the fabric softener, whatever it is.  Though admittedly the first time he does this he might have gone overboard and nearly knocked himself out from the singular smell taking up the small, cramped space. After that he tried to keep it to one thing at a time. Changes it from item to item or space to space. 

☀ Out of the Konoha boys Naruto is the best dancer. He knows how to move his body in tune with a beat. Combo that with his talk no jutsu and one could say he is a smooth criminal on that dance floor.

”Oooiii!” Blonde hair on end as he straightened his back out, arms crossed behind his head pulling his grey tee-shirt above his midriff only to fall and hide that golden trail once more. He had been sitting there on the cold hard floor. Papers scattered all over the small table before him. “Can’t we go get Ichiraku now? My eyes are about to fall out from all this stupid paper work.” He groaned, only to perk up and lean into the hand that found it’s way into his hair. Maybe it wasn’t so bad if it meant some affection.

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Kankuro

☀ Please let this man do your makeup. (If you do wear any of course. If you don’t, he’ll probably ask you at some point to let him try and put some on you. For practice reasons of course.) PLEASE. He’ll be so delighted, and chaotic, when you finally let him attempt it. 

☀ He doesn’t look it but he is the type to find a copy of your favorite book and read it. In private of course. He doesn’t let you in on the fact that he now owns a copy, that he’s read every line that he could over and over again until he memorized it completely. 

You won’t know it until he’s slipped in a line you yourself know by heart. 

☀ Will puppy dog eye you with love when you’re not looking. He doesn’t even notice it. But he falls in love with you a bit more and more the longer you’re together. He’s the guy that will realize after YEARS of being with you that he loves you. That as time has passed as you two are holding hands as you walk through the market place it suddenly hits him how much you really do mean to him.

☀ While he’s not the marrying type his life and yours would be completely enwrapped in one another’s without the legality of it all. What is his is now yours. What is yours is his. You need not worry about his loyalty as he is all yours. Now if it’s that important to you he will propose and you’ll have the whole wedding and cake and what not. But just know. He doesn't want or need some silly paper to let you or others know he’s yours and you’re his. He just needs you in his home to share the good moments, the bad, and any others you’re willing to share.         But also take note, his puppet will be in the front row somewhere.

☀ He likes to kiss the back of your neck when you sleep. A soft smile on his lips as he enjoys the feeling of you stirring underneath his hands. Something about the quiet of the room and you in his arms makes him so at peace. He can honestly say in those moments that he must’ve done something good to deserve you.

Kankuro tossed the water that pooled in his hands up and onto his face. Clearing up the debris of now shaven facial hair off with the leftover shaving cream he had applied earlier. Once down he grabbed the maroon colored hand towel, patting his face dry and further wiping anything off to ensure a clean canvas for his toxic face paint. “Hey dork! Hun’! BABY!” He shouted across the apartment to garner their attention. His head peaking out from the bathroom door frame to see them do the same from the living room. A look of bemusement written all over as his lips spread wide into a grin. “Chicken butt.” He snorted as they rolled their eyes and went back to what they were doing.

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Inuzuka, Kiba

☀ When he brought you home to officially meet his mom and sister. The man, well boy to them, tried so damn hard to tell them not to embarrass him in front of you. Practically threatened them not to do or say anything because he didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of you. They both chuckled and agreed. But what did he do when he brought you in? Tripped up over his own two feet and actually fell face first into a wet kibble bowl. Man is his own circus. But ultimately he is your clown.

☀ He’s a little insecure at times so watch out when he does get jealous. Because it’s a flip flop from being wildly accusative to wholeheartedly distant. Although if he see’s someone trying to hit on you. He’ll rush up right behind you, wrap an arm around you, and make it known that you and him are a serious thing.  He knows it’s not attractive of him to do this. He’s gotten better about it the longer your relationship has gone on. It’s just that deep unsettling gut feeling he gets that maybe you’ll up and leave him without even a single note.  Once they’re gone he becomes somber but quickly tries to pull it off by acting like the hot-headed idiot you love. He just doesn’t want to lose you.

☀ If he was a dog breed he would be a German Shepard, fierce and loyal but one of the more dramatic breeds out of the K-9 family. 

☀ He and you will be getting matching necklaces. He needs it like the ring on your finger you’ll eventually be getting. Because, one might be shocked, he actually does want to settle down. Will he force you to have a wedding? Not at all, but he will be a bit heartbroken over it.  It’s a big celebration of you two being together and officially tying your families into one after all. So if marriage isn’t for you he will at least ask you to wear a necklace of the Inuzuka clan marking.

"But babe!” The Inuzuka whined as he gripped his partner’s middle close to his face. Rubbing his nose into their clothes, catching their scent as he inhaled deeply and let out a loud disrupting huff. “Tsk,” His tongue clicked to his roof with an aggravated toss of his head onto their lap. Loosening his hold on them with a dramatic flair as he slipped onto the ground next to Akamaru. Who was none too please with his partner’s antics. “I want to go with you, what if someone tries to hit on you and whose gonna make you laugh like I do?” Kiba was being ever the silly dramatic at their friend’s night out. Not meaning any of it in a toxic manner, but more so to make his love chuckle.

════════════════════════════════════════════

[sakuraspages]

Sasusaku snippet #4

[Homeschooled-suke]

"Naruto is traumatized because Hinata made him attend the labor and delivery class at the hospital. He said he's glad he'll never have to give birth to the tailed beast inside him."

Naruto has always had a tendency to overshare private information, but now that his wife is pregnant, Sasuke can't go a day without hearing about bodily functions he'd rather have ingored.

Sakura chuckles and holds her round belly.

"Oh no don't make me laugh, I'm gonna pee myself," she says quickly. Her own pregnancy is already quite far along and it's unclear who of Hinata or Sakura will give birth first.

There is a short silence between them. When Sasuke speaks again his voice is much quieter. "Are you disappointed that I don't do these things with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the pregnancy classes and all."

Sakura shrugs slightly. "I didn't expect it from you. We do things differently. It's fine."

Sasuke doesn't seem convinced. "Is it?"

"If it makes you feel better, I don't go to the classes anyway, I usually give them."

It is true that it would make little sense for him to attend a classe when Sakura already give him all the info directly.

"You're already a pro," he says with a smile.

Sakura nods. "Do you want me to teach you how babies are made?"

He eyes her baby bump. "Apparently we both already know that..."

Sakura raises her eyebrows and fakes a pout as she moves away from him. "Oh ok then."

He pulls her back and kisses her. "I'll retake the class."

[anime-fan-05]

Can I ask you for a mini first kiss scenario with Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Shikamaru, Gaara, Kakashi, Obito and Itachi? You can also divide it into several parts if that is more convenient for you.

Thank you very much!

Naruto ~First kiss 1st part~

Manga/anime: Naruto

Warnings: spoilers of all the manga/anime

(Y/N): your name

I divided the scenario into two parts: 2nd part is here.

I discovered my boyfriend Naruto's weakness: tickle. Every time I touched him, he started laughing so hard.

Because of this, I started giving him tickling attacks every time he came home.

That's why I'm lying on the ground now, while he's on top of me tickling me.

"Ahahah ahahah! Naruto, stop! Please!" He's killing me!

"No! So you learn to do this to me every day, -ttebayo!" He really wants to make me pay.

After ten minutes of torture, he finally stops, so I have time to realize our position: I'm lying on the carpet in our house while he straddles me, holding my wrists with one hand and tickling me with the other. I blush immediately.

Naruto also seems to have noticed our position, but he doesn't move away as I thought, instead he brings his face closer to mine.

"N-Naruto? What are you doing?" Now our faces are just a few centimeters apart.

"I love you, -ttebayo."

Then he leans in and briefly captures my lips with his in a soft, tender kiss.

Where is he? Sasuke should have already returned home from one of his journeys! I'm so worried! What if something happened to him? It's also raining today, what do I do if he gets injured? I don't know any medical jutsu, how will I heal him?

Now I'm outside, looking out on the porch, nervously waiting for my boyfriend to arrive, but as the hours pass, I feel more and more tired and then, without even realizing it, I end up falling asleep on the porch of the house.

Huh? Am I in my bed? What am I doing here? Hadn't I fallen asleep on the porch? Is Sasuke back? Did he bring me here?

"You finally woke up." Sasuke!

Without even thinking about it, I run to hug him and tears come out of my eyes without me even understanding why.

"Sasuke, you're back! Why were you gone so long? Do you know how much you made me worry?!" In response, he lowers his head and presses his forehead against mine and he runs his thumb gently over my cheek.

"Sorry for being gone so long and for making you worry. However, being away from you made me realize one thing: I love you more than words can express."

After confessing, he places his lips on mine in a very sweet kiss.

Sai and I are drawing in the park. In reality, he is drawing, while I am looking at him, instead of painting.

"Are you ok, artwork? You're staring at me."

"A-artwork?"

"You are extremely beautiful, like and artwork. Can't I call you that?" How can he give such nice compliments so easily?

"Anyway, I finished my drawing. Do you want to see it?" I nod.

He hands me his paper and I begin to admire it. It's really beautiful: his drawing represents me and him, holding hands and walking through the streets of Konoha. The most beautiful part is Sai's smile: it's such a pure and sincere smile. I wish he always smiled like that.

"Your smile is beautiful, Sai: it's so pure and sincere."

"I'd like to smile like that. The only time I did this was while I was with Naruto." An idea comes to me.

"Sai, I'll make you smile." He frowns in confusion.

"How?"

"Trust me, Sai, and close your eyes."

"I trust you." he says, closing his eyes. My heart leaps at this confession.

So, I move closer to him and one of my hands cups his cheek. He flinches slightly at my touch, but immediately relaxes and his eyes remain closed.

"What are you doing?" His voice was soft, almost a whisper.

"Kiss you." I say just as softly, leaning forward to finally press my lips against his.

BONUS:

In the end, he smiled sincerely and asked me to do it again.

I'm in front of Nara's house. I came to try to talk to Shikamaru, my boyfriend. I'm very worried because, since Asuma died, he still hasn't left the house and has always refused to see anyone, including me.

After saying hello to Yoshino, I go to his room. Shika is lying on his bed.

"Shika?" I try to catch his attention.

"What do you want?" His voice is so cold it almost gives me shivers.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. I'm your girlfriend, I care about you."

"Leave me alone, (Y/N)."

"No. I'll stay until I make sure you're okay. Shika, I feel so bad seeing you like this."

"GO AWAY, (Y/N)!" He screams, suddenly getting up from the bed.

Without giving him time to respond, I throw myself into a hug, tears streaming down my cheeks. This gesture shocks and agitates him, in fact he remains immobile, even if I hold him tight.

"Shika, cry, please: you need to vent. And even if you cry, I will always be there to dry your tears; even if you cry, I will never let you go." And with that, he breaks down and he holds me and cries.

He cries and screams for hours on my shoulder. After he stops crying, he breaks away from my embrace.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you, (Y/N). And sorry for before."

"Apology accepted, but you'll have to make it up to me."

"All that you want."

An idea comes to mind: "Kiss me."

His eyes widen slightly and a light blush spreads across his cheeks, but he still comes closer, bends over slightly and cups my cheeks in his hands.

Before I can say a word, he presses his lips against mine.

💮 Rules 💮 Masterlist 💮

[feministsouthpark]

South Park Filler Guide - Season 3

Link for Season 1 Link for Season 2

I find the existence of filler guides quite amusing, since for some shows it makes sense (like Naruto), but for others (like Pokemon) it absolutely doesn't and they still exist. So here is an attempt to do an absolutely unnecessary one just for fun. 😅

The classifications are CANON (an episode with major storylines present), LORE (in which we get significant backstory or world building, but could be skippable)  and FILLER (completely skippable episodic storytelling, not connected to overarching story arcs)

PLS my analysis will have spoilers, if you're a first time viewer, just scroll to the bottom and read the list and only read full text if you are familiar with the content of the show already!

S3E1 Rainforest Shmainforest is LORE

It's a great episode for developing the characters to be written more consistent, which will be a general trend in this season compared to the last one, however Kelly disappearing after this episode really doesn't help this one cement itself in the long run, however Craig's small scene and character introduction gives some context why Eric considers him the baddest boy in school a few episodes later, but that isn't needed.

S3E2 Spontaneous Combustion is FILLER

Randy's early spotlight episode, it's fun and great, again, but nothing carries over from this one.

S3E3 The Succubus is FILLER

So Eric now has Kenny's eyes? Anyway, that conflict wasn't introduced until now, and any other conflict introduced here gets an instant resolution.

S3E4 Jakovasaurs is FILLER

It's a fine spotlight episode for Mayor McDaniels and a largely unimpressive episode for a lot of other reasons, that doesn't ever influence anything.

S3E5 Tweek vs. Craig is CANON

Of course this one is canon! We learn more about how Kenny is aware of his deaths, fan-favorite ship Richard Adler and Pam Brady is introduced and Eric Cartman learns sumo from a grand master which all will be important later! And also some background kids get into a conflict or something.

South Park the Movie 1: Bigger, Longer and Uncut is CANON

And not only is it canon, I hereby present you it in its true placement for anyone who didn't know when to watch it. Stan character development and romance with Saddam, more on Kenny and death, Sheila starts M.A.C., overall big events that will be influental to a lot of later episodes.

S3E6 Sexual Harrassment Panda is FILLER

Matt and Trey have no memory of making this episode. Neither do we have any memory of it minutes after watching it.

S3E7 Cat Orgy is CANON

Because of course, the Meteor Shower arc is a big thing, Shelley's boyfriend Skyler will go on to form a band called Lords of the Underworld. This one also explains where Shelley and Eric were while...

S3E8 Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub is CANON

Stan had to befriend Butters. Also we learn of Dougie and that he is on friendly term with Butters. Pip is also here, but that one hardly helps this episode to count as canon, so I just won't mention it. Look, Kyle returns! We just need an explanation from where

S3E9 Jewbilee is CANON

he was. Also Kenny was there with him it seems. This one's super canon because of Moses of course. That's enough. And it also pairs up with Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub. TBH I could easily say these two are canon and Cat Orgy is but lore, but it's intended to be a trilogy and I respect that.

S3E10 Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery is FILLER

It's a strange episode with a Chewbacca ending. Kyle's grandma's body is here, but nothing else is consequential.

S3E11 Chinpokomon is LORE

While the plot of the episode itself doesn't leave much of an impact, the Chinpokomon franchise still exists within South Park. S3E12 Hooked on Monkey Fonics is FILLER

The Cotswolds' never reappear. Mark does in background roles. Butters gets a kiss that later gets retconned. I looove this episode, but this is a filler. S3E13 Starvin' Marvin in Space is FILLER

This is a sequel to one earlier episode and nothing else. (It's a good time though) S3E14 The Red Badge of Gayness is FILLER

The boys learn that the north won and slavery is now illegal. They have a bet which is also moot by the end. S3E15 Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classic is FILLER

It doesn't seem fair to classify this one, since it's more of a company EP than an episode by design. S3E16 Are You There God? It's me Jesus is CANON

God appears in this one. We learn more on his relationship with Jesus. S3E17 World Wide Recorder Concert is LORE

Herbert's relationship with his father add to understanding his character.

SPOILER-FREE RUNDOWN

Again, CANON means you should watch it, FILLER means you can skip it, LORE is somewhere in-between, any episode with the LORE label will have an explanation that helps you decide if you should include it or not.

S3E1 Rainforest Shmainforest is LORE* S3E2 Spontaneous Combustion is FILLER S3E3 The Succubus is FILLER S3E4 Jakovasaurs is FILLER S3E5 Tweek vs. Craig is CANON South Park MOV 1: Bigger, Longer and Uncut is CANON S3E6 Sexual Harrassment Panda is FILLER S3E7 Cat Orgy is CANON S3E8 Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub is CANON S3E9 Jewbilee is CANON S3E10 Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery is FILLER S3E11 Chinpokomon is LORE** S3E12 Hooked on Monkey Fonics is FILLER S3E13 Starvin' Marvin in Space is FILLER S3E14 The Red Badge of Gayness is FILLER S3E15 Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classic is FILLER S3E16 Are You There God? It's me Jesus is CANON S3E17 World Wide Recorder Concert is LORE*** *If you want to see a scene of Craig Tucker to understand his status **If you want to know what Chinpokomon is, but it's pretty obviously a Pokemon parody every time it appears. ***If you want to know Herbert Garrison's complicated childhood traumas. CANON counter:

S1: 9 out of 13 S2: 3 out of 18 S3: 6 out of 17 Overall: 18 out of 48

[tamelee]

Hi, do you think they'll make S and N straight in the live action movie? Like making S nicer to Sakura or not even keeping the kiss or enforcing the idea of S and N being "brothers",... Anyway, I expect nothing but still... it stings.

Hi~ Yeah I feel you.

Oh I have many expectations- 's just that not a single one is any good.

It’s highly possible they’re going to push contrasting narratives. Unfortunately. Though I don't see the point in forcing any of these ideas into a movie, because there's simply no time. It will have no meaning either way unless 'romance' is going to play a significant part in it... which also wouldn't make any sense.

It's a lose-lose for all of us no matter what you ship...

However, they’ve always done it with filler (everything aside the source material and... arguably Kishimoto's add-on's) as well as marketing material. Some is still subtle enough so people can argue about it, but argue they will. (Ah! Isn’t that so very clever?) It isn't for nothing they used to force Naruto on Sakura aggressively and love to make him look like an idiot in filler, or introduce random girl characters as part of a new movie-plot so he can not only be the Hero to save the day, no, he can be their personal Hero. Because, oh, isn’t he actually so handsome now that he saved me? It’s a lame way to check off the romantic elements they for some reason always need to add in and give to Naruto, disguising it under the excuse of “character-arc-stuff” because Naruto can't evolve even a single belief unless the girlies’ minds change about him first. Let alone narratively it destroys Naruto’s character, because a huge "problem" is that he’s people-pleasing his way to being liked and pretty much all filler I’ve come across only strengthens this flaw (I saw ‘flaw’ lovingly btw). Name a single thing that faithfully stayed true to the Manga and wasn’t made by Kishimoto:…

… right. 

Imo, best case scenario? They just leave out everything beneath the surface, pick a single Theme, focus on the Shinobi in a way that still allows for a bit of believable growth in these characters. Something that can still show the current while pushing for some realization and round it out somewhat satisfactory in the end. If they’re going to try anything beyond that, it’ll fail.

Kishimoto created art, but the sole decision for an adaptation means art is now ground through a giant meat-mill of great team-effort and commerce. Every medium functions differently and this decision alone comes with many problems. (Length ’s an important one. Structure too.) You can already see it in the interviews that are held about this project. Too many people are involved that have influential say about the outcome of the creative decisions. There’s also the lovely men in suits that have all the control and yet have zero creative-skill although they’d like to believe otherwise. Studio’s by itself have their own politics. This never bides well for adaptations. Very rarely is it acceptable. Very often it’s disappointing. Almost always it’s a high-budget fantasy. And yet they always know that fans are going to be critical and still not care. 

Stubborn as hell. 

(It’s different when it’s not really an adaptation, but more inspired by an existing story. HTTYD for example is very, very loosely based on a book-series— it has little connection, but there’s obviously still a story idea in there… )

[marvelmymarvel]

Guardian (Part 4)

Jiraiya x Sarutobi!Reader

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

Synopsis: Your brother gave you an assignment, "Go ask Sakumo Hatake if he needs help with his newborn." It was a simple task, but it snowballed into so much more.

Naruto Masterlist: Here

A knock sounded out through the man's apartment. He looked up from his scroll, ears straining to check if it was his imagination. His eyebrows furrowed as the knock sounded out again. No one ever came to visit him; this must be urgent. The knocks slowly turned desperate, and he moved swiftly towards the front door. Not bothering to look, he flung the door open as the visitor's fist came down. It almost slammed into his chest, but he quickly caught her wrist. He chuckled down at her wide eyes before letting her go finally.

"What can I do for you, Y/n?"

Your e/c eyes were wide as he dropped your hand, his cold skin causing goosebumps to erupt along your arms. "Long time no see… How have you been?" Your breathing was shallow as you took him in. He was dressed down for the evening, only making you painfully aware that you had come so late in the afternoon. "I've been better. You?" Your attention sharpened at his answer before nodding at them as if silently telling him you were in the same boat. Silence fell between you, making you grow nervous under his sharp gaze. This was a bad idea. "Is there something you need?"

A nervous giggle fell from your lips before you could stop it. His eyebrow shot up at that, and he bit down a smirk threatening to appear on his normally stoic face. His golden eyes practically begged you to answer him, as if he was dying to know why you decided to show up on his doorstep after years of no contact. Your eyes dropped to your feet as embarrassment crawled up your neck.

He couldn't help but cock his head down at your shy demeanor. How long has it been since the two of you last kissed? He couldn't remember, but being this close to you made it painfully evident that it was too long. That he had gone for far too long without you beside him. His hand caressed your cheek, and your head snapped back up to meet his gaze.

"Do you think you can train me?"

With how fast you caved under his gaze, it was as if he had put a spell on you. You then realized, as he inched closer to you, that you were no longer 18, and this was no longer acceptable. Letting out a sheepish laugh, you backed out of his embrace. "I'm asking only as a friend. I apologize if you thought this was anything more than that, Orochimaru."

The pale man shot a tight-lipped smile down at you but backed up anyway, hoping to play off his failed attempt at seduction as if he was just testing you. "Just wanted to make sure. Training, you say? How long have you been out of the Ninja world anyway?" The question was double-sided as it would have answered his other question - when was the last time you two kissed?

"Oh… Let's see. I stopped a couple of years before Sakumo… eight, maybe?"

Eight years. How did he manage to survive that long without you anyway? Orochimaru nodded as he leaned against the doorway, "And you want me to train you? Aren't you with Jiraiya-"

"We are living together, yes, but that's it. He's also way too busy to be training me again…."

You trailed off, but he remained silent, watching you as if trying to predict your next move. You sighed in exasperation, quickly remembering why you distanced yourself from him in the first place. "Listen, if you don't want to, that's fine. I can just ask an academy teacher-"

"Nonsense. I'll do it. Meet me at the training grounds after you drop off Kakashi for school tomorrow. We will start with the basics; I want to see how much you still remember."

His heart lurched as you broke into a beaming smile, "Oh, thank you, thank you, Orochimaru!!!" You exclaimed before flinging yourself onto him. He grunted as you hugged him tightly, but before he could return it, you had already separated. He tried to hide the blush forming on his cheeks, but thankfully, you were heading back toward your apartment without giving him any more attention.

"I'll see you tomorrow!"

Orochimaru let out a breath of relief as you disappeared from his line of sight. Training you was going to be complicated. But keeping his cool was going to be much harder.

[faeriecourts]

naruto university au part 2 (continuation of 1 | ao3)

“So let me get this straight.” Shikamaru will be the first to admit that he didn’t expect to become such good friends Namikaze’s son in a short amount of time, especially after seeing his Instagram. But whilst Naruto is perfectly capable of rock climbing for 3 hours, then setting up a tent in the woods, and then collect firewood to cook dinner, it turns out he’s also great company and perfectly content to lie on a bedroom floor and do absolutely nothing. And that, the Nara is grateful for.

“At the bar after Kiba’s party, you made out with some supposedly super hot guy in a bathroom, it’s your first kiss, he throws up afterwards, and then he’s rude as fuck about it?”

Naruto sighs behind Shikamaru, the top of their heads almost touching, throwing a ball up and down. “Yeah, that’s basically it.”

“Damn, I’m sorry to hear.”

Shikamaru’s comparing the view of clouds sifting outside Naruto’s window to his own in his room above, and the one in Kiba’s yard outside his room on the first floor, when there’s a click outside his bedroom, making Naruto immediately sit up.

Shikamaru turns, eyes narrowing. “I thought Sakura was already home.”

“She is.”

“Well, who the hell else has a key? Don’t tell me the RA is already abusing their privileges.”

Naruto throws his door open, eyes blowing wide.

Speak of the Devil and He shall appear, apparently, because there stands the exact asshole they were just talking about.

“You!”

He looks undeniably put together, hair purposely mussed, wearing Ralph Lauren polo shirt from the latest US Open. The hot asshole stranger is clearly shocked too, as is the man behind him for a very different reason, hair tied back in a single ponytail with strands framing the high cheekbones he shares with his brother.

“You’re-” he takes a step back, and then coughs, recovering. “Do I know you?”

Oh, that little shit. “Dude, are you seriously gonna act like that?” He’s clearly lying, and Naruto doesn’t know what pisses him off more.

“Hello,” the taller man behind him comments politely with a soft smile. “You must be my brother’s roommate. It’s nice to meet you.”

Well, at least someone’s got manners here.

“You’re a month late,” a voice strains behind Naruto, and Itachi moves his head slightly to see.

“Yeah, well, it’s just boring introductory classes anyways.” Sasuke scoffs.

“I’m Uchiha Itachi,” the polite man smiles again, trying to cut the tension. “This is Uchiha Sasuke.”

“Uzumaki Naruto,” Naruto nods at him as he responds, because he’s polite, unlike someone here. “Our other roommate is Sakura, and my friend over here,” he opens the door wider, “is Nara Shikamaru.”

Sasuke rolls his luggage into the last available room, right next to Naruto’s. He’s close enough that Naruto can smell his cologne as Sasuke arches his eyebrow.

“Oh, great, I’ve been paired up with two nobodies.”

And there goes any semblance of Naruto’s original feelings. He grips the frame of his door a little harder instead of responding, teeth gritting, and Shikamaru rolls his eyes.

“Nara, did you say?” Sasuke glances behind Naruto as he passes his door. “Consulting?”

“Yes.” Shikamaru responds tartly, and then turns his back to stare out the window, cutting the conversation off.

“Um,” Itachi smiles nervously again. “I’m just going to help my brother with his things.” He rolls another luggage in, bowing his head lightly as he passes by. “I hope that you’re all able to be friends with my brother. I’m sure he’s looking forward to spending time with you all.”

Itachi closes the door, and there’s distinct loud whispering of “Sasuke, don’t you at least want to try to talk to them?” “No, I couldn’t give less of a shit.” “Sasuke! It’s good to make friends at university.”

Naruto closes the door, leaning against it and sighing.

“That’s him, then?”

Naruto sighs again. “Yeah.”

[master-amaris]

Blood Bond - A Naruto Fanfiction

|| Multi Chapter || Uchiha-centric || Canon Divergent AU || Alternate Storyline: Uchiha coup d'état instead of massacre || featuring OCs || Angst || Light Gore || weekly updates since I already finished writing this fic || author's Note at the end of the chapter

Itachi and Shisui fail to stop their clan. Instead, Fugaku follows through with his coup d'état and brings Konoha to its knees in a single night, changing the fate of his clan, his sons, and the entire ninja world forever…

Chapter One Before You Start a War, You better Know what You're Fighting For

"This is the point of no return, isn't it?" Mikoto asked when she saw his hands dripping with blood. "Yes," Fugkau replied, pulling the door shut behind him. Her arms tightened their grip around Sasuke's body, who slept on her lap with his cheek against her chest. "All of them?" "Almost." She watched her husband rubbing the damp red from his skin with a white towel, leaving dark edges under his fingernails. "Danzō is still missing." "And… Itachi?" Mikoto only managed a whisper. "What about him?"

No answer. She assumed that spoke for itself, and the conclusion filled her eyes with tears.

"Please, Fugaku." She started to shiver. "If he-... Or if you-... I just want to know if-..." A first tear ran down her cheek, allowing her to see clearly for an instant before her vision blurred again and cleared up once more as the second tear beaded from the corner of her eye. "Is he all right?"

Fugaku put the towel aside. "Don't worry, he's alive. We confronted and arrested him near the Nakano River."

Her heart was pounding so frantically that she feared it might awaken the boy in her arms. "And what will happen with him?"

Fugaku brushed the blood-soaked shirt from his body. A fresh one lay ready for him to unfold. "That's yet to be decided. But treason is treason, Mikoto."

Mikoto brushed the tears from her face with the back of her hand. "I see..."

Silence. For minutes. But Mikoto had this feeling that even without words, Fugaku could hear what she was thinking anyway.

"I'll do what I can," Fugaku said eventually. "But I don't know if I can help."

"You must try." Mikoto could barely speak, trying so hard to hold back the tears. Her voice sounded painfully harsh. "Itachi is our son, despite everything. Please don't forget that. I don't want to lose him!"

"We already have." Fugaku stood with his back facing her; that way, she couldn't see that his eyes were also starting to glisten treacherously. "Itachi picked his side. Even if I succeed in convincing the others to spare his life, it won't change anything. He made his choice, and he won't change his mind. He's gone, out of reach." Fugaku's shoulders trembled. "It would be less painful if he... If he was..."

"If he was dead," Mikoto whispered. She lifted Sasuke a few inches, pulled her legs out from under his body, and carefully bedded him back down on the tatami mats. "Yes, it would be," she continued as she rose and walked toward her husband. " Being allowed to mourn our son's death would be less painful than having to despise him for his betrayal."

Eleven steps separated her from Fugaku: ...nine. Ten. Eleven...

Mikoto wrapped her arms around his stomach and nestled her chin against his shoulder, kissing his neck. With a sigh, Fugaku let his cheek sink against her hair. "I never will."

"Of course not," she mumbled, "He is your son. You will always love him." And you'll never recover from losing him. It will always hurt. "Just never let anyone but me know how you truly feel. They would misunderstand your pain and lose faith in you."

Fugaku turned around in her embrace. I know, the bleak expression on his face declared, and Mikoto's heart wanted to break when she saw his bloodshot eyes and wet cheeks.

She sobbed, digging her fingers into the folds of his shirt. "Yet, if they insist on his execution, you mustn't hesitate. Just do it." She shivered again. "Do it yourself and make sure it's quick. Don't let our son suffer."

Fugaku raised his left hand, grazing her temple with his fingertips, brushing her jaw and cheek, and finally stoking her lips before touching them with his. "I won't," he whispered into the kiss.

Heaving a sigh, Mikoto wrapped both arms around his neck and snuggled closer into his arms as a knock tapped against the door behind them.

"It's time, Commander. We're ready to go."

Mikoto felt the Fugaku's reluctance as he broke away from her lips. "In a minute," he answered through the closed door. The sudden harshness in his voice gave Mikoto's heart and stomach a twinge. "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up."

"Copy that."

Mikoto wavered while listening to footsteps echoing away. Then, she brushed the tears off Fugaku's face. Despite her own, she forced a smile. "Are you ready?" "Determined by all means."

Fugaku took her hands in his and blew them a kiss before carefully pushing past her to walk the eleven steps to the sleeping Sasuke.

Mikoto remained in place. Fresh tears filled her eyes as she watched her husband kneel down beside the child, stroking back his black hair to kiss his forehead. "I love you, son," Fugaku whispered. "When you wake up, it will be over. Everything will be all right at last." He kissed Sasuke a second time. "I promise."

"Have you ever put your hands inside a human's head?" Natsume asked.

His right pointer and middle finger lodged in a young unconscious Uchiha's eye socket, gushing more blood than it could hold.

Satoshi scrunched up his nose. "No."

"You won't be able to make that claim in a few seconds anymore. Come here."

Reluctantly, Satoshi drew a few steps closer and settled on his knees in the grass next to Natsume. The pressure of his knees squeezed seeped blood from the ground. It welled to the surface and soaked the fabric of his gray pants.

"My fingers are plugging the wound he's bleeding from," Natsume explained. "I can close it, but I need a minute or two to prepare the jutsu. You need to keep the pressure in the meantime to make sure he doesn't lose more blood."

Satoshi gulped. "Are you serious?"

"I rarely joke about people bleeding out, you know." The unconscious Uchiha under Natsume's hand twitched. "Come on, go ahead - before he comes around."

"Do I disinfect my hands first?" Satoshi asked, his gaze glued to Natsume's hand; the upper thirds of his pointer and middle finger disappeared between eyelashes and lids.

Natsume raised an eyebrow. "What do you think, huh?"

"Sorry." Satoshi cleared his throat, "I've never done anything like this before."

A small plastic bottle of disinfectant was lying in the grass beside the unconscious young man, whose black T-shirt was decorated with the Uchiha emblem. Satoshi's hand trembled as he picked the bottle up and pressed its beak-shaped cap down several times.

Fine spray wetted his skin and gathered into a thin film, which Satoshi carefully rubbed on both hands. The smell of alcohol burned in his nose, and the hairs on his arms erected - partly because of the cool disinfectant spray, partly because of the thought of poking a bleeding eye socket. He reached out for the fleshy cavity but hesitated at the sight of his fingernails: all at once, they seemed like claws.

"Baka!" hissed Natsume as Satoshi, without warning, put his hand in his mouth in a swift motion to nibble his fingernails down to the tip. "Now you can disinfect your hands again! Why don't you do that before?"

Satoshi picked up the disinfectant spray a second time. "Sorry," he repeated, spitting out the thin scrap of horn he had plucked off his fingernails. "I've really never done anything like this before."

"Trust me," Natsume sighed, "I can see that: you don't have to tell me every few seconds."

"Very helpful, man. Really. Thanks."

Natsume clicked his tongue. "Now, put your fingers in there already!"

Satoshi floundered as he carefully dipped his pointer into the puddle of red, with his middle finger following.

That's just a jar of strawberry jam that's been sitting in the sun too long, he implored himself. That's why it's warm. That's why it's sticky. Because it's melted strawberry jam, not blood: sweet jam that attracts wasps and molds if you don't put it in the fridge.

The blood smacked as Satoshi's fingers displaced it from the eye socket. It spilled over the rims and ran down Uchiha's pale face: over his temples into his ears; over his cheeks, chin, and neck into his clothes; over his brows and forehead into the roots of his black, shaggy hair. The socket wall felt like the sludge of rotten fruit, and the blood felt even stickier, slimier, than expected. More like syrup than jam. Scraps of coagulated blood floated in the pool, and Satoshi had the impression that they had a life of their own, actively wrapping his fingers.

"I think I'm going to be sick..." he muttered. His wrist bumped against Natsume's as they got in each other's way in the narrow eye socket.

"You got it?" Natsume asked.

Satoshi's fingers slid to Natsume's spot. Something pulsed against his skin, and he felt like tearing into a squashed slug, yet he bravely swallowed his nausea. "Got it."

Had Tetsuka Amaya not dislocated her left shoulder during a mission two weeks earlier, much would have ensued differently that evening. She probably would have been with Natsume and Satohi instead of hovering over the sink at home, burying her face in the red pulp of a watermelon. With each bite, drops of the sticky juice dripped down her fingers and splashed into the drain with hollow "plong!" sounds.

She stood in the kitchen barefoot, wrapped in a white towel with dark blue spots. Little beads of sweat glistened on her deep brown skin from the hot bath she had taken a few minutes ago, with her hair still damp from the shower she had taken before climbing into the tub. Coiffed into a bunch of neat twists, the strands stuck to her shoulders and her back. Little drops of water ran down the lengths of her dense, violet curls and settled in their tips until they grew too heavy and splashed on the white floor tiles.

A fresh breeze blew through the open kitchen window, carrying the words of a harsh voice from a distance: "All villagers, retreat to the evacuation tunnels immediately! This is an order from the Hokage! Konoha is in danger! Keep calm and look out for each other!" Amaya heard the call but did not perceive it. It was yet too distant, too muffled to stand out; just one sound among many alongside birdsong, the tinkling wind chimes outside the window, and the barking dogs of the Inuzuka whose estate was across the street. "All ninja assemble at the 34th training area! Wait for further instructions!"

Amaya let the gnawed melon rind slap into the sink and licked the sweet juice from her fingers and lips before reaching for the next piece. A few brown-black seeds plopped onto her bare toes as she bit from this second slice but didn't lean forward over the sink fast enough. At that moment, the doorbell rang. Smacking her lips, Amaya squinted at the clock above the stove.

About an hour too early, claimed its hands.

Amaya put the nibbled piece of melon back on the plate and wiped her mouth and fingers with a checkered dish towel. "Not ready yet, Anko," she shouted, advancing to the house entrance, slurring her words as she used a toothpick to pick pulp from her teeth. "But there's some sake in the fridge if you want to wait until I-"

Amaya broke off because she was close enough to the front door now to see that two people were waiting behind the sliding door: between the bars, their bodies cast crooked shadows on the cream-colored rice paper. A fist pounded against the wooden frame.

"Open up!" "There's a problem!"

Amaya tucked the towel neatly under her armpits because, judging from the voices, the shadows outside the door belonged to two men. Cautiously, she pulled the door open, a small crack to peer outside, facing two pairs of blood-red Sharingan eyes. "Yes?"

"We're here to see Tetsuka Jun," said one of the two men, a balding giant. He towered over Amaya by two heads, his companion still by one." He is to report to the conference room of the Hokage residence immediately. Sandaime's orders."

The sun was already hanging quite low over the horizon, casting its light on the Tetsuka house at a steep angle, blinding Amaya. She had to shield her eyes with her hand to keep from blinking. "My father is on a mission," she explained, "I don't know when he'll be back."

The men exchanged a quick glance. The bald guy shrugged.

"What's your name, girl?" the other asked. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Amaya.

She pulled the towel tighter. "Tetsuka Amaya."

"Tetsuka Amaya," he repeated, nodding slowly. Amaya suddenly remembered very clearly how she had seen a hissing rattlesnake by the roadside for the first time many years ago. Its eyes had sparkled in a way similar to his. "Then you will attend in place of your father. No one will mind. As long as the Tetsuka clan is represented..."

Amaya shook her head. "Represented at what? What's going on?"

"All villagers, retreat to the evacuation tunnels immediately! This is an order from the Hokage! Konoha is in danger! Keep calm and look out for each other! All ninja assemble at the 34th training area! Wait for further instructions!"

Instinctively, Amaya turned her head in the direction from which she suspected the call. This time, she perceived it: during the past few minutes, it had moved from the center of the village closer to the district in the south where Amaya lived with her father. Her heartbeat quickened.

"What's going on?" she asked again. Her voice started to tremble.

The guy with the sparkling eyes waved her off, "You'll find out soon enough." "Just hurry," his companion added. "Remember, come to the conference room of the Hokage's residence. It is very urgent."

Without another word of explanation, the two men turned their backs on Amaya and strode down the three steps of the staircase that connected the front yard and porch. The Uchiha crest emblazoned the backs of their gray shirts.

Amaya remained in the doorway, perplexed, watching the two men with a thumping heart and an unpleasant tug in her lower abdomen as they took the narrow gravel path through the front yard, past the yellow chrysanthemums, the purple-speckled toad lilies, and the golden-orange azaleas. The gravel crunched under their feet until they passed the brass gate in the garden fence, overgrown with ivy.

Dust swirled from the road as the two Uchiha crossed it in a diagonal line. They stopped in front of the wooden gate to the Inuzuka estate.

On the gate was a sign showing a black dog with ruffled fur. The animal wore an eye patch over its right eye, and its left ear was missing. The retracted chaps exposed yellowed fangs. "I need five seconds to get to the door," red characters informed. "And you?"

Undeterred, the bald Uchiha's fist pounded against the wooden gate. "Open up!" And the other added, "There's a problem!"

Behind the wall, a storm of growling, yapping, and howling erupted, punctuated by hissing "Shhh!" sounds or shouts of "Off! Off!" before the gate swung open. Kiba, a little boy with brown hair and fair skin, appeared. On his head, he carried Akamaru, his white puppy.

"Yes?" Amaya heard the little boy ask. "We're here to see Inuzuka Tsume." "'Mom! Here's a baldie who wants to see you!"

Amaya took a deep breath and retreated into the house to get dressed. She began to understand, The Hokage is gathering the clan leaders. Whatever's happening, it's bad.

She had no way of guessing that the Hokage was already dead.

Dividers by @/ohmarigold

Autor's note: I'm so happy and excited to finally share this fic after putting so much time, thought, and passion into it. This project started with the question, what if Fugaku's coup d'etat had been successful? As I began to imagine this alternative scenario, I also tackled the question of how the Uchiha would've pulled that off and found that this was an entire story on its own. And I can already promise a lot of angst as it gets pretty gritty :D

Thank you so much for sticking around to the end of the chapter! I really hope you liked the kick-off. If so, please consider reblogging, and if you take the time and energy to leave a comment, I'll be forever grateful.

[missiriss]

“Keeping it a secret” (2/2)

The second and the final part of SS fic, as well as my part for the 3rd day of SS Shoujo Week 2023. Enjoy and thank you for reading! ♥

Prompt: Misunderstandings Word count: 3111

               Five weeks.

               It’s been five weeks since they became a couple. For Sakura, that was the best time she’s ever had throughout high school so far. Exchanging glances when walking by each other on the corridor during the break, holding hands under the desk in class, or stealing Sasuke a kiss upon making sure no one is around. It all felt so exciting and new to her, yet she was certain that once she got to know this feeling, she would never want to let go of it. The chemistry in her brain was going wild every single time she was looking at him, filling her with energy and happiness. But now, something was different. Now, she could feel a shiver going through her body, when looking into his onyx eyes. They were cold as ever, and the silence between them started becoming uncomfortable.

               “It sucks they managed to throw this party, right? I really wanted to go somewhere together…”, when she finally brought herself to speak, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Instead, he chose to start another topic.

               “When did you tell Ino?”, the boy asked with a frown. When the female part of their class joined them on the beach, the blonde was giving him strange looks. Normally he would have thought that she is just weird, like most of the girls to his mind. But as if this wasn’t enough, speaking with Naruto, she even stressed that Sasuke would surely enjoy the party more with ladies around. Uzumaki might have shrugged it off, but he could never. He had no doubt that Yamanaka knew. And that, to be honest, really pissed him off, completely destroying the disposure he had to go on a small rendezvous.

               “A week ago”,  Sakura answered shyly, dropping her eyes to the ground. Ok. Now she understood it. Sasuke was mad with her, and she had to admit, she gave him a reason. It wasn’t like she wasn’t going to tell him! She was! But no time felt right, because every moment with him was perfect. “I’m sorry, it’s just that…”

               “It’s just what?”, he interrupted her with a sigh. Uchiha crossed his arms, growing distant in her eyes, and even more so as he continued speaking. “It was your idea to keep it between us anyway. I’m making a fool out of myself trying to figure a way out of this party without spilling that we’re an item, and it turns out that probably half of the school already knows.”

               “It’s only Ino, really!”, she responded immediately, folding her hands as if in prayer. “She promised to keep it a secret. I was going to tell you today anyway, I really was, Sasuke. I’m sorry.”

               “Listen. I still don’t get the point of this whole thing with keeping it under wraps anyway. I went for it only because you wanted to. And now you’re telling whoever you like about it”, Sasuke said, still with an irritated look on his face. He just felt so disappointed. To him, this whole hiding thing felt rather tiring. He hated getting paranoid that someone might have noticed them holding hands, or going out together. Picking less crowded places, or the ones further away from their school felt like clear bullshit. Was it illegal for them to fall in love? No. Yet he was still doing it for her. And now it seemed that he unnecessarily bothered.

               Sakura could see his point. But she also felt, that he was too strict on her. He knew how important Ino was to her, and that they’ve been doing almost everything together for years now. She was the first one Sakura conveyed her feelings for Sasuke to. He had to take it into consideration, especially that he wasn’t saint in this regard either.

               “You didn’t consult it with me before telling Itachi”, she noticed, surprising him with her words.

               “But it’s my brother! He would have found out sooner or later”, Sasuke defended himself. It hasn’t crossed his mind that she could have minded that. “You really don’t see any difference?”

               “And I don’t have any siblings. You know I couldn’t tell my mom. She would give me no peace with her questions!”

               “God, Sakura. You will have to tell your mom sooner or later anyway. And we’re going to have even more questions to answer now, when Ino for sure blabs out tonight.”

               “She won’t”, she answered, averting her eyes from him. Was she feeling a qualm of guilt? Totally. But she wasn’t so happy with how fierce Sasuke was either. She trusted her best friend wouldn’t tell anyone. And the way he was questioning it, made her feel upset. “I promise you, really.”

               Sasuke only exhaled heavily, as he started walking towards the rest with his hands in the pockets of his trousers. He didn’t feel like talking about it anymore, and he felt a need to cool his head down a little before he says something stupid.

               “Anyway”, he only blurted out, leaving Sakura with a qualm of guilt growing within her.

               Next two hours were the longest in her life. She could swear that time on a dentist’s chair was passing rapidly compared to this. Sasuke wouldn’t even look at her. Instead he was sticking to Naruto and some other boys, who were getting themselves slowly wasted. As expected, the speech that Guy gave them about responsibility earlier that day went in one ear, and out the other. Almost everyone had already at least one beer, apart from her — because the argument with her boyfriend completely spoiled her appetite, for drinks, food, and any more joy tonight.

               But what’s worse, it weren't only boys following Sasuke around. A group of girls from some other school that was also staying in their hostel for a trip begged them to let them join the party. And that was when even Naruto stopped supporting the concept of all-male squad. At first they seemed quite flattered that he was trying to make sure they were having fun. However, once they clapped their eyes on young Uchiha, they wouldn’t leave him alone even for a second. And that infuriated Sakura.  

               Now sitting on one of many blankets on the ground, she was drawing something in sand with her finger, pretending she doesn’t see their goo-goo eyes, as they are trying to get his attention. She wanted to go to her room already, but Ino wouldn’t let her. Not before spill the bottle.

               Speaking of the devil. Yamanaka now was standing next to the fire burning in the furnace with a vicious sparkles in her eyes. She wanted to get the party rolling, but that wasn’t the only thing. Sakura didn’t have to tell her for Ino to realise that something bad happened between her and Sasuke. Whatever this was, she was hoping the game will give them the opportunity to break the ice, and at least to talk with each other. And so, she went ahead with her plan.

               But first, there was one thing they didn’t think through earlier. Number of people. Or rather how great it was. It wasn’t only their class and those girls here as a few students among of Guy joined them in the meantime. Because it was difficult to circle around the bottle in such a large group, they eventually decided to play a few different rounds, so that everyone could participate. Having finally divided them, Ino sat next to Sakura.

               “No worries, Forehead. It will get fun now.” She clapped her back with a reassuring smile. “Sasuke is playing now too.”

               For Haruno this wasn’t good information to receive. As much as she wanted to interact with him, she also knew that she won’t be able to relax now. Or at least she thought so. To her surprise, after a few spins she really started having fun. That was partly thanks to Ino who had modified the rules so that the game would be more interesting. Everyone pointed by the bottle thread was supposed to draw a task from a list she had prepared earlier.

               “Lee, give me a number”, Ino said, glancing over at tasks she had in her phone.

               “Yes! Twenty seven, please!”, he answered eagerly, as if he had the number prepared in his head for a little while before. Everyone could see he was already a little tipsy. He was well known for lacking abilities in holding his drink, that’s why it was even more surprising to see that the boys managed to convince him to break the promise given to Guy.

               “Twenty seven, twenty se… Found it! Spin the bottle and say what you think about the person pointed!”, she drawled, giving him a wink.

               Lee’s courage when he was under the influence had no limits. He spun the bottle with no fear, waiting to see who is the lucky person. Sakura didn’t really pay attention at that moment. She had her eyes fixed on Sasuke, sitting on the other side of the circle. He seemed rather bored, yet she could not stand the girls that took seats next to him. They fought for his attention relentlessly, even if he wasn’t giving it to him. And that was the only thing that made her stand it. He didn’t care about them. Why would she then?

               “Sakura?” Someone’s voice took her out of her reverie. It was Ino. “Lee has to say something about you.”

               Sakura brought herself to smile a little and nodded politely as a sign “please, do”. She needed to stop averting her eyes to Sasuke if she wanted to focus.

               “I find Sakura the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and I wish she agreed to go out on a date with me!”, he claimed with his face all red — hard to say whether it was an effect that alcohol had on him or abashment.

               In case of Sakura, that was certainly the latter. She could feel her cheeks getting hot, when she heard him speaking about her. She knew he had a crush on her last year, he confessed it in the middle of the corridor on their first day of school. But she was certain he got over it already long time ago, hence she didn’t see it coming. And probably neither did Sasuke, who gagged on the beer he was drinking, when he heard his words.

               One… two… three… Breathe Sasuke, breathe… He was telling himself, to realise how pointless shits like that were in his case. This wasn’t calming him at all. Actually, quite the opposite. Anger was slowly building up in him. And that was what he hated the most about hiding their relationship. He couldn’t chime in. Instead, he had to look as his girlfriend tries to turn this guy down, unsure what words to use.

               He was close to just stand up and leave this fucking party. Nothing was going as planned today. First preparations, then the argument with Sakura. That was enough for him to call it a bad day, but those girls following him around were making him feel like exploding any moment. On top of that, he totally didn’t feel like playing that stupid game, and now he had to listen to some tool hitting on his girl. Was there anything that could go worse today? Well. Sasuke was now soon to find out that indeed.

               It was Sakura’s turn to pick the number. He was watching her carefully, as she was waiting for Ino to read the task. But before he got to hear what Yamanaka sets her, his attention was forced by someone sitting next to him. One of those girls was now resting her head on his shoulder.

               “Get off of me”, he ground out.

               “Oh, you’re so cold!”, she did as he asked, but then added. “That’s quite hot though, you know?”

               He ignored her, and set his eyes back on Sakura. And that’s when their eyes met. She definitely saw what just happened, and she certainly wasn’t happy about it. But Lord, he wasn’t either! And based on her face it seemed to him she didn’t realise that.

               Ino having noticed their exchange of looks, cleared her throat.

               “I will reread the question… Sakura, your task is to spin the bottle and kiss the person pointed.”

               And that was when he completely lost it. He stood up to everyone’s surprise, and just started walking towards the beach. He wasn’t going to listen to it anymore. He first had to hear someone confess to her, and now he had to look at her kissing some other jerk? This was so ridiculous. And yet, she dared to be making that face when that girl put her head on his shoulder as if it was his fault!

               He was fuming. Literally fuming. He didn’t care anymore what others would think, whether they’d find out there was something going on between them or not. Sasuke was sure that with his today’s fortune the bottle was going to point on a guy. And Uchiha had to leave before he gets the lucky guy killed.

               Wandering along the shore was as relaxing as it could be under such circumstances. He was calming down a little, but he could still feel his heart breaking out of its regular rhythm. His mind was flooded by different images, yet all of them contained his girl. His girl kissing someone else. Who did the bottle point on? Lee, Naruto? Or maybe Kiba? He didn’t know. And he didn’t want to know. But he still couldn’t stop thinking about it.

               He finally decided to come to a stop. Sasuke knew he shouldn’t be getting too far away from the hostel, but he didn’t want to be going back either. So it seemed the most reasonable to sit by, and watch the sea.

               To be honest, the sight was really beautiful. The stars on the night sky sparkled brightly, whilst the moon glade was trying to hypnotise him. That was the moment when the anger within him was just replaced by sadness and longing. He really wanted to share moments like that with Sakura tonight, and it played out as always. Shitty.

               “Sasuke?”

               He lifted his head, with a blank expression on his face. She was standing there.

               She really couldn’t have gotten any worse task than that one. That she knew for sure. While she was thinking how to wiggle out of it, or how to calculate the bottle’s rotation perfectly so that it’d point on her boyfriend, he had already stood up and started walking away, ignoring Naruto calling him.

               That pained her. He was leaving again, just like earlier today, and again, because of her. Now the qualm of guilt was truly consuming her. Without giving it much of a thought, she was now standing on both of her legs as well, to everyone’s surprise.

               “You can ignore him, he was grumpy all day”, Kiba snorted, rolling his eyes. “Not sure what’s wrong with him today.”

               But the thing is, she knew! And it was all her fault. She understood it already. And even more. She finally realised, how stupid it was to hide their relationship. Instead of having some good time with her boyfriend, she was focused on making sure no one finds out. And what for? She didn’t know herself anymore. However, she was convinced she needed to convey to him now, what she had learned today. Hoping it’s not too late.

               “No, I… I’ll check on him. Sorry, please, continue without us”, she blurted out, and started following Sasuke’s steps slowly.

               He was walking round shouldered, completely immersed in own thoughts. She wanted to approach him, but felt they both need to cool down. So she kept following his lead. When he finally sat on the sand, it seemed to be the high time for Sakura to reveal herself to him. And so she did.

               “Sasuke?”, she started, and then their gazes met again. He seemed surprised, but not angry anymore. Actually, she could swear she saw a tinge of sadness in his eyes, and that pained her the most.

               She then took a place next to him, while he was observing every step of hers.

               “It’s really beautiful here”, she started, giving him a shy smile. Sakura wanted to first hear at least a word from him before she shares what she wanted to say. His voice, that would give her the courage.

               “It is.”

               “You know, Sasuke…”, she started, brushing her hair away from her face. “I’m really sorry for everything. This day, it’s my fault, I know about it. I apologise for earlier.”

               He sighed, shaking his head. Like he cared about that argument. It was petty, and he wouldn’t be mad with her for long. It was this whole situation that was making him feel sick, nothing else. But as he was about to say something more, she interrupted him, putting a finger on his lips.

               “Please, let me!”, she requested, and seeing him nod, she continued speaking. “I’m also sorry for asking you to hide our relationship. It was stupid. I just… I just really wanted to keep it just to ourselves, so that we could enjoy it together to its fullest… and forgot what was really important.”

               Hearing it all, finally took a heavy burden off his heart. At least, most of it. They no longer were going to be back and forth on this topic. He no longer was going to have to hide with his feelings. He now was going to be able to do whatever he wanted, just like he should have been able at the very beginning. Yet, he still had to ask about something else.

               “What… what about that task Ino gave you?”, he inquired, feeling as if he was signing his own death warrant. If she accepted it… He didn’t even want to think about it. However, Sakura seemed dumbfounded now.

               “Task?”, she checked if she heard right. “Kissing somebody, you mean?”

               He nodded again, feeling that time flows extremely slow now.

               “Of course I didn’t accept it! Shannaro!”

               Upon hearing that, Sasuke finally felt fully relieved. They were good. They were going to be good. And Sakura seemed to be the same way now, relaxed, maybe even touched a little.

               “Just one thing”, he said, putting his hand on top of hers. He looked into her eyes. “No more secrets.”

               “No more secrets”, Sakura confirmed teary-eyed, with a warm smile glued to her face. Seeing that, Uchiha had to do only one more thing. He sealed their promise with a kiss.

[chaoticproductivity]

one hundred days - 64

[Originally published on FF.net on Sep 08, 2011. The manga was not finished yet, please take that into consideration while reading.]

Would you forgive your enemies? 64

Hinata sat up on the futon and stretched, making her t-shirt ride up, exposing her belly. She had moved to the room next to Sasuke's, leaving only a sliding door between the spaces. He knew that the Uchiha must be the proudest creature still walking the face of Earth – much prouder than Naruto or Neji – but upon understanding Hinata's reason for changing rooms, he hadn't complained.

She could see light creeping through the sliding doors that lead to the outside porch that wrapped around the cabin and decided to get up. Without being able to train properly during those days, Sasuke was becoming increasingly bored and even more of a morning person, like a retired old man. 

Heaving a sigh, Hinata put away the futon and blanket. Tying her hair in a bun, securing it with a decorative chopstick - a beautiful set for which she had lost a pair the same day she bought it - and left the room heading towards the bathroom.

Hinata was brushing her teeth when the bathroom door opened. Sasuke appeared on the other side, scratching his eyes, his bed hair the worst she had ever seen, pillow marks on his cheek, the sight of a very casual Uchiha Sasuke that some of the villagers would still kill to be able to see. 

'Good morning', he greeted almost like a normal boy, and not the serious, unattainable and taciturn Uchiha Sasuke that everyone knew – and hated. Hinata had been really surprised the first time he did it, shortly after they broke the sepulchral silence that reigned between the two at the beginning of their acquaintance.

Hinata rinsed her mouth and smiled, returning the greeting. Sasuke was still standing in the doorway when he yawned and stretched like a cat, raising one arm and lifting his dark t-shirt with the other. The pants he wore to bed were hanging low on his hips. The Hyuuga's eyes widened when she realized what she was staring at and turned her back to the shinobi so he wouldn't notice her blush, even though he couldn't see it anyway.

'I-I'm already... Leaving', she said to him in hopes that he would move from the doorway, but he only moved closer to her inside the tiny bathroom. 'Sasuke?'

'You look good with your hair up', his hand went up while Hinata's eyes and mouth opened wide and she turned her body to face him fully. 'But I prefer it down.'

Hinata's hair fell as she turned to Sasuke, her pale face quickly replaced by a happy blush. There it was, next to the small, mischievous smile that the Uchiha was sending her, the sparkle of vision in his onyx eyes. 

She stood still staring at him, trying to convince herself that it wasn't a lie, that he really was seeing again, while the shinobi brought a strand of Hinata's hair, now loose, forward, smoothing it over her shoulder.

With the same feeling that had made her kiss his eyelids the day it happened, Hinata took a step forward and placed her forehead against his chest, her height only able to reach up to his neck. Sasuke's slightly malicious impetuosity melted away as he was caught by surprise by her action. He carefully placed his hands on the Hyuuga's shoulders so he could push her away, but was unable to after hearing her whisper:

'That's great, Sasuke... I'm so relieved, so glad', several times.

He didn't have the strength to push her, so he just let her lean against him in that awkward half-hug. He had a strange feeling gnawing at his stomach from having Hinata so close, but it wasn't bad. It was a feeling that the Uchiha could only define as comfortable: it was comfortable to have someone close to him capable of expressing all the emotions he didn't.

So he just let her stay.

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 82

“Not now.” Aiko pushed her nose further into her pillow and tightened her grip around Mitsuo with her right arm. Funny. He was shaped differently than she remembered—less round. And significantly less furry than usual.

Blearily, she raised her head just enough to see dark hair and remind herself that she hadn’t fallen asleep snuggling her dog.

“Oh. Good morning, Sai.”

Her fingers had been outside the blanket and were cold, so she wiggled them under the covers to flatten against his abs. Sai was too disciplined to jolt or complain about being used for his hot body, so she didn’t feel guilty at all.

“May I be released?” Sai sounded surprisingly detached and polite for someone being treated like the world’s tallest teddy bear. “I am under orders to report to the Hokage’s office for an assignment.”

Aiko frowned at that, trying to remember if she was meant to report. She couldn’t think of any call… so that meant he was going on a mission without her. Unusual. “What time?”

He seemed to be attempting to check the time through the mostly covered window. “In twenty minutes, I believe.”

She paused. “Are you already packed for your mission?”

“Yes, but the equipment is at my residence.”

Ten more ninja points to Sai. God, he was good at this game, wasn’t he? He should have been a boy scout. He and Yamato could flit about and be impossibly anal and good-natured, saving puppies from trees and carrying old ladies’ groceries.

‘Maybe I’m a little tireder than I thought. Something was definitely wrong with that phrase.’

“Aiko?”

“If you think you’re escaping without a good morning kiss, you are severely mistaken.” Jokingly, she pressed a kiss against the back of his neck and nuzzled him.

Sai gave a good natured sigh and twisted around to give her a flat look.

She giggled and released him. “Alright, alright. You know you’re going to be late anyways. Just tell the Hokage you’re sorry.”

“I apologize for my tardiness, Hokage-sama.” The little twerp gave her one of those patently false grins. The knuckles in Sasuke’s hand creaked ominously when he unconsciously formed a fist. “I was detained by a fair maiden.”

“My god, it’s catching,” Shizune breathed lowly, eyes wide with horrified fascination.

Naruto was practically vibrating with rage. “Not you too,” he growled, grabbing Sai’s collar and yanking on it. Sai merely blinked at him.

“My apologies. I-”

‘This has gone on long enough.’

“I don’t want any of your excuses,” Tsunade interrupted. For the first time, she genuinely rued handing the boy over to Hatake’s team. What the hell was it about that man that inspired devotion and imitation?

She tabled the thought for later.

“And Mr. Ukki needs to be watered every other day, but the begonias can go a week without. They like to be rotated every other day, though, so that they get sunshine everywhere.”

Aiko nodded along and tried to look attentive, even as Naruto detailed how often his mail needed to be picked up to prevent the post office from sending him nasty missives about his full box. Every other day, apparently. He wrote a lot of letters.

“Look, how long are you guys really expecting to be gone?” She raised an eyebrow inquisitively, but Naruto didn’t get the hint.

“I have no idea!” He chirped cheerfully, flashing a toothy grin. “But I bet it’s going to be awesome! I told you we were working with Asuma’s team, right? He’s a wind type too and he agreed to give me some pointers.” He gave a fist-pump. “I’m going to get that wind-natured Rasengan.”

‘Well, whatever works.’

She wasn’t particularly broken up about not being brought along on this mission in specific, though the timing stank. Yamato and Sai could take care of the boys, even if team Ten wasn’t there to pick up the slack. How much trouble could they really get into in a temple, for kami’s sake?

“You do that.” Absentmindedly, she tousled his hair (and was a bit miffed that she had to reach so far up to do it. If he didn’t stop growing she was going to put bricks on his head to stop that shit herself) and grinned at the indignant yowl the action drew out.

“Cut that out, Nee-chan,” Naruto whined, ruffling his hair back up into the ragtag arrangement of spikes that he seemed to favor. Personally, it looked utterly without law or order to her, but it wasn’t her hair. He gave her a surprisingly stern look. “If you ever want to be awesome like me, you’ll have to at least get the original Rasengan down, or you’ll never catch up before I make it even better. Even the pervy sage has the first level.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aiko muttered resentfully, pursing her lips and looking away.

‘Even the pervy sage? He has a twisted way of gauging competency. Proficiency with the Rasengan is hardly the only measure of strength.’

“I mean it.” He slung an arm over her shoulders and steered her out of the post office, his free hand gesturing animatedly even though it was full of envelopes. “You can’t give up just because the second part is harder! Even though that’s so weird, because once I had the first part down, the second really wasn’t that big of a deal and I don’t understand why you’re having so much trouble-”

“Okay, okay,” she interrupted. “Feel free to stop insulting me at any time.”

She probably did know why she had gotten stuck on that stupid purple rubber ball she was beginning to hate. This was hardly her first rodeo in regards to free-form movement of water: so as soon as she’d gotten past the barriers of problems created by maintaining multiple currents without letting them bleed into one another, the water balloon had been easy enough to burst. Cockily, she had thought that the second practice aid would be similarly easy, assuming that she was just that good.

Apparently, air currents were very different to manipulate. Moving air in general was hard. Grasping the damn particles was a massive pain, and forcing them to move according to her will sucked. She could make one current, but as soon as she tried to maintain more than that everything fell apart. Using air as a medium wasn’t as intuitive as using water as a medium.

Hopefully she wouldn’t have such a hard time when it came to using raw chakra and no medium, even if it apparently handled more like air than like water.

As soon as Naruto had gone, she flitted off to run through her self-assigned route. She’d had it on her mind throughout their conversation: apparently, she had been sleeping too deeply to wake up at her alarm, and her brother had come to find her immediately after his briefing to ask her to take care of the house while he was gone. So she had been almost two hours late to run her circuit.

‘It was dumb to stress. Nothing happened, of course.’

Konoha’s northern forests were just as peaceful and free of enemy nin as they could generally be expected to be.

Of course, that left her not knowing what to do with herself. It was bizarre to be stuck in Konoha when almost everyone she spent time with was out on a mission or working. Karin was in the hospital, Ino and Hinata were probably training, and Anko was nowhere to be found. ‘I suppose I could hunt down Kakashi and see if he wants to eat ice cream and talk about boys.’

Involuntarily, she snorted. Probably not, though it was incredibly poor timing for every girl she was remotely close to to be out of town. She’d have to wait for Karin to get back in from wherever she was. Well. She supposed she could talk to Anko, but that was bound to end in tears and humiliation. The older girl was hilarious, but maybe not the person she wanted to gossip about her first sexual experience with. Ino or Karin would find it much easier to relate to her current experiences on the same level, and Anko wasn’t maternal enough to be able to empathize with her throughout the barrier of their lack of shared experiences.

‘So instead of anything remotely enjoyable and useful, I will instead go to that awful meeting.’

She slumped, not caring that she was walking down one of the main streets and she probably looked like a lunatic about to break out into tears. It had been outright cruel of Tsunade to keep from assigning her to a mission just so that she was in town for one of those council meetings, even if it had been couched as a favor. She’d never thought she’d end up with the inverse of a sinecure. It was thankless and idiotic and took up far too much time.

Aiko probably spent far too much time moping over the fact that she had to go to that stupid meeting. That meant she had to rush through preparations to be fit for public. She had replaced the first mesh bodysuit with one that followed more closely to the design of a swimsuit than the weird things with half-legs and half-sleeves, and preferred it immensely. It didn’t weigh down her limbs but still provided protection to the majority of her vital points. The only weapon weighing her down was the single Hiraishin kunai she carried strapped to the underside of her right arm. It did mean that she had to be careful with how she held her arm to keep it from showing, but it was better than going totally without conventional weapons. She was never unarmed by any means, but sometimes steel could do what fists, seals, or ninjutsu just couldn’t. As had become tradition, she slipped on a kimono (orange this time) and the blue butterfly pin before she hurried out the door at the most dignified trot she could manage.

She spoke her piece early: advocating for a re-design of the genin corps, and then sat while the other suggestions were volleyed. Some of them seemed to completely miss the point to her. What good would encouraging more shinobi to settle down to reproduce early do? Trying to persuade more civilians to send their children to the Academy was a little closer, but still wouldn’t get at the real problems.

On the bright side, there did seem to be a chance that she could make a positive change in Konoha through her assignment. By whose standards that chance might be positive varied, however. Probably not by those of the grumpy old men and women who were her peers in the Council.

At this point she wouldn’t deny that the large council had been right to notice that the current graduation rates weren’t putting the village on track to regain full military strength. They had been experiencing a time of comparative peace for long enough that they really should have been in the full bloom of power for the last couple of years. But they weren’t. Konoha was hardly about to lose their position as one of the five strongest villages, but their large numbers and economic prosperity hadn’t lead to a proportional increase in sheer power.

Sarutobi hadn’t been an incompetent peacetime leader, though he had been better in a time of war. (As far as she could tell, he had been better at warfare but preferred a soft touch). He had altered the graduation and academy requirements after political affairs had settled down between the time of Uchiha Itachi’s enrollment and her own. In wartime, the philosophy had been to churn out as many moderately competent soldiers as possible as quickly as possible, which made it easier for children who had already been trained by family members to meet minimum requirements and test out of the system.

That system had many drawbacks, but the one that mattered to the Council was that it was a short-term stopgap measure. Those unprepared soldiers (who had less mental conditioning, less maturity, less everything that mattered) burnt out faster than their counterparts, cracked under stress and were unable to acclimate to other conditions, or got killed and were totally lost as resources.

Those truths were the ones Sarutobi had used to alter the Academy curriculum and requirements. It became much more difficult to graduate after that, and she didn’t see a single example of a student who spent less than four years in the Academy in the last ten years. It was a stark change from the prior situation, and one that she could appreciate.

But it wasn’t perfect either. Though even the dead-last by the new graduation standards was ahead of the curve for the old requirements, the few elites that the system hoped to nurture had a lot riding on their frail shoulders. The third Hokage must have been a big believer in the master-apprentice relationship at that point in his life, because it was clearly where he had drawn inspiration. Much in the manner that he had been taught by the second Hokage and he had hoped to teach the fourth, the aim was to give Konoha a backbone of A and S-class warriors that would outnumber the high-ranked analogues in other countries through close personal attention to their most promising canditates.

Of course, in pursuit of that aim, they had sacrificed the large proportion of respectably B-classed shinobi that formed the meat of the forces in places like Cloud and Stone and had to make do with masses of largely self-taught C classed shinobi who struggled up to Chuunin from the genin corps instead.

The genin corps as a concept wasn’t unique to Konoha, and nor was the fact that those within it were encouraged to become relatively low level jacks of all trades as opposed to specializing. A genin corps member with the talent to succeed in that type of competency could pick a specialty after becoming a Chuunin and make special Jounin, but that was about the pinnacle of what someone who wasn’t picked to apprentice could expect to achieve.

To her eye, the obvious solution to their low numbers of high level fighters lay in the way that they thought about the genin corps. She did understand that not every child had the raw natural ability of a future elite, and that it wasn’t necessary to push them that way – or even intelligent to think that it would be advisable to try to make everyone perform to such high standards. Someone had to perform the bulk of the low-risk and glory-less missions that paid the bills, of course. For most Konoha shinobi, D and C class drudgery was the characteristic common denominator of their lifetime of servitude to the village and not an episode that was short and quickly forgotten when they moved up in the ranks.

But the reliable drones who kept the village buzzing with prosperity in times of lazy peace became a liability in more dangerous times. They were vulnerable to strike teams from the enemies’ higher-ranked and more specialized shinobi. Having higher quality shinobi in fewer numbers was a great strategy for assaults but a shitty one for defense. So Tsunade would have to compensate by increasing the numbers of lower ranked shinobi on any specific mission. Once their numbers started to thin from casualties… they would be on the defensive.

‘Actually, she’s probably reinforcing all the border outpost guards now.’

It would have taken a few days to rearrange all active assignments, and Cloud’s jinchuuriki had only been killed less than a week ago. It would take a full day at the very least for genin and Chuunin teams to make their way to the border outposts. More than that, if they were doing sweeps on their way out, which they just about had to be.

Any half-decent strategist would know that. If she were in charge of Cloud’s forces, she would have gone with a strike force deployed as soon as they’d decided to blame Konoha to hopefully get in before fortifications could be flawlessly tightened—she would aim take out a few high value targets to put Konoha on the defensive, sow panic and confusion. That type of strike could make it possible to wring concessions and force Konoha to back down.

But that was a personal preference. Others might not see the value in anything less than peace or total annihilation. It was admittedly risky to allow your enemies to hold some of their own strength. Not that there weren’t dangers in going for ‘mercy’ and being internationally perceived as weak. Lightning might actually have to challenge Konoha to keep their status. If that was their motivation, then a war in name would suffice. If this really was a vendetta fueled by the Raikage’s sense of loss, however… He would only be satisfied with blood and ash.

Time would tell. But probably not much time.

She must have spoken relatively well, because her suggestion wasn’t tossed out. It wasn’t adopted either, but that didn’t seem to be the way things were done in bureaucracy. Yet another session and smaller committee would be dedicated to investigating the support and logistics available for three of the possibilities mentioned in today’s meeting, hers among them.

Konoha was struggling under the weight of its own bloated government, in some ways. But at least those structures could be manipulated into the occasional bout of usefulness.

Still dressed up like a porcelain doll and not particularly unhappy about it now that it wasn’t a novelty, Aiko wandered out from the council hall en route for dinner. There wasn’t enough time for her to bother getting groceries for dinner before she went out to check the forest in her self-imposed patrol that even she was beginning to feel serious about.

“Uzumaki-chan?”

The unusual address and a voice she hardly ever heard caught her attention. Kurenai was giving her a polite wave from inside the restaurant Aiko had just wandered into, sitting with a blue-haired woman she didn’t recognize.

“Kurenai-senpai,” she greeted politely, gracing the older girl with an incline of her neck. The hastily-chosen title was a formality to be polite and not because she had actually worked with Kurenai enough to see her as a mentor figure.

Kurenai seemed to note the same truth with a bit of amusement. “I don’t think there’s any call for that. We hold the same rank, after all.”

There was something dry but not exactly displeased about the way she said that. Bitterness wouldn’t have been entirely unjustified, considering she was probably hyper aware that Aiko’s promotion had come almost shockingly early in her career. Sure, she was older than Kakashi or Itachi had been when they hit Jounin, but the ‘average’ Jounin could hardly be compared to people like that. And there was probably more than a fair share of bitterness aimed at those extraordinary types, if one was to be honest.

So she didn’t protest, and gave Kurenai a self-effacing smile that was intended to communicate that she wasn’t the egotist that many would expect from someone who had shot up in the ranks. “Kurenai-san, then?” At the amused look on the brunette’s face, she blinked innocently and modified the question to a saccharine, “Kurenai-neechan?”

“That’ll do. Would you sit with us? This is a friend of mine, Otohime. Otohime, this is Uzumaki Aiko.”

“Otohime-san,” Aiko nodded politely, and took a free chair without letting onto her confusion at the invitation. Was Kurenai just curious and friendly, or was there a specific reason?

Looking at her dinner companions didn’t seem to answer that question. Otohime was pretty as a picture, and almost impossibly delicate for a shinobi. The conversation that followed indicated that delicacy was because she was in fact a civilian who Kurenai had been friends with since childhood.

The other two had already ordered, but the waitress that came around didn’t mind having their meals delayed until Aiko’s was ready as well.

“So.” Otohime blinked golden eyes at Aiko, seeming to see right through to her soul. “You’re really a kunoichi, then? Aiko-chan, you’re so little!” She reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Aiko was momentarily stunned by the other woman’s forwardness and didn’t respond before Kurenai chuckled.

“Don’t be alarmed, but if you’re not careful, she’ll talk you into resigning and sign you up to work for her.”

Otohime’s grip tightened around Aiko’s hand, and she gave a faux-stern pout at her taller friend. “What she means is that I recruit dancers, but she makes me sound like a yakuza. Kurenai-chan, why are you so unkind to me?”

Uncertainly, she pulled her hand out of Otohime’s soft, perfumed grip and tucked it onto her lap. “Ah, flattering, Otohime-san, but I’m afraid I have no natural ability.”

The look she received was absolutely scathing. “If you can learn taijutsu, you can learn traditional dance.”

“No, I keep telling you that you’ll be surprised,” Kurenai interrupted fondly, leaning on a hand. “There’s a big difference between learning to perform the dance of death and the less…” she cleared her throat and shrugged. “Well, you know what I mean. Besides, I think Aiko-chan’s current career is going relatively well. I feel like I know you much better than I do because I hear about you every so often. Hatake is insufferably proud of you, I hope you know.”

Embarrassment warmed her cheeks, but she couldn’t imagine him ever saying anything like that. Maybe he would say something to her if she needed encouragement, but he wasn’t the type to brag.

Kurenai must have read the question in her expression, because she easily answered it. “Of course he’s proud, everyone wants to see their students end up doing well. He’s not a man who shares those feelings openly, of course, but whenever Asuma has to whine about Shikamaru-kun being uncooperative he’s always just a little too hasty to muse that he never had those sorts of problems.”

“He is kind of a jackass,” Aiko admitted frankly, forcing the smile off her face. An attractive, intelligent, and ultimately well-meaning jackass, but a jackass nonetheless. She actually liked that about him. Difficult, cantankerous people were fabulous, and his bitch-fu was among the best when he cared to drag his nose out a book to deliver scathing commentary.

Apparently the other two women hadn’t been expecting that bit of bluntness. Kurenai twitched, but Otohime tossed her head back and laughed. “I’ve not met the man, but that’s an amusing character description when juxtaposed with how fond you seem. Perhaps you should introduce me?”

“I like you far too much for that,” Kurenai deflected dryly, before seeming to remember that Aiko was there. “No offence meant, of course!” She waved cutely to deflect a sense of hostility.

Aiko shrugged, forgetting how ungainly the motion would be in formal dress. “None taken. He can be difficult to deal with outside of professional settings.” She stopped and added, “And in them, I suppose.”

Conversation changed after their food arrived, leaving talk of shinobi that Otohime was unfamiliar with behind in favor of the food, weather, and the most recent princess Fuin movie. The focus on anything but the depressing political climate was almost too pointed.

“It was very nice to meet you, Otohime-san.” She genuinely smiled at her two dinner companions when they parted at the door. “And talking with you was fun as well, Kurenai-neechan. Thank you for the dinner invitation, this was much better than eating alone.”

“It was no trouble on my part,” Kurenai assured her, buttoning the jacket she had brought to contend with the night air. “I miss a large dinner party when Asuma’s team is out of town.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Aiko put a finger to her lips in mock thought, itching to confirm a theory. “You two are a couple, yes?”

Kurenai looked like she’d been slapped with a fish. “O-of cour- Where did you hear that?” she rapidly changed tracks, fighting off a blush and giving an ineffectual glare to Otohime, who was engaging in the least graceful hyena cackles Aiko had ever heard.

“From you,” she confirmed blandly. “Before now, it was just a pet theory. I hope to see you again!” Aiko whipped around and set off for home without letting Kurenai recover from her embarrassment, in large part because she liked having the last word. Of course, the setting sun was a reminder…

‘It’s time that I go check on those seals again.’

Really, she was starting to feel spectacularly silly about it. It was possible that her fear of Danzo was outweighing her good sense and that she was engaging in a futile exercise.

At war with herself, she wandered to the outskirts of town and took a deep breath of the heady air. Eventually, she decided, ‘It can’t be embarrassing if no one else knows about how silly I’m being. If I don’t do it, it’ll bother me all night and I won’t be able to sleep. For my own peace of mind, if nothing else, I can go check one more time tonight.’

She seriously considered going home first and changing. But it would be a waste of time. She would just have to change into bedclothes as soon as she came back again, and changing twice would be stupid. Of course, she could just change directly into bedclothes, but getting seen wandering the woods in a kimono would still be less embarrassing than the same in her pajamas. It would just be a quick trip.

Flicker. Flicker. Flicker. Seal after seal, working from the village to the borders, showed nothing out of the ordinary. Until they did, and she was blinking at a rush of color to her left. Reflexively, she leapt and turned—which saved her life.

She didn’t take much time to gape at the three blades quivering in a tree-trunk several inches from her torso.

‘Well, shit. I think I can’t count on the element of surprise.’

“Where the hell did she come from?” a practically dressed blonde woman seemed to ask her group at large. And it was a rather large group, considering that she was one girl. Two full squads… eight enemy shinobi. Well within the limits of Konoha’s territory… Had they really all managed to creep past a patrolled border, or did this mean that a larger force had actually taken an outpost?

Unsettling thoughts to be investigated later, she supposed.

“Ah, hello adorable Cloud shinobi!” Aiko greeted cheerily with a very Kakashi-esque wave. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” Aiko tilted her head and blinked cutely, letting the loose bits of her hair move over her shoulders.

A dark-haired man twitched.

Confusing the hell out of them might work just as well as surprise. She probably looked quite the picture—unarmed as far as the eye could see, suddenly appearing in their midst in a full kimono with her headband tucked around her blue and red obi. Thankfully, her kimono was only secured tightly at the waist and allowed her a lot more range of movement than it appeared to. If she had to do anything especially acrobatic like high-kicks she might be indecent, but that was a lesser evil compared to dead.

‘Strangely, I really like the theatricality of this. There are shinobi who wear kimono in the field. I do like pretty things, and these sleeves are great for hiding things… Maybe I should give the wardrobe change a try.’

Unfortunately, no matter how weird she chose to act, they weren’t all off balance enough to fail to recognize that she was a possible threat. “Sorry little girl.” She didn’t recognize the pale man who moved into a defensive posture, but he was a total fox, with incongruously dark eyes and slightly mussed sandy hair. “We can’t allow Konoha dogs to live.”

Suddenly, she hated him. He needed to be taken down a peg or two. Sure, Konoha sort of sucked, but Naruto wasn’t going to settle for being Kage of just any shithole. And besides…

“What’s so wrong with dogs?” Aiko grasped three Hiraishin seals and blurred into motion, dropping directly behind him and yanking his headband off with brutal force that snapped his head backwards and took to the trees in the next motion. Even as she did it, she darkened her chakra signature and went absolutely silent, crouched in the treetop above-head to give herself a moment to think as she slipped the stolen headband under her sleeve.

‘What do I do? If I kill them all, there would be no chance of reconciliation with Cloud, and that’s if I could even manage that. I don’t actually want to be the impetus for a full-fledged war. The Raikage is attacking us because he’s convinced we’re responsible for B’s death. We’ll need every ally we can get to destroy Akatsuki, or at least to not be fighting on two fronts. I could get reinforcements, but anyone else would probably just want to kill them all.’

But she couldn’t let them think Konoha was weak either. The only thing that would stall further escalation would be to scare the absolute fucking crap out of them. She did have one tool in her arsenal that was unmistakably Konoha’s and undeniably terrifying.

Grimly, she swallowed. ‘Let’s hope that the thunder god is still causing nightmares in Lightning, because most of them look way too young to remember Minato.’

“Up there!”

‘He’s a sensor,’ she noted dimly, switching position rapidly even as the practically-dressed blonde woman she’d noted earlier charged up the tree she’d been hiding in. That one must be one of their big guns, then. Odd that she was the only woman in their party.

Stealing the cutie’s headband had been an impulse, but it really wasn’t a terrible idea. Humiliating them could backfire if they were the types to get stronger and perform better when pissed off, but it would also be a good demonstration of strength on her part.

As would separating them. That would be good psychological warfare: if they didn’t know what she was doing, seeing her pick off party members without a trace of a body would be seriously unnerving.

She stopped moving just long enough to hone in on one of the more intimidating-looking fighters (not so coincidentally, one who was on the outskirts of the group) and darted in with the aid of a seal to use inhuman speed to snatch him up by the back of his weird asymmetrical flak jacket and ricocheted the both of them outside of Konoha’s borders. Her left hand shot up to tug off his headband and her right rabbit punched him twice between the shoulder blades and sent him stumbling forward in the same instant that they hit the ground in a new location.

He spun around just in time to see her cheekily hold up his cloud insignia with one hand before tilting her arm to let it slip down her wrist with the other one. “This is nice, I think I’ll keep it, Shinobi-kun.”

‘That oughta leave him steaming.’

The curve to her lips belied her thoughts—it was hard to lie to yourself. She’d done that because it was funny just as much as any tactical reason. Killing these people could backfire, but leaving them stranded and confused in some rice field would be an utterly humiliating way of asserting her superiority over them. (Even if, you know, they would probably wipe the floor with her in a fair match. What the hell did actual physical superiority have to do with dominance?)

One of the first things she needed to do was thin their numbers and leave anyone who wasn’t going to end up in Konoha’s custody thoroughly fucking disoriented. With the flying thunder god on her side, she was almost certainly faster than any of them could hope to be. That didn’t mean that they couldn’t get her when she inevitably stopped to get her bearings, especially if she was so outnumbered.

But she had been gone almost two full seconds, and she could hardly leave the others alone within her country’s borders. So she blurred back into motion, Hiraishin war-song drowning out all other sounds in her ears.

“t fuck just-”

“She’s here again!” The only unmarked shinobi in that clearing was frowning in her direction. Damn,    he was a hell of a sensor.

“You’re annoying!” Aiko barked out, grimacing at the hottie who had besmirched her hometown and summon animal in one fell swoop. He had to go. But he was too annoying to be released into the wild to awkwardly stumble until he found someplace to give him directions (as hilarious and embarrassing as that would be).

She crouched and sprang to dodge the blonde woman—and hell, she was fast—and darted to the man who had been a thorn in her side. Unfortunately, he was quick on the uptake and had already moved the first time that she flickered to snatch him in a flanking maneuver.

He didn’t dodge her the second time. He probably didn’t even know what had happened until her hand fisted in the black zip-up sleeveless top above his asymmetrical flak jacket.

“What the hell!” Tsunade stood up with such force that her chest bounced up nearly to hit her in the chin.

“I brought you a present!” Aiko chirped, shoving her blonde captive into the beautiful mahogany desk with an unpleasant thunk as his forehead collided with the dark wood. Belatedly, an ANBU leapt out of hiding and reached for her prisoner.

Tsunade looked pained. “Is that a lightning shinobi?” Her tone was merely incredulous, but that didn’t stop her from reaching out and punching the poor blond chump in the head with enough force to send him flying to the back wall before the ANBU could secure him. Something in their prisoner’s back crunched when he collided next to the doorframe. After a moment, he peeled off and limply fell forward.

She almost felt bad for him. Getting caught up in someone else’s transportation technique was sucky enough when you weren’t immediately pummeled in the head by a Kage afterwards. He probably wouldn’t be walking in a straight line for a few days.

Well. As long as there wasn’t any more head trauma, he would probably be fine.

“Yes, I think there’s six more in the northwest, about twenty-five kilometers south of the yellow outpost. Do you want the rest?”

“In my office?” Tsunade asked a bit weakly. The ANBU securing the chump with wire didn’t seem more impressed. The door flung open and Shizune burst in, wielding steel.

“If you don’t want them, I could just ditch them outside the border like wayward puppies,” Aiko generously offered, brushing her hair back and dropping the two collected headbands on Tsunade’s desk with an absentminded clatter of metal plates. “I should hurry though, I don’t want to leave the rest alone.”

“Those poor bastards,” Tsunade muttered. Shizune just looked confused. The Hokage stiffened seriously and pinned her with an intense stare. “I don’t want any more in my office. Their aim was probably something in the village and we don’t know that bringing them in wouldn’t help them. This one will do as a political prisoner—he’s one of the Raikage’s bodyguards.”

“Grass and Wave Country it is,” Aiko muttered with a distracted nod.

“Wait don’t go back out-” Tsunade slumped slightly, having leaned over her desk in an attempt to reach the teen before she left. “without reinforcements,” she finished wryly, dropping back into her seat. “It would also have been nice to know where exactly she found them. Shizune, get me the best sensor we have in-village, and a strike team.” She held up a hand at a sudden thought. “Two teams! We need to check on that outpost.”

“Hai, Hokage-sama!” Shizune nodded and darted out of the office.

“You, get that man to Ibiki,” she brusquely commanded the ANBU. He hightailed it out of there, the man  called ‘C’ slung ungracefully over his massive shoulder (a tousled blonde head hit the doorframe with a rather sickening crack as Boar made a run for Torture and Interrogations).

Alone in her office, Tsunade swallowed down nervousness and resisted the urge to tug on her ponytails. Sitting her office when she knew one of her shinobi was fighting within her borders was against everything in her heart.

After having two of their comrades spirited away (and plenty of time to ruminate on the odd disappearances) the remaining Cloud shinobi had apparently figured out the working strategy of ‘not staying still’.

It was frustratingly effective when she was fluttering about a group as large as this one. Her perception and predictive ability was good, but not flawless by any means. Being outnumbered and trying to pick out targets put her at a vexing disadvantage.

‘Why couldn’t they be stupid enough to stand their ground?’

Time to be a bit more blatant.

Aiko shoved her hands into the opposite sleeves (obscuring the movement so that it would be difficult to tell where the weapon would be coming from) to unhook the kunai on her right arm and drew it out in a snapping motion, directly at the blonde woman.

“Hiraishin!” Someone called out with a strange clipped tone that blurred as she slipped time and space like a fucking champion. She didn’t see who had yelled, but was thankful that using the conventional method had finally clued them in. Now if they would just please be obliging enough to be irrationally frightened of Konoha’s bogeyman technique and scarper off, that’d be great.

She was too close to her target to see if any eyes widened in comprehension or fear. In the same millisecond that she emerged in front of her target with her hand already wrapped around her weapon, she ducked down under the arm that was moving to deflect her kunai with a Cloud arm guard (snatching her kunai down with her) to hit the other girl with as much force as she could muster with her free hand, along with an explosive-primed seal.

Unfortunately, she was no Tsunade. It would hardly be a finishing blow, but she would have hoped to at least stun her opponent. It was not to be.

Even as the force of her blow brought the other girl curling over, a vicious and flexible double-kick snapped Aiko’s knees in a direction that they definitely did not want to bend. Horrifyingly, her opponent seemed to have suddenly grown several inches of razor-sharp toenails that cut into the flesh above Aiko’s knees, puncturing her pretty kimono and sticking it to her flesh with dots of hot blood.

‘Her taijutsu is probably better than mine. She’s faster than I am sans Hiraishin, and she’s definitely physically stronger. It’s like taking a punch from Naruto, sturdy little bastard that he is.’

If she didn’t have Hiraishin, she might in serious shit. But short of something like a disorienting poison or a state of unconsciousness, that massive cheat card could hardly be taken away from her. So Aiko avoided the next blow by means of orienting between three seals to settle behind the group (most of whom had spun to look at the two girls).

The gaping dolts weren’t here to look pretty, apparently, as demonstrated by the unpleasant speed with which two men spun to leap in her direction. She darted backwards and ran a few feet up a tree before jumping to another one, raising her voice in a taunting shout. “You know, you chumps have already failed!” She gave an involuntary ‘huff’ when a flying- was that an axe of all the things- forced her to dodge and flip upwards, grimacing and crouching to get the momentum to bound across the clearing over the blonde lady’s head, at least one man in hot pursuit.

At least she was faster than they were, but even if she was faster, dodging so many put her at a disadvantage. “The grumpy one is in the Hokage’s custody, and at least one team is on the way out here. How does it feel to completely suck at your job?”

An incoherent growl rose up from behind her and the unbearable heat of a near miss from a lightning strike seared across her back, probably singing her clothes from proximity.

‘Ah. Right. Shinobi from the land of Lightning and all that jazz. Can’t stay still if I don’t want to get fried.’

“I guess that means that it sucks to suck.” Aiko swallowed hard, feeling mildly ill from bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. She flung the kunai in her hand straight up into the air so that she could flicker to it and get an aerial view of the clearing. Three of the freakishly persistent lightning shinobi were already in the motion of looking up when she blinked down. She hung suspended in the air in a crouched position for a bare instant to survey the area.

‘One, two, three, four… where are the other two?’

Ah. There they were. One was blending into the tree she had just been on under a genjutsu (that was lucky, he could have killed her if she hadn’t just switched trajectories) and the other one was hiding under ground. Shit shit shit. Neither of those would be easy to grab.

One of the men was slightly further away from the others. That had to be her next target. She drew the kunai close to her chest and snapped it back out in a path that should end a few feet above his head and caught it again a heartbeat later, kicking her feet onto his shoulders and letting her momentum help her ride him to the ground. He hit the dirt face-first in what had to be a painful forwards fall, but the maneuver (and the slight unresponsiveness in her knees that she hadn’t accounted for after the clawed kick they’d  taken earlier) left her on a downward path that was going to end with her knees buckling under and her ass hitting her heels. Her torso wanted to bend forward, but the woman in purple and black was coming in hot.

Fuck, didn’t she ever give up or take a second to react? She was relentless and demonically fast.

Aiko could see how the current tableau was going to play out as if it had already happened. If she didn’t move, that scarily strong woman was going to knock her head straight off her shoulders. (Or cut it off with the freaky claws she’d gained in the last minute-and-a-half. Where did those come from?) There was no chance that she would be able to unfold her legs and jump out of the way in time. Perhaps she could roll to one side or another, but that would leave her vulnerable on the ground in the next second as well.

So Aiko snapped her torso backwards with painful force, flinging her hands over her head up to blindly grab at whatever she could reach of the shinobi behind her, came up with a handful of his hair (and barely missed grasping a shoulder) and pulled on the first tag she felt. That one wasn’t nearly far enough away, so she took the millisecond necessary to seek out the tag in Mist and pull on it and two others.

If she’d done that right, they were probably in Wave. She probably hadn’t, however, since the next thing she knew was that she was soaking wet, having apparently landed on a body of water. Her head collided with the surface with a cold shock and she would have sputtered if she wasn’t breathing in salt water. Her body was still curled up backwards, but at least landing in water gave her the mobility to straighten simply by kicking her legs straight (even though that left her floating face-up instead of in any tactical position).

A blow to the back of her head made her see white and lose her grip on a fistful of short-ish hair.

‘Right. That guy. He’s still here and conscious.’

The force of the punch had actually sent her further underwater and would have been considerably worse if it hadn’t been slowed by their surroundings. Her opponent was on top of her in the water, the preferable position. He could very easily kill her.

If she’d stayed, that was. Aiko frantically pulled on the first three tags she could register (by coincidence, the one in Mist, one on the northern border, and one in Grass) and landed somewhere between the three, violently spitting out foul water even as she awkwardly touched down on solid ground with her hastily bent legs. She was probably in Rice country, though she wasn’t about to consult her map. Especially since there was still a fist curled in her hair.

She yanked her head forward and ignored the pain, because the angle dragged his arm up and allowed her to twist just enough to elbow the man behind her with adrenaline-fueled force that audibly snapped a rib. He howled in her ear and let his grip loosen out of shock. It was all the opportunity she needed to turn the rest of the way to push one palm on his chest (planting a seal reflexively) and wrap her fingers of the other hand around the warm metal of his forehead protector. She removed it with the simple expedient of leaping straight upwards and pulling it with her (though there was more than a bit of hair caught in the knot at the back, ew).

‘What happened to my kunai?’

Fuck. It had probably been dropped in the water, and she wasn’t in the mood to go back for it.

“Bye bye, asshole!” Aiko bit out with considerably more venom than was strictly necessary. He’d been a bigger pain in the ass than anticipated.

The five Cloud shinobi still in the clearing were inured enough to her coming and going that they didn’t jump to see her reappear. Though there was at least one confused double-take at her dripping hair and clothes. She took a moment to tug the hairpin hanging limply from her skull free and tuck it under her obi for safe-keeping. Damn, that was a good accessory. A lesser bit of jewelry would have been knocked free in a scuffle like that.

“Almost halfway done!” Aiko taunted as she crouched in a ready position, concealing her breathless and mildly lightheaded state from gulping in water instead of air a few moments ago.

“Don’t be so arrogant!” The blonde woman called out in a bizarrely low growl. Hadn’t her voice been much higher a few minutes ago? Odd.

“We should retreat!” The look that accompanied that call was wide-eyed and frankly a bit crazy, but at that moment Aiko loved the older man who’d given it. “If there are more coming, our mission is lost.”

“Coward!” The rasp was all but inhuman. And it frightened the Cloud shinobi as much or more than Aiko did, because all but one of the men in that clearing turned tail to run. “We can’t get our primary target, but there’s a shinobi right there!” The odds looked significantly better for a bare instant, even if she was now mulling over the unpleasant possibility that there was something going on other than murder that she hadn’t figured out.

Then her heart thudded to her gut. ‘I’m in over my head.’

It wasn’t just that she was outnumbered by high level shinobi. Or that she knew she couldn’t possibly have reinforcements in time to help if this went badly. Those things weren’t bad enough on their own merits, so it was just the cherry on top that she’d never fought a jinchuuriki before.

Well. There was that time with Gaara, but that had been short and she’d had back up. And he had been overwhelmed by his demon into a state of stupid brutality. The blonde woman who had just sprouted the beginnings of a virtual cloak of chakra was definitely in control of her facilities, judging by the obvious intelligence glittering in her eyes and mona lisa smile.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck.’

[learreal]

ModernAU SNS, established relationship. They are very much serious adults and it's Sasuke's birthday.

Naruto hesitates at first, thinking it may be too childish of a gift, but Sasuke doesn't seem to mind when he presents it to him.

Sasuke's 27th birthday starts in a café with Sakura, Itachi and Shisui, continues with the two of them going to an exhibition Sasuke wanted to see and ends up in a restaurant. It's already twilight when they get home.

Sasuke looks happy and a little bit tired. Naruto feels warm and content – something about Sasuke's soft smile and state of peace always makes him feel grateful and calm himself.

– So, I know this isn't a fancy birthday present and I do have another one in case you won't like this one but-

– Just show it already. You have a good eye for personal gifts.

Sasuke reassures and smirks at Naruto's mumbling. So cute. And then gets absolutely astounded by the gift.

A basket filled with... crochet tomatoes. In difderent sizes. With a violet ribbon on the side. Sasuke takes it and stares at the real-sized cherry tomatoes and then picks them up. They are not as light as he thought they would be. He puts them on the sofa and sits down to get to the more "your regular salad size" ones. These turn out to be very squishy! Filled with little balls they use in anti-stress toys. And at the bottom of the basket, there's a giant round tomato that Sasuke squishes from the sides.

– It's almost the size of your head.

– Meant to be a pillow, actually!

– Oh.

Sasuke realizes he haven't given a normal reaction and smiles back at Naruto wholeheartedly.

– I love it, Naruto. They're great. I'll have some at my desk! And I needed a pillow for the chair anyways.

– Yep, I got these with the fact in mind and! I actually thought that you can throw the cherry ones at me when you're mad or unsettled to ease the tension. Or squish the pillow till it's flat. It's made to restore shape afterwards.

Naruto smiles easily, freely. As always conciderate of his wellbeing and emotional state. Sasuke purses his lips. It's hard not to be touched with these gestures even after many years of being together.

Sasuke pushes back his tears and starts throwing the cherry tomatoes at Naruto. He laughs and tries to catch them, breaking the silence.

– Ow! For what!? You said you liked them!

– Usoratokachi.

– Yeah, yeah. I love you too.

Naruto catches the last one and comes closer to leave a kiss on the top of his head.

– I'll make some tea. Take your time.

And leaves the room. Sasuke sighs and hugs the tomato pillow. Squishes it as hard as possible and closes his eyes. Something about Naruto always keeping in mind the smallest things about the people dear to him. Something about the way he cares and cherishes him and their relationship felt... too much sometimes. But in the best way.

As for the gift... Sasuke gets his hands on anti-stress tomatoes and decides that one of them will travel with him to work and back. As mental support.

The tea is warm and tarts turned out to be delicious. Sasuke chuckles at Naruto trying to lick the creme from the corner of his lips.

– You're such an idiot sometimes.

– Like you're not-

A kiss seems to solve it.

– By the way, what was the other present?

Naruto makes a playful brow wiggle. Sasuke rolls his eyes.

– Guess.

– Your dumb sense of humor? Imma pass.

– Hey! Actually, something we also talked about.

It takes him a couple of seconds but Sasuke figures it out. And can't help but to laugh.

– So... wait. You're telling me you got me a basket of crochet tomatoes for stress relief and a flogger?

– Uh... yes? Whatever helps best I mean-

Sasuke frowns and shakes his head. Then takes Naruto's hand and kisses his fingers softly, looking up to lock eyes. Naruto blushes immediately.

– Thank you.

– Who's birthday is it, again?...

Asks Naruto, almost breathless. Sasuke smirks and rubs his cheek against Naruto's wrist.

– Mine.

Naruto is surprisingly good in reading between the lines. When it matters.

Sasuke matters.

– Happy birthday, Sasuke.

– Save some whipped cream for later.

Sasuke already has a plan for the other gift. And it seems Naruto is fully his for the following night.

[ambroziadelphine]

Madara in the real world: Chapter 18

Masterlist

So, we had decided that it would be best to move Madara's stuff into my room; he mainly sleeps in there anyways plus he wanted to be closer to me now that there was the possibility I'd be carrying his child. It was quite nice constantly waking up to him smirking down at me or kissing somewhere on my skin in the mornings, though the anxiety of the upcoming guests we'd have here were making me nauseous almost every day now. Thankfully not enough to actually throw up, but I definitely needed to relax more. He was actually the one to bring it up which I was kind of surprised by, though I had a feeling he's been waiting for a reason to want to do this. We cleared some room in my closet and dresser, helping him organize his stuff and what not before spending some time showing Madara how to play video games. I had also tried to take down some of my Madara posters, thinking it may be a little strange before he made me put them back up, stating 'You loved me before I came here, don't change things just because I'm suddenly real.' which made me blush heavily, knowing how much dirty fanfiction I've read about him too. I stayed beside him the first few times we played something simple, starting with Minecraft to get the bare basics down first before moving onto Lethal Company or anything more complicated for someone who knew basically nothing about gaming controls.

Now though, after I've shown Madara Minecraft and he thinks he's gotten the hang of it now, he wanted to play Lethal Company with me. He wanted to 'protect' me in the game which I thought was sweet. Some discord friends joined up for a few rounds, explaining the controls to Madara considering he's already seen the gameplay. I started on a file I had previously played on, already having a slightly higher quota but with loads of stuff in the ship already. I spawned in and invited Madara through steam, which we got him an account for and I have gifted him a few games I thought he'd like, even getting the Naruto games that he was in cause I thought it was funny. After quickly showing Madara how to accept an invite on steam, and letting the other two friends Pezzy and Grizzy join too.

"Aye, Alex! What's up?" Grizzy said, his character crouching down and looking up at me.

"Hey, Grizzy, Pez." I said chuckling as they both turned to Madara and started to almost inspect him.

"And you might you be?" Pezzy asked, crouched in front of Madara.

"Uh, I'm.. Madara. I'm Alex's partner." He said hesitantly, he knew these were other people but to not be in the same room and still be able to talk to them was.. strange. To say the least.

"Partner? OOoooooo.. "Grizzy joked making me take a stop sign and hit him. "Okay, okay! Stop KILLING ME!" He yelled, voice getting higher as he got louder.

"You asked for it." I said, going to Madara's character and setting a shovel in front of him. "Okay, Madara hasn't played before so let me talk please." I said, Grizzy and Pezzy starting the ship anyways making me sigh.

"Yea no, just jump right in. It's not hard." Grizzy said, slightly chuckling as he and Pez ran out of the ship leaving us.

"You didn't even take a walkie!" I called after them, laughing as they came back to the ship only they grabbed flashlights then booked it to the door since we were on experimentation. I turned to Madara and sighed. "Okay, guess those two can go die together then." I said making him chuckle.

"Are they really going to die?" He asked as I looked at him and nodded exaggeratingly.

"Only in game though, obviously. The places we collect loot from are filled with monsters, some you can kill, some you can't. It would take a while to explain them all so instead I'll tell you as we play, okay?" I asked, he looked at me and nodded. "Okay, so the only real weapons we can use are either a shovel, which is in front of you, a shotgun, which one of the monsters called a nutcracker can drop, its like a wooden toy soldier. I also adjusted your controls a little so it'll be easier so if you want to hit someone or something with the shovel you press the R key. Do not hit one of us please as you can kill us too with it. Grizzy can get a bit trigger happy when he has a shovel or sign so best to steer clear of him if he has one." I said as I lead Madara out, climbing the latter and going through the main entrance.

"How can you tell when monsters are around?" Madara asked as we ran around inside, he had his shovel out and ready as he stuck close to me which I thought was cute.

"Well, first, stop because you're about to step on a landmine and kill us both." I said, seeing his character freeze just before he stepped on the disk with a blinking red light. "Just back up, they don't explode unless you walk over them." I told him, watching as he cautiously walked around the explosive device.

"Second, the monsters each have their own que when their near, though some have to be really close for you to hear it. There are a few acceptations to this rule like with the snareflee bug, which can drop from the ceiling, usually in front of doorways, and wraps around the players head before it slowly kills them." I said, Madara ran in front of me at that, trying to go through the doorways first making me chuckle.

"Stop trying to get them to drop on you, if one lands on me you can hit it off me with the shovel. If it drops on you I need to spend more time picking the shovel up that your player will drop and by that time you'd be dead or close to it." I said, seeing him give a slightly sheepish look.

"I apologize." He said quietly making me chuckle.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you." I said as I lead him through the winding dark halls as we cam e across a steam leak. "Okay, so I need to go into the fog and turn a valve then it'll clear up. Sometimes the valves can be hard to find so it may take me a minute or two. Just stay here." I said, moving to go in when Madara glanced between my character and me in real life.

"Wait! What if there's something dangerous in there?" He asked making me chuckle.

"Then I run to you and help you kill it by baiting it to me while you hit it." I said walking into the steam and looking for the leak quickly, the fog disappearing as I heard a thumping noise making my eyes widen. "We need to leave, now. That's a thumper and they are fast and strong." I said, walking back to Madara as he ran with me back through the halls, the thumping getting louder behind us as we ran to the entrance.

"Can't we kill it?" Madara asked as I chuckled.

"You can try but I might have to drag your body back to the ship if you die." I said, seeing him pause, looking back as the thing came into view a few halls away.

"I can take it." He said making me sigh, rolling my eyes with a chuckle as he charged the thing, he hit it, I'll give him that, but he was also getting hit. Before he ended up dying I got out the stop sign I had hidden away in my inventory and ran at the thing to kill it before it could kill Madara, which I thankfully succeeded in as it dropped dead a few hits later, though I was also now injured.

"At least you didn't die." I chuckled as I looked over at Madara who huffed and looked away. "Oh, don't be a sore player, Madara. You're not nearly as bad as me when I started playing." I said making him look at me in surprise as we went back to the main entrance, still no sign of Grizzy or Pezzy so they were either dead or used the fire exit. Thankfully on the way back we found some loot, Madara found a jar of pickles and a hairbrush which he was very confused by, then we left the building only to realize its past 5pm.

"God damnit, the damn dogs might be out." I said, I had the apparatus in my arms after we had somehow got turned around and found that room while heading back to the main entrance. "Okay, the thing I'm holding makes noise and so does walking and running, you'll need to crouch to get to the ship safely if there are dogs out. Talking can also alert them but if we're lucky, Grizzy and Pezzy should be acting like idiots in the ship as usual, so they should be ample distraction for us until we get there." I explained, Madara nodded, seeming surprisingly focused on his screen, his brows furrowed and eyes darting around as we dropped from the landing and crouch walked all the way to the ship just in time to hear Grizzy scream as a dog ran into the ship. We could hear him yelling at Pezzy for something on the way to the ship but as I stopped just by the ladder, Madara stopped behind me waiting for my next move.

"I make noise so you go in first, I'll drive them away a little." I said, running away to lead the dogs a little ways away before crouching and quickly leaving the area I just stood as the dogs charged to that spot, giving Madara the opportunity to get on the ship. I crept closer to the ship before jumping on the railing and running in, closing the door right on a dog as it glitched back outside the ship. I turned to look and saw the two bodies making me chuckle. "Well, at least we know where they are." I said, Madara chuckling slightly as I started the ship.

I didn't realize how interested in gaming Madara could be, he was a quick learner too so when it was just him and I playing left, it was still quite fun. He got the hang of how to get around, though he got quite frustrated when he would die, coming over to watch me as I took loot and him back to the ship. I was guilty of letting him be a small sacrifice to Jebb, as I couldn't resist the shocked look on his face when he was suddenly attacked and killed on a planet we all had told him was safe. We played for a while until Madara got particularly frustrated when he was trying to kill a nutcracker, trying to get the shotgun for a better weapon when it shot him, then immediately went to find me and shot me next; thus, we lost all our loot and got killed by the company then decided we'd have enough for a while. Madara smiled as he stood up from his chair, I had to get a bigger one as I thought he'd feel more comfortable in it, which he liked a lot if the sigh when he was able to lay back so easily in it was anything to go by.

It was amusing honestly to see how different he was in this world. He liked video games, though not nearly as much as me, he liked to read, watch me cook, play with Seth and he'd made it clear his favorite place to be was between my thighs at any given moment. He made sure I was happy, and I tried to do the same with him, giving him all my attention and love whenever possible which he enjoyed quite a lot.