#not sure how the games going to go but Rin has some troubles

[am0ngtheb0nes]

Peregrine Hawthorne - another Our Life 2 MC. I cannot wait for this game.

[reverie-starlight]

this is my contribution to @tetzoro 's summer olympics collab! this is so late >.< but I can't wait to go look through all the other fics people have written for the collab!!

fem!reader, no physical descriptions. fluff fluff fluff (of course). suna and aran can't stand atsumu's antics, but what else is new? atsumu misses you and he makes it everyone else's problem.

atsumu has been staring at his phone for twenty minutes.

suna makes note of this from where he's seated in the tiny living area of their shared olympic village apartment. it irritates suna, actually, because for someone who made a such big deal of their room assignments and got a bit weepy over how it reminded him of their high school days, atsumu couldn't seem to care less about his roommates right now.

aran (the third occupant of their dorm) appears in the doorway and glances between his two juniors. "is he still on that thing?" he asks, seemingly surprised by this.

suna shrugs and snaps a picture of the blonde when he smiles at his phone, quickly sending it to osamu with a message of how much of a dork his twin is.

leave him be

he replies, making suna's eyebrow raise. osamu coming to his defence? that's new.

he's got separation issues when it comes to her, I swear. he's like a puppy.

there it is. he snorts and puts his phone away, throwing a pillow at atsumu. the setter just uses it as an arm rest and continues to ignore them.

"hey, loverboy," aran calls and finally gets his attention. "we're heading down to get some lunch, ya coming?"

atsumu's eyes widen a bit. "it's that late already? yeah, I'll be down in a minute, save me a spot."

the other two look at each other knowingly and shut the door behind them.

now normally atsumu wouldn't be so glued to his screen on the first day of the olympics, but then again- last time around they were in tokyo and his girlfriend was no more than a couple hours away at any given time.

this year, he's in paris and about a 13 hour flight away with a 7 hour time difference from his fiancée. it would still be manageable for him, of course- he's not as clingy as you or his brother make him out to be, he swears- if not for the fact that your boss denied your time off and you wouldn't be in attendance at any of his games.

as soon as he's alone, he's facetiming you and the ache of not being near you is lessened by the bright smile you pop up on his screen with.

"hi 'tsum, how's it going over there?" you're cuddled up on the couch with a blanket.

he shrugs. "there's no AC. the beds are cardboard again. but I'm rooming with rin and aran, so that's nice."

"not sakusa and meian? I thought the plan was to keep the ones who played on the same league team pre-olympics in the same room?"

he shakes his head. "we got to make room requests this time. he's rooming with ushijima this time around."

you giggle and his mind goes a little fuzzy. "I'm sure after what happened in tokyo, he'd be more than happy to be rooming with anyone other than you."

atsumu rolls his eyes. "he made it seem worse than it was. we didn't even get into that much trouble, I mean, what's a little scolding from our managers?"

you raise an eyebrow. "you almost caused the entire village to evacuate."

"anyway," he transitions to another topic before he can be reminded of that night. "what are your plans for the rest the night?"

you hum thoughtfully. "I dunno, maybe I'll watch a movie... maybe I'll rewatch that clip of you almost tripping during the opening ceremonies..." your lips stretch into a playful grin as you tease him for his blunder.

"HEY, barely anyone noticed!"

you snort. "if by barely anyone, you mean everyone watching then sure, baby. oh, what time is it for you?"

he lets your comment slide for now and addresses your question instead. "just after noon, why?"

"have you eaten yet?"

"was just about to," he shrugs.

you narrow your eyes. “miya atsumu, you’d better not be skipping lunch just to talk to me.”

he’s unable keep the guilty expression off his face when you hit him with that tone. “I wasn’t-”

“don’t even think about lying to me. as soon as I hang up you’re going to go meet your teammates for lunch and make some new friends.”

he pouts, but his heart warms at the idea that you still want to take care of him all the way across the world. although he is a little offended you think he needs to make friends. “ya sound like my ma.”

“for good reason! go eat, baby, you need to stay strong and healthy for your games. plus I’d feel so guilty if you missed out on all the fun stuff with your teammates because of me.”

he sighs, finally letting himself give into his hunger and agreeing with you. you say your goodbyes and he makes his way down to the cafeteria.

the days pass and while he’s not glued to his phone at all hours of the day anymore (thanks to practices starting up again on the olympic courts), his teammates often catch him snapping as many pictures as he can, no doubt to share them with you.

they don’t know how many texts you’ve received about how amazing the chocolate muffins are, but if it’s anywhere near the number of times they’ve had to hear him mention it in a day, they feel sorry for you.

and as the day of their first game grows closer, suna and aran can tell atsumu is more on edge than usual. he’s acting like he did in high school again, and they know it’s because he’s antsy about not having his fiancée in the stands for the first time in a while.

they’ve seen him double, triple and quadruple check the time zones to make sure he didn’t misread it. “she’ll probably be asleep…” he said when aran asked him about it one night.

they were getting a bit worried. obviously they know him well enough to understand that he’ll pull himself together in time for the game- he’d never let his feelings compromise his plays- but they’d much rather play alongside him in a good mood than a bad one.

but the problem seems to fix itself when he lights up along with his phone screen just before the game begins. suna looks over the setter’s shoulder to see a picture of you, cuddled up on the couch with your dog. your cheek has a small japanese flag painted on, and you’re wearing his MSBY jersey. it must be extremely late for you, but you’re smiling wide and holding up half a heart with your hand.

underneath the picture you sent a message wishing him luck and telling him how proud you are of him, telling him to play his absolute best.

and suna misses what your next message says, but he gets a pretty good idea based on how red atsumu’s ears get. he looks over at aran with a nod and the former inarizaki players silently thank you for your actions.

atsumu definitely wouldn’t be stepping onto the court in a bad mood now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel like this could’ve been better, and it definitely didn’t turn out how I originally wanted, but I’m still happy with how it turned out :3 hope u enjoyed !!

ty again to aims for hosting this collab and allowing me to join!!!

[ynnllsn]

Master of my Lifeline

Rin Obami x F! READER

Warnings: Domestic abuse, curses, gambling, crazed, heart attack/conditions, cheating, adultery, maybe a little too sweet of Rin as well, some error grammars.

Words: almost 14k.

--

"You lost 200 million yen, Y/n... Do you have a way to pay for it?" The soft and yet chilling voice of Kirari made your way to your ears but on your expression, it didn't even affect you to but. You smiled brightly.

"None! I only live with my mama and somehow, I know I can make that money back." Kirari chuckled at your odd behaviour. How incredibly interesting to act rationally and normally when you have a burden.

"A life plan works really great on you. You have a fair look... I think that one is a suitable payment." Kirari expect a scared look on her face. But...

"Sure. I'll take it. This is a payment for now, but if I manage to pay the 200 million will you withdraw it back, Momobami-san?" Kirari giggled and nodded. It was quite a surprise. She release a 50 million yen as a down payment and give it to Kirari.

The 50 million yen is the one she won in some random deliquent in school.

"Nyaha~ so deducted the payment, it's now 150 Million Yen."

-

You are the biggest prankster kitten. You are a first year in Hana Class and ever since the news spread that you lost to the President. The bullying started however you don't mind being boss around. But if they mock you, you will mock them back.

"Aw you only survived because you're daddy's only successor, you don't even look like a proper heiress to me~. Daddy must be so disappointed to raise you up~" You giggled and stuck your tongue out.

You are seriously a one tumor in the council's name. Even the head of the beautification chair girl has trouble controlling you.

"That's not my fault! She's being mean!!" You release a small 'hmph' to her and drop the cards. "Why you always challanged people who goes against your guys will?"

"I mean that's how we punish them, put them into more debt, but in your case..." Midari glared at your chips, your chips is way ahead of hers! "What a troublesome pet..." She whispered and in the end, you are carrying 20 Million Yen!!

"Hee hee~ thank you for giving me such a great time~ I will put all I've won today directly to my debt!!" Midari sigh. Even the President won by luck with you.

The only reason why you got challanged is because you put a air fart bag in the president's seat. And it seems the President is amused on how you acted. Despite the life plan that have been forced to you.

And there are only few people are allowed to gamble with you. But despite that, you still manage to stand out. If a normal student or powerful heir or heirress decline your offer to a game. You would simply just gonna say something that would crush their pride just to take you on.

And when Rin Obami came here for the first day. You also prank him with the same prank as what you did with the President. Even Yumeko is not safe with your pranks. Hell, not even the oh so strict Manyuda Kaede.

"What an interesting girl." Rin smiled as he looks at her laughing state. It's so immature yet so entertaining, specially that she's a pet and then she have guts on doing this. Rin have wondered how easy you are to be swindled but boy oh boy~

"There is no guarantee that you will win and these shitty coin will raise their price! If you lose or worst you got kick your ass out, that would be the end of it and I will not trade my votes!" with that signiture 'hmph' of yours.

How smart. For a pet like you.

"But this scumcoin can really help you from getting out of your pet status." He convinced and pretty good and tempting reason to take a risk.

"So 'scumcoin' is... The name of these shitty coins. Pretty weird name, it suits the word scum because you're a scammer~" She giggled while stick her tongue out. "I am not gonna fall for this coins, Obami. In your dreams!!"

"So what are you planning then?"

"I'll earn votes the normal way. I have 3 now. And if the price go higher, I would sell them to pay my debts." He smiled and then you showed him a book from your coat. "So I can finally get rid of this. This haven't stressing me out yet since it will take place once I graduated highschool but I better make a solution." You pout and eat your ramen.

"Life Plan..." He whispered and you nodded. He took that to open it and start to read it, he can't help but to feel disgusted to what he is reading. So this is what Kirari do to those you can't pay their debts? It's sickening. "Marriage? Birth? This is disgusting, what a sick plan." he throw them back to you.

"I know right?! Like I already said that I would only make myself troublesome so the man on the list can finally let me go but Runa-chan said to me that they would force me!" I pout and right now you still have 130M¥ remaining debt. "Since I am limited to who I should gamble with. It's hard to make money in games and that is my only source of income. I can't trouble my mom!" you put them back in your chest.

-

"You told everyone that you're a busy person, Rin." You said and look at the pastries that Rei is serving in the table and you glared at the black haired man, enjoying his tea. He finally look at you and smiled.

"Yes, time is very important to me."

"No, shut the hell up. Why are you inviting me to have a 'private' chat with you? For the third time that is!" You pointed out and he chuckled. You already reject his swindlous offer, but he still kept pestering you every break, lunch and after school hours!! You suppose to be gambling, make your way to survive your housepet status!

Not chatting nonsense with this guy. You sigh.

"Ibara is the one who's doing business, truthful business, so I considered it is my free time." He tried to persuade yoh by his innocent sweet facade that it's not even working on you. "Come on Y/n have some tea, and let's talk about the future~"

Is this how rich people do? How boring. "I don't like tea, I'm sorry." you decline. You get up but he asks Rei to stop you. "Rin, seriously, I need to get votes now!"

"Please~ the election just started, why won't we talk." He pout and you straight up and breath in.

"You know, Rin. I am not a good pawn. You will mever gain something from me, so save the flattery alright? You can just fool other girls, just leave me alone." You convinced him. But he smiled.

"I know. But I didn't invite you over for that. I just wanted to talk with you. Don't you like to talk to me?" Wow, now he's gaslighting you? The nerve after he tried to persuade and swindle you.

"It's not like I don't, I just don't see the goods for it." You honestly told him. He smiled, you are so honest with him and you are always frank, you're good with reasonings and never lie about your reasons, however, you are hard to swindle despite being so honest

He wanted to take his sweet, sweet time with talking until you allowed him to take over you and devour you.

"I have always wonder what your parents do for living?" Your brows furrowed but leave a heavy sigh. You think it won't hurt to just tell him everything, right? He might leave you alone after that.

"My father left us with some random chick, it's just only me and My Mother. Mother owns a ramen stall near school. You probably won't like it since you're rich. Ugh rich people." You stick out your tongue and pretended to be disgusted.

Good laugh, since your father left your Mom after he met that rich ass bitch.

"I-is that so? I'm sorry. I-i am not trying to pry, I swear-"

"It's fine. It's not like it will do something if I get sad over it." You assured him. You don't know if he's lying about being so sorry about it. You hope that he won't lie anything about this, but who knows? You definetely can't trusts a swindler like him. "I did a very great job pranking that lady." his eyes immediately lit up when he heard you.

Oh yeah, he always laugh at your stories whenever you tell him about your pranks and mocking people here. He always find it amusing on how you manage to survive this school. Apparently, you are a scholar and manage to pass the entrance exam, you also have an excellent grade... Even if money is what circullating this school. Kirari have some charity.

"What happened? What did you do?"

"I did a lot of trauma from that lady, I am shock that she never even hit me or something. As she should because I have pictures of her fucking with my father and I can sent her to jail for that. First I embarrassed her to a meeting. Shout at her that she's a homewrecker, a whore and blablabla"

"Oh god!!" He laugh and you honestly can figure out that he likes riot or something. It's probably entertaining for him. Well it does. And you're quite glad that, he didn't show this emotion to others. Aside from his family, probably.

"And? And??"

"I put holes in her tires, make a huge gossip about her and throw a huge pile of cake when she's giving her speech in the party." He gasp and laugh loudly. Suddenly Ibara barge in to report at Rin.

"HAHAHA!"

"Whoa! Rin-san what's up. And hey L/N-san." You nodded and you could see Rin wiping his tears from laughing.

"Oh hey Ibara. Why don't you sit down, were just talking and Y/n told me about some of her silly stories."

"Yeah, Obami is lazying out instead of helping you. Your boss is lazy as fudge." I roasted and Rin pout.

"Hehe~ I don't really mind, L/n-san."

-

Rin is gamblimg with the Vice President and you feel relief because you now have a time to gamble. Rin is very clingy. He even convinced you to call him in his first name and introduced you to the other branch of the family.

You get along with Yumi a lot more since everyone is a lot more tought and serious when they started to discuss the reason why are they here. So whenever the discuss something that is really serious, both you and Yumi would try make it atleast to ease them all up. You get along with Rei too and share your ramen recipe to him.

Yumi always question you about your relationship with Rin and you just smiled and never gave her a definitive answer since you, yourself is also confuse why Rin keeps you around. Even the President asks you often whenever you come at her for updates regarding the life plan.

"I see so you also pranked him and he tried to persuade you into these scumcoins." You nodded and Kirari giggled. Kirari always think that you are very confusing... Despite being devoured you continue to swim around and hang on tight. You survived her aquarium far more than she anticipated.

" I decline. I told him how I see that as a fraudulent offer. Since there is no guaranteed that he will win and he might run after he win. He explained the risk and it's pure gamble but I can't take that much risk now nobody would trusts their possession to someone they just met. That was a good one tho, the student body was fooled by it." Kirari giggled and Sayaka gave you a cup of hot chocolate. "Thank you, Igarashi-san."

"Scumcoin are getting popular now. But I have always wonder how long this will keep up." You shrugged your shoulder and take a sip.

"Who knows. Anyways I am off to go. This might be also the end of his career as a swildler, he's up to the Vice President as of the moment." She chuckled and giggled.

"You must have low hopes for him..."

"I just have high hopes for your twin. I mean... She's a Momobami after all. And your double, yourself." You gave her a small smile and bow. "Expect a payment. At the end of the election, probably." She smiled and nodded.

"take care."

Soon you found out about Sayaka's buying votes and when you figure out that it's only 3 million yen. Sayaka offered it to you but you immediately decline to sell it. It's too low for now, you have to stay back and keep ypur votes in hand.

You decided to gamble more, poker, roulette, rock paper scissors. Anything and now your vote count is now 5. It is a small process but this five votes can reach it's proper value up to 30 Million Yen at the end of the election.

The sun will shortly set. And you saw Rin walking down the hallway, talking with Ibara shortly he saw you and asks Ibara if he can give the two of you a private time alone, Ibara agreed, they seem alright, did they won? He looks in your eyes and you giggled.

"What's up?"

"Well... I lost the 200 votes." And you giggled. You saw his frown. "And I got de-facto out of the election." he told you what happened and how his pride was crushed in oblivion by Ririka. But even after that huge lost...

You can sense that, he's alright with it. You chuckled.

"You sound like you're fine staying in hell..."

"Absolutely." He said and you smiled. "I did the best I could, and to think that Ibara have forgiven me and accepted me and my illegal ways, that put me into rest."

"You know what, let's get you something to eat. Do you wanna eat at my Mother's ramen stall? I swear it's good. It's probably not as good as what you usually eat-"

"I have something to confess, Y/n..." Your eyes blink and you look at him. Your heart is beating so fast but he smiled cockily. "I asks Rei to make it for me when I found out you shared the ramen recipe."

"That's not even a big issue, Rin." You rolled your eyes and he laugh.

"Now you know how it feels to be prank. That's just a mild one. But anyway, you probably expect a lot more dramatic base on your expression." He pointed out and you giggled. Seriously, this guy is just so sharp at reading people.

"I thought you would decline since it's lame to eat in my Mother's stall." You said honestly and truthfully, you will feel heartbroken if he think that it is lame. You honestly swore to yourself that you will never make friends with rich people anymore because of this reason. It became your biggest fear to look down upon by your so called friends.

"What? I'm heartbroken. I will never say that to you." He said and pout. Your eyes widened and look at him. He held your hand and he ran, dragging you along, he exit the academy and spoke again. "I like the Ramen that Rei made for me. If Rei mastered it perfectly at first try and it's already delicious, what more if your mother made them? I wanna taste it, right now, Y/n!"

Your heart feel like it will expload so suddenly. He said that to your face and he genuinely wanted to try them, you can't see a hint of lie or pretentiousness in his voice and expression. He... Genuinely excited about eating your family's signiture dish. And it made you smile, happy.

How many times this swindler will going to surprise me? You asks yourself.

"Don't freak her too much alright. She have some heart conditions." and he looks at you worriedly.

"And yet she still works so hard?"

"Don't get me started, I convinced her everyday to let it be and just let me do the work myself and she said that it will make her sicker if she won't move too much. Besides, Mother wants me to finish in Hyakkaou Academy. And move to a great university." I said and he looks at your eyes. With such admiration.

"You people are hardworking." You look at Rin and gulp. One thing you're scared abput is him swindling not only you but your family. You're not worried since their family is way ahead of his but you are still worried. But you wanted to test it out. You wanna see how he will react at your mom.

"At this hour the stall is now close but... We can go straight ahead to our Apartment." you informed him and he smiled while nodding in a fast way. The excitement on his eyes never cease and the way he walks to the way he speaks.

You smiled secretly.

This will be alright.

-

"is this your boyfriend Y/n?!" The moment Rin introduce himself to your mother, this is the immediate question she did asks you. Your mother smiled warmly at him while asking him to take a seat on your small living room.

You try to control your expression but the heat on your face rose up and immediately decline.

"Hahahue, It's not my boyfriend. He's a..." You hesitate to said who he is since it's the first time you introduce someone as your Friend. "He's a friend of mine."

"Oh? You've been studying there for quite sometime. You just got a friend?" I knew she would question you immediately.

"W-well..."

"Y/n prank me on my first day of school and we became friends." You blushed even more when Rin told your mother how the two of you interacted.

"So she still haven't let go her few old habits." Your mother rose a brow at you.

"Mom we didn't came in here for that..."

Your mother scold you and threatened you to spank your butt when Rin leaves the house, you pout while Rin is just trying to control his laugh. You glared at him. Then your mom asks Rin if he already ate dinner and he shook his head. So your mom prepared a meal for the both of you.

Surprisingly, your mom get alomg with him... Perfectly. You just watch the two of them while Mom told him how hard-headed you are while she started to cut some vegetables for the Ramen. You start to do the noodles yourself. While Rin just watch you and listen to your Mother.

"Now I know where you got your talkative traits." Rin whispered and held your waist! You flinch and shake your shoulder.

"Rin, space." you whispered back... Because you can feel his hot air that he's releasing as he whisper in your ear! It's making you flustered and it's ticklish! He watch how you knead the noodle dough.

While your mother make the broth. He didn't put his hand away from your waist. He comfortably wrapped his arms around it as he watch your hand. He keep laughing at your mother's story.

You were very glad your mother is cutting vegetables, you're facing her bareback while you knead the dough in the table. So you're mother is turning her back on both of you.

Rin is very flingy indeed. You thought, while flattening the dough until it's thin enough. But this is the first time he hugged me like this. He just usually held your hand in the hallway, have tea with you during breaks. Always fetch you after class.

Always looking forward with your stories, and keep you away from trouble. Or needless to say... He only wants you to prank him. You tried to push him away by pranking him more but it didn't work. Always attempt to devour you with his lies but it didn't also work well.

He's gentle and sweet. Clingy and always touchy. He didn't mind showing you around despite your pet tag status. He kept you around. Even buy you lunch so you could save up some money.

Why am I suddenly thinking like this? Your face heat up. Is falling in love is also one of the category of being devoured?

-

After the three of you eat, you let your mom to rest, hopefully she forgot tye deal about spanking your butt. Fortunately, she did sleep after she take some meds. Rin finally called Ibara to get him here so he could go back to the Academy, since his dormitory is there. While waiting, the two of you decided to talk for a while.

"Your Mother is very sweet." Rin said while waiting outside. You smiled. Ever since your fether left, she set aside those sadness away and keep on moving forward for the sake of you and her, but while doing that, her heart is also getting weaker and weaker.

For her, there's no point of getting sad when you are in the dark, might as well cheer yourself up and keep on working hard. Just smile while finding your ways to survive the crisis. You smiled...

"She is."

"Just like you." He said and you look at him. "I never had a Mother like yours, mine always pressure me because I am their successor." He added, trying to divert your attention from his compliments.

"You can come by to see her if you like. It's not like I mind it." He chuckled. You may not say this often but, you do want him to make it feel how to have a peace of mind, how to be happy despite being in a hardship situation, because frankly, that's how poor people survive. He works hard like anyone else from his family and that's good already, he doesn't need to exert too much effort to be the best all the time. You saw that with your own eyes.

"I'll keep that one in mind." He whispered and then you saw the car came and the window went down to see Ibara. Rin smiled at you and nodded. "The ramen is so delicious. I'll come by again for sure."

"Have a safe way at home."

-

After that, he felt great, although he's hiding from his costumers specially to whoever wanna cash out their scumcoin. A real swindler indeed. You went inside a room where you definetely know that he's staying, and you were surprises when he immediately wrapped his hand around your waist with a pout. What a clingy bastard.

"What too you so long?" He looks like a... Dog who misses it's owner. You giggled and pat his head. Both of you take a seat

"I made an excuse to Itsuki, she's watching the grandmeeting and it's starting, so might as well let's go to wherever Terano is." But you saw in his phone that he's already watching Erimi and Yumeko.

"Do you have any idea how this thing will turn out? Do you think she will win?" Rin asks and you frankly dom't know but one thing for sure.

"Who know's what's inside of their head, I only knew that once someone won this grand meeting or after this grandmeeting, the votes value will also drop." He chuckled, yeah you're keeping five, and as of now, the value of these votes are 8 Million Yen a piece. If someone will win, the price will certainly go down and it's such a problem.

"Well atleast I can pay 40 Million Yen. I am thinking about selling it right now to Sayaka but I also need to wait a bit more." Rin smiled. And patted your head. He stand up and lend out a hand, you took that and went out of the room.

"I can always raise the price, Y/n..." He just said and smiled at you. "I can make it an auction type, deal with Sayaka Igarashi. Just give me your word." He said, because right now, he still have one card left and it will benefit you, and the entire family.

"Please, don't. I don't wanna think that I am using you besides, I can totally see this as a gamble. I'll figure it out myself if i lose." you don't mind staying as a housepet for quite sometime, it can take time to make money.

-

But then you recieved a very bad call. Your mother suddenly collapsed and will be needing an urgent heart surgery. You were crying all night, just by thinking where will you be able to get 28 Million Yen. So you decided to get all the money for your college at the bank, your mother has been saving for you for years.

It's an emergency and you need to use it for her, her health is the most important. Rin found out about your situation shortly, you plan to never tell him about it but, Itsuki spilled the news to him accidentally.

"I will try and use the college funds that my mother has been saving for a decade." You said to him after he spoke that he would love to help you out. As much as possible you don't wanna asks for his help. The surgery is expensive enough, and I know the 28 Million is just a coin to him.

But, your conscience just can't. You just asks him to give you a ride to the bank to deposit all the money, but also a bad news happened that made you see red.

The college funds were already deposit, you were also surprised that the bankbook that belong to your mom was also named to your father.

"Bring me to the XXX Company." Rin swear that he felt so scared for his life.

"Y-you... Heard her Ibara. Ehem." He tried to calmed you down by reaching for your hand since he has no idea. He only found out when he accompany you to ypur father's office. You run and slapped the man, who he assume that is your father.

"HOW DARE YOU STOLE THE MONEY THAT YOU NEVER EVEN WORK HARD FOR?!" Rin tried to stppped your outburst but once he heard your father response...

"That money is mine! Remember that your small and crook stall of your mother was there because of me. Don't you dare raise your vouce at me, Missy!" He lets you go suddenly and slapped him again. He lets you go on purpose

"YOU CRUEL BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO MY MOM! MOTHER DID EVERYTHING SHE COULD TO SAVE THAT MONEY! GIVE IT BACK! GIVE THE MONEY BACK!!!" Your tears starts to flow and in the first time, Rin felt furious. Those angry tears, never belong in your expression. And yet your own father swindle and scam you.

"THAT MONEY BELONG TO MY MOTHER! She needs it..." your voice is dying out as you went on your knees. "P-please... Hahaue is dying... She needs that money..." Rin tried to grabbed you and glared at the man infront of you.

At the end you were kicked out of the building, and you haven't stopped crying. Rin tried to comfort you but you keep on looking at the huge building infront of you...

"Y-y/n-" he hugged you. He never felt bad for anything. But you... You work hard and yet... How could some other people just go and ruin and step on you. He felt furious... Suddenly he remember this company. He kept on rubbing your back as you cry on his shoulder, he carried you to the car.

"T-that money... H-how could he d-do that..." soon you stopped talking and Ibara kept on looking at Rin from the rear mirror simce his face is so dark from madness. Although his gentle touch on your skin made you doze off.

"Ibara, contact my father." Rin has a wicked smiled on his face. He'll make sure that these people will suffer for the rest of their lives.

-

Rin never left your side since then.

"Y/n..." You woke up and he helps you sat up, but the joy on your face wasn't there. He know to himself that he swindle a lot of people, but not like what your Father did to you and your Mom. "A-about your father-"

"There's no point into getting dramatic, Igarashi is still buying votes right now. I'll sell these five." You stand up and tried to prepare but Rin stopped you. You just got up, you didn't even eat anything.

"Calm down, please." Rin tried to persuade you and you stop to look at him. "Try to get yourself something, first. I also heard from someone Igarashi has no funds left, and trying to gamble to earn votes instead."

"She what?!" You panicked but he held your hand.

"Calm down first. Terano and the rest of the family talked and... We decided to come up for our last card." Rin told you about his plan to use the Scumcoin again to gain votes, just transfering the entire rate to Kirari's vote count.

"Terano lost the gamble..." You whispered. I-if that happened then the value of these votes drop rates up to 0. You lose the gamble. You felt defeated. It didn't happen the way you predicted.

"You're not lost yet." Rin cupped your face. A sinister smile on his face, a crazed that is rushing on his entire face. "Please... Gamble with me. And I'll make sure you will win." You gulp but you felt your heart race.

"I..." You're father betrayed you and your mother, you can't let Rin to devour you this time!! Your Mother's life is on the line!!

"You have to take the risk, there's no time for you to be scared of it, this is Hyakkaou Academy." You felt your tears starts to burst but he quickly wipe them off. "Y/n... What's your entire conclusion. All you have to do, is wait for tommorow."

"But Mother-"

"I know... But Tommorow, I promise you.." You look at his eyes, sincerity is all you could see. "I'll scam the entire student body but you." He release his pinky finger and for the first time in your life... You trusts him. But you have wondered what will he get in return, why is he doing this?

You will survive this crisis not on your own but because he help you entirely and all you have to do is to trusts him and everything else is on him. What is he after?

"I know what you're thinking, Y/n." Rin said and look at your eyes, he held your wrists firmly as his other hand tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear. "Hmm... Indeed, what a smart question. How am I going to benefit in this promise... You are risking your pet status and your mother's life... How about me... What am I risking?" he smiled tenderly and lean in your ear.

"I'm risking of losing you..."

-

"Rin-san, are you sure it's okay to move without Y/n-san's approval?!" Ibara asks. Because this is insane, Rin called his father to swindle every single penny of the company of your father. Your father is the one who's managing all the assets of his affair. The woman is naturally the CEO of the Company but since they are together, the woman make your father as a manager.

"I have more plans." Rin whispered. Ibara look at Terano who sigh. "Y/n won't accept any help from me, because to her, it will only hold me back. However, I can help her in other way where she can accept. I'll use our current plan to raise the price of the votes. I can bet that Sayaka Igarashi would borrow money from the Academy's treasury."

"But what if we ended up winning." Terano asks and Rin sigh. He knows very well what kind of risk he's going to deal with but this his work to begin with. And Rin's priority is Y/n and only her.

"I'll pay out to her."

Terano sigh. There is no point stopping Rin once he focused on something.

"I wanna make everyone suffer for stepping on her. I want her to be my wife and queen, And i'll punish everyone who will act hostile towards her." Ibara gulp and Rin smirked. The Obami family is really something, they are considered as the secomd devious family in the entire clan. And they are never called devious for nothing. "So first, I'll scam their company. And I will make sure that they will never be able to stand again."

"Then second, while your father do his thing outside the Academy, you and Terano would work together, use the Scumcoin to swindle the entire Student Body again. Except Y/n." Ibara said and Rin nodded. The thing here is, they are not only trying to defeat Sayaka Igarashi, it's also Kirari. But there is no guaranteed that the other side won't win too.

"This effort will only lead us to lose. But I guess we need to give this one a try." Terano said. Either way, if they end up winning everything will go in Rin's way. If they won the vote buying war, Rin can pay Y/n out for her five votes, but 1 vote should only cost 10 Million First. If Sayaka raise the prices so they are.

They will keep going until one of them can't.

"Third, if Kirari or Terano ended up winning, you'll asks the president to change Y/n's life plan."

"Isn't that outrageous? You can just asks Y/n once she pay her debt and also her mom's condition, that is just 28 Million Yen." Miyo asks and Rin explained her debt.

"So you are not only trying to save her mom, but also her debt here?" Nozomi asks and Rin giggled.

"Well you can't stop him, he's insane when it comes to her." Terano said and shook his head and now she thinks that he and Kirari are both the same. "And Y/n just so stubborn to asks for help." Rin smiled. For him, he saw her as an independent who always make her way out of predicament. But luck is jot by her side now, since her mother was included, and that is a different situation for her. That's why he love her.

"Besides there is other way on how to defeat Kirari. She may continue to lead the school and the family but what will happen if she don't have funds anymore?" Rin asks and giggled. "Well it may work well but for sure it will bring a lot damage on her."

"You're so fucking smart." Miyo snorted.

Considering that they are in a devouring clan.

-

"You can go on..." Rin smiled and patted your head. You hesitated because you felt bad. Rin smiled to assure you so you shyly made your way to Sayaka's team and hand over your 5 votes. For you, the plan worked well. Your mother can finally have a surgery now.

Everything works well in your way but you felt terribly sad for Rin and the rest of the family, they didn't won the election. But Rin assured you that it's okay. They lost fair and square and not because of you.

He accompany you to the hospital and make appointments, you also pay for it immediately so the operation will start now. The doctors immediately move your mother to the operating room. But before that, you held her hands as tears stream down your face.

"Hahaue... Please... Stay strong... Don't leave me yet." You whispered as you look at her sleeping form. Rin patted your back to comfort you.

"She will be alright." He kissed your forehead. The nurse went straight ahead to the operating room. While doing so, Rin look at you and smiled.

"It will never happen without your help..." You whispered shyly and he smiled.

"I think it's good because it benefits not only me... But also the entire Family." Rin smiled and cupped your face. "Igarashi took the bait, I don't know what will happen to the Council now." Then he started to tell you about his plan to dig Kirari's grave.

"I know this Academy probably have 250 Billion to 300 Billion in their treasury. It already came into my mind before... And since this Vote Buying War started, I kinda want to stirr things up. But ofcourse for it to happen, I want Sayaka Igarashi to take the bait and it happened. Well if it didn't work we would naturally win." He explained and you smiled. So not only ypu who's gambling in the game, so does she and everyone from the Clan

"So you're planning to burn all those 300 Billion Yen?" You asks and Rin nodded a little. "Ah! Sayaka Offered 100 Million Yen per vote and there is 3000 students in Hyakkaou Academy!" You suddenly realized but Rin chuckled.

"Igarashi is smarter than that, she only needs enough votes that will secure Kirari's position. Maybe she'll burn around 100 Billion Yen. However it's still a cash that she don't owned. So, naturally, there is no exception about the Secretary of the President being a housepet. So she will be..." You nodded in realization.

But another question is... "What will happen if all of this didn't happen?"

"Well... First, Terano will have 507 votes now and has the power to control who's going to win. Second, you may sell your vote for 40 Million each to us instead. You have 5 so, you will be having 200 Million. That is still enough to pay for Mom's surgery but won't be enough for your housepet status." Rin explained and you nodded. "But I also prepare a seperate gamble for that, haha~" You look at him flatly and pinch his side but then your expression soften...

"So all this risk, you are planning to save me all along. I-i... Why?" He suddenly turned red at your sudden question and turn around. You look at confuse.

"C-can you give me some time? I-i'll explain everything once the d-dusts is settled. I-i'm still waiting for the result." Result of what? The election? But why?

-

Since then he started to avoid you, I feel extremely furious because he never invite me for tea every break. He usually do that routine. Is he busy? You asks yourself. Did I say something that isn't suppose to say? You asks again. You usually never question your behaviour but it's been 3 days since this strange events is happening.

The election is over and Kirari won. You were surprised about the turn of the events, specially Yumeko. But that doesn't matter as of now! Rin is avoiding you for no gold reason at all. Your housepet status haven't been settled as well.

Well you pay the hospital bills and every maintenance that your Mother needs. The operation went smoothly, you can now breath properly now that your problems is now over. You still have the 450 Million Yen on hand.

Also the Momobami Clan's branches started to leave one by one!

I-is Rin is avoiding me? Because he's leaving? You started to over think even further. Well Terano told me that the reason they were here in the first place is because of the Election that was held by Kirari. Kirari offered not only the President's seat, but so does her position as the leader of their Family. So now that their business is over with this school.

Does that also mean that they will leave now? Is that the reason why he is avoiding you?

Also Kirari refuse to also, accept your payment suddenly that's why you still have tons of cash in hand, Runa also talke back the Pet Tag, so you returnednto your humanhood. It's all confusing!! Runa also asks for the Life Plan. It was withdraw she said or rather there will be some major changes.

You heart is beating rapidly, Kirari told you that your lifeplan will take place once you graduated from here? Did they change it? Is my arrange husband wants me now?!!

"What's the matter, Y/n?" Itsuki looks at you worriedly. You suppose to be happy that your problems has been lift up, your pet status is now gone, your Mother is now okay. "You look bothered."

"Well... Itsuki... Can I asks you something?" you asks and she looks at you. "Have you feel lonely when... Someone dear to you, starting to act strange?" You asks and she looks at you and take a seat beside you with a soft smile.

Itsuki is your classmate, but after you got your ass beat by the President, the two of starting become close, and then introduce you to her Second year friens.

"Is Rin Obami is avoiding you?" She asks and you nodded. Wait, you suppose to be worried about the strange things that is happening in regards to you life plan!! Not Rin Obami. "You two became so close, and to be honest, Y/n..."

"H-hmm?"

"I started to think that both ofyou were dating or something." You gave her a flat look. Well yes. Everybody would think that way. "You two are just so close with each other..." she's right. To the point that he helped you in every problems you had. To the point that he met your Mother. You put bounderies to yourself to not be friend with rich people here.

But that didn't happened, because of Rin Obami.

"I think you're inlove, Y/n... I mean I felt this way too when Manyuda-senpai abandoned me, since he is my accomplice but you two are more than partners you know. He helped you... He always be with you. When he lost his votes you were there for him, even go further as entering your private life." she pointed out as you turned red but it do make sense.

"I-itsuki!! Tone your voice down!!"

"But that's true!" she shouted quietly. "Besides, Rin will mever help you like this, if he doesn't love you.." She said and you blushed even more. It suddenly feels extremely hot even though the whole cafeteria is air conditioned.

But it did make sense. You held your hand in your chest.

Do I love him? You suddenly remembered all the things that the two of you do together, during breaks he always look forward of your stories. How persistent he is into swindling you, that didn't even work. The way he feels happy about simple things you do.

The way he smile to the way he held you.

You feel your heart beat so fast as heat rush in your face. Your thoughts has been cut off when Itsuki giggled.

"I d-don't know, Itsuki. I just feel upset." You said and you frown. Upset because he suddenly start to avoid you.

"Come on, Y/n whenever you feel upset, you just shrugged it down and do stir more trouble." You pout because that's what you've been doing a lot.

"B-but I am afraid to approach him. And I feel anxious." You whispered and you look at Sumeragi. "He probably avoiding me now since he will leave the Academy." She looks at you weirdly.

"Huh?"

"I-i mean, all the President's family is leaving one by one! Maybe he's next or something." You can feel your nose tingle as the thought of him levaing you. But why are you even afraid about it? You were whole prepared for this!

Itsuki sigh and she was about to say something but the bell rang, perfect timing since you were about to cry in any seconds. You suddenly miss him. You stand up and ran in the bathroom. And decided to skip class to go somewhere in the Academy, hoping for Ikishima not to caught you but you suddenly remembered about the Life Plan.

"Shit I almost forgot about it, I should have inquire about it with Sayaka and The President!!" you quickly ran in the Council Room. But you saw Rin went outside of the room with Ibara, Terano and Yumi. You felt your feet petrified.

You gulp and look at the floor.

"Ah... L/n-san. What brings you here?" You look at Sayaka and you quickly went to her. You ignored Rin and the rest who did the same however, Ibara's face is distorted. Like he's guilty or something.

"A-ah... About..." You look at her and proceed. "About my Life Plan. I wanted to asks why it was withdrawn and a-about my debt? R-runa told me about it, that I shouldn't pay for it anymore. What happened?" Sayaka smiled and come up with a great explanation.

"We are busy to settle matters, The election just ended, so we are not accepting payments about the debt, we will announce when we will be collecting them." She response calmly and she proceed. "About the life plan, maybe there will be some changes." but why your pet tag was also withdrawn and you're the only one who doesn't have a pet tag among all the House Pets.

Your name was also removed from top list.

"I-i see... A-alright. Thank you for making it clear."

"Please proceed to your class." She said but you smirked.

"Oh no. I'll skip. Bleh." You stick up your tongue and ran in the hallway.

-

You pout while the beautification chairwoman scolds you terribly.

"What happened to your owner?! Where is that bastard! Whole election, Y/n!! Whole goddamn election this office was at peace! AT PEACE!!" You pout as she keep on ranting about how you behave. About how there is no deliquent pet or troublesome pet she is punishing the whole election because of your 'owner' or so called Rin Obami.

And since you won against her so many times in a gamble, she didn't punish you like that. You were just in detention for 2 hours, let you listen about her rants.

"But I no longer a pet, look I don't have a tag."

"That is why I am not gambling with you, it us because of that." She scoffed and you giggled.

So for two hours, you listened to her blabbers.

Then after that, she let's you go and look for your locker, you opened it to change your shoes but a letter dropped as you open the door of your locker. You look around you, there is no longer people around you.

You opened it and you sigh.

'I heard you finally got out of your pet status, well done~ I am so glad that you return to your Human Hood, so... Tommorow at YYY Restaurant, after school, meet me there. -M'

"WHO THE FUCK IS THIS BTCH?" you asks and glared at it. He just insulted you and asks you out on a date?! "What happened to hi and hello? To greetings? To get to know stage? Ugh romance in this academy is also crazy." You said as you also torn the letter in pieces and throw it in a trashcan.

Whoever that M is, it's probably an upperclassman.

-

"Seriously?! You're going to feel shy now?!" The green eyed woman glared at Rin who keep on rubbing his nape. "She asks you why! That was your moment!!" Terano shouted at him which he felt even more shy.

"W-well it caugh me off-guard!!" He reasoned out but Terano can't even more stressful. He already went too far, as buying that stupid book. The reason why they were inside the council room is because they wanted to arrange something.

Rin asks Kirari a favor about changing the arrange husband. Or tell her that, Rin would pay the 130 Million Yen debt. At first Kirari disagreed because you don't know anything about Rin's schemes. But she agreed now since it was interesting.

In the end, your debt was paid and your pet tag was retreived. But your life plan was bought by him.

"You can't get her out of this school. Y/n just barely started highschool. That's our agreement." Then Kirari get the lifeplan from Sayaka and open it.

"If Y/n asks you about it, keep it a secret." So That's why Sayaka told you a very good lie.

Back to the topic.

"After all the strings you pulled? You're going to back out now?!" Terano shouted at Rin. Terano can't believe how this idiot is acting upon Y/n. After all the stun he pulled all for the sake of that lady.

"I am not backing out! I just feel nervous!!"

"You..." Her face scrunched in annoyance. "I don't even wanna say it." It just feels ridiculous how this person is feeling nervous about saying his true feelings for her. Or maybe because he is born a liar so admiting something true is not in his character. That's why Terano shut up. "Don't waste your time, you are upsetting her." That is all she just said and nodded at Yumi.

Rin knows that she's very upset for avoiding her but it just feels like his heart is going to get out from his chest just by thinking what he did behind her back.

Terano is just mad right now because he's chickening out after he spend money all for her sake. Her debt is paid all because of him. He feel like she won't agree to this. But he... He likes her so much. Because no matter what kind of tempting situation he gives, she never bite. For the first time, he failed his duty as a Swindler.

She continue to be a smart, and cunning lady who always saw through his lies. She never fell into a trap, but as time went by...

He fell even harder, how she loved her Mother, and...

How he feels guilty by robbing her even a single yen. He can't bring so much pain to that Lady. He can't even treat her that way, he never felt so guilty about it. And the way he looks forward into talking to you, always listening to your silly stories, and how you won with the Student Coucil Midari because she tried to punish you.

How you had guts to even sneak a fart bag into the President's seats. He remember all your stories. Every single one of them.

"Y/n..." Oh how he missed you.

-

"Huh?"

"WHATEVER YOU ARE SCHEMING, YOU BETTER STOP IT!!" you look confusely to your Father who is pointing his finger at you.

You were suddenly got arrested for no good reason at all when you are on your way home and then the Police informed you about that your Father file a case to you, and your mother a Fraud... So you shouted at the your Father.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO MY FACE?! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO ROB HER HARD EARN SAVED MONEY!!!" you shouted as you try to raise your hand it him but the Police stopped you.

"How could you believe him?! This is ridiculous!!!" You said as you explained the Police Man about how your Mother was on the hospital for 5 days now, since she got a heart Surgery. And then he look at your ID and found out that you studied in Hyakkaou.

And since you're underage, they file a case against your Mother instead, making you mad at him even more.

"How dare you!! We didn't steal anything!!!" You shouted but you got kicked out of the Police Station. Your father exit there and glared at you and grabbed your collar to slap yoh across the face. You felt the stingy pain on your cheeks.

"You brat! You cause me so much trouble, you better stop it now or else, I will fucking kill you." He said and you gulp the lump in your throat as you look up in the sky.

"You..." You whispered and bang him in the forehead, hard and nut. "BASTARD!!"

You ran away and hide somewhere.

Tommorow and you still went to class to asks for some good lawyer, Itsuki and your friends gasp to the way you look.

"Y-y/n!!" Suzui is the first one to approach you and you bit your lip. "Who did your fought to?!"

"What happened, Y/n?! Who did this?!" Mary asks you while Yumeko is worriedly rush to the canteen to get some ice because of your swollen cheeks. Itsuki wrapped it in a handkerchief and put it in your cheek.

"G-guys...do you know any Law Firm around the city? I might need a Lawyer." then you started to tell them who did this to yoh and how you are accused by Fraud.

"Is he even thinking? How can you destroy a big company, just like that?" you shrugged at Itsuki's question while contacting Manyuda-senpai. "That is ridiculous."

"And they arrested your Mom instead?! They arrested a disabled person! So the police is, around at your Mother's room?!" Mary asks and Ririka tried to asks for some help for ypu too, even contacted their Family Lawyers.

"Yes. It's stressing me out now, she just got a successful heart surgery, I don't wanna stress her out so I need a Lawyer now. But nobody would probably stand up for me since I am underage." You massage your temple as you sigh.

-

"I see.." The blue eyes girl look at the Aquarium Tank. "News really does have wings." She said to Sayaka.

"I saw her in the cafeteria making commotion, she have a poorly made head patch on her head that she probably did herself, and also a bruise cheeks. So I tried to listen to their conversation." Sayaka said and she giggled.

"Rin better make his move now, right, Terano?" She look at the opposite side of the table and smiled.

-

You are walking down the hallway when you but as soon as you turn your left, you bump into someone and it hit your wonded forehead. You yelped in pain as you tried to fix your patch.

You look up to see a pair of purple eyes that you quickly stand up as you pretended that nothing happened however he grabbed your arm to stop you.

"What happened to your face?" He said and look at you. You kept your mouth shut. You've been hiding on him, ever since that talk you had with your Itsuki and the others, you just stay somewhere else, to the place that he barely visit or staying in.

However he didn't like your silence. "Y/n.." as always, he would found out about it wether you tell him or not, you asks Itsuki to never spill a word about your condition. But he manage to find out about it anyways.

"It... Shouldn't concern you." You whispered, well you felt very very embarrassed about saying that word, after everything he'd done for you. You missed him so much but what's the point of getting him involve in your life if he's avoiding you?

But those expression. His madness is visible in his eyes, you can totally see that.

"Even if you tell me or not, I have ways to find out." He said to you. Almost like threatening you. You look away, however he kept on touching your swollen cheeks. From the looks of it, you were slapped by a rough hands. He look at the poorly made bandage, he already knew that you made them. "What on earth did you do this time, Y/n?" He whispered and carrassed your cheeks.

"This time, huh?" you felt your heart feelimg heavy. "I don't know either. I don't know what kind of mess I was involved to either." He looks at you but you felt your tears flow down. All the frustrations you felt, you're mother is detained even if she's in a confinement room. It was all mess up.

The police told you that I might got involved into a massive Fruad out of desperation to make you afford the Surgery. Non from the Law Firm wanted to accept your case. If this keeps up...

Your mother would be put in to prison, she doesn't even have an ounce of idea what kind of mess she was put into. Rin hugged you, putting his hand on your head and the other hand is in your back, rubbing it tenderly

"Haha. I was just avoiding you for days, and yet you were in another trouble... Seriously, Y/n..." You didn't listen as you continue to sobbed in his chest. "There's no one controlling you... Hmm?" Everybody do have weakness... And he already assumed that your Mother is involve to it. He knew you, you loved your Mom dearly, and that is the only reason why are you crying right now.

"I don't know. I was accused of defrauding the Company that my Father work into." When you said that he was stunned to the point and bit his lips. "Nobody from the Lawfirm in the City wanted to take my Case, My Father probably pulled some strings-"

"I did that." He told you on point. Your eyes widened and he smiled cheekily.

"Y-you what??" he smiled and patted your head.

"Well, only the 40%. The remaining 60% is all up to you." then he told you, what he did. How he swindled and made a huge fraud to your Father's company. And the reason he did that is... "They are the people who deserved to be devoured, and I don't like what they did to you." And now that he saw how your Father reacted to you and hurt you.

He's livid again. He wanted to make him suffer and begged on his knees. And you sense a sinister crazed from him, just by looking at him makes you shiver.

How many times will you go through lenghts just for me?

"Rin... Stop." You whispered and he shook his head.

"I'll take care of your Lawyer. Let's burn his cash, assets and properties. And let's see how far they would go." Your eyes widened. He's going to help you again and you won't let him this time!

"Why are you always doing things for me?!" You shouted and he look at you. You mever shouted at him like this. "I always asks you why! Is this fun to you? Stop making me crazy, Rin!" the tears that you've been trying to hold back kept on flowing. "I asks you why you help me so much, and you told you will tell me..."

"But why are you avoiding me? And then you will show up to me then tell me you would help me, again!! I don't understand you at all!!" Ypu kept on ranting about how much he hurt you and how much you miss him. "I hate it when I am left behind! I hate it when I don't understand you! I hate it, that I have to be so curious what have I done. And you know what, Rin? I am only like this to you!"

All you want is an answer from him, an answer why! So you would stop hoping too that he loves you as well. That if only you're rich as him, you would help him to achieve his goal and rule over his family... But all you could give is, his comfort and peace that is even a bare minimum, compare to what he do for you and your mother.

You hate this... You hate this so much that you can't even do something useful for him.

"I miss you so much! And I want answers from you! I want a closure between us! Because this, this is ridiculous! Because I kept on hoping! Hoping that you love me too!" You confessed already and your eyes widened. Rin looks at you. He was red. Your voice suddenly stop making noise, your throat started to hurts even more as your nose tingled.

You broke down.

"Y-y/n..." Rin called you and tried to touch you but you get your hands up and put it on your face to cover it as you cried.

You've been hoping all this time... hoping that everything would fall into right places at the right time. That everything would be alright, in this school, everything is decided in gambling. You wanted to take a risk but the world hates you so much. The world, the odds and even the gods hates you and confuse you!

"I-i know I am a brat! I am a deliquent and I deserve this! But I don't deserve to be in this mess! My mother don't deserve to be robbed! To be in jail as she recover! She d-did everything for me! And yet she's suffering! Because of that bastard. And you! Please... stop confusing me! Stop making me crazy, Obami!"

You spoke between your sobs, as you tried to push him away because he kept holding you forcely, all the frustrations, desperations and confusion starts to surge in every corner of your head.

"I hate that I can't even do anything to pay you back from everything you have done. I hate it that I am not rich enough, good enough to help you too." He lets you cry while holding you in his arms. He felt... mixxed feelings, he felt sorry for all your frustrations, that he's making you upset and bothered.

But the other half makes him feel... great, that you felt bad because you can't help him. That you genuinely want to give everything he did for you.

Those broken sobs turn intl silent breath, those force coming from your hands that trying to push him away turn meek and slowly giving up in to putting distance between the two of you. He took the opportunity to comfort you as he completely wrapped his arms around your frail body.

I made... her cry...

"I'm sorry." He would let you hit him until you felt enough if that would earn him your forgiveness, losing you is not in his option. "I don't want to keep you stalling." He doesn't know how to start admiting his own revelations either.

You didn't spoke. So he continue.

"I don't wanna upset you, gods knows how much I missed you, Y/n-" He suddenly stopped talking when he felt your entire weight in his arms. And yelp as he tried to catch you in his arms. You passed out suddenly out of weakness. "SHIT."

-

"She's too young to handle mental and physical predicament. Also, from the beating she got, and not getting helself anything, she experienced lack of physical energy." Rin immediately get you in the nurse because you suddenly passed out. "We will conduct few more test on her."

"Thank you, Miss." Ibara was the one who thanked the nurse, Rin didn't even spare her a glance however his ears were all up. Y/n's health is going downhill. He doesn't know what to think or who to blame. He just want your normal self back in his arms. He held your hand and kiss your knuckles. The door closed.

"I heard she's all stressed because she can't find a lawyer who wanted to accept her case. Given the situation, that she got 500 Million Yen so suddenly became a huge evidence to press charges." Ibara said and Terano is just listening. "She's underage, so they press charge to a disabled person instead."

"If were talking about law, that is possible. If were talking about Humanity, that's sick." Rin just kept on listening, because his kind can't drift to anything else.

"She didn't eat anything today, she tried to seek help to her friends, but all those lawyers doesn't wanna take her case." Ibara also added.

"Due to-"

"Enough." Rin whispered.

Everyone shut up and the room was filled in silence. Rin is in deep thought he cant help himself to feel distraught and blame himself why your Father press charges to you and your Mother, he was the person behind the Fraud and yet you suffered the consequences.

"To be honest. I don't know what to think anymore."

"That's not your fault, Man." Ibara tried to comfort hus cousin but he glared at him.

"But I was the reason! The reason why her Mother is getting to jail, and why she is on that bed! This plan backfired her a lot!" Why not him? That bastard. "Heh... he's testing my patience. He took thus opportunity to corner her..." But that is his work too.

"That bastard sure is smart." He doesn't like it anymore, he does not like what he will become if this continue further. A fact that the person he loves the most was affected so much.

She confessed how bothered she was. She confessed how much his avoidance cause her so much stress and confusion. Her situation that he started backfired her so much that her health detoriates rather quickly.

He doesn't like it.

"Prepare my lawyer. I will fix this mess. Bring guards for her and her mother. They are the top priority. Were all done with Kirari, might as well bring her in higher priority." He said while looking at her ease face. She's resting. That's what matter the most. It is much more better to set things straight and to also make sure everything is done the moment she wakes up.

It is much better.

"Yes, Rin-san." Ibara said and went out of the room. But before he close the door, he gave them one more glance. Rin is really serious but above all the scariest thing he could pull off. There is a soft eyes always glancing towards Y/n. Finally, he closed the door. "Everything for the love of his life." Whispering while shaking his head.

-

Y/n slowly have her own conciousness, she can feel her limbs, her control at the tips of her fingers. She slowly open her eyes. Where am I? What happened? Where's Hahaue?

She felt a hand that holds her firmly. She looks at her right side to see the sight that made her heart beat so much. She blink her eyes to see if she is still hallucinating or dreaming but it was indeed him.

Tears build up in her eyes. "R-rin." She said in a meek voice. He was there, exhausted, and looks so worn out.

How many days has it been? The last time she remember is that, he said sorry.

Those two words rang in her head as if it is what her heart desire the most. As if her entire body system has been waiting for his words of apology.

"Obami..." she called him. His body was so tired and stress, from so much work and worries to her mom, to her father's ruthless behavior, to Rin's unusual avoidance towards her after he helped her.

Her tears won't stop. Why is he here? What is he doing? Those question lingers in her head as she pour all her tears out.

She felt so many emotions that driven her to cry more. She felt happy and sad, she felt relief yet frustrated. Even herself does not know how can one feel so messed up.

But a hand cupped her face to wipe her tears, her irises met the blue ones, there is only one thing that matters.

"I'm here..." he is there with her no matter what. "Use me, take me, anything, Y/n... Nothing matters anymore."

"R-rin..." She felt conflicted, she does not want to risk on being associated with Rin. For someone like her, for someone who did nothing in her life but to be fair and truthful... She feels conflicted to be with someone who did nothing but injustice and lies for a living.

"Do not fret, everyone will pay for the damage they have caused you." He said and smiled warmly at her. He does not look down at her for being vulnerable, he does not mind seeing her being a human. "Even I, will pay for what happen to you." He whispered and all she could do I cry.

Cry her heart out.

"So tell me, you were my benefactor and also my punishment... What do you want me to do?" To Rin, Y/n is his saviour and yet his trial, Y/n will decide if she will pardon him or make him guilty. She is his one and only salvation, his goddess.

"I-i..." she start to speak between her sobs and Rin waited patiently for her. "I-i... Want..."

"I-i... I want y-you... To never l-leave me... Again." She whispered and Rin smiled ever so tenderly. "D-don't lie to m-me. D-don't leave me..."

"I won't..." When it comes to her, he never lied. "The moment I failed to swindle you is the moment I would never lie to you." And this perfect and right moment, the moon shone upon their window... He said those words. "I love you..."

"Y-you... Did?" she asks and Rin smiled. "Y-you loved me?" hoe could he love a peasant like her?

"I do... Even if I eat dirt. As long as I am with you, everything is okay with me."

"H-how could you... Love me?" she asks, she can't believe it.

"So many answers to thay question. I would be more than happy to answer them for a lifetime." He whispered and kissed her temples.

-

"She fell asleep." He whispered and kissed her forehead. He look behind him and saw Kirari. "How odd. It seems she also hold a piece of your heart to visit her personally."

"Someone outside of my aquarium decided to reek havok inside without my permission. Trully unacceptable." She said and went closer to her. "She's so worn out."

"You knew all along what is happening."

"I did..."

"Then why you didn't tell me?" Rin asks but somehow he knew the answer why Kirari did not tell him.

"It's fun. Besides, she has a head as hard as cement. She will never yield or asks for help, considering the amount of money she have now, she have the power to put her father on prison..." but Y/n surprises her by yielding at the end.

Love is the most twisted gamble and curse in this world.

"Was it you who pulled the strings why Y/n can't have a lawyer?" Rin asks hardly.

"What do you take me for?" Kirari asks with her brow raised. "I play fair, I would never do something so unfair in the game. The reason why she can't have a lawyer because her case is so hard for those incompetent fools." her hand went to her forehead and kiss her hand. She stand straight and look straight to Rin who has no reaction, maybe because its practically Kirari's hand that met her lips and not the skin of her forehead.

"She has to be better, before she fight. So she could use you perfectly." Kirari said and left. "Feel free to use the Momobami's Lawyer. This is my gift, for your soon union."

"Union?"

"You guys don't plan to get married?" He turned red and got flustered. "That expression is unlike of you, stop that." In her head, he finally get it what was Terano's talking about when she said he is chickening out of the things he started.

-

"You have to get well, Y/n." He said as he feed her some warm soup. He also prepared some ginger tea.

"I'm worried at Mom. Can I see her?"

"She is just next door, we can but you have to finish this first." She nod her head and open her mouth. Rin told her about what happened and everything he was about to do on her Dad's life.

He started to tell him how, step by step, how he will accurately destroy his useless life. Your father will never ever lay his hands on both you and your mother ever again.

"If you were not going to stop me, this is what exactly would happen." he said and he look at you... He saw no reaction.

"It's much more worst than what he did to us." It's triple the hardship, it's triple the pain. "Back then when he left, he stole Mom's savings for my college. Then he stole all of the money under my name this time."

"Ibara did some investigation why your Mother's illnesses suddenly flare up." Rin said and he opened a drawer beside your bed, he gave you a piece of paper regarding your Mother's insurance and pensions.

When he gave it to you, your eyes started to tear up, your hands is shaking, it is loke your body was blowned revelation after revelation, you feel sick in to your stomach. You put your hand in your mouth.

Rin surely does not want you to know but you have to decide. He can't do this without your permission. But seeing your sick reactions he can't help but to feel disheartened and hurt. You don't deserve it, this pain that your father inflicted you.

"R-rin..." You choked the lump in your throat and cry. You sobbed hardly when Rin held you so tight in his arms. "H-he's trying to kill her. T-that evil bastard."

"So that was w-why... Why he told me t-to g-get out of his way."

You broke down and cry again on his chest, and all he did is to comfort you, rubbing your back while your heart has been thorn to multiple pieces.

He has another support to continue devouring your worthless father.

"I... I want you to do it. Merciless, d-don't hold back. Ruin his life as he did to mine." He smiled softly and nod.

"Yes, as you wish."

-

"I hope you understand what is the situation here." Rin gaze coldly at the man who is wearing orange suit with a cuffs wrapped in his wrists. "Or even just the severity of the situation." His eyes turned dark.

"W-why... Are you doing this? Why are you ruining my life?!"

"Your company is in poor debt because of your poor management skills, not only that, you evade taxes, hire ghosts employees, used dual contracts, and ommited revenue, and many more wasn't mention." Rin started with a cold and ruthless smile.

"Y-you... Just who are you Obamis? You were the one who swindled my company and stole 100 billion yen! You were the bunch of scammers here!"

"If I were you, you would becareful on what you say, especially when you don't have evidences against us." Rin said and roll his eyes. "Because of your debt, you committed a sin by attempting to murder Mrs. (Mom's name). We conducted a test on her, that the medicine she used has a side effect to make her condition much worst. I met her 2 days after Y/n receive an emergency call that her mother got an heart attack."

"Too much of a coincidence, no? What a pity, Mother in-law was so healthy when I met her thought... And this evidence points at you, because these description came from your company. The serial number of this medicine is in one of your records."

"M-mother in-law?" He gasps when he realized who did he messed up with. "Y-you were the one who is helping Y/n?!"

"The reason why you wanna kill her is because of the insurance and pensions under her name, you want to robbed Y/n again."

"And pinned her to the corner, because your plan to kill Mrs. (Mom's name) did not succeed, so you blamed her for corrupting your company." Rin said and shook his head. He can't talk, he also robbed people of their money, now that he saw what are the effects of these work to someone... Trully breaks his heart.

"I just visit to see the reaction on your face before I ruin your company and your life. It is a pity, that you have to live the rest of your life looking at your shoulders, since you break her heart in a million pieces, I am more than happy to devour you in one whole as well. Not even bones will remain in you." He smiled and left the interrogation room to meet Ibara and Miyo.

"No blood in your hands." Kirari said which surprises him because she is here. "I lost to Mira." He rolled his eyes.

"Mira made sure that he will know his place when he gets to the prison." Miyo said and Rin nods... It was exhausting to deal with this people. How about the CEO? Well she abandoned her boyfriend. Since she help Rin to gather evidences, she had a lighter punishment. She just have to work the rest of her life under the Obamis.

And that company will be now transfer to Obamis.

"How come your father agreed to all of this?" Kirari asks and Rin smiled wickedly.

"I made a gamble with him."

"Hmm... With the look on your face, it seems like it worked."

"It does."

-

"Y/n..." Rin whispered to you. You regain your composure and maintained your health after a week. You visit your mother all the times and also in those times you visit her you also told her what happened.

"I-i cant believe that, he would do this to me." Your mom shudder as if feeling the chill in horror on what your father has been on.

"Everything will settle now, I made sure that he will be sentenced life in prison, not only that both of you will be compensated." Rin said. And your mother thanked him a whole bunch.

"I don't know how am I suppose to thank you enough..." He smiled brightly.

"I... I wanna asks for Y/n's hand in marriage." Your mother gasps. Marriage?! You also choke on your water and has been coughing non-stop.

"Wait... I know were together already... But marriage?" you asks

"It's for the future, since..." He showed you a packet. And you gasped. "I have this now."

You grabbed Rin's collar and glared at him. "We will talk." You dragged him away from your mom's room who is very confuse, you slam the door and went to your room.

"You... You bought my lifeline?! WHY! "

"I... I love you. I wanna corner you, I don't want your eyes on someone else. It's toxic! I know, and I am so sorry if I didn't told you! But... I... I wanna be with you forever."

"Rin... I am not mad about you doing things for me, I am not mad even if we get married now! The thing here is, my mother doesn't know about this packet." Rin blinked his eyes in shock. Yeah your mother doesn't even know your schemes at school or what is happening in that school.

"E-ehem." He cough while your eyes is glaring daggers at him. "Right I-i also forgot."

"But why? Why did you bought my lifeline."

"I asks Kirari... To take care of it for me, and to convince my father. If there is someone who could order him, it's Kirari." He said and sigh. "I asks her to change it for me but I have to pay for it in order to do so. I... After the election I paid that remaining debt, of course without a second thought. I did."

"You did?"

"Yeah, that's why, Sayaka didn't accept your payment."

"But why?"

"I don't ever want you to experience something like this again. And for it to guaranteed you have to get my name, and be with me. I don't see any issue with this, I love you and I am willing to be your husband, and also to protect you under my wing."

"Y-you don't have to lie to become one of us, you can still live a normal life if you want, you can still join to a university and study for college. You just... Have to take my name."

"This is really one of the weirdest way to propose. But... Y/n, you were amazing, most loving, and independent woman I've ever met, I was entranced the moment I heard your laugh after pulling that prank, I don't deserve someone like you but an Obami like me is a greedy bastard, so please accept me, marry me."

"Rin..." He went on his knees and you gasps.

"I don't need your answers now. I just... Want you to know why am I going through so much for your sake. I don't wanna confuse you anymore, I don't wanna make you cry." He opened the box and there it show the most beautiful radiant black ring. "I love you and I wanna be with you for the rest of my life... Will you marry me please..."

Tears starts to flow down your cheeks. And he was startled at your expression.

"What if you met someone else?" He calmed down a little and give you an assurance smile.

"It won't happen. If it does, I will have the entire Obami wiped out of the Momobami name, not only that, Kirari will strip of our status, money, and my head."

"Wait what?"

"I have the blessing of the Momobamis."

"When... Are we getting married?"

"According to your packet, we must get married at 18."

"I see.."

"Were 17 we still have little time, so we have to hurry." He smiled and you went on your knees to match his height, and there, you kissed him fast.

"Aren't we too young? Do you have the power to alter the packets since you are the master of my lifeline." you asks with a smile. He blushed furiously and laugh it off.

"Hahaha. Yes, it's okay."

"Rin..." You whispered and look at his eyes.

"Yes, love?"

"I love you too. You swindler."

A/U: goodness I have been writing this since 2022 I can't believe its finally over! I honestly have so many stories or AU of Rin. I had so so so much fun for real! Well time to let this fic fly.

[abybweisse]

Hey Aby! In anticipation of the 205 chapter, I decided to go back and re-read Mey-Rin's and Bard's for clues of what may happen next to Snake and Finny. I noticed something interesting with both arcs - they both seem to hint at what their ultimate fates will be. While Bard's arc is all about meeting with wife and son while in a coma and he practically promises to return to them, Mey-Rin is an unwitting witness to a sex act, in an uncharacteristically graphic scene for Yana. Do you think that death is ultimately on the cards for Bard and (I guess) a marriage for Mey-Rin? Or is it all contained to their arcs themselves and does not mean anything beyond completing a mission?

⚠️ long post ⚠️

Assignments as foreshadowing?

I think that if Mey-Rin gets married, it would not be foreshadowed by her seeing sex acts through a keyhole.

She joined Qīng Bāng at a very young age and worked as a sniper, but she saw a lot going on around her. Well, as much as she could see without glasses. There were drugs, alcohol, and probably prostitution in and around the opium den, as well as throughout Limehouse district. One of her early assignments as an assassin was to shoot this guy at a hotel or perhaps in his own huge manor, right? He was a rival gang leader, and she shoots him while he's naked with some unnamed woman. He might have even been right in the middle of having sex when she shoots him. She's witnessed a lot in her young life.... Getting married to anyone would be despite the things she has seen and done. Reminds me of how Katniss finally settles down and has kids in The Hunger Games, even though she's been thoroughly traumatized by her experiences. So far, at least, Mey-Rin seems to have kept her mind pretty well intact. I hope she can continue to do so.

I think we can safely say she has somehow managed to remain a virgin up to this point, too. Otherwise, Georg von Siemens' inappropriate actions towards her wouldn't have been enough to make her question whether she was still worthy of marriage. Going by "Rin" and dressing as a boy until she joins the Phantomhive household might have been partly to protect her virtue. Good thing Haku was apparently only interested in her sniper abilities.

In Baldo's case, the interaction with Joanna and his son might be an indication he will have to break whatever promises he's made to them. At least for now. I mean, his claim he can now properly cook fried eggs is an exaggeration "Sebastian" calls out even before Baldo can fully return to the living realm.

I put Seb in quotations because I'm not sure whether Sebastian has infiltrated Baldo's coma or if he's just a nagging figment of his imagination.

Then again, maybe he will soon join them. We still don't have confirmation that he and the others safely made it out of Athena Sanatorium, thanks to a cliffhanger and moving on to the next assignment, with Finny and Snake. Next time we see Baldo et alia, they might be trying to take leave of the place... when Polaris freaking shows up, mad as all hell. Even if Ronald and William stick around and actually enter the fray (since it's another bizarre doll to take down), I don't see it ending too well. Baldo does seem to have this uncanny ability to survive, though, even if everyone else around him doesn't....

Either way, I highly doubt he will ever make it to Shanghai with the others, even if the others do. And if he stays in England and somehow still survives to the end of the series, this is most likely a false promise, as well:

Mostly because he's just that terrible in the kitchen.

I still somewhat hope Mey-Rin and Baldo end up together, despite their age difference. At least she is an adult already. Also, it was a very common practice in Victorian England for older men to marry much younger women, especially if those men were widowers. Much like Katniss again, perhaps Mey-Rin would only pair well with a man who has experienced much of the same trauma. Likewise, Baldo might now have trouble settling down with some completely innocent sort of woman. Katniss and Peeta go through the deadly and maddening games together. Baldo's been altered by war and losing his wife and son. Mey-Rin has been altered by her years as an assassin for a drug dealer and gang. Mey-Rin and Baldo have both been enlisted as servants for our earl, chosen because of their abilities and previous training; now they volunteer as pawns in this deadly game of chess against their young master's brother. Perhaps their bond will be strengthened by all this... if they live to see the end of it.

The main thing the first two assignments have in common, besides their basic instructions, is that Mey-Rin and Baldo each flashback to the events directly leading up to being offered positions as our earl's servants. Mey-Rin's flashback is triggered by Jane offering her the opportunity to switch sides. Her flashback shows us why her loyalty stays with our earl and Sebastian -- with the Phantomhive household.

Baldo's is triggered by Ada admitting her guilt as a survivor during warfare; Baldo feels much the same.

And he also develops loyalty towards our earl, Sebastian, and the other servants. Just like Jane ends up aiding the infiltrators, so does Ada.

As I'm typing this up, I realize "hunger games" describes both Mey-Rin's and Baldo's lives before: Mey-Rin is once fooled into biting a boot and is regularly given moldy bread to eat... while Baldo's battlefield starvation tempts him to cannibalize his fallen comrades. Sebastian barely arrives in the nick of time to stop him from eating the arm of Terry, or whoever that poor dead dude was, if it wasn't Terry. Sebastian shows up with a picnic basket filled with afternoon tea items and possibly more. The first thing our earl does to extend any kindness to Mey-Rin is provide her with the first hot, freshly prepared meal she's had in ages, perhaps as far back as she can remember.

Back to their assignments; they are paired with people who are in our earl's network but are not his servants. But Finny and Snake (and his snakes) are both Phantomhive servants, so do we get a major flashback from Finny, from Snake, from both, or from neither one? So far, Finny is having single-panel flashbacks and even briefly stating things he recalls to Snake and the top students. The orphanage reminds Finny of the research facility in some ways, and that could segue him into a major flashback. Since Doll is there, she could trigger Snake into one. However, before the assignments, they were the two we already knew the most backstory for, and we might never learn all that much more about either one. To deal with both characters, we might just continue to get tiny snippets here and there.

But Mey-Rin has a choice to make -- choose Jane's offer or remain loyal to our earl. She remains loyal, and Jane even helps her and Ran-Mao break up the blood collection operations there before parting ways. Mey-Rin and Ran-Mao just need to get to our earl and make their report.

Baldo still has a choice to make -- stay in England and return to our earl... or go with Lau and the others to China. Like I said before, he might never get to China, even if he tries. I do expect him to ultimately end up staying behind, possibly loaded down with fresh feelings of survivor's guilt. If Ada is still around when we get back to them, she might also decide to stay back and help Baldo take down the Aurora Society.

With Finny and Snake, I don't think Finny's loyalty could ever come into doubt. His choice might come down to whether he has to fight Snake. But I don't think Finny will see much, if any, choice in the matter if it comes to that.

Snake is probably about to hear Doll's full tale about the circus members' fates. Then his choice (and the choices of his individual snakes) is to either help Doll get revenge... or attempt to destroy her and shut down the orphanage. Snake is the last to join our earl's household, so he could end up the first to leave it (I don't think Tanaka has truly left). There's also the possibility that one of his snakes, like Emily, chooses Doll and must be eliminated.

There is foreshadowing in each assignment, but most of that pertains to what ends up happening in each assignment. I don't know what long-term foreshadowing there is in the assignments, other than perhaps some things not directly related to them... like:

The chance of Jane popping up again later because she hinted that she might

The shapes of souls and "aptitudes" hinting about soul transplants

If Layla ends up being Heathfield's daughter

If Layla/Al ends up being some experiment of Undertaker's regarding soul transplants

What I do see is each servant's loyalty being put to the test, and they must make quick, fateful decisions. Whatever choices they make during their assignments, they will ultimately affect the outcome of the story. Each assignment definitely has long-reaching consequences; they are not little bubbles of existence.

I hope I answered your question thoroughly. I stayed up too late working on this -- but not finishing it -- and have been half asleep all day.

[period-of-nocturne]

I keep thinking about the Virtual Singer from each Sekai and what do they mean

Like what do they represent, what and who makes them appear and what does it mean to the related character

For a long while I thought each VS was linked to a specific kid, based on the focus where they appeared and who it was related to, mostly because of Niigo because... Damn each of them got their assigned VS for a year and half pratically you all know what I mean

But it didn't quite fit all the units and it also fit Niigo less than before, so it couldn't be that

So I kept thinking and

I think each Virtual Singer represent a... "concept", some very specific feelings from each kids

The one I'm the most sure about are VBS and L/N but I just can't explain L/N because they're so obvious to me I don't have the words to express it, so I'll use VBS VS as an example

Starting with Miku

Well, it's pretty simple... Miku is the only one I don't have a clue about (But she's often related to Toya now that I think about it)

So !

Meiko is so obviously that mentor figure, like the role-model... And by that I obviously mean RADers. The way she gives huge Nagi-san and Ken-san vibe and the similarity you can notice between her and those two definitely comes from An and Akito's perception of them, I don't need to elaborate on why I think

Rin and Len are the definition of "partner". I mean, An literally said it in Len 1* side story, she don't see them as sibling or lovers, but as singing partner

And each time one of the kids has some trouble with their specific partner, it reflects on Rin and Len, without much surprise.

They probably both has a distinct meaning, I think about Len's fear of being left behind and being kinda jealous in bout for beside you that obviously fit An but also Akito (those two again, Akito and An are as easy to read as open books it seems. Funny cause they're not the one fond of reading- ahem.), But I can't fully grasp it tbh...

I think I should precise I'm only aware of the stories out on EN before I keep going

Because VBS Kaito and Luka have only one focus feat on EN rn (Vivid Old Tale is the current event) so I could be wrong or maybe I've missed something

But oh by God Miku they make me ill I have to elaborate on them

Kaito first, he appeared during SBD, an Akito focus

And the sweet tooth aside, no one would ever think he looks like Akito. You could even say he's the complete opposite, with his airhead behavior and his innate talent. I even saw some people comparing him to Toya

Meanwhile Luka appeared, or she most likely came back, during SDSC, Toya's focus

And... Well she's also an airhead, kinda. People doubt her link to Toya way less than Kaito's one with Akito, but when you look at it she's everything Toya would think he isn't. She's the carefree and emotionnal one who just go with the flow without thinking about the technical side of things much (something Kaito is way better at even he doesn't seem so). Like, she's just... Living at her fullest, you know

They are everything but alike the kid they came around for... So what does it mean ?

Well I would say Kaito and Luka are what Akito and Toya wish they were, kind of. Akito's frustation being depicted during SBD, how he was chasing after Toya all this time and still kind of do

Toya who was compared to Kaito by ppl (not in game as far as I know), and who's also some kind of talented airhead...

Toya's wish to experience new things in SDSC, that part when he mention how he "has done so little with my [his] life..." But how he would catch up now that he can

And the way how if you ask Toya, the one who made him discover than a such freedom was possible, and kind of open the door for him to this carefree world is Akito. And how he would not be here without him

Did I just typed a whole Virtual Singer analysis only to trick you and makes you read about gay parallels- Noooo, what do you mean... I wouldn't dare

More seriously yeah I have an Akitoya illiness so they're the more developped thoughts I have on the topic, but I wish and hope people would dig into this more because I can't grasp every concept by myself

Don't forget how much Akitoya are gays tho-

Bonus part do you know what happen if you swap the A and the K in Akito's name

VBS Kaito and Akito are kind of the two side of ADHD when you think about it. And that makes sense because Kaito comes from Akito so if you combined them you got the combined style of ADHD do you get me-

Anyway

[blot-squisher]

Kinda curiouso - what's the breakdown on Slashers that voted to let Marcus live Vs voted to kill him Vs abstained?

Wow, sorry I took so long answering this! I kept meaning to type this up on my computer and got distracted.

Voted to let him live: 11

Danny, obviously

Pyramid Head, because he didn't go to all that trouble to find and fuck him just to see him die like a week later

Amanda, got the full story from Danny and decided Marcus sounded like an interesting person

Evan, he really just wanted to piss off Michael and doing the opposite of whatever it is he wants is just a sure fire way to do it... also he may or may not have already decided he liked the bratty ginger and reeaaallly didn't want to see him dead...

Thomas, isn't about to sit back and see his knew friend die! Marcus was nice to him! And he didn't even scream the first time he saw him!

Caleb, isn't about to vote to kill someone who was just dragged bleeding and terrified into the Realm without knowing why first. Danny did a good job arguing for the vet's character, and the old cowboy got curious.

Max, just followed Caleb's lead because he didn't care enough to pay attention to what was being discussed.

Sally, just wanted to disagree with Herman

Philip, he's not really a bad guy, he's just been dealt some really shitty cards. He's not going to vote to kill the adorable surprising guest that's just been dragged to the Realm unless he does something to endanger them. Also Pyramid Head scares the crap out of him.

Samara, likes to play with new people, although Rin and Sadako try to keep her away from anyone new. She wants to get to know the new play thing...

Carmina, much like Philip, she's really not a bad person at heart. She abhorred playing the Entity's game and has yet to kill since escaping. She didn't even need to be convinced to vote in his favor.

Voted to kill him: 6

Michael, mistakenly believed he'd either hurt, or planned to hurt Thomas. The idea that Ghostface was stupid enough to allow it or possibly even have facilitated it only made him angrier and less willing to listen to Danny's side of the story.

Kenneth, just really likes hurting people. Especially innocent people. Especially-

Blight, was hoping if they won the kill vote he'd get to use him as a test subject. They may be trapped in this hellhole of a Realm now, but that doesn't mean he can't continue his research!

Herman, was jealous and more than a little offended that his fellow Slashers were going to a vet of all things for medical care. No. No, his feelings are not hurt! Not in the slightest...

Charlotte & Victor, argued longer about whether or not they got one vote or two. Once it was decided they'd only get one no matter how they voted, they threw a fit and decided on kill.

Rin, immediately voted kill. Doesn't care. Doesn't need a reason. Kill.

Didn't vote/Didn't get a vote: 14

Freddy, abstained actually. Why? He's a shit stirrer and it wasn't clear who was going to win yet.

Anna, wasn't present. Unknown to the others, she was being held captive but the Collector. (would have voted to kill him)

Adiris, was out looking for Anna. (would have voted to let him live)

Dredge, there's still a debate among the Entity's Slashers whether or not he's sapient enough to get a vote (he is, would have voted kill at the time... he wanted to eat the body.)

Sadako, the whole thing made her uncomfortable and she abstained. Still got mad at Samara for her live vote though.

Kazan, no one knows where the hell he is! They haven't seen him in almost twenty years! (Would have voted live, just to fuck with Danny. He knows Ghostface is scared of him and bullies him for fun.)

Demogorgon, doesn't get a vote. Less intelligent than Dredge, but still way to fucking smart for an animal.

Ji-Woon, wasn't present. (would have voted kill just to listen to him scream)

Wesker, wasn't invited. Didn't find out about it until much later. (would have abstained just to see how it would play out, plan course from there)

Nemesis, wasn't invited, wouldn't have been allowed to vote even though he's smart enough to do so (Wesker knows this, but doesn't care. Nem would have voted kill in hopes of getting to do it himself. He doesn't get out much)

Pinhead, wasn't present, no one wants him there anyway!

Lisa, wasn't there. She's chilling in the Florida everglades and doesn't want to be disturbed. (Would have abstained so she could go back to chilling with her pet gator)

Legion, was trapped in the Lament Configuration thanks Frank (Would have only gotten one vote, but they would have voted for live if only to keep Susie from never shutting up about what could have been with the cute twitchy ginger and aw why is he running away from me?)

Jason, wasn't there and no one was about to leave the show to go get him. (would have voted to let him live, much to Michael's unending ire. What, he likes red heads!)

I think that's everyone? If I missed anyone let me know, and I'll make a react for them <3

[yugioh-kin-hub]

For the yugioh fictionkin asks, 5 and 9!

5. Did you have friends or enemies? If so, who were they? Are you in contact with any of them today? (Canonmates or not.)

👾: as yugi, i had my whole friend group!! but i also remember becoming coworkers/friends/??? with kaiba. i have atem and joey (hehe. besties), and i also know kaiba! i don't think i saw anyone as an enemy per se,, but i certainly didn't like haga, or the thief king, even if i could sympathize with them. as yugo, i had rin and a couple street kids (i don't remember their names), but then i also had zarc and the other yuboys as family at some point. i know zarc and yuya, they're some of my best friends! as for enemies, the akabas, for sure. all of them. none of them were friends of mine, or my dad's. for a while there it was my family versus the world.

Joey: Honestly, I still have a bit of trouble compartmentalizing and recognizing what was genuinely a dislike for someone and what was just circumstance, I know I didn't get along with Kaiba, but honestly it takes a lot more energy to maintain than I'd like and has kinda settled into a discomfort. I've made peace with just about everyone that I knew in my past life with the exception of Ryuji Otogi. Also my father that's a whole different issue, lmao.

As for my friends, I love them a lot. Obviously they are some of the coolest people I know and I'm so lucky to have known them. Yugi, Atem (once I started to get to know him), Anzu, and Honda were and still are some of the best people I've met. I only have contact with Yugi and Atem, and I talked to Kaiba maybe once??

Outside of a typical group I was really close to Mai. I owe her a lot. She's awesome. I never got the chance to get as close to Ryo as I would have liked. We have really different personalities, but I enjoyed him, he was nice enough.

Atem: I had a fair share of both. My closest friends were, as l'm sure anyone who's seen the anime or read the manga knows, Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, and Ryo. And, of course, my Aibou. I was definitely closest to him and Jou, though. As for enemies, I know had them, but don't have many memories of enemies besides the spirit of the ring, and Zorc.

Then there was the frenemies things Kaiba and had going on. l am still in contact with Joey, Yuugi, and Kaiba now. Still trying to see if I can find any of our other friends. But l'm definitely grateful to have found the friends I have so far.

9. If you’re from a world that didn’t have one of the later forms of summoning, (including Rush Duels) what’s your opinion on them now?

👾 i think they're all epic tbh. i don't understand link summoning (how can you win a duel with cards that don't even have defense points!!!!!) but the cards are pretty!! and i respect those who play them :]

Joey: Okay so I am from the original Duel Monster series. Which means that all summoning that I was aware of was pretty simple . I also have the disadvantage of being a kind of slow learner, like yeah I get lucky with things and it turns out kind of nice sometimes but it's still hard for me to fully understand them.

I think out of the ones I've seen my favorite is Pendulum, just fully don't understand how it works, looks badass though. Really cool shit.

Atem: I don't know much about the couple of newest types like Link or Rush just yet, but the new ones I do know about are very fun! Also very complicated, but I enjoy using them every now and again, and certainly think that they're all very creative! It sure makes the game harder, but that's what happens when games like that evolve. l'd certainly love to learn every different type of dueling and summoning can, but have my doubts that 'd be able to hold my own so easily in a competition now with all the new types and the kinds of counters each of them require, so think that, even if did learn them, I'd keep all of my dueling purely casual now.

[unladielike]

Rin wasn't used to gifting another girl a present. He and Tsubaki didn't date long enough for him to celebrate her birthday. So, what does he give someone like Vivian? After all, she was a bit older than him. He knew they like similar games. But did he know little things like her favorite food or color? Maybe that should be something he'd know from a friend, huh? Actually, he didn't think he knew some of those things from Megumu either, huh? 

Still, Rin got her at least something she knew she'd like. He brought a few merches from her favorite otome series. But he still couldn't get passed her preference for white-haired guy. Maybe because all the ones he knew were total jerks—then again, what she said kind of guy is her type—but he wasn't going to lecture anyone about preference since he really couldn't judge for his own.

But a body pillow, a few figures, and some drama CD that was character exclusive. She might like this, right? 

It felt awkward, but she was a good friend. So he can get over this shyness he has when he's around her.

❝ Happy birthday, Vivian. ❞ Rin rubbed the back of his neck, averting eye contact while red in the face, handing her these gifts. ❝I wasn't sure what to get you, so I hope you like them. ❞

VIVIAN'S BIRTHDAY BASH. always accepting no matter how late!

    Upon beholding the gifts he procured for her, both eyes would immediately widen... for it was actually a lot more than she expected. Why, one could say Rin went above and beyond when it came to getting her something she liked. "T-This is... all for me?" came her subsequent, awe-stricken query, and within seconds, Vivian goes on to shake her head. "Jeez, Rino-puff, this must have costed you a fortune! Seriously, do I dare ask just how much money you had spent on silly ol' me?"

    Despite saying that, though, she'll gladly accept the otome-related merchandise, though not without nearly dropping the body pillow in the process due to there being more than one figure. Honestly, as it turned out, holding them all with her smaller hands proved challenging, to the point where she'll soon cast a sheepish glance towards Rin.

    "Uh... if it isn't too much trouble, could you maybe help me carry the dakimakura the rest of the way to my hotel room?" Vivian awkwardly questions, for having only two arms and no car made things a tad bit more challenging... what's more, she wanted to prevent as much damage as she possibly could to the figures, which only made the body pillow further complicate her current situation. "Oh, and before I forget... thank you for buying me all this!"

@chaosarashi

[the-letter-horror-lover]

The Shinobi Rules

Silirt

Chapter 22: Rai

Chapter Text

Crossing Shimo in disguise had not been easy, but the adventure brought with it no new information about the missing ninja they were targeting. Obito was a little resentful of the clothes he was wearing; it was a long traditional robe and a red demon mask, while Kakashi ended up with a simpler white robe and a wolf mask. Rin had a pink kimono with a layer of white makeup; with her tattoos obscured, she looked like an entirely different person.

“Doesn’t this make her stand out more?” he had asked when they first changed. “If even a blind man can see that she’s-“

“I’m fine with it,” she said. “I actually wish I had gone to the festival, dressed like this,” she said. “Do you get that?”

“No.”

“Oh, well, that’s fine,” she said. “We’re all different.”

That was the last thing they said before crossing into Rai, which had been challenging, since they had no choice but to do it in secret, but they found a time at night where the guard changed according to Ebisu, and went for it, surprised that they were never caught at the end of it. From what they understood, having a border with Shimo, a small country pretending to be neutral while really going along with Kiri whenever possible, was something of a boon for the way the Raikage ran things. Basically, they were less worried about how it made them look, and their games focused on making other countries weaker. If there was any cleverness to it, it was in how they would selectively report on certain events, both at home and abroad.

“Last year, they came out with this statement that the mist is obligated to protect the frost,” Genma had said. “The Kazekage seemed to think it was a good move, and I think it’s because now everyone knows that Fumogakure could ruin them whenever by just invading Shimogakure.”

“They might have some trouble finding it,” Obito said.

“Yeah, they might, but if they can’t find it, they’ll just invade some other town. The point is, we need to be on the lookout for clouds. They might be trying to sneak across their own border to bash some skulls in.”

“Would that really make Shimo give up on Kiri?” he asked.

“I don’t know about give up, but it’d at least make them think twice about it. If the hidden mist can’t protect them, then what choice do they have but to work with someone closer? It’s complicated because they use a variant of the water release, and I’m not sure why, but that seems to unite them.”

“It’s a sect of Ninshu, basically,” Rin said. “That was what I heard, anyway.”

“They assign a religious meaning to the water release,” Kakashi continued. “The frost ninjas have a different take on it, as you might expect. It’s like the will of fire.”

It seemed no one had expected that comparison to be drawn. Perhaps at their age, it was just a given that shinobi from Konoha had to embody the will of fire. They never really thought of it as a religious thing, though it was possible that the tradition had just grown so embedded that it went without saying, and originally it very much had been part of the faith.

“Why are so many different countries obsessed with water release?” Obito asked. “There’s three on either side of us, and there used to be four- well, six if you count Cha and Yu, but they seem to be splitting their time between fire and water.“

“I don’t know or care,” his teammate said. “I can tell you that they believe it, but I have no idea why. There has never been any evidence that it matters what elemental release you use.”

It was a strange feeling, to hear him basically deny the importance of the will of fire. From the look on Rin’s face, she was feeling the same thing; she was not sure that she was offended, but she looked like she was supposed to be offended, or something. It was not as if it was unexpected, though. He had said on multiple occasions that he did not believe in superstitious things, and he had said, only once, but that was plenty, that importance was relative.

Setting up camp in Rai, they resolved to split up and look around. They would be less suspect as a group, but there was fundamentally no way of finding the rogue ninja without looking for him; they had no leads other than that he had been moving in the general direction of the country where they were. Obito found nothing on his own, but when they joined up again, it seemed that Ebisu had managed to get something out of the authorities, while disguised.

“What did you even ask him?”

“I only started a conversation about the sensor types on the border. It seems he mistook me for one of his countrymen without thinking about it.”

“Don’t tell me everyone in this country dresses like this,” Obito said. He had gone to what he thought was a bar to ask if there had been any suspicious characters passing through, and it turned out to be a setting where kids were forcibly removed, rather than just questioned about why they were there.

“It’s not unheard of, I guess,” Rin said, seeming to think about it. “ I went to a restaurant where these ladies of a few different houses were having a meeting, and it looked like something that might have happened back home, to be honest. Everyone was dressed the same, anyway.”

They were learning that the main differences in the cultures of different countries were expressed in the lower classes. No matter where they were, high society went for the same fashion, the same food, and the same careers, if they had them. There were always those with enough income that no work was required, as long as they did not increase their expenses beyond what they could manage. He would not be surprised to find even the wealthy Uchiha associating with other moneyed individuals, though marrying them was another matter.

“What did you learn from the sensor type?” Kakashi asked, getting them back on track.

“He recently made the distinguished rank of Tokubetsu Jonin, and seemed appropriately proud of that.” Obito remembered discerning that he probably went on about it for hours. “There was a disturbance in between the changing of the guards about four nights ago, and they noticed that some trees were burned.”

It seemed that the man they were chasing had been sensible enough to cross quickly, and must have had some idea when the land of lightning’s defenses would be the lowest. Ebisu had not asked whether or not the reason there were ninja patrolling the border was because they were planning an invasion in Shimo, because he was not an absolute moron. As he understood it, both then and in the present, the country was many mountain ranges, and lush, fertile valleys in between them, making it easily defended, but hard to monitor. It was hard for an army to get through the mountains without being noticed, but an individual could do it with no problem. The section of the border that was being guarded, however, was a forested valley, making crossing it quick, but dangerous.

“Now we know when he crossed,” he started. “We just don’t know where he is now. He could be hiding anywhere in the mountains.”

“I will check them!” Guy announced, running off without another word.

“Are you going to go after him?” Rin asked.

“No, we couldn’t catch him,” Genma said. “Besides, it makes sense for him to be hiding in the mountains. They’re even taller and harsher than some of the mountain ranges in the land of earth. Not that I’ve been.”

“There are mountain ranges in Konoha if he wanted to hide there.”

“Well, yeah, but there are also trees on those mountains. Think about it. He knows he’s a missing ninja, so he knows there are going to be people coming after him. He can’t leave a blazing path of destruction everywhere he goes, so he’s looking for impervious mountains. It would’ve worked out well if he went to the land of wind, I guess, but he must’ve been close to the border with Yu, or he was already there.”

“It makes sense. I can go to support Guy,” Kakashi offered. “We’ve agreed that his search is important, and he can’t kill the target by himself, even if he thinks he can.”

“That leaves the four of us to check up on the angle that he’s hiding in civilization,” Obito said. He supposed it was possible for the rogue ninja to feed himself off mountain goats and just hide for the rest of his life, but it did not seem a lot better than prison, and according to the scroll, he was wanted for a limited prison sentence. They were right to treat him like a dangerous man, but it was important to remember that he was only wanted for an accidental death.

“Does anyone know what happened in the case?” he asked as they went into town.

“Yes, actually,” Ebisu said. “I was asked to help with some of the paperwork. Do you know about the fire temple? Hi no Tera?”

“I’ve heard of it,” he said. Rin nodded along. “I’ve never been there.”

“We had to clean the place one time as part of a D-Rank mission, so we’ve been there,” Genma said. “I don’t like it, but I think your friend’s got a point; we really are practicing some sect of Ninshu with the will of fire. Most people don’t think they believe it, but it’s been sitting there in the background for so long that they wouldn’t know the difference.”

“The victim was an older bald ninja monk named Chukaku,” Ebisu continued. “The man who killed him was only a visitor, someone they’d never met before. According to the witnesses, it was a total accident; he lost control of his own ninjutsu and the flames consumed the old man before anyone could do anything.”

“So, we really shouldn’t kill this guy unless he’s going to kill us,” Obito said. “He’s just wanted for an accidental death; we don’t have any reason to think he wants to harm anyone here.” He looked around as they walked through the town, and as he suspected, no one was paying attention to the four somewhat oddly dressed kids.

“The old man did express a preference that we bring him back alive,” Genma said. “If he wants to come quietly, I don’t see why not, but I don’t think he ran out this far without any plans to give us a fight.”

“That is likely,” Rin admitted. It seemed she had the same reservations about just killing everyone who was inconvenient for the village. He liked that about her.

When they went out to the camp for the night after not finding anyone, or any hint that their target had come through the town, they surveyed the area carefully, but there were limits to their abilities and they still had no idea where Kakashi and Guy were. On the fence about waiting for them to come back or not, eventually it was decided with a shrug that they could take whatever watch they wanted.

Obito was watching with Ebisu when it happened, not for any failing of their own, not for anything they could have done. It was something, however, that he still wished he could have seen coming, even as impossible as that was. Two small forms approached them from the clouded peaks of nearby mountains and in the calm and darkness of the night, they did not look twice.

What arrived, however, was a pair of young lightning ninja, catching them off guard and forcing them to dodge a pair of kunai crackling through the air. Shouting for the others to get up, he realized that their central mistake was waiting for their teammates to get back rather than attacking immediately. They had no actual reason to think that two kids would just so happen to be two kids they knew; of course the foreign countries had kids they were training, even if they did not always handle education the same way. The boy was getting the better of Obito in the dark while it seemed like the girl was successfully fighting Ebisu until he surprised her with an advanced jutsu. Rin and Genma joined them quickly, only to be attacked from behind by another ninja their age, or near enough.

Even though they had the numbers advantage by a slight margin, it was not a good situation in the slightest; using fire release would make it obvious that they were from Konoha, and they had not been sent to kill everyone there. They were under rather explicit orders to keep as low of a profile as they could, and dropping bodies would be directly counter to that.

Using an illusion like he had in the Chunin exams, only with one on his hand and another on his foot, he tricked the boy into smugly dodging one blow right into the other. It was not something that would have worked on a more experienced ninja. After getting hit, the boy panicked by starting another jutsu, but Obito closed the gap and kicked him in the head, shocking himself somewhat. Right as he turned to help Ebisu, who was now avoiding the tanto of the kunoichi he was fighting, he was forced to dodge a thrown kunai, and Genma was decisively knocked out. It looked like Rin was on her last legs against an opponent that was moving too quickly for him to observe at the time, and they were joined by an adult, whom they presumed to be the Jonin commander of the three young ninja.

“I thought it would be better to step in before any of you grew desperate,” he said. “We’ll continue this in the morning, after you four are properly restrained.”

It was an odd way of handling the situation, but they had no choice but to go along with it. They were tied up and separated, each under the guard of a separate team member, and there was nothing to do but try to fall asleep in their bonds. Their rest was fitful and unfulfilling. Even without the ropes, he remembered that all he could do that night was go over all the mistakes he had made leading up to that point.

“Good morning!” the adult ninja said as soon as the sun rose. Even the kids under his command groaned, suggesting they were not taking things terribly seriously, which was good.

“Sir, this seems… to be a misunderstanding,” he said, trying to get a hand on the situation. “We’re not your enemies. We’re not sure why you would attack us.”

“You’re not from Yu, then?”

“Well, we’re nomads, but what does that matter? We were just camping out here when your kids just attacked us out of nowhere. We didn’t see them coming or anything.”

“There are four of them, Sensei,” one of them said. It was the girl with light skin and blonde hair. Oddly enough, the third one did not look exactly the same, but he would have described her the same way. “They also really didn’t react when we were approaching them. They had to have seen us. The whole point was so that they wouldn’t see Yugito coming.”

“Did she need your help, though, Samui?” the instructor asked. “Her targets were both sound asleep when she found them.”

“I told you it was a bad idea to just walk forward from a distance,” the boy said, rolling his eyes. “As soon as we got within their sight, they shouted for the others to get up.”

“What would you have done, Kiyoi?”

“We should have remained silent,” the boy said. He was darker than his teammates, but not nearly as dark as their leader. He was wearing the same dark gray getup as everyone else, but without the white sash. His casual demeanor spoke to experience and confidence. “They never would have heard us.”

“Something must have set them off,” Yugito said. “Perhaps they’re not as unobservant as you think.”

“What, do you think these four are shinobi? Genin?”

“It’s not customary to come in units of four,” Samui said. “Besides, they were too weak. Only one of them scored a decent hit against us, and it was against you.”

“I could take you any day of the week-“

“If killing blows weren’t allowed, perhaps-“

“Shut up, both of you,” the instructor said. “My name is Hosoi, and this is my team. Because you seem to have no form of identification, we have no choice but to hold you in custody until you can be formally deported.”

“That’s pointless,” Genma said. “We weren’t harming anyone. Why kick us out?”

Obito quietly supposed that he was being smart by acting like they had no backup plan going by the names of Kakashi and Guy, but he did not know how to help, and suddenly wished he knew some language that was not commonly spoken in Konoha. It seemed like everyone spoke the same language, for the most part, but there were some out of the way villages and islands here and there with their own dialects.

“Please, just let us go,” Rin said. Technically, that would be best, if they were let go, but at the very least they had to convince the lightning ninjas that there was nothing else they had up their sleeves. It was also spectacularly unlikely that they would just get let go, even under much less strained circumstances.

“We can’t do that,” Samui said. “We have to report that we captured you, and then it would be up to the discretion of-“

“There’s no need to go into detail about our procedures,” Kiyoi said.

“What do you care? Weren’t you the one saying there’s no way that-“

“Even if they are nomads like they claim, we should never reveal our procedures. We leave them here with nothing and get going.”

The four ninjas vanished, but Obito was sure they were still being watched.

“Hey guys, do you think it’s time to wander on out of this place?”

“Yeah, but they didn’t treat us badly as Yu,” Rin said, picking up on what he was trying to do. “It’s about as cold as Shimo, in places.”

“The mountains are much higher,” Genma said. It seemed Ebisu was confused, or perhaps just trying to catch up with the new discussion topic. “It’s greater altitude, but they also block some of the cool winds from getting into the valleys.”

If anyone listening in was hoping to decode what they were saying, then anyone would be disappointed. There was no hidden meaning. They were just talking about pointless things. Perhaps someone would think that they knew that someone was listening. That much had been obvious; even if the lightning ninjas really did have rules about how they had to report suspicious persons, it would never take all four of them. It would have made perfect sense to leave at least one person behind to monitor them in case they had some way of getting out of the ropes.

Unfortunately, that at least was not the case. The young ninja were apparently well-versed in restraining people, it was doubtful that they were going to talk their way out, and even more doubtful that anyone was coming to rescue them. Guy was not an idiot, but Kakashi was too clever for him; he would be easily misled into focusing on the mission and not the retrieval of their teammates. What made things worse, though, was that the Jonin would probably make short work of both of them, as skilled as they were for their age.

“We’re back,” Samui said as she appeared, seemingly from nowhere. “Well, I’m back. The others are off taking care of something else.”

“It doesn’t make a difference if you watch us,” Obito said. “We couldn’t get out of the country before you found us, even if we could get out of these ropes. Are you going to feed us?”

“No.”

“We’re starving,” Rin said. “Why do you think we came here in the first place?”

“I don’t know. You could be spies.”

“Spies? I’m ten.”

“You’re older than I am. I just made Genin and went on my first few missions.”

“Someone used that word earlier. That’s a rank, isn’t it?” Ebisu asked.

“There’s no use pretending; even people outside the hidden villages know about the ranks, at least to some extent. The only reason you wouldn’t know that is if you had been brought up in a hidden-“

“We’re literally nomads,” Obito reiterated. “There are lots of things we don’t know because it just doesn’t apply to us. Can’t you just let us go?”

“No. I’m under orders.” She looked a little annoyed about the fact that he had interrupted her. “Don’t you know that I can’t just do whatever I want?”

“No,” he said, acting annoyed.

“Why did you think you could fight us?”

“You didn’t look that threatening,” he said. Genma was awake, he noticed, but it seemed he was nursing a headache or something. He would have to trust that the other guy was smart enough to sit there listening to them talk long enough to figure out their plan. It was not that complicated; they were just acting like normal kids and insisting on being let go.

“Well, we are threatening, especially Yugito. Don’t tell her I said that, though.”

When he thought about it, he supposed it was kind of unusual for one kunoichi to fight successfully against Genma and Rin, knocking out one and probably severely testing the other. She might have been the prodigy of the team. Then again, it was unusual that a team had two girls on it. Maybe things were different in the land of lightning.

“Are you two friends or something?”

“We’re teammates. The teams are always in threes, unless someone dies or something.” Obito only blinked. It was no surprise that someone else had copied something Madara and Hashirama had started, not really. They were famous enough as shinobi that they had come up with some of the rules themselves.

“Was that why you thought it was off for there to be four of us?”

“We’re moderately surprised to find four, but it was still possible. I heard that Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, once insisted that a medic ninja be added to every three man cell.”

It was a trick to see how much they knew about the Sanin, and how much they would lie about it. He guessed they were all reasonably well-known figures, even outside of the hidden village, and being able to say one thing about them was probably good enough.

“All I really know is that one of them was Tsunade,” Ebisu said. “We’ve never seen her before, though.”

“Okay, well, this will go much faster if this really was, as you claim, a misunderstanding,” Samui said. It was clear that she was putting on an act, though this one was different from the last and he was uncertain of what to make of it.

For better or worse, nothing was said until everyone else returned.

“We found nothing of interest,” Kiyoi said as soon as he was back. Yugito ignored them when looking around, as if she only expected an attack to come from far away. There was no way, however, that they could already know of Kakashi and Guy, though.

Wasn’t there? Already the lightning ninjas were proving more capable and clever than he had ever imagined. It was one of those things that he did not exactly know, but he should have guessed, probably. There were a fair few of those lately.

The Shinobi Rules

Silirt

Chapter 23: Stemming

Chapter Text

Obito was finished feeling stupid when the sun set again.

The four of them that were captured had managed to fall asleep during the day, which was easy enough once they were untied, as they were already dead tired. The lightning ninjas provided them with water, which was probably collected from the rain, but it kept them from recovering their chakra properly, not that anyone would say anything about that. Samui was posted to watch them at night, and the others were allowed to sleep. Their Jonin, Hosoi, was on another mission already.

“I bet this isn’t how you pictured being a Genin,” he whispered to the girl at night, as soon as sun went down over the mountains. The land of lightning seemed to have artificially short days like that.

“What would you know about that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I hear things. It seems like that Kiyoi is dragging your team down.”

“What?”

“Well, he’s the only one who got hit, right? You said it earlier.”

Obito had probably several years more combat experience than the lightning ninja and he was perfectly aware that taking a hit did not mean one fighter was worse than another. He really had no idea about the combat experience and ability of the foreign teams, but he did have an idea of their general dynamic. Perhaps he was disappointed with himself for not managing to activate the Sharingan, but he would still use his powers of observation to the best of his ability.

There was something clearly different about the other girl, Yugito. The way Hosoi treated her was not the way that Minato treated Kakashi. She was something more than a prodigy. Rather than competing with her, the other two competed with each other.

“What are you getting at?”

“This mission isn’t interesting. There’s no point to it. I would know, because I know there’s nothing my friends and I are doing that would concern the Raikage. It’s just a chore. You saw a mess, and you had to clean it up.”

“What are you proposing?”

“Let the mess clean itself up. If there were some weird kids wandering around a town, well, what happens if the weird kids aren’t there the next day? What happens if they aren’t anywhere to be found?”

“I’ll tell you what happens. It’s someone’s fault.”

He felt like he was channeling Genma, who was taking the moment to sleep.

“It doesn’t have to be yours. You cut us out, and we’ll escape when it’s Kiyoi’s watch. Either he catches us, and he’s worth keeping on your team, or, well, you get the idea.”

“I get the idea. What are you, then, travelling beggars or something?”

“We’re wanderers. We’ll do whatever we can to live. I’m sure you’ve seen our type before.”

“I’m sure it won’t be the last I see of you. It’s the first time the mess has offered to clean itself up, though.” She looked off into the darkness. “How do you intend to escape from us? I don’t want that incompetent waking everyone up.”

“Oh, so you’d rather get rid of him. Look, we have our ways of getting out of here. As soon as we’re out of the ropes, we could get out without anyone noticing.”

“You’re aware that if you’re caught, it’s over for you, right? They’ll realize you at least have some concept of chakra control.”

“We know,” he said. “We’ve discussed this.”

Her eyes narrowed when she looked back. He was confessing to having a plan for getting caught, so they were at least relatively sneaky, if not enemy shinobi. It made things more difficult, but when she was tired in the middle of her watch, most things were.

“Don’t give any indication. I’ll need to make sure he checks you before you get out of here.”

She cut through the ropes in the back where he could hold it in place, but drop it at any moment before going and doing the same for the others. He thought about strangling her, but she probably expected something like that, and he would be pushing his luck. If her teammate checked their ropes closely, then they would have a different problem on their hands at least.

When she went to bed, it seemed like she went to bed early, which was what they wanted, as long as Kiyoi was taking the last watch. Yugito looked over them and saw nothing suspicious before taking a walk around the camp. He tried to lose consciousness several times, but he reminded himself he was carrying the plan, and someone needed to stay awake to get everyone else. Even if he was not at the top of his game when they had to make a run for it, his strength would have to be enough. Whispering his idea to Rin, he was impressed with the way she took to it quickly and without hesitation.

The night was at its darkest when the second kunoichi passed it off to her teammate, leaving them a matter of hours to escape during his watch, which would almost certainly end with sunrise. When sleeping was divided up as it was, everyone had to get a little more in order to remain functional, and three kids on their own were not likely to wake up before the first light if there was no reason. Obito gave the signal and they all used the substitution jutsu with some of the camp equipment, careful to move quickly without making any noise. They only had a short time before their deception was revealed, but with a little luck, they would not need all of it.

Genma and Ebisu glanced over at the sleeping kunoichi, silently having appointed themselves to making sure the enemy was asleep while the only recently awakened Rin crept forward and grabbed Kiyoi from behind, blocking his flow of chakra with a technique she learned under the heading of medical ninjutsu. She suspected that Sarutobi Biwako had picked it up off a Hyuga at some point, but was not about to go ratting her out. The target lost consciousness quickly and they crept away.

“How long do we have?” he asked at a whisper as soon as they were far enough away.

“Not long. The jutsu I used is a field technique to keep the patient from bleeding chakra. He was already pretty drained when I got him, but he should be up before long. He won’t be stupid enough to think that he just fell asleep on his own because of how tired he was.”

“First we have to find our teammates,” he said. “They might be in even worse trouble than we are.

A kunai landed in front of him and he stopped, looking around. Kakashi joined them from the summit of a nearby mountain and they kept moving without having to discuss anything. They made it to the border and were at about the end of their strength. He wanted to just run across, wondering who was even going to care if they crossed to the south, except possibly Shimo, not that anyone there had noticed before.

“Keep running!” his teammate demanded, and they ran for it without thinking any more. He must have had more time to scout out the area, and if anything, they all assumed that he had a better idea of what was going on than they did. As tired as they ever had been, they crossed into Shimo.

“Now we just have to worry about the frost ninjas,” he said, lying on the ground and barely conscious.

“They have bigger problems on their hands,” Kakashi said.

Several horns sounded in the distance. If he had no context, he would have assumed that the land of frost had set up an alarm for someone who suddenly crossed the border, but these were the calls of war. It was practically a routine border skirmish, but as his teammate said, it was a bigger problem than five young ninja wandering around.

“What do we do?” Rin asked.

“We can’t do anything now,” Genma said. “We have to find a place to rest, like a cave. We need to recover our chakra.”

“Where’s Guy?” Obito asked while they searched the area. What they found was not a cave; it was the hollow under the stump of what had been a large tree.

“He’s already headed back with the target.”

“Does that mean the mission was a success?”

“Of course. Someone had to prioritize it.”

They went in and slept, with Ebisu taking the first watch. Somehow, he was good enough at chakra control to put himself to sleep even when he was bound in ropes, which was a useful trick in that context, not that anyone had ever predicted it. The rest of them slept in a pile, and his last thought before finally passing out was that Kakashi must have been staying awake even longer than he was.

When they were up the next morning, it seemed for the most part the damage had been done. It was likely that the two allies of Kiri were less confident that they would be protected going forward; the Mizukage and probably the Water Daimyo had only a few days to declare war before their honor was undone. A war between the mist and the cloud was probably going to result in countless deaths, but many of them were going to be on one side rather than the other, unless Kirigakure had something else up their sleeves.

“It’s strange how we’re right here at ground zero and there still isn’t anything we can do,” Obito said as they moved through the forests.

“We’re under orders not to make a stir. We completed our mission.”

There was no arguing with that. Technically, it was only Kakashi and Guy who had completed the mission; everyone else just barely managed to escape with their lives, and one of them had to stay behind to ensure they got out. As he would later learn, Guy insisted on carrying the target back after he had been subdued. In his mind, he was better at such a task due to being stronger and faster, and Kakashi was better at finding the others because he was sneakier.

The five of them made it into Yu in time to see a diplomatic struggle between a frost Chunin and a hot water ninja, probably of the same rank. They were meeting in secret in a clearing at the border. On one side there were boreal trees, and on the other there were those with deciduous leaves.

“These monsters are going to wipe us out,” the young man said. “They were never taught to learn to live with others-“

“If you’re going to appeal to our commonly held water release-“ a young woman started back.

“What else is there? You can’t be allied with Konoha- the will of fire? Do you believe that? Don’t tell me your country just picks and chooses what parts of the doctrine-“

“It’s a sect of our own,” she said after a moment. “It’s not just a combination of-“

There was clearly something more to this conversation, but they would not listen to it. He had little doubt that they knew each other, but their personal relationship was not going to be enough to get Yu to help Shimo against Rai. Nothing would, most likely. The fact that the frost ninjas were getting attacked before the mist could respond was about as disastrous for them as the destruction of Uzushiogakure had been for Konoha.

Now that they were in an allied country, they could remove their disguises and pack them away for later use. They had been stripped of a lot of their gear, regrettably, but they had not gone in with too much, and they had not brought anything they could not afford to replace. When he thought about it, the fact that they had to go in so light on equipment was probably a large part of the reason that six of them had been sent after one fugitive. Of course, splitting up would make finding him faster, but once they found him, they would still be well-advised to converge on his position together.

“How did you find the target?” he asked Kakashi as soon as he had the chance.

“He was setting up a place to be able to hide out of town. We were right in thinking that he would want to be close, but we never would have thought that he’d be working on something while he was there. It was a scroll, probably stolen, but I can’t tell where he got it.”

“I guess we could turn it over to the Hokage,” Obito said. “He would know more about it than we would. Did it look foreign?”

“I couldn’t read it. The symbols were unrecognizable.”

If it felt like there was something going on, something that he should be working out, then he was too tired to notice. He was going to have to get a decent night’s sleep at home before that could happen. Though he missed her and always enjoyed her presence, he was somewhat surprised to find himself particularly wanting to spend an evening with his grandmother.

Something else he was definitely feeling was embarrassment. The four of them had basically been dead weight. When he looked back on it, he thought it would have been clever to argue that if the team of lightning ninjas had never caught them, they might have caught Kakashi and Guy, because as talented as the two of them were they could still be beaten by superior numbers, and there was something strange about that particular team. He really wished he knew more, but they had to get back either way.

Sooner or later, he would run into them again. He would only wish he had known how soon it would be, not that he could have said how he would prepare.

“Are you five from Konoha?” a hot water ninja asked them when they came to the border.

“Yes,” Ebisu said. “Did you see anyone else passing through?”

“As a matter of fact-“ He moved out of their path and they saw both Guy and the target, an older man with long hair and a long beard, tied up back to back. “-we did. The story seemed a bit hard to believe, but he said that five others would come to verify it for him.”

“We’re sorry,” Rin said, holding out the contract. They were all thankful that Kakashi had been holding onto it ever since he asked to read it. “We didn’t mean to cause any confusion.”

“Well, it wasn’t that we weren’t convinced by your little friend’s sincerity, but we figured that if the documentation was on its way here, it could hardly hurt to make him wait for it. This isn’t a rush job, is it?” the Yu shinobi asked, looking over the scroll.

“Not really, we just needed to get him out of Rai as quickly as possible. It technically isn’t mission critical for us to get him back to Konoha right away,” Genma explained. “Guy here just gets a little exuberant sometimes and probably took it as a personal challenge to run all the way back with the target on his back.”

“You can stop calling me that,” the target said. “I was just trying to go somewhere I wouldn’t hurt anyone. It’s taking all I have not to burn through these ropes.”

Obito blinked twice. Did no one ask him why he ran off after tying him up? Did they all just assume that his motive was entirely selfish? The Hokage described him as dangerous, but had he ever been a bad guy?

“We can’t let you decide where you won’t hurt anyone,” Kakashi said after a second or two. “We’re under orders to bring you back.”

“I’ve seen the fire country’s prisons,” he said. “The cells are made of wood. Bringing me there is a disaster waiting to happen!”

“We know what the prisons are like,” Genma said, waving his hands in front of him. “That’s why you wouldn’t be going to a regular prison; they’d have to seal your chakra just to be fair to the other inmates. That’s all only decided after your trial, though. To be honest, I don’t know what’s going to happen to you.”

“It isn’t our decision,” Kakashi said. “We’re just delivering you.”

Obito had thought about the problem for a moment, and he was not satisfied with the way it was being solved.

“What if we should really be treating him as someone who needs help?” he asked. “You could control your chakra before this, right? There must have been something that happened that caused you to lose control over it- Rin, didn’t you say that sometimes people bleed chakra and that’s bad for some reason?”

“Yes, medical ninjas are trained to keep people’s chakra within their internal coils. If there’s a breach somewhere in there, then we have to cut off the flow or your healing process will slow down. If you lose enough chakra all at once, and you’re not able to just shut down, then-“ The pause was clear enough for everyone to understand. It would not be good, to say the least.

“It’s the gates,” Guy said after a moment. As strange as it was, his voice had a contemplative sound to it. “What happens if the gates open, but never close?”

Perhaps they should have known they were revealing too much in front of this random hot water ninja, but they were trying to help someone who truly needed it, and they were all too focused on the task at hand to think about anything like that. Looking back and forth between each other, they knew they needed a Hyuga to help; with their own eyes they could not even see the internal coils system, and though one of them seemed to know something about the chakra gates, his instructions were not helping the patient.

When they were at last waved through, they returned home in a matter of hours, forcing themselves to move more quickly than ever. Kakashi asserted that whether they helped the target or not, they were still going to turn him in as ordered, but made no effort to stop them from taking him to the ninja hospital, where Tokuma’s mother was summoned to use the Byakugan to determine what the problem was with their most unusual patient.

Shortly after that, they passed out.

Obito did not know who exactly happened to have the strength to carry him back to his grandmother’s house, but he was glad to see her when he woke up, running up to her and throwing his arms around her. She congratulated him on successfully completing his mission.

“Oh, I barely did anything,” he said. He had always told her everything. It was always so easy, in those days. “It feels like I’m not living up to the… “ What was it? The legacy? The family tradition?

The kekkei genkai?

“Oh, I will never be disappointed in you,” his grandmother said. “I know you wanted me to hold you to some impossible standard, but I never thought that would be good for you. If you wanted to be just like your parents…”

She did not finish the thought, and in the present, he could not say how she would have finished it. His parents, however, had both died on a mission, and there was a stretch of time where she tried to get him to think about doing something other than the ninja academy. He knew he was young and he knew he was making a decision for life. Any other parent or guardian would have thought the same thing. At the same time, he could not help but feel betrayed, perhaps on the behalf of his parents.

His father and mother had both manifested the Sharingan; they had both been exceptional ninja who had fought in the service of both the clan and the village. They advocated for children getting along with each other, which to them just meant that the Uchiha should stop holding secret practices and spars among their own kids, and allow them instead to challenge the other kids from outside the compound.

“Who took me here?” he asked after a moment. He needed to go to the academy to collect his reward for completing the mission, and he would, though that was not on his mind at the moment. What was, more than anything else, was the worry that he was hardly any different than Kakashi, in that he refused his grandmother’s loving suggestion to do something else with his life. Drawn without explanation to the life of a ninja, he wondered if he even knew what it entailed, when his teammate would cite the Shinobi Rules to his chagrin at every turn.

“Dramada found you,” she said. “He’s such a gentleman.”

That made sense; the old man had been in his corner rather like a grandfather. It was strange, perhaps, that he was always there when needed, but perhaps someone had notified him when a young Uchiha had passed out at the hospital, or sometime after that. He could not rightly remember, he found.

“I’ll have to thank him,” he said. “Are you ever worried about me?” he asked. “Does it ever feel like I take you for granted?” She kissed the top of his head.

“What brought all this on?”

Without thinking much of it, he went ahead and told her everything that he had seen at the Hatake residence. If she wondered what that had to do with their relationship, he was about to launch into a whole comparison, but she held up a hand as they parted. It reminded him of the countless times that she had given him the incredible gift of discipline.

“What is a parent or guardian, but someone you can take for granted?” she asked quietly, smiling. “Your parents took me for granted, when they left me with you.” Her words did not match her expression, and yet it was perfectly apt. She was happy, and yet she was telling a terrible truth. “You have brought so much joy to my life, Obito. I hope you go through your whole life without experiencing the same tragedy that I have. Seeing you continue to insist on being a ninja without losing hope has been the greatest joy of my life.”

He really wished he could have stayed with her longer. The door, however, threw open and Fugaku entered, apologizing quickly for the sudden intrusion. He would know better than most other that it was a tender moment. It looked like he took a moment to think of how to phrase what had come to communicate.

“Depending on whether or not you have a managed to activate the Sharingan, I have good news or bad news.”

“Uh, I haven’t, sir,” he said. “I’ve heard it’s really uncommon… I’ve always found some other way…” Perhaps that really was it, and not an excuse that occurred to him only just then.

“The Chunin exams are slated for a week for now.”

The Shinobi Rules

Silirt

Chapter 24: Hidden Motives

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Time moved quickly when he did not want it to. Obito trained with everything he had against Kakashi in the midst of their steadily bittering rivalry, and he trained against the other teams from the village as well, though this time they were going to have to go up against more teams than ever. The Chunin exams were drawing international attention, what with Oto deciding, controversially, that it would decide whether or not to renew its alliance based on the conduct and results of the exam. For decades, at least, the sound ninjas had held that ranks should be given based on kills, and no one had expected them to join in an alliance with Konoha, but the war between Rai and Kiri had changed a lot in the realm of international politics.

“What do they have against each other?” he remembered asking Minato after an intense training session that left them all on their backs, staring up at the dark clouds overhead.

“My sensei, Jiraiya, would probably say it comes down to the differences in the sect of Ninshu, even when one attacked a protected country. That alone would be enough for anyone else.” He had heard, however, about the conversation between the ice ninja and the hot water ninja that the team had observed. “The Sage left behind five primary teachings.” He let out a long breath, greater than humanly possible, clearly drawing on his natural wind chakra.

“The will of fire is one, right?” he asked.

“That’s correct. You’ll hear a lot of people say it without really knowing what it means. There’s not much to be done about that. They simply aren’t interested in learning what some long-gone legend had to say about how they should use his secrets. Rai practices the teaching of the lightning reflex, and the water countries remember the mind of water. I won’t get into the difference in the doctrine; honestly it’s more similar than you would expect- the real difference is how they observe it.”

“Huh?”

“I know, it seems irrelevant. You’ve probably noticed, though, that the water countries will actively make reference to the religion of Ninshu, though, right? I don’t think you would have seen any, but there are still temples dedicated to the religion in Kiri, and they train people in the understanding and practice. It may seem odd, but they’re the most dogmatic out of anyone.”

“Then… Rai doesn’t really care.”

“They hardly even know they’re doing it. The lightning reflex is explained in a prayer that’s only three lines long in the traditional language, and some of the clan founders that went that way only remembered that they were supposed to do it, not why it was important or anything. There are many people who’ve misconstrued that particular teaching as just human nature. When no one else behaves the way they do, they think it’s just because we’re all so brainwashed or indoctrinated or whatever else to allow our natures to shine through or something.” He shook his head, not really the type to lose sleep over differences between countries. “What a world.”

Obito had the impression that his teacher did not know too much else about how the religion was practiced, and probably even what its tenants were, even though his teacher had, evidently. He reasoned that it must not have interested him as much. It also felt like it would be better to start from the beginning, rather than to study each of the different sects as they were in the present.

“There’s no time for that,” Kakashi insisted. He was just as exhausted as they were, but that was probably because he was discovering the limits of his chakra reserves. “We need to train if these two are going to make Chunin.”

By some bizarre ruling, the elders allowed him to participate in the exams despite already awarding him the rank. Giving him a probationary period for blatant incompetence after he agreed to take the blame for the last mission going so poorly, they promised that they would reward him by ending the probation if he managed to get his team promoted. Neither he nor Rin could nail down the reason why he wanted to face the exams again; typically what happened when one team member promoted and others did not was that they joined up with someone else.

More than once, he thought maybe that was what should have happened. If Kakashi had been allowed to join another team, he and Rin would have been sent back with someone more on their level, and he could join those on his. He thought he would like to spend more time with her.

“We’ve trained without stopping ever since you made Chunin,” he said. “We’re catching up to you, no matter what.”

“Good. When we get a B-Rank mission, I can be promoted again. I might be the youngest Jonin.”

That explained it. His promotions were directly related to his service to the village and his ability to follow orders. Getting harder missions would put all three of them against stronger enemies, and not only would they grow stronger, their greater achievements would be recognized. He just wished the whole system could be straightened out.

What seemed stupid and corrupt the second that Fugaku told him about it was the fact that Oto was participating in the Chunin exam despite the fact that they were using it as a way of finalizing their decision to join in an alliance with Konoha. It was supposed to be an honor reserved for those who had fought alongside the leaf ninjas. The way it was being phrased, the land of sound had offered a temporary alliance for the convenient duration of the highly convenient war between Rai and Kiri, and they would decide whether or not they wanted to renew that alliance later. What exactly did they want, though? Was it just the approval of some other village of their young ninjas? Was it to prove their strength?

“I don’t like it either,” Rin had said when he brought it up with her a few days earlier. “I just don’t… I think everything is ultimately because of ninjutsu. If you look at the rest of the world, things don’t work like this. Contracts… mostly have to be honored, laws mostly have to be followed, and if one Daimyo does something at the expense of another, it goes in the record. Everyone remembers it. We can get away with anything.”

“I hadn’t thought about it like that.” He remembered a few times that he talked with normal people, those who had never set foot in a hidden village, on the long mission. “I guess the only people who really keep us from doing whatever are the other ninja.”

“Yeah,” she said. “That’s why I don’t have a lot of hope of anyone fixing it,” she said. “Only a powerful shinobi could get anyone in this whole system to stop acting like they have been. It’s just… I don’t know how you could spend your whole life dedicated to making yourself stronger, and still be someone who would want to fix things.”

“I feel like Hashirama wanted to fix things,” he said. “So did the Shodai and the Nidaime.”

“He and Madara happened to be about the same strength,” Rin said after a while. “Nothing good would have come of it if one of them turned out to be a lot stronger than the other. They only got to be friends by fighting over and over, and they never succeeded in killing each other. Do you know how their last battle ended?”

“How could I forget?” he asked, shaking his head. “I know it’s kind of a long shot that it would ever happen again, but… the fact that it happened once proves it’s possible. I don’t know if you knew that I was serious when I said this, but…”

“You want to be the Hokage,” she said. “I knew.”

No words were exchanged for a moment. Only time would ever tell whether another great shinobi would bring about a positive change in the world; Rin had every right to be worried that it was just as likely one would bring about a massively negative change. If someone strong enough came and killed enough of the Kage in different countries, perhaps that would be the end of the village system, and they would be back to the clans. Perhaps the weak in heart would just accept anyone that powerful as the uncontested leader.

In the present, though, all they could do was prepare with the other teams from Konohagakure and that meant going up against Tokuma, whom he had met as a Genin on a seemingly pointless mission. Joining him was Tobitake Tonbo and a younger guy named Tatami Iwashi. There was another team there to observe, led by an orphan calling himself Mizuki, Umino Iruka, and the kunoichi he would later learn was called Tsubaki. They had recently graduated the academy, but having not been on any Genin missions yet, had not been approved for the exams. What was especially rough for them was that their Jonin instructor was already dead; he had been killed in a mission where a rogue ninja from Oto was involved.

“I’d bet you anything that’s part of what’s going on here,” he muttered to Kakashi when they arrived at the meeting place. “They’re embarrassed that one of their own killed someone-“

“If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s Konoha. The rogue ninja was considered powerful, but there’s no way he should have been able to kill a Jonin, not in a one on one encounter.” He sighed. “We can’t have people thinking that we’re diluting the upper ranks as well.”

Obito scowled, but said nothing more. Rin put away the scroll she had been looking over.

“I am honored you agreed to come out to a practice match,” Tokuma said. “I had not thought that an Uchiha would so readily agree to show off his skills.”

“I’m surprised to find us with so few witnesses,” Kakashi said. “Don’t more people need to know about the gentle fist? I could have sworn three or four people hadn’t heard of it.”

The young Hyuga’s turn to scowl came, and with it, Tonbo and Iwashi stepped forward to back him up. The rules for practice matches were standard across the three-man cells all over the hidden village, and they were always in effect. No one was going to die, but no promises could be made about injuries. They knew that their opposition was skilled in taijutsu, but they had way more experience against each other, and in the field.

The way Rin moved against Tokuma’s advances was nothing short of breathtaking, especially for their three spectators. It had been a difficult decision to pick her as the one to counter the gentle fist, but she did not explicitly need to attack him, only evade his attacks and distract him long enough for her teammates to rejoin her after dealing with his. Obito fought Tonbo, not really by choice, but because he was the fastest and seemed to single him out as the greatest threat. Initially, it was all he could do to dodge and counter, but he could tell that his opponent had spent a long time in practice and not long in combat. Faking a Katon, he baited the enemy into a kick to his hands, which he grabbed and carried through, throwing his own kick to the back of the head while the other boy could not reposition himself. Seeing in an instant that Kakashi had taken care of Iwashi, but suffered a surprise hit from Tokuma, he joined in himself, but felt himself being forced back, along with his teammates.

“I would agree not to prolong this if you would be so inclined,” the young Hyuga said, breathless and alone. “I would hardly think it would help Konoha.”

“Just say you surrender,” Rin said, a bit annoyed. It was hard to tell if he was actually unaware that his team lost, or if it was just his overly formal diction. “If it makes you feel any better, we also beat your cousin, Iroha, Mitarashi Anko, and the Tsurugi kid.”

“It does not, as it happens. Iroha is younger than I am, as are his teammates. With even less experience than we have, it truly is a wonder they were selected for the Chunin exams.”

“I can’t answer that,” Obito said. “Then again, I guess I also don’t know why anyone was selected.”

“Oh, come on. The whole reason we’re having this exam is to make up for last time, and the amount of time that’s passed since we could have an exam. It’s shameful,” Iwashi said. “They’re going to be careful about it, which is good, but they had no choice.“

Nothing was said for a moment. Their team was part of the reason that the last exam had been such a disappointment for the spectators, but it had been years since then. Would anyone really hold it against them still?

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, we lost against Morino Ibiki, Gekkou Hayate, and that weirdo named Tokara,” Rin said after a moment. “It seems like they’ve been on as many missions as we have, or close enough.”

“They surprised us. It was a decent show of force, and we had to surrender rather than getting seriously injured,” Kakashi said. Somehow not revealing that it was Obito getting injured was worse than laying the blame directly on him.

“We’ll beat them in the actual exam, since we’ve actually been before,” he said. “Probably the second round.”

“You’ll have to,” Iwashi said. “Don’t ask me where I heard this, but the written section is going to be easy. They want tons of teams getting through to the second round.”

The young Uchiha frowned, doubting the written test would easy, per se, and it would turn out to be a series of logical puzzles that he would remember for years. It worked, if the young ninja was right about the reason for implementing it, and it certainly tested very little of his academic skills, though even in the present he was not sure what it was testing.

“We only have so much time to prepare,” Kakashi said. “We’re lucky we’re not on a mission right now.”

“Do you want to go up against that other team again?” Rin asked. “We might win if we fought them already knowing what they can do.”

“It doesn’t matter whether or not we win in practice. That’s why most of these teams are agreeing to practice against us.”

“That and we’re staying within the limits of the village,” Obito muttered. “There were some teams that thought you’d kill them.”

“There’s no evidence that I’ve ever killed anyone from this village.”

Remembering the tacit confession on the subject, he knew there was no point to trying to bring it up more. He had spoken with Minato about it and the response was basically the same. There was no explicit reason to believe that his teammate had put his other teammate in mortal peril just to see if he could get the Sharingan to activate.

“That sounds a lot like a pet theory of yours,” his teacher had said.

“Sir, with respect, even if I just made it up out of malice, nothing in-“

“Nothing in the Shinobi Rules says you can’t put your teammates in danger.”

It stopped him dead in his tracks. He had never thought that the Jonin was without a heart, but he had not expected to be shut down. No, he did not know what he had expected. There was probably no action that a teacher could take against a student if nothing actually happened, though there were reasonably severe punishments in place for a ninja who actually killed his own teammate.

What had he wanted to happen? Had he wanted Kakashi to suffer some moderate punishment, or be on the hook for more? Did he want someone to just set the record straight? Did he want his teammate to be lectured and asked to apologize?

“Let’s just get this over with, then,” he said, returning to the training. “It’s tomorrow, and we have to get a good rest before the actual exams, whether or not the first part is going to be easy.”

“Obito’s right,” Rin said. “We’ve trained ourselves as much as we can, and we’ve even helped to train the other teams from the village. We can’t do anything more.”

“We can fight Minato.”

The words seemed to wait in the air for an answer. The three of them had obviously trained against their teacher countless times, so the implication was that Kakashi was suggesting something different. A surprise attack, or an all-out assault, with nothing held back on either side- something that was considerably more serious than everything they had been doing so far. As far back as the bell test, he had avoided them rather than engaging with them. Could the three of them learn how to kill a Jonin if they worked together?

“Let’s talk about this with him,” he said after a moment. “He wouldn’t mind if we asked him to fight us more-“

“It’s wasted if we bring it up with him.”

“It is?” Rin asked. “Would we really be able to take him by surprise?”

“We’ve never tried before. How else will we find out?”

Eventually, they surprised themselves by going along with it. As ruthless as their teammate was, he had proven himself as an excellent strategist and that carried over into training. It was a benign dilemma. Either Minato defeated them soundly and no one would be hurt, or they would actually get a good hit on him. Could that happen, though? Would he not just have some way of making the damage disappear? Could he bleed?

The three of them knew where to find their teacher; it was the time of day that he spent getting ramen at his favorite bar, Ichiraku. These days, Kushina was likely to be joining him, if while loudly insisting that so much salt was going to be a disaster for her figure. He never disagreed with her, which she seemed to hate even more than argument, and she would come up with bizarre reasons why he was not disagreeing with her, and to each of them he said something like ‘sure’.

“I see why she likes him so much,” Rin had said once when they were staking him out. “She likes being angry.”

It had been a while since then, and Obito was no closer to seeing what she meant by that, or seeing how that was a good thing if it was as simple as she was putting it. He had nodded along as if he understood though, so he was going to have to stick with that story. It was not as if he had ever once figured out anyone else’s relationship, though, so it did not bother him all that much that the reason the two Jonin liked each other eluded him.

This time, Kushina was not there, and it was probably because she had taken on some administrative tasks relating to the Chunin exams. It was not considered a conflict of interest, because she was not married to Minato, and realistically there were a ton of people in the village who were in some way related to those managing the exams. The Hyuga and the Uchiha had at least a few Genin and a few Chunin every year, and barring them from ever officiating the matches when they had such helpful dojutsu was just impractical.

He would later wish he had spared a thought as to why she was doing it, though.

Using a Katon, he knew that even while his teacher was not a sensor type, he would be able to pick up a massive manipulation of chakra. The idea was not to take him completely by surprise, but to draw his attention away from Kakashi, who was going underground. Rin might have been using a genjutsu to distract from any noise that might have been coming from underground, but he honestly no longer remembered- the fight was over quickly. Minato seemed to know an attack was coming from below; even from outside Obito could feel the powerful wind jutsu countering it, and an unconscious Chunin got tossed out of the ramen bar moments later. His teammates stood there in shock for the moment that most likely represented their teacher paying for his food, and then they were knocked out shortly after that.

When he woke up, they were on the Hokage monument. The sun was setting.

“That was a decent approach,” the Jonin said. “I knew, though, that the three of you would be looking for greater challenges, and since you wanted to work as a team more, you would not be fighting each other. I was the obvious choice for a few different reasons.”

Kakashi was looking dejected. The elements were easy to mix up sometimes, but wind was a hard counter to earth release. None of them had forgotten that, but had simply hoped the difference would not be worth that much in the grand scheme of things.

“Did you recognize my chakra?” Obito asked.

“No, but a lot of people in your clan have a tendency to open with Katon variants. I couldn’t think of anyone more likely to attack me than you. I know it wasn’t supposed to look like an attack on me, but I saw an attack coming since a few days ago. Next time, don’t do it in the middle of the city, even if you think I wouldn’t expect it there. You don’t want to get us in more trouble with the village.”

There it was again, the fact that the three of them had dragged down his reputation. He let them forget about it because he was a forgiving sort, and it mostly was not their fault in the first place, but every so often, there was a reminder. The young Uchiha wanted nothing more than to go back to the compound and sleep, like he suggested before.

“Looks like I was right for once,” he grumbled, getting to his feet and apologizing before walking off. He found the compound as he had left it, but there was someone waiting for him inside the gate. She looked so different, it was almost impossible to recognize her. Hanging down, her hair resembled her arms, listless by her side. The black eyes that barely shone through looked cold.

“I’ve been training,” Sagara said. “I haven’t let myself rest once.” By the absence of dark circles under her eyes, he knew she had been getting adequate sleep, but she was not resting. He had not expected such a radical change in just the time that had passed since he last saw her, but, once again, he could not identify what he had been expecting.

“I’m sorry I-“

“You showed me how badly unprepared I was. I should be thanking you.” She sighed. “My teacher couldn’t go harder on me because it would look like he was being unfair. He knew what happened as soon as he saw me, though.”

“I don’t know what to say,” he said after a moment.

“There’s only one thing I want you to say, and that’s after I come back from a mission successfully. You could say it when I make Chunin. You could say it when I awaken the Sharingan. I just want you to tell me I did a good job.”

He put together what must have happened. Someone might have cared for her wounds, depending on how badly she was hurt, but no one showed her any sympathy. Everyone knew that she was going to run into someone who was not going to hesitate to hurt her at one point, and the inevitable had finally occurred.

“It’s… if you want to learn a lesson from this, I… Everyone gets beat up sometimes,” he finished awkwardly. “I’ll be a hundred percent honest with you. You were acting like one of my teammates, when you weren’t nearly that strong. That’s why it got to me. I could always suffer him in silence because he was better at most things, and I needed his help. I really can’t always say how my mind works, but I’m really sorry if I took my frustration out on you.”

She seemed to ignore his apology. It was like someone was standing there saying that apologies were just wasted words. There was no action involved.

“I’m a shinobi,” she said. “I’m not here to judge you.”

That was the last he heard out of her before the Chunin exams.

Notes:

So, here we are at the second Chunin exam for Team Minato; this time they're all more experienced, but as you might expect there are going to be more candidates who get through to the second and third round, so it's not going to be a walk in the park. You'll remember I mentioned the written section of the exam in a flashback, and it's not going to challenge them, so I'll gloss over it this time.

The Shinobi Rules

Silirt

Chapter 25: A Different Forest

Chapter Text

Obito was at a loss as to how so many teams made it through the first round, even if it had been true that the villages of the alliance were trying to get as many as possible through the first round. By his count, there were thirteen. He had discussed it with Kakashi on their way to the Forest of Death.

“I mean, it’s not really a bad thing to have an easy first round. The second and third rounds basically ensure that only a few teams get promoted.”

“The elders of Konoha already accomplished what they wanted with the last one. They proved that they could turn out a Chunin in six years, as many strings as they had to pull. Now it should look like they raised the standards rather than lowering them.”

Cha was a relatively small country consisting of two islands to the south of the land of waves. The island where they took the test, Nagi Island, was somewhat less developed, but had a valuable port that connected with some places Obito had never been able to point out on a map called Degarashi Port, and it was decided that it would be the easiest if they took it in the warehouses after the inventory was mostly dumped in trade. Because the island was heavily forested, the ninja had cordoned off a nature preserve as ‘the Forest of Death’, following the tradition of Konoha. The primary difference was in the elevation; Nagi was a forested mountain with a beach around it. Starting in the sand, in the north, they were tasked with finding two scrolls hidden randomly on the island and delivering them to the hidden Modoroki Shrine, which they said was in the south on the pretense of being fair to the foreign ninjas.

“Did you hear that Ibiki’s brother didn’t make it through the first round?” Rin asked.

“Huh. I guess some people got tricked over the logical puzzles.”

“They were the only team to fail, and it was basically blamed on the younger brother, because he insisted on hearing the tenth instruction, which meant that they would never qualify again.”

“Really? They actually stick to that?” Obito asked.

“Most of the time, what happens is the disgraced ninja leaves and goes somewhere that no one has ever heard of him,” Kakashi explained. “In this case, he’ll probably stay on this island. They might give up on being ninja, or they might not. Either way, we mostly never see them again.”

“Doesn’t the Morino family want to see him again?” Rin asked.

“I don’t know. If he failed that badly, they might not. There’s very little they can do about it if he decides to just not come home and take contracts as a Genin of the land of tea. Failures mostly don’t make it as rogue ninjas.”

“He’s not a failure until he gives up,” Obito said.

“True enough. If we ever come back here, we’ll see.”

Kakashi was not a terribly hopeful or optimistic kid, but he seemed to leave it open that the kid might manage to redeem himself. He had his own quest of redemption and had started it at a younger age, though only some believed he needed to be redeemed in the first place.

“Hey, why do you always wear a-“

“Chunin candidates!”

Everyone turned to look at the examiner who was speaking. As more or less everyone had expected, there were fewer of an appropriate rank than there were in Konoha, but they were perfectly capable of officiating the exams, and, apparently, capturing everyone’s attention.

“Yes?” someone asked.

“Your time starts now!”

The three of them had agreed that the moment the second round started, they would sprint for the top of the mountain, escaping the initial bloodbath. There were twenty teams that had made it past the first round, and there was no way in hell that they would all get promoted. Cha had probably drawn up a few extra scrolls to make it likely that they could have a decent bracket in the third round, but every exam there were still teams that would take more scrolls than necessary, and it was unlikely that nearly enough had been drawn up in the first place. In passing, it had been mentioned that if a team got through with more than two scrolls, the extras would be taken and left in some random place on the island, and it was forbidden to destroy them.

“Why didn’t everyone just charge forward?” Obito asked as they sprinted. “If we find two scrolls, then we don’t have to fight?”

“There are those who are stupid or bloodthirsty enough not to see the advantage in that plan,” Kakashi said. “That said, there are not nearly enough to guarantee us the scrolls we need.”

Right as they arrived at the summit, they saw Asuma’s team grabbing a scroll out of a tree. Kakashi was already getting out a shuriken, but Rin grabbed his hand before he could get it out of the pouch.

“It’s too early to be fighting,” she said. “Even if we got a scroll, we’d only draw more attention to ourselves.”

“This is an anti-cheat game,” he said after a moment. “We’re supposed to complete the challenge as quickly as possible, not try to figure out a sneaky way of beating it. We could go to the shrine and wait for people to toss out their extra scrolls, but think about it- why would they bother collecting extra scrolls except to reduce the amount of teams that make it through to the third round?”

“Kakashi’s right,” Obito said. “I don’t want to attack Asuma’s group this early on, but if we can see a scroll, we should go for it. With all the fighting that’s going on, we might be able to take out a weaker team after they survive a few fights.”

“There still isn’t a time limit,” Rin said. “Well, there is, but it’s so long that we don’t have to worry about it. If we avoid everyone else, we should be able to find the last few scrolls. The problem with aggressively taking scrolls from other teams is that we’re going to be fighting no matter what when people find us and try to kill us for our scrolls.”

“The problem with waiting around is that we still don’t know how many scrolls there are in total,” Kakashi said, annoyed. It was a subtle difference, because he was not the most expressive, even in those days, and he was always at least a little annoyed at something. “We’re getting the scrolls if we see them and neither of you are going to contradict me on that.”

The kunoichi looked a little upset by the fact that they both went against her, but she accepted their plans, and in a matter of minutes, they found a scroll after they used an earth jutsu to move a tree out of the way and dug it out from under the roots. Obito decided. That there was probably someone capable of wood release to get it under there in the first place, but it was not like that mattered.

“It’s a heaven scroll,” he said, discerning the character immediately. “I guess they don’t base the hiding place on the symbol.”

“That would make it easy to find the second once you had one,” Kakashi said. “They want us to fight, but pick our battles. You were basically right when you said that we need to fight a team that’s already fought before, and has been weakened. That means we need to put ourselves in a place where we can find them.”

“The temple’s in the south, so… close to there, then?”

“Now’s the right time to go. There are going to be a few teams that got lucky, found two scrolls, and ran for it without having to fight anyone, and we’re not going to have to fight them, not that we could. As the round wears on, the shinobi that come our way will be weaker.”

They went over to the south of the island quickly, using their elevation to their advantage, and avoided the strong-looking teams they saw on the way. It was just as likely that someone else was waiting for them, after all, but they had a good chance of being ignored, still being at full strength. Kakashi used an earth release technique to make a trench in the ground while the other two made a panel of sticks and leaves, their hands brushing against each other.

“Sorry we didn’t get to do things your way.”

“There’s no helping it. We couldn’t have arranged the plan before we started because we didn’t know all the details going in. We still don’t.”

“I know, I just-“

He was without a way of finishing the thought. Somehow, with everything else that was going on, he knew he would remember the moment that he looked at her and she looked back at him. It was doubtful she saw anything significant about it. Her face, almost certainly, looked the same as it always did, except for a twig that got tangled in her hair at some point. Reaching up to take it out of her hair, she did it herself as if he had only been pointing it out.

“Get the panel over the trench,” Kakashi said. “It won’t convince anyone not moving as quickly as possible, but that’s what we’ll be dealing with.”

“Got it.”

In moments they were all huddled together in the trench, recovering some of the chakra they had expended in getting there. There was no way to tell how many teams had been lucky and gone past them already, but since they knew there were twenty going in, if there were still a fair amount, then they still had a chance.

“Hey, can you surrender?” he asked. “Like, if you can’t find any scrolls lying around and you’re pretty convinced that there aren’t any left, do you have to wait the full two days?”

“It crossed my mind. I doubt they would feel the need to inform us, though.”

“Well, is there an announcement if all the complete sets have been collected?” he asked. “They would’ve made either sixteen or eight if they really wanted a bracket. The rule where they throw the extras back might not matter, but it seems like they have their heart set on a certain number of teams making it through.”

“That’s true,” Rin said. “They might want us to fight for the scrolls, but there really isn’t any point to making us fight once all the scrolls have been collected. Some of them might get lost and some of them might get destroyed, even if there’s a rule against it, but they should have some idea when they’re done.”

“You might be wrong about the exact number,” Kakashi said after a moment. “There are three of us on a team, and the last round is always done in individual battles, so if they had eight scrolls, that would mean twenty four of us would be qualified. Because it has to be a power of two in order to have a bracket, there’s going to be a preliminary for the last round, like there was twenty years ago; there’s no way it can be a power of two and a multiple of three.”

Obito quickly checked against all the powers of two that were possible for a competition with sixty Chunin candidates, the absolute highest being thirty two, and came to the conclusion his teammate was right without saying anything. It was annoying to know so little about the competition, and even more annoying that the supposition that it was an anti-cheat game was right from the beginning. There had not been any announcements as long as the game had been going on; not when a team made it to the end, not when a team was forced to retire after a death or injury; nothing.

The three of them waited like that until a single individual charged over them with a scroll; it was a local who probably knew her way around better than most. He and Rin both hit shadow clones, but Kakashi threw a rope around the real girl and yanked her into the trench.

“Where are your teammates?” he demanded.

“They’re right behind me. You’d better release me or-“

“We’ll take our chances. Is this a heaven scroll?” he asked, seeing her trying to conceal it from him.

“Yeah, why?”

“Kakashi, they wouldn’t be running this way unless they had the other one too,” Rin said. “They have to get their teammate and their heaven scroll. Actually, even if they had nine more scrolls, they still have to get over here to get their teammate.”

“That’s not how it works.” They all looked at the local kunoichi. “My name is Wagarashi Matcha. I’ve lived on these islands my whole life. The elders said the way they wanted to officiate it, only one team member has to make it to the end.”

“We were never told that,” Obito said.

“We were never told that you could just leave all the questions blank on the exam last time,” she rejoined, though she looked a little young to have been in it the last time. “The way we always did the written test, you always had to write something.”

“It makes sense,” Kakashi said after a moment. “You’re supposed to complete the mission no matter what. Even if the second round is supposed to be a team challenge, you could still say that her team has helped her by giving her an opening to get to the end. The Shinobi Rules-”

“She only has one scroll on her, though,” he argued back. “There’s no way they have spares; they would have just barreled straight to the end if they did. She’s just lying to us and trying to keep us from using Rin’s plan, because she knows it’s gonna work-“

“I know that; I was only expressing sympathy for the idea of allowing teams to complete the challenge even after losing a member. If this were a real mission, we would have to keep going under those circumstances. We wouldn’t be allowed to call it a defeat and go back.”

That was true and there was nothing else to say for the moment, so they knocked out Matcha and waited for her teammates. Most likely, they were both boys, but the three of them were waiting for any sign of movement. Even if it was rotten luck that the kunoichi they captured had a heaven scroll, they were in a remarkably good position, at least until they all had to duck under a trio of senbon needles.

“Well, well, well,” a girl’s voice said. It was an entirely unrelated team; it was Anko, Iroha, and some other kid whose name he had forgotten. “If it isn’t the black sheep of Konoha, Team Minato.”

“How does it feel to undermine your own teacher?” her male teammate asked. Breaking tradition, he abstained from wearing a shirt. The Hyuga behind him remained silent.

“How did it feel to lose to us earlier?” Obito asked.

“We don’t give away all our secrets in practice,” Anko said. “I wouldn’t recommend holding anything back now, though. Light up for us, Ha.”

A snake seemed to come out of her arm and it was all he could do to avoid it. The shirtless dude ignited his punches with fire chakra as he came after Kakashi, who was quick to bury him and smother his flame, but in the process took a couple blows from Iroha. Rin fired back, throwing shuriken at the other kunoichi and forcing her to dodge. Obito closed the distance and used a Katon, which he knew she would ignore if she had as much skill in earth techniques as he expected, switching targets halfway to the Hyuga, freeing up his teammate right as he took a painful shot to the abdomen.

Doubling over, he could only see Kakashi taking advantage of his opponent’s understandable inability to focus before he threw a kunai right where Anko was about to dodge Rin’s second round of three shuriken, hitting her in the neck. He ensured that Iroha was knocked out while their resident medic ninja ran over to the young Uchiha.

“It looks like you got bitten by a real snake,” she observed, using an anti-venom technique. The dangerous substance was lifted out of his wound, but at no point did he feel the pain lessening. “Can you check them?” she asked.

“They don’t have scrolls,” their teammate observed dispassionately. “I’m going to seal them up underground and leave them there. It’s not that I’m offended they were trying to kill us, but there was somewhat more… malice than I expected.”

“You’re probably right,” Obito managed after a moment. “It’s better if we just let the Cha people know where we left them by the time this is over.” It seemed Rin had gotten him out of danger. For the second time, perhaps, he looked at her and wondered if she had always looked like that. Was it the gratitude? Was it the loss of blood?

Before they were ready to do anything else, though, another team attacked them, though thankfully it was a weaker team hoping to get the jump on them, by the looks of it. There were only two of them. Kakashi took a rather fortuitous chance and pinned one to a nearby tree with a senbon, letting the other get close to get hit by both him and Rin at the same time. Whatever the Genin was expecting, a swift, effective response was not it. Running up the tree where the other one was pinned, he knocked out the other one while Obito was still lying on the ground.

“Wait-“ He had never seen such fear in his teammate’s eyes. What was wrong? Looking down at his chest, he saw a shuriken stuck in it. When had that gotten there? He doubted it was Anko, because Rin would have noticed it. He must have missed it himself in the loss of feeling, or the confusion, or the pain. Everything went dark.

When Obito woke up, he was in a temple. He had never been one for temples, of any of the religions he knew to exist, but the calm was a nice change. Remembering that he had been in mortal peril with a start, he looked down to see he was fine.

“Good job, team Minato,” the examiner said. “It looks like your teammate really was alive, just as you assured me.”

“We made it!” Rin cried, throwing her arms around him. “Thanks so much, Obito-“

“Uh, what did I do?” he asked. “I know I woke up-“ He tried to take in his surroundings, but either it was dark or his eyes were not working.

“If you took any longer to wake up, they would have tossed our scrolls out,” Kakashi said. “We took you back here because we couldn’t see to your injury out there, where someone could attack us again, and we were hoping that even if you were unconscious, it would still count as you coming here.”

He tried not to be too happy about the fact that he was right that Matcha had been lying.

“So… they decided that it was fine for us to make it here in bad condition… we just had to still be alive. That makes sense… if I died, I’d be in the other world. It wouldn’t really matter if you brought the body.”

“Don’t talk like that; you’re not dying while your my patient,” Rin said. “I wasn’t supposed to move you, so some of the medical ninjas here chewed me out for putting the competition over your life-“

“You trusted me to live through it,” he said after a moment. For some reason, he found himself unable to get mad at her. “I lived through it.”

Kakashi only looked moderately annoyed, perhaps because the rules had not been as he hoped, if mitigated by the fact that they won anyway. When he got a chance to look around, he saw that several other teams were there, probably more than when they had first arrived, based on how long it felt like he had been out.

“Are you okay?” Rin asked. “I don’t know when they’re going to start the preliminary round, but-“

“It’s probably going to be soon, while they have everyone here,” he said. “I’m not at the top of my game, but I should be able to fight if they don’t prequalify us for the bracket.”

“It’s not likely,” his other teammate said. “While you were out, I asked the examiner and they said they wanted thirty two for the bracket, and there are more than that already. Even if no one else shows up, we’re already over by ten.”

“Which ten are they going to eliminate?” he asked.

“That’s the point of the preliminary. They’re not going to prequalify anyone who isn’t an absolute shoo-in, someone who wouldn’t be beaten except by someone with a highly convenient kekkei genkai that perfectly counters their abilities. Everyone else has to fight.”

“Were we that bad?” he asked. “I kinda thought we were one of the first teams here.”

“It’s true that we got here relatively early into the second round,” Rin said after a moment. “I’m almost glad you weren’t awake for this, but we had to bargain for our lives with the backup heaven scroll.”

“What happened?”

“While Kakashi was carrying you, I was carrying the scrolls; we were lucky we took all three of them. On our way here, we were avoiding all these blades coming at us from the trees, and I guess there were some other teams with the same idea, or maybe they already had their scrolls and they were just trying to kill us, but it drew their attention away from us long enough when I had a shadow clone run off with the spare scroll- I made it look like the clone dropped it and went to get it, when really I dropped it. It was all I could think to do, and it probably only occurred to me because Match had done it earlier-“

“It’s okay,” he said, realizing how precarious their position was. “There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“We told the examiners what happened and everything. They said they can’t go and get Anko and her teammates until the second round is over.” She looked around. “There really is something off with the three of them. I used to get along with her and Kurenai just fine whenever we were in town together. She’s not normally like this.”

“Either something’s happened to her, or she has a secret,” Kakashi said. “It might be both, though. We should focus on what’s in front of us.”

In the hours that followed, the team they had just been discussing surprised everyone by showing up alive and with two scrolls. Most likely, they assaulted a team that had been overconfident, waiting by the shrine with a complete set to see if they could kill anyone else, though it was not revealed whether or not anyone had died.

Hours passed after that. Obito tried to get some sleep while he could. As long as not all the teams had shown up by forty eight hours, there was no reason to end the second round, unless all the scrolls had been found. As long as he could take advantage of it, though, he would, and that meant sleeping and trying to recover his chakra. Though he had little enough information about what would happen next, he knew it was going to be hard, and he would be right.

The Shinobi Rules

Silirt

Chapter 26: Preliminiary Round One

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Obito woke up around the time they were explaining the first round.

“Okay, Chunin candidates- there are forty eight of you, and we’re trying to get it down to thirty two. That means that we need to eliminate sixteen, and we’re going to do that as simply and as quickly as possible. The sixteen of you who did the best are going to go through no questions asked. Everyone else will each fight one match- the one who does better in the match goes on.”

“It’s great that the numbers worked out this well,” he muttered. There were shinobi who got more anxiety over that sort of thing than fights to the death. He was not one of them, but he wished them no ill fortune.

“How are the matches selected?” someone demanded. “I’m not fighting my own teammates.”

“That’s an obvious conflict of interest, and we’re trying to avoid that. Fortunately, for the sake of the preliminaries, we have an even number of teams that will be fighting. If we felt like it, we could even pit team against team. The final decisions, however, will be made by random drawing.”

“Nothing is random,” Kakashi said under his breath.

“In order, the teams that are going on to the next round are as follows: Team Sake, consisting of Oyashiro En, Miku of the lost clan, and Maeden, Team Inoichi, consisting of Yamashiro Aoba, Hyuga Hoheto, and Tenga.”

All eyes in the room turned to the recognized team, and they saw two older guys and a younger one, and instantly they knew what happened. The team would have qualified for the last Chunin exam, but one of their members died, probably against a rogue ninja, and had to be replaced before the next exam. The examiner continued.

“Team Shibi, consisting of Iburi Gotta, Uchiha Tekka, and Suzume, Team Midori, consisting of Wasabi Jin, Degarashi Hojicha, and Ryochu. We have also selected a team without a current teacher due to injury, consisting of Inuzuka Gaku, Minazuki Yuki, and Funeno Daikoku Lastly, because we needed one more to make sixteen, we chose the best-performing individual out of the teams that passed, but did not impress us enough to prequalify, we have selected Shiin of the clan named after himself.” He looked around. “If your team did not impress us, it may have been because you seemed to be rather fortunate, or employed a conservative strategy. Rest assured, the preliminary will sort you out.”

There seemed to be some disagreement about the way the decisions were made, but for the most part the candidates put up with it. Kakashi, for example, might have considered himself much stronger than some of the others, but because their team had been lucky enough to find a scroll early on, and then barely managed to make it through the second round, he was not complaining. Asuma, by contrast, was annoyed.

“So what if we found the scrolls early?” he asked no one in particular. “That means we completed the assignment better than anyone else.”

“It’s not really an assignment,” Morino Ibiki said. It went without saying that a team as strong as his did not prequalify for the same reason. “If you’re really that good, you’ll beat your opponent in the preliminary.”

“Of course,” the Hokage’s son said, turning relaxed. “We’re not worried; it’s just annoying.”

“It’s a wonder how you got assigned to a team with Raidou,” Kakashi said. “Wasn’t he the lone survivor of a Genin mission gone wrong?”

“Shut up,” Kurenai said. “What were they supposed to do with him after that? They didn’t have another team where they could have assigned him-“

“I mean, I guess they could have assigned him to Yamanaka Inoichi,” Obito said. “That Tenga guy could’ve gone to your team. Then the ages would be mostly the same.”

“There’s nothing for it now,” Asuma said. “If you really think that Raidou is carrying us, we’ll show you how wrong you are when we get to the bracket.”

“I wasn’t saying-“

Several of the ninja in front of Obito sharply turned and walked off, though Rin went after her old friend. He found them sitting on the steps of the temple, looking out over the scenery in the morning. He had to give the land of tea credit; it was beautiful, though perhaps that word was already on his mind.

“I don’t think your team is bad,” his own teammate said. “Besides, it’s like he said. You will have your chance to prove that you’re good.”

“I know,” Kurenai said. “It’s just… it’s more Asuma than me. It hits him harder, but he doesn’t show it; he does that whole carefree thing. He’s not actually that lazy. It’s an act.” She sighed. “Everyone says that he only gets by because his father is the Hokage.”

“Well, he has a chance to prove them wrong as well,” Rin said. “Do you like him?”

“I don’t know. I’m like you; right now, I just want us to be teammates and maybe, in a few years from now… I don’t know. The next few years aren’t guaranteed.”

Never had truer words been spoken. Even in the next few hours, they could die during the preliminaries. That was something that even at the time, Obito accepted, though. What stood out to him was the fact that the two friends had apparently had some private conversation in which his teammate had said she liked someone, but she just wanted to focus on being teammates for the time being. Did she like him? Was it Kakashi? Why did it matter all of a sudden?

“Get over here; we need to watch the matches,” his other teammate said. Rin looked up and acted like nothing had happened, and when he looked back on it she was probably right to think that neither of them really cared that she was having a conversation with Kurenai; they had never given an indication that they were interested in girls talking, even when it was maybe about them.

They assembled in the area surrounding the courtyard of the temple. The two combatants were Morino Ibiki’s teammate Tokara and Hyuga Iroha. It appeared they had met each other before. The broken gourd on the back of the somewhat older guy contained a gray powder.

“So, it’s you again,” he said. “Can you activate your Byakugan this time?”

“Of course,” his opponent said. “This will not be easy for you.”

They traded blows as if testing their taijutsu against each other, and the Hyuga was winning. It seemed, however, his opponent noticed that he was unsteady and took advantage of it, knocking him down with a leg sweep. He then jumped on top of the enemy, digging his heels into the young man’s side. The match was called despite the protests of the loser.

“Pat yourself on the back, Kakashi,” Obito suggested. “You softened that guy up, if I remember correctly.”

“You do. There’s more to it, though. They called the match early because we reported that he might get violent. Vindictive.”

Almost as soon as he said as much, Iroha’s skin seemed to have an irritation, but he calmed himself down as if someone told him it was not worth it. Rin frowned.

“That hardly seems fair. If they just wanted him to lose-“

“It’s not that they wanted him to lose. They just wanted the match to be over quickly. They can justify it by saying there are a lot of matches that have to be fought, so whenever someone gains a slight advantage, they go ahead and call it.”

“Maybe they wanted to see what the rest of his team did if he lost.”

In the next round, Raidou was going up against one of Shiin’s teammates, a young man named Arashi. Confirming with his teammates that they were from the land of sound, Obito resolved to watch carefully. Whether this one ended up in the bracket or not, they already knew one of them was there. Asuma’s older teammate endured what looked like painful screeching for a few seconds before seeming to disappear from the spot, reappearing behind his opponent. Kicking him hard in the back of the leg before he could turn around, Raidou had a kunai to the other ninja’s neck in less than a heartbeat and the match was called.

“Clever,” Kakashi observed.

“It was just a substitution jutsu,” he said.

“I wasn’t talking about the technique, though the application was more impressive than perhaps you realize. I was talking about the fact that he seemed to form a strategy around the fact that the last match was just called the moment one combatant had the edge.”

“That’s right. I’ll have to-“

“Uchiha Obito and Wagarashi Matcha.”

“What? She made it through?”

“She must have,” Rin said. “I guess her teammates found her and brought her in. We didn’t kill them.”

“We took their scrolls,” he muttered as he walked over to the combatants’ area. He could hope that it would be an easy fight, but he was actively learning that his opponent was nothing if not determined, and she had fooled him once already with the shadow clone.

“A bit off our game, aren’t we?” she asked.

“I could say the same thing about you,” he said, beginning to circle her. “How’d you even finish?”

“The other team from Cha helped us out,” she said. It surprised him so much he stopped circling, but she kept going. “There’s such a thing as a ninja who doesn’t turn his back on a countryman.”

“I’m glad you’ve got some good friends,” he muttered. “They can’t help you here.”

Using a Katon, he forced her to the edge of the relatively small arena and then hit her with a kunai in the belly, a lucky strike given that she had just created two shadow clones. The clones charged forward, refusing to give up after the first hit and he countered them, but an abrasive smell was distracting him. He rolled out of the way of a senbon needle, which was caught by a spectator he did not have time to identify. Right as he distracted her with a shadow clone of his own, he closed the distance and was about to kick her when a Tokubetsu Jonin dragged him out of the ring. Apparently, the match had been called, but neither of them could hear it.

“Apparently someone helped them,” he muttered as soon as he got back to his teammates. “I need to sit down; I can’t focus right now.”

“I think the same thing happened with Anko,” Rin said, squatting down next to him.

“Huh? Who would have helped them, though? Don’t tell me the older Hyuga helped them just because-“

“They wouldn’t have had anything to do with it,” Kakashi said. “According to Ibiki, they were on another part of the island almost the whole time. I’m thinking the one who helped them was someone who wasn’t supposed to be here at all.”

Quietly, he supposed that if someone managed to sneak onto the island before the competition started, or better, before they even prepared for it, then he or she could ensure that the team ended up with two scrolls. It would mean hiding from the examiners and other officials, and he had a hard time imagining who would be so committed, but he guessed it was possible.

“Who’s their teacher?” he asked as the next two fighters line up. It was another one of the Cha kids and Gekko Hayate, who was expected to win without much effort. “They weren’t called out when they read out the exemptions and I don’t remember it coming up earlier.”

“Neither do I. Most likely, it never did. If they keep people away from them, they can keep people from asking too many questions, though, so we would have to see who signed and sealed their form if we wanted to know for sure. The examiners aren’t authorized to reveal much about the competitors, so we wouldn’t get anything out of them.” Looking back on it, he wondered if Kakashi had ever considered that some of the exam officials might actually break the rules.

A loud gasp drew their attention back to the fight, wherein the leaf ninja stabbed the tea ninja with a sword, critically injuring him. Rather than doing the smart thing and surrendering against an opponent with greater skill and a weapon that was hard to wield non-lethally, the kid had basically chosen death, and people responded with concern absent of sympathy. They took him to the medical ninjas standing by and Hayate was pronounced the winner. Rin was unlucky enough to have to go up against his teammate directly after.

“You!” he shouted. “This is your fault- we had to try twice as hard after Matcha got knocked out. This was-“

“It was not inevitable,” she responded. Rin was nice to everyone she knew, but there was a firmness beneath that. “The Gekko house uses kenjutsu and their son is among the best at it. If anything was inevitable, it was that he would win.”

“We couldn’t just surrender, not when we were helped to get this far!”

“Were you really helped, though?” she asked. “Or was it just that the other Cha team had to give away their scrolls when they had an excess, and decided it was better to give them to you than someone who would give them any trouble?”

Her opponent screamed and charged right into a smoke clone, which he had not seen her do before. She hit him in the back with an axe kick and jumped back, doubting that would be enough for a finishing blow.

“You’re not going to make me live through this!” he shouted, burning chakra rapidly. Making several hand signs, he nearly hit her with a blast of tea that melted the stone pavers on the ground behind her. Her eyes flashed with anger.

“No, I’m going not. I’m going to make your teammate live through this.” Creating four shadow clones with her textbook chakra control, she charged at him, counting on his anger to make him hit each one rather than wait for the genuine article, and then hit him with a shuriken traveling through one of her own clones, slashing his throat.

The match was called and the medical ninjas were called over. As with the one who had been defeated just recently, there was still a chance of saving him, and they would have an incentive, since the medics were mostly locals like the examiners, but the prospects were looking grim. Rin returned to her teammates and sat down next to Obito, breathing heavily.

“Hey, neither of us blame you-“

“I know,” she said.

“That guy was trying to kill you,” Kakashi said.

“I know. That wasn’t what made me angry, though. He was just using a powerful technique that he can’t make any less lethal. Not everyone is a taijutsu specialist.” Her eyes narrowed. “What made me mad was that he seemed to think I would beat him without harming him, just to embarrass him more, and it seemed like he didn’t even think that Matcha also watched their teammate get stabbed, and now-“ She shook her head.

It went without saying that it was not really practical to leave people alive and try to make them learn life lessons, and that had not been his intention in his fight. He had never seen Rin attempt anything of the sort, and he knew she was capable of killing people. Deliberately giving the examiners time to stop her would have been pointless, because they were fast enough to knock both fighters out. To be sure, she might actually have the skill she needed to defeat her opponent and leave herself a moment to sermonize, but that was pointless. Like every other ninja, she was going to have moral objections with everything she encountered, and taking the risk to express them every time she was faced with an active threat was suicide. Kakashi was still arguably arrogant, but even in those days he had more or less given up on acting like a teacher to her and Obito, which worked out, because it was his turn to fight.

“Joki and Hatake Kakashi,” the examiner called out. It seemed like he was going up against a hot water ninja with a blank expression. About the same age, he wore tan robes and carried a single dagger. Without saying anything, he bowed and assumed a fighting stance. His opponent honored his wish to keep things silent and defeated him after using an earth jutsu on the part of the ground Rin’s opponent had destroyed, raising it to protect himself against a blast of steam. To the young ninja’s credit, the jutsu was hard to avoid and if he got it to be powerful enough, he could boil people alive, but the spray could still be blocked at the source, and the White Fang’s son was quick enough to think of that. He jumped forward with the dagger, only to be grabbed by both wrists and forced against the ground after an impressive attempt to counter the grab.

“That guy was pretty respectable,” Obito said when his teammate came back. “It’s a shame he couldn’t have gone up against someone weaker.”

“Then, he would only be defeated in the third segment of the exam,” Kakashi said.

“I don’t know; we get a month to try and improve before that.”

“Well, you should use the time to work on your kekkei genkai,” he said as the next two combatants were arguing about the condition of the stage, with one saying it was fine and the other disagreeing. He silently decided that they were probably trying to go through the teams to keep everything in order, only making exceptions when something would be a bad match, at least according to them.

“I don’t know how to work on that,” he said.

“I know. I only wish you’d managed to awaken the Sharingan when Rin was in danger.”

“I don’t-“

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Rin asked. “I was unconscious-“

“Kakashi waited for me to catch on,” Obito said, not caring that he was only speculating. “He wanted me to see you and freak out-“

“I didn’t say that. I only said that I wished a positive result could have come of it.”

“You’re not denying it,” she said. “You’re just denying that you said it.”

“Do you think there’s any point telling a red eye that?” he asked. “I have denied it before, he has no evidence that I allowed you to get captured- Rin, you’re a shinobi as well, and he seems to think that I have to look out for you-“

“We all look out for each other,” she said after a moment. “I don’t think you had any plan to awaken Obito’s Sharingan, but I really wouldn’t put it past you. It’s easy to see why he thinks that you did it. Did you tell Minato?”

“He didn’t believe me either, but why does that matter? He wasn’t there.”

They reached an uneasy truce as the next match was finally taking place. Kurenai was up against the last member of that particular team. Making herself the second to take advantage of the break in the stone on the ground, she rolled out of the way of several attacks until her opponent was lined up with it, then used a bizarre plant jutsu to knock her off her feet. She impressed everyone with her pain tolerance as she took a blast of hot water to her own feet, turning it into a fist fight on the ground. The match was called and the examiners looked them over.

“Yuuhi Kurenai has suffered greater injury, but was in a superior position. She would have killed her opponent if granted the chance.” Without waiting for him to stop speaking, Asuma came and picked her up before he went in for his match against Ibiki.

“It’s like they knew those two-“ Obito started, but he concluded with only a shake of the head. It looked like there was a conflict between the examiners. One of the Cha elders was insisting that the fighting ground needed to be repaired before the competitors turned it into a garden, and others were saying that was unfair. The delay was getting on the nerves of the young men who were lined up and ready to go, but they stood there without saying anything.

A single shuriken came from the roof of the shrine, sticking itself in Asuma’s arm, and the next few hours were dedicated to trying to figure out who had thrown it, and when the local officials determined it was someone who lost the second round, they handed the matter over to the elders for their decision. The hour grew late before another match could take place, and they decided it would be the last for the evening. Ibiki insisted that he should go up against a shinobi at full strength, and they put him up against someone unrecognizable, whom he humiliated. Obito did not think he had ever seen someone go from confident and happy to eating pavement half so quickly.

“That was kind of surreal,” Rin said as they dismissed for the night. Some of the Chunin candidates were insisting that they did not need a break and could keep going through the night, but because some teams were done, it was decided that they had a right to watch the matches, so either everyone was up or no one was, and it could all be sorted out the following morning.

“It was. Did you notice that not many people were using their kekkei genkai?” Kakashi asked.

“I mean, it makes sense to conceal your true strength if you can,” he said. “It’s more like a real fight between ninja than the third round of the exam.”

“That’s what they probably think you’re doing with the Sharingan,” he said, a sigh making it evident in long retrospect that he was aware he was returning to a sensitive issue.

“Do they really expect me to be able to use it?” he asked. “Has anyone ever activated it this young before?” He thought for a moment. “Maybe my emotions just aren’t complex enough. No, then Sagara wouldn’t have had any problems; there’s no one more complicated.”

“I don’t know,” Rin said. “I really couldn’t say. Your clan keeps everything secret. Now that we’re through to the next round… maybe you should ask someone.”

“Do you remember Tekka, that guy who got put through no questions asked? I honestly thought that he was a Chunin already.”

“Did he activate the kekkei genkai already?”

“Yeah. Basically… he told me not to worry about it.”

“I can see why he’d say that,” Kakashi said. “Simultaneously-“

“I know. I know how important it is. It’s important to me too.”

They said nothing more as they resigned themselves to sleep, and for the first time that he could still remember, he felt like he wanted to sleep next to Rin. It was not that he wanted to do anything untoward; in those days he barely even had those kinds of thoughts. He just wanted to be near her.

When they woke up, as often happened, he lost whatever train of thought that he had been conducting before, and the new concerns of the new day won out. They still had several matches to watch, and that was going to inform them of how they would have to train for the next round of the exam, but before that, he really wanted to send a message to Minato to tell him the good news. He took out a scroll from his pack and started writing, resolving that if there were someone who got eliminated who was going back to Konoha, he could ask to have it taken back.

Apart from that, he saw nothing unusual that morning except the first kiss between Asuma and Kurenai, unless he missed one at some point.

Notes:

Obligatory acknowledgement that yes I posted yesterday; you're getting another one just to keep my document at a manageable length.

You've seen a lot of new names in this chapter, I presume, and I've said that I created a few new characters. To provide context for some of the ones I did not create, all of the characters who are stated to be from Konoha are canonical; I have a preference for using them whenever possible, and I really only needed to add in characters from other countries. If you don't know yet, Madara's decisions as Hokage made Cha and Yu stronger as countries and facilitated their development of unique ninjutsu.

In addition, Uchiha Tekka, whom I've only mentioned twice before, is an original character. The series is really good about having characters of different ages, but I genuinely couldn't find an Uchiha who was older than Obito and younger than Fugaku, so we'll assume that the canonical Tekka, who is much younger, was named after the same person.

The Shinobi Rules

[kankuroplease]

do you have any Naruto Tattoo Shop Au Headcannons? 🥺

Naruto pretty much grew up in a tattoo shop with his father owning it and his mother working there too.

It was a fun and loving childhood for him and he even got to have teenage Kakashi as a babysitter.

He hasn’t always been THE best tattoo artist, but he’s really dedicated to honing his skills and learning more styles than just new age.

Close to his younger sister even though they argue a lot over dumb things and challenge each other regularly. I.e. who can eat the most ramen in one sitting, who is making a face at who, who gets to drive/why the other one can’t be trusted to drive, sound checks, etc.

If she invites him to one of her opera recitals or musicals, he is going to do everything to be there to support her (even if he thinks they’re boring) doesn’t know she’s been singing at upscale Uchiha lounges, but he probably should wounder how she’s affording her sneaker collection on a part time sandwich shop worker/college freshmen

If he’s going somewhere like an amusement park, gym, aquarium, or a beach trip, he invites her. Some people ask why, he ask why not? She is his family, of course he’s going to invite her 🤨

Lovable and naïve. Like, he’s missing a lot of what’s happening around. His best friend is a Yakuza, his mom’s best friend is married into the Yakuza, his boss leaves the shop for certain clients but doesn’t share pictures of these pieces, Sakura has dropped many hints about everything, Shisui showing up to collect Sasuke any/everywhere, and still.. it goes right over his head.

He’s catching on that Sasuke’s involved in something but he’s not sure what. He just tells Sasuke that he can tell him anything because he’ll never judge him and if he needs an out, Naruto will help him anyway he can.

Tries to help tidying up around their shared home, but he puts things in the wrong place all the time.

He’s always full of energy and is also the heaviest sleeper around. He could sleep through a typhoon

He has a matching tattoo with his mother because he liked hers so much. His is just in color and on his neck instead of is arm

Most likely to send meme after meme after meme at any time of the day

Pickiest of eaters and will complain if Sakura makes him eat the vegetables he’s poked to the side of his plate

Gives himself questionable haircuts from time to time. It’ll grow back, it’s fine

Gets jealous over Kakashi and Sasuke getting booked more than him. He’s good too!

Constantly practicing to improve because he will be the greatest

Designed some frog tattoos that he gets super excited over when someone chooses one of them

pranking people around the shop like it’s his secondary job and getting Sakura in on some of them too

She and Kakashi learned most of his tricks, so he can’t get them as easily, but he still tries

Likes to name drop his godfather, Kakashi’s favorite author, whenever the opportunity presents itself. Like the old man is a perv, but he does send him postcards and hardly anyone does that anymore. It’s pretty neat if you ask him

Knows Tenten because they went to school together and she’s his mechanic/client.

Made a friend at the local gym named Lee because they kept turning up their treadmills to out run each other. They are also drinking buddies and that’s one of the reasons he gets into trouble when they’re out

Offers Sai piggyback rides (and Sai takes him up on it)

Always getting Sasuke to join mobile games because he wants the bonuses for friend invites

Personally offended that he’s never asked to babysit for Kakashi, Obito, and Rin. He’s great with kids!

He’s in a ho phase. It would be easier to ask who he hasn’t made out or hooked up with than who he has.

But there’s one person he’s developing strong feelings for, and that is Shikamaru. His ex band mate, classmate, and one of his best friends. They’re more than just friends but it’s complicated

Naruto talks to him regularly and always looks forward to seeing him. He can and does talk about him a lot and pretty much has the whole shop asking him why not make it official.

Shikamaru’s a busy man who runs a bothersome start up, he’s not going to chase Naruto, he doesn’t have the time for that. Naruto will just have to make up his mind on his own

Sakura is always “nagging” him about being a man and making things official with Shikamaru before it’s too late. Commitment isn’t that scary

[sunasbabie]

You've probably been asked this or seen this like a thousand times but I just adore the thought of bothering Suna while he has his gaming headset on until he decides to but his headphones on you and absolutely destroy you while his friends listen. He'd definetly record it too to keep to himself. ~⚡

tw: exhibitionist and foursome if you squint,, also this is aged up!!

you were bored out of your mind from sitting on suna's bed watching him play with his friends so you decided to have a little fun. you went behind him and placed your hands on his shoulders, pressing soft kisses on his neck making sure not to make a sound.

he was still not bothering to pay attention to you so you started to suck and bite on his neck, leaving small hickeys that they boys will for sure notice tomorrow.

he paused the game “if you don’t stop, you’re in it later princess” he muttered while facing you.

“oi what happened to you suna” you heard atsumu yell from suna’s headset but you could not be bothered, instead you answered him making sure t his friends could hear you.

“but rin you aren’t paying attention to me” you pouted

aware that the mic was still on “take of your panties and lay on the bed baby, i’ll give you all the attention you want”

he took off his headphones expecting to drop it on the floor but instead he placed it on you. “rin what are you doing” as he adjusted the headphones on you “just be a good girl and put that on alright” 

you were already wet so he had no trouble slipping in you

“fuck, you really are one needy one princess” he said as he thrusted into you, quickly finding your spot from all the times you’ve had sex.

“baby, fuck it feels so good” you gripped his head pulling him in for a kiss. you could hear some grunts from the headphones and you already knew what it probably was.

“oi suna tell us how she feels” you heard osamu ask and suna could hear it from how close he was to you

“she feels great you assholes, now shut up and let fuck my girlfriend in peace” he grunted as he delivered a particularly hard thrust to you which had you holding his cock inside of you.

“fuuuuuck baby, you’re so tight. i bet you like this huh, the twins listening on us” he said smugly

ignoring the question “it feels so good rin, faster please” you moaned gripping his back tighter probably leaving marks on him

“your wish is my command princess” he started rutting in you at a faster pace, you could hear the sound that your pussy was making because of how wet you were and you were pretty sure the twins could hear it too but you didn’t care all you wanted was to cum around your boyfriends cock.

you felt the coil inside you snap. suna felt you cumming on his cock which made him go faster to chase his orgasm.

when the two of you were finished he turned off the call not bothering to say bye to the twins, but making sure to save the recording for himself to listen when he was horny and you weren’t there.

send in thirsts

[kozumekenza]

on my mind :: seven

:: suna rintarou x f!reader :: playlist :: masterlist ::

:: taglist: open :: wc: 1.8k ::

After a drunken one-night stand with your ex, you thought you could get him out of your life for good. Unfortunately, the two of you can’t seem to keep away from each other. Why can’t you leave each other alone? And more importantly, why is he still on your mind?

tw: alcohol, profanity, gets a bit nsfw at the beginning, implications of sex

“Do you wanna come inside?”

Your voice may have been slightly pleading, but you didn’t care. You wanted to have this conversation with Suna, wanted to tell him how you felt, wanted to wake up next to him tomorrow morning and all the mornings after. 

“Are you sure?” Suna seemed hesitant, and you knew why. He knew that by inviting him in, you were inviting him to a conversation about your relationship.

You nodded your head and unlocked the door to your apartment. You poured two glasses of wine and then found yourself in a familiar position; you sitting at one end of the couch, Suna on the other.

“You probably know why I asked you to come in,” you said, sliding one of the glasses down the coffee table towards Suna. He nodded, and you continued. “I really wanted to wait until after the Olympics, so I wouldn’t be distracting you, but I just can’t wait any longer.” You looked him in the eye before continuing. “I love you, Rintarou, and I can’t wait any longer to tell you. I want to be with you, I want to go with you back to EJP, if you’ll have-”

Your words were cut off by a very enthusiastic Suna who had dove across the couch to capture your lips with his. You kissed him back passionately, until he pulled away to whisper to you. 

“Of course I want you to come to EJP with me. I want it to be you.” You giggled somewhat childishly, allowing yourself to be caught up in the sheer happiness of the moment. You could feel Suna’s smile against your lips, his hands roaming across your body. 

“Do you wanna stay the night?”

Suna nodded enthusiastically, pulling you up from the couch. You led the way to the bedroom, tugging Suna’s hand and leaving the half-empty wine glasses on the table. 

As soon as you crossed the threshold of your bedroom, Suna was pushing you up against the wall, hands holding your face with such reverence that you thought you might cry. You could feel his lips ghosting across your jaw, neck, and collarbone as you carefully tugged off his shirt. You put your hands against his chest, reveling in the smooth, hard muscle there. As you started working on the button of Suna’s jeans, he still hadn’t made a move to undress you.

“Rin, please,” you whispered, voice feather-light and absolutely pleading.

You could feel the sinister grin that spread across Suna’s face against your neck, and you knew you were in trouble. “Already begging for me, babe?”

You scoffed and pushed him back until his thighs hit your bed, watching as he fell backwards into the mattress. “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” You took your clothes off rather unceremoniously, Suna smirking at your own impatience. Standing in front of him in just your bra and underwear, you slid his jeans off. He continued smirking until you straddled his waist, only two layers of cloth separating you two. His hands found your hips as you leaned down to kiss him. Suna’s lips were soft, perfectly distracting you as his hands drifted. 

You allowed yourself to be caught up in the heat of the moment, your mind completely drifting as Suna took control. Whispered words in the dark made your heart beat faster, soft confessions of love and Suna’s deep voice praising you. You savored the feeling of him, strong arms wrapping around you, a hand grabbing both of your wrists, back muscles rippling underneath your fingertips. 

When you fell asleep later that night, you were tucked into Suna’s chest, his arms wrapped around your body.

---

The sunlight streaming in through the windows woke you the next morning. You found yourself stifling a laugh at the familiarity of waking up with Suna, only this time, it was under much better circumstances. You didn’t make a move to disentangle yourself from his arms, instead sinking farther in and allowing yourself to close your eyes and listen to his heartbeat. 

He stirred, leaving a gentle kiss on your forehead as he rolled to face you completely. A hand came up to rest on the side of your face. Suna’s eyes were soft, a sleepy smile on his lips. 

“I’m not dreaming, right?”

You giggled a little at his question.”No, this is real.”

“Good.”

“Why do you ask?”

He gave you a long blink before answering. “‘Cause it’s everything I’ve been dreaming of for the past eight years.”

You swatted at his arm, laughing. “You are so soft for someone who has chronic resting bitch face and never answers personal questions in interviews.”

“You watch my interviews?”

Blushing, you nodded. “Every single one. And every highlight reel. Every game. Anything to do with you.”

“Who’s the soft one now?”

His knowing grin made you groan, lifting yourself off the bed. Suna clung to your arm like a sloth. “Where do you think you’re going?”

You rolled your eyes. “Breakfast, I’m hungry.”

He released you and flopped back into the bed, burrowing into your blankets. You smiled at his antics, then got up to make coffee and something to eat. 

---

The weekend passed in much of the same fashion, you and Suna staying in bed much longer than you should, watching replays of EJP games (Suna needed your opinion, apparently) and talking. 

On Sunday afternoon, you pulled out your laptop to email a resume to EJP’s coach, but Suna stopped you.

“I already called coach, the job’s yours if you want it.”

You snapped your head up to look at him, laptop sliding off your lap. “Huh?”

“You got the job, it’s yours.”

“What do you mean? I haven’t even applied or sent a resume.”

Suna just looked at you. “You don’t need to, you’re hired already. I called coach and gave him your credentials, and he wants you to be our trainer.”

You gave Suna an incredulous look. “When did you do that?”

He smiled, “Two weeks ago.”

Your jaw dropped. “You were that confident that I would get back together with you?”

“I call it hopeful. And yes.” You rolled your eyes before pulling him in for a kiss.

“Thank you, Rin. And let me guess, I already have somewhere to live?”

“Of course, with me.” You grinned. “My apartment’s pretty big, more of a penthouse, anyway. We can move back together after the Games.”

Your smile became even wider. You liked the idea of “together”.

---

When you and Suna walked hand-in-hand into Monday’s morning practice, Atsumu laughed. 

“I fucking knew it. You two can’t keep away from each other.”

Suna punched Atsumu in the shoulder before dropping you off at your office with a kiss on the cheek. 

Practice was much better now that you and Suna were actually together. With two weeks until the move into the Olympic Village, training was picking up. The hardest would be over at the end of the week, with the week before the move-in full of easier drills and low-impact exercises. You enjoyed being able to watch Suna without restraint, taking in every move, every muscle. 

You spent your evenings with Suna, taking extra care of sore muscles and aching joints. He laughed at your fussing, but you didn’t stop. You wanted him to play at top form in the upcoming Games, and you were going to do everything you could to make sure he got there. 

Atsumu was petty about you “playing favorites”, as he put it, but his jealousy was quickly dismissed when you threw an ice pack at him. 

On the last practice before you left the National Team training center, the atmosphere was electric. Training was minimal, focusing on stretching and keeping muscles warm rather than drills and practice matches. You even watched tapes from the most recent world championship, taking notes on opposing teams and players. 

When practice was finally over, you helped Iwaizumi pack all of the training gear.

“Thank you for doing such a good job this season, y/n. I know the team will be in good hands with you.”

You smiled bright at his praise. “Thank you. I hope you enjoy Argentina, although I and everyone else will miss you.”

Iwaizumi shrugged. “It’s about time I left anyway. My fiance’s been waiting for me for quite some time.”

You laughed a little bit. “That’s quite romantic.”

“Just wait ‘til you meet him. He’s the opposite of romantic. In fact, he’s quite annoying.”

“I’m going to meet him?”

“Yeah, he plays for the Argentina volleyball team. He’s gonna be all ‘Iwa-chan, how dare you be on Japan’s side. How dare you be their trainer. I can’t believe you.’ Just wait, it’s obnoxious. You’ll wish you didn’t meet him.”

Stifling your laughter, you replied, “I’m sure that’s not true.”

Without missing a beat, Iwaizumi said, “It is, trust me.” He looked over his shoulder at you. “Anyway, I should be the one congratulating you. It seems you and Suna finally figured everything out.”

Your cheeks flared red. “How’d you know about that?”

Iwaizumi chuckled. “Atsumu, of course. The whole team’s been making bets on how long it would take for you two to get back together, for Suna to realize who took his jersey, pretty much everything.”

You paused, one of your hands still in a box of athletic tape. “He told you everything?”

Iwaizumi nodded, watching as you stomped towards the locker rooms. “Excuse me.”

Iwaizumi proceeded with his packing, only pausing slightly when he heard a very loud, very agitated, “Miya Atsumu!”

---

You dropped the heavy box you were carrying, wiping the sweat from your forehead. Suna dropped his box next to yours, then flopped on your bed. 

“Get off, Rin. This isn’t your room. And we have more boxes.”

He groaned, looking up at you. “C’mon, y/n. It’s hot, and I need to rest. Big games coming up, y’know?”

You grabbed his hands, dragging him off the small bed. “A few more boxes, Rin, I promise.”

Later that night, after unpacking the boxes of training supplies and going over schedules with the coach and Iwaizumi, you were finally settled in your tiny room in the Olympic Village. You were rooming alone, with team supplies taking up half of the space. Just as you were about to drift to sleep, your door opened, a tiny sliver of light from the hallway slipping in.

You didn’t even roll over. “Rin, there is not enough room for you in here. This bed is tiny as fuck.”

“C’mon, y/n. I can’t sleep when I’m not next to you.”

You tried to ignore the pleading tone in his voice, but you could picture the puppy dog eyes he was probably giving you. “Fine,” you sighed, lifting the blankets for him to join you.

“Thank you, babe.”

You hummed, relishing in the warmth of Suna’s chest, just about to fall asleep when-

“Hey, do you think it’s true that these beds break if you have sex on them?”

---

The bed broke. 

taglist:  @sunasexual @call-me-lulu​ @ntimacy​ @circleglasses​ @porcolie​ @keikotaro @rintarovibes​ @kenmaslov3r​ ​

[sunaswife]

Summary: It’s been five years since you’ve seen your ex, Rin. He’s still not over you and you’re not over him. When he finds out you have children he thought he didn’t have a chance. Then he finds out they’re his? All of a sudden you’re teaching Suna how to be a single dad.

note from denise: To be added to the taglist please send an ask. Comments and dms will be unintentionally ignored/forgotten. Also if you have sent an ask to be on the taglist. I am not ignoring you I add people onto the taglist when I update a new chapter! <3 love youuu

Warnings: Fluff, angst I guess, drama, and cuteness twin overload

Previously Up Next Masterlist

Chapter six

Suna was completely in shock and he was overwhelmed. He just froze. What can a man do when his ex tells him he is a father, let alone the father of two toddlers.

He immediately thought about the trauma you must have faced, being pregnant and alone. He also thought about how much he’s missed already, he wasn’t there for their day of birth, their first steps, first words, he’s already missed so many birthdays.

All he ever wanted was to be a father, especially to be the father of the children he made with the woman he was in love with. Was it truly a blessing or a curse?

Surely you don’t want to get back together and live like a perfect family behind a white picket fence. He’d have to learn how to push his feelings aside for these kids and share custody of them somehow. Before he could even speak you were walking away and he quickly turned.

Why aren’t his legs moving? What’s pulling him back? Is he afraid of this responsibility and commitment? Of course he is. He doesn’t want to be a shitty dad, will he be able to raise them correctly? How if he’s always busy training and practicing. All his free time is dedicated to napping.

His heart truly broke the second time ever when he saw those grayish eyes looking back at him with such hurt and betrayal. They screamed that they needed him. He didn’t know how but he felt it. He decided that he was going to take a step and work things out with you. Maybe not romantically but he really wants to be in his kids life.

“After all this time and trouble I went through. You’re gonna let her walk away again?” Atsumu’s annoying voice filled the silent hallway. “Fucking bastard.” Suna seethed and turned with a glare. Osamu knew his brother fucked up and decided to be cautious in case Suna decided to land a few punches on his brother like the last time Atsumu has pissed off Suna.

But as Atsumu braced himself for a comeback or for a fist to meet his face he was met with Suna’s back as he ran to catch up with you. When Suna turned the corner he saw the staff parking lot and he began to run even faster.

If you leave it’ll be too late.

When he made it in the parking lot he stopped and used his height to his advantage and he looked around. He couldn’t see you anywhere. “Y/N!” He called outloud and his voice echoed. “Y/N!” He repeated. He was about to continue walking through when a car backed up and quickly breaked so that they wouldn’t run over the man. You looked through your mirror and saw Suna standing there and looking around like an idiot.

Your heart clenched yet you felt butterflies at the same time. He came, not for you but for the kids. You really hoped and prayed that he would come, and he did. You parked your car and you got out. He sighed in relief and neared you. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I want to be in their lives I really do.” He exclaimed.

“It’s fine, Rin. I’m glad you want that.” You smiled softly.

For a moment he got lost in your eyes, and yours in his. It probably lasted less than a minute yet it felt like a eternity. Neither of you could turn away or say something else. It was comfortable and warm.

All of a sudden your phone rang and your finally blinked and turned away to answer your phone. “Did suna find you?” Jamie immediately asked. “Uh we were talking just now....” you said awkwardly and he stood awkwardly as well. “Ok good if not I was going to give him your number.” She sighed in relief and you rolled your eyes. “Alright I got to go, the kids have school in the morning.” You said and you both hung up.

“So I would love to stay and chat..ya know about the kids but they’re asleep already and they have school.” You mumbled. “No it’s fine I completely get it. School is important...are you available tomorrow? It’s off season for me so I don’t have any rough practices, only gym. I want to talk with you before meeting the kids.” He said and you nodded. “I’ll text you when to come over when I get home.” You told him and he nodded. You both exchanged numbers but Suna didn’t really seem that satisfied.

“Be safe. Text me when you guys get home safe.” He said and his eyes widened. “Okay, I will.” You smiled softly and he saw as you entered your car. You slowly pulled out and you drove away.

“Tsumu has her social media in case you’re curious.” Osamu spoke up causing Suna to jump. “What the hell dude, don’t just scare me like that.” He placed his hand over his chest and Osamu laughed.

“Come on, let’s go.” Osamu said and Suna nodded and walked away.

“Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck.” You muttered and slapped yourself as you drove. Your kids were already asleep so they couldn’t hear you having a mental breakdown on your way home. “Mommy you said a bad word.” Akira pointed out and you glanced at the mirror. “Sorry about that. Don’t repeat it okay?” You asked and she nodded. “I know I know.” She mumbled and look at her signed volleyball with a bored expression. “Is daddy going to be in our lives, now?” She asked and you sighed softly.

“Well we talked and it sounds like he wants to be there for you and nii-chan..he’s going to come over tomorrow while you’re at school so we can talk like adults. Then when you come home he’ll be there to hang out with you guys and you guys can get to know eachother.” You said hopefully.“I don’t like him. Why couldn’t Sakusa or Atsumu be our dad. Even that guy you were with earlier with the suit is fine. But dad is a jerk. He made you cry.” Rini huffed and your eyes widened, were they awake the whole time?

“Hey, I know you don’t know him but your shouldn’t disrespect your father like that. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have had you guys. You two are the best things that has ever happened to me. You’re a Suna, once you get to know your dad I know you’ll be proud that I put your last name as Suna not Kageyama.” You told him and he scowled.

“Can you tell us more about dad?” Akira asked and you nodded. “What do you wanna know?” You asked. “Why did you fall in love with him.” Rini immediately asked, “Well he was sweet and funny, he loved anime and we were in the same class. He also taught me how to love volleyball again after my grandpa died.” You said smoothly. “What position did he play? Did he go pro?” They asked. “He was a middle blocker and he was really good. He still is a middle blocker and yes he is pro.” You said and Rini gasped. He’s more of a middle blocker type of fan. And Akira prefers setters. Even when you or Tobio teach them volleyball. They choose those positions.

The whole drive they asked about him and you answered the best you could, you can’t tell them everything but they were satisfied and they had a better understanding. They did get upset with you for not telling Rin that he was a father since the beginning but they understood that he broke your heart and you didn’t really want to see him.

When you got home you texted Rin that you arrived. You quickly bathed your kids. Dressed them in their pajamas and read them a script from the new anime you’re going to be on. (They liked listening to the scripts rather than bedtime stories)

After reading three pages they were already knocked out and you gave them a kiss. You fixed Akira’s fox plush in her arms and made you way to Rini’s bed. He was hugging a green piggy with a crown from the angry birds game and the moon made his face glow. You stood there in shock and you imagined second year Rin sleeping like that with the pig plush with the crown that reminded him of you.

You quickly rubbed your eyes to see second year rin turn back into five year old Rini. “I need some wine.” You muttered and kissed his cheek and fixed his blanket. You took out the phone from your pocket as you made your way to the bathroom to take off your makeup and start your nightly routine.

You chuckled but quickly slapped your hand over your mouth. Why was it so easy to text Rin again after all this time. Isn’t it supposed to be awkward? Why are you so comfortable?

You quickly typed an awkward goodbye and he scratched his head confused but replied goodbye as well. He really wanted to continue talking to you more.

After you changed into your pajamas and finished your nighttime routine you made your way to the kitchen and you grabbed the half full wine bottle.

You held it to your chest as you made your way to your office/studio and began reading the script and answering some emails involving the character you’ll be portraying for the new anime. You celebrated a few weeks back when you got the offer and sighed thinking about this certain character.

You’ve read the manga already but it wouldn’t hurt to re read it to get a better feel of the characater right? You took a sip from the wine bottle as you found the first book of the manga. In your endless shelves of books.

“Alright Emma let’s go on an adventure.” You sighed and began to read The Promised Neverland.

Also don’t forget that I love you and you’re worth it <3 Idk who needed to hear this today :)

🏷: @therealwalmartjesus @differentballooncollection @aaesuki @atsunflower @dope-squish @prettysetterboiss @june-phantom @tomo-uwu @austriasmariazelle @xrnia @katsulia @aprettyfruit @shut-your-eyes-kiss-me-goodbye @tvbiio @sun-daddy-yoriichi @kamenoyaki @ppangiiroo @loeyprivvv @kmskj92 @lovinnoya @sarahvvictoria @tris-does-stuff @mokkeguts @sunaluvr6969 @bara-rose-would @sempiternal-amour @volleybloop @leykyuu @bokutoichigo @stfucanunot @iloveanime691 @tpwkatsumu @ohshirabu @shoutosimp @mqrinqcele @bokutosdivineass @anngelllla @toworuu @hidden-otaku-stuff @seijohiselite @caxsthetic @aquariarose @hhwanggu @bakuhoetoedoroki @yoozuku @osamus-onigiri @akaashi-todorki @donica95 @kakaokenma @airheadpillar

[noyashighlight]

My little dove

Child!Suna x Mother!Reader

Warning: Angst, death.

A/n: was reading a manga and listening to “fourth of July” by Sufjan Stevens when I thought of this idea.

“ Could you at least try to make some time for your family? Rintarō and I miss you- yes I understand work is important but so is your fam- That asshole!! I can’t believe he just hung up on me. “ you huffed softly shoving your phone into your purse feeling defeated, not having a use for it anymore. It was a typical Wednesday currently as you and Rintarō rode in the back of a black Limo going to drop him off at daycare before going off to work. You had just gotten off the phone with the sorry excuse of a husband and father, the man being a total workaholic.

Rintarō opened his eyes widely hearing you curse for the first time in front of him. “ Mommy who were you on the phone with? Also, mommy what’s an asshole?” The innocent four-year-old said the curse word with such ease and purity, that no one could be upset with him. Scooping him up into your lap hugging him against your chest, he looked like a spitting image of his father but with bright eyes full of life. Your son was the best thing to have happened to you during this loveless marriage.

The boy's father had one goal from this marriage and it was to produce an heir for the family company who would take over once it was their time. You were a knowing pawn in this all, but at least you could keep the man you love close to you with this marriage. It was draining though not only being an emotional support for your child but also keeping your own mental health in check.

Smiling you peppered kisses his plump cheeks, he was the cutest child ever. “ My little dove, that’s a bad word that you shouldn’t say okay? You can never say curses or Santa is going to be upset with you.” If only you could have taken a picture of his face, mouth wide with shock. Other than you, Santa was the only person he looked up to. “ I was talking to your father..” you kept it short and sweet not wanting to trouble your child. Maybe it was cause he was getting older or just sharp in general he frowned at the mention of his dad.

“ I don’t like daddy, he’s scary!” He shouted shoving his head into your chest hiding as of his father was present. It shocked you that even your son felt his cold gaze. Even if you resented him you didn’t want Rin to feel upset with his father and never build a relationship. “ What do you mean you don’t like daddy? Don’t you have a good time when dad comes home and we go out to eat dinner?”

He rapidly shook his then pulled your face down so he could whisper in your ear, probably not wanting the driver to hear. “ No, I like it better when it’s just us Mommy when daddy is here you never smile or make me laugh! Daddy is always like this.” He made a face his eyes relaxing and no sign of emotion on his face, he looked like a carbon copy. 

To cover up your giggles you covered your mouth with your hands. Who knew your toddler could be so hilarious. At that moment the limo came to a stop indicating it was time for him to go. “ Well, my little dove we can have dinner together after I pick you up okay? If you’re extra good today I can sneak you a cookie before daddy tucks you in.” You kiss him on the head as the driver opens the door. Little Rintarō looked so adorable with his little backpack as he walked back to you while using his other hand to hold his teacher's hand.

-

“ Why do you coddle him so much y/n? He’s not a baby anymore and needs to start growing up. You’re so insolent when it comes to your motherly duties!” A now six-year-old Suna heard his father's voice boom down the hallway, rubbing his eyes he slowly got out of bed to see the commotion. Peaking his head out of the hallway he sees you and his dad sitting at the table. You looking down at your lap, it was visible you were shaking from trying not to cry loudly. A site he was used to this his household, his father never yelled in front of Rin.

“ He’s not too old for his mother to love him! I’m just trying to be a good mom, what about you? Do you even know his favorite color or what kind of cereal he prefers. “ you fought back at least trying not to be a doormat anymore, it was fine if he wouldn’t love you but he wasn’t just going to treat your son like some stranger. Not wanting his parents to fight anymore he walked into the dining room holding his blanket that was the cause of this argument.

“ Daddy, why did you make mommy cry again?” The two adults froze in their actions hearing the soft voice, he walked over to you and hugged you even though you were sitting. Climbing into your lap he glared at his father. “ You’re a bad man daddy! You always make mommy sad, when mommy is sad I get sad.” Hearing your young child stand up for you made your heartache, he really was your anchor even though you were the parent.

-

“ Mom why’d you come today?” Suna said raising his eyebrows as he got into the back of the limo, the now thirteen-year-old looked very handsome. Since he had gotten older it was rare for you to pick him up, but sadly you couldn’t make it to his volleyball game yesterday due to work so this was your way of making it up to him. You sometimes wondered if he got any of his genes on his outside appearance from you. “ Well, I thought you and I could get ice cream after school before we go have dinner with your dad.” You smiled smoothing out his hair, he leaned into your touch.

Your son smirked mischievous mirroring your smile, “ He’s gonna be pissed when he sees the driver took us to get ice cream before dinner. Why don’t we take a walk around the park to, make him wait a bit longer at the table.” Your husband had his hands full with you two being absolute trouble makers, he could never break the bond you two shared though it was his fault for his neglect.

Two hours later Rintarō received a call from his angry tell him that he’s been at the restaurant for over an hour. “ Sorry Sir, we’re on our way.” He held back his laughter. Rin never called his father in a loving tone anymore to him he was an empty shell of a dad. After getting off the phone you two look at each other bursting out in a laugh, soon quieting down feeling the sleepiness after eating all of that ice cream. Rin rested his head on your shoulder, your child was now taller than you and still growing.

“ Mom, can you sing that song, that you used to hum?” You thought he has fallen asleep he was silent for so long. The young male hasn’t asked you to sing in years, though you were happy to accept his request anyway. The song wasn’t a happy one but your soft voice made it a gentle lullaby.

“ Sitting at the bed with the halo at your head was it all a disguise, like Junior High. Where everything was fiction, future, and prediction. Now, where am I? My fading supply. Did you get enough love, my little dove? Why do you cry? And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best though it never felt right. My little Versailles, Shall we look at the moon, my little loon. Why do you cry? Make the most of your life, while it is rife, while it is light.” His breathing slowed signaling to you he had fallen asleep, it would be a pain to wake him up when you guys arrived to the restaurant but for now it was peaceful.

Suddenly the limo tumbled, Suna’s eyes shot open feeling his body being thrown multiple times. As quick as it happened it had come to a stopped the limo feeling less spacious. His body ached feeling glasses shard pricking his back as now he was laughing on the window, the vehicle on its side. Looking up was you on top of him caging him in like you were shielding with your own body. “ Are you okay?” You croaked out, blood trickling down from the side of your mouth. You looked pale and almost lifeless but still kept a warm smile not wanting your precious child to panic. You caressed his cheek softly glad he only had a few scratches. You frowned a bit seeing him now crying. He must have been hurt.

“ Don’t cry my little dove, help will be here soon to get you out of this.” You cooed wiping the tears escaping his eyes. “They are going to get us both out of here right mom?” He cried out with pleading eyes seeing you turn paler as the minutes passed. How could you tell him the truth that you were going to make it? You kept eye contact with him not wanting him to look down, because if he did he would see you were being pierced by a sharp metal-like object. Just the sheer worry that your son needed help kept you going.

You nodded your head slowly with a sweet smile, “ Of course, we are going to be okay.” You started hearing the sirens in the distance, feeling relieved they weren’t going to take long seeing as you were running out of time. “ You were always a bad liar mom, always saying you’re okay when you aren’t. “ he saw right through you, why wouldn’t he after all he was your best friend and son.

Letting out a soft chuckle even though it hurt you pressed a kiss on his forehead, “ I love you my little dove, make sure the old man gets you all the ice cream you want after you get all patched up or give him hell.” It was time to go, the feeling left your legs long ago now your body was feeling more peaceful.

“ Mom please don’t go, you’re all I have! You can’t leave me in this world with the old geezer! Please mom just stay awake a little longer!” He sobbed uncontrollably as he felt your thump lifelessly on his chest, he hopes his loud cries and shouts would keep you awake just like when he was a child wanting your attention. He let out an agonizing scream hearing the ambulances park, not cause he was hurting from his injuries no because he had just lost the most important person to him in the world.

-

Suna Rintarō’s eyes were cold and half-lidded as he stood at your funeral, the picture of you smiling staring back at him. He looked just like his father more than ever. Losing you meant he lost one of his reasons to smile, no one could replace the love of his mother.

“ Rin it’s time to go.” His father’s voice wasn’t so stern today, making Rintarō angry. His father didn’t have the right to be sad when he was one of the reasons you had cried so much. Well, he wasn’t going to take over this stupid company one day, remember how you would cheer him on to the games you would attend made his chest ache. Volleyball was his passion, he would succeed and make you proud no matter what.

-

And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best though it never felt right.....

[chenoehi]

Thoughts on Ep. 15: Koga, Moroha, Zero, Riku, and Kirinmaru

First, now that good boy Koga is back in the game, a fun theory/headcanon I’ve had is that Moroha’s sword is actually Koga’s sword—you know the one he always carries around but never uses? They look the same as far as I can tell, and I noticed that immediately in addition to the other hints she was raised by the wolves (which I think most of us suspected, but it’s lovely to have it confirmed). That or the sword came from the wolf tribe at least, it resembles the kind of sword Ayame has, too. With the confirmation of Ep. 15 this theory is now becoming more likely.

Also, I just have to say that as devastating as it is that Kagome and Inuyasha did not get to raise their daughter and that they felt betrayed by Sesshomaru after coming to trust him (I absolutely believe he is helping them, not hurting them), it is comforting knowing that Koga had a hand in raising their daughter. He loved Kagome and treated well, having so much affection and respect for her by the end. He even showed some compassion for Inuyasha (in his own way). You can say he became their friend rather than simply being their ally. The fact that they trusted him to protect their child speaks volumes. And did you see how proud he looked when Hachi brought her to the tribe? Moroha is not his child but you know he will treat her like one. We don’t know the details yet of who raised her exactly or how she came to be separated from the wolves, but I have full confidence that Ayame and Koga treat Moroha like their own.

I know some people are sad that Miroku and Sango did not raise her, but knowing the threat against her and that their human friends already had a young family to take care of, it makes sense they would want to hide her away. And although it would have been perfect if Moroha could have lived in the barrier and been safe with her cousins (and possibly Rin), but again we’re not sure of the details yet.

Obviously, Inuyasha knew of the threat against Moroha’s life from Kagome who learned about it from Riku (a comment on that in a minute). I think the swiftness of everything and Moroha’s being sent away rather than being protected behind a barrier like the twins may be due to how immediate the threat became once Kirinmaru was awoken.

What’s unclear is 1. how long after Moroha’s birth is she whisked away? 2. why did they go somewhere specific to confront the maru bros and send their child away? 3. why would they delay sending her away in the first place (they had to with Kagome being there, and also Moroha’s hair is a little longer than the twins at birth so maybe this indicates it wasn’t immediate, or maybe not)? 4. if they delayed sending her because they just found out Kirinmaru had been awoken (by Zero) then who told them? Sesshomaru? 5. if so, did Sesshomaru tell them he had a plan or ask them to trust him while also explaining where to meet and that they needed to send Moroha away? 6. did Koga and co. know that Moroha was coming to them? They don’t seem very surprised, mostly just happy/pleased to see her, but also like they were expecting her. I don’t know how they would have gotten a message to them, but maybe they sent word to the wolves alerting them to the danger and the possibility that they may have to send Moroha away, Koga may have agreed to care for her, and when the time came to follow through they already knew to expect her.

Riku though...

Oh Riku. Seriously what the fuck. I thought I knew where this was going but..I’m trying to justify how Riku is introduced the same episode that we see Kirinmaru in the flesh. They are both shown eating grapes in their introductory scene. They both spit said grapes out and make some similar comments, showing that they have similar ideals and mannerisms (even if it is just grapes we’re talking about). They both are associated with water. They both are on boats a lot. Riku is referred to as a pirate washed up on shore or lost, trying to find his ship, etc. All the characters (human and demon) refer to him as lord or -sama. Kyuki (a peril) knew him. He has a personal grudge against the perils. The perils serve Kirinmaru. They both have green eyes (not a human eye color in feudal era Japan or even modern day Japan). They both have red hair (same comment). Riku is clearly shown to have some control over the pearls or ability to use them that might possibly exist in tandem with other abilities he possesses.

Riku also kind of just revealed himself to be something other than human in Ep. 15 when he commented that 18 years passing was nothing to him as we see visibly that he has the same appearance in present day as he had the year that the cousins were born. Could be that he means time itself means nothing to him because he can travel through time but that’s still unclear. Conclusion is that Riku is Kirinmaru’s hanyo child as he’s clearly not human but does not appear to be full demon either and has obvious visual connections to both Kirinmaru and Zero.

BUT. Kirinmaru doesn’t appear to have any love of humans like his doggy counterparts. He practically looks like he’s about to have a stroke when he hears that Sesshomaru married a human and sired hanyo heirs. It’s hard to imagine that person has a hanyo child floating around who everyone is aware of. However, he does seem to be contemplating something beyond what Zero is telling him and if he does have a hanyo child then he could be realizing that he potentially created a being that will kill him.

Another thing that is bothering me is how Riku warned Kagome. Obviously everything about that and Riku himself is shady af and we have no idea what’s going on yet, but what’s interesting to me is that Kirinmaru doesn’t realize that hanyous are a threat to him until Zero points it out—which is months after the comet when Moroha is born. Of course, this is all assuming that the moment Kirinmaru is awoken by Zero comes after Moroha has been born and not before. It is possible that Zero awoke Kirinmaru immediately after the twins were born and that Kirinmaru spent some time plotting but that’s kind of illogical. Why wait to kill a child until after it’s born if you can just kill the mother? Which then makes it even more sus that Zero waits to wake him up and tell him this. It’s also sus how Zero warns Sesshomaru of the threat on his daughters’ lives (the threat she’s making) only to send Jokka after them as a pawn before biding her time until after Moroha is born to then conveniently and casually point out to her brother that all half and quarter demons are a threat to him.

Zero’s movements make little sense until we have a better understanding of what’s motivating her and why the timing of everything was so important. I’m not leaving the possibility of her betraying Kirinmaru off the table honestly. Something’s not right. I have this feeling that Kirinmaru is just being used. I know he’s still supposed to be the villain and he does try to kill the girls (eventually) but something is very wrong. And Zero’s comment that she expected Sesshomaru to protect his children with a barrier...if she expected that to happen then why didn’t she attack when it would have been unexpected? Why didn’t she try anything when Rin was still pregnant? Wouldn’t that be devastating to lose your wife and two unborn children? Why the cloak and dagger? It seems that she’s purposefully trying to pit Kirinmaru against Sesshomaru, but she’s also not hiding her hatred of Sesshomaru and his whole family either.

This episode kind of further reinforces the Riku is a time traveler theory because Riku knows Kagome is pregnant when she’s not even showing and he warns her about Kirinmaru although at this time Kirinmaru doesn’t even know hanyous are a threat. In fact, he seems confident that the InuTaisho’s sons took care of the comet. He shows no inclination of wanting Inuyasha dead.

But one thing that’s bothering me is just how shook Kirinmaru is that Sesshomaru has a human wife and hanyo babies. He’s shook shook. Like, blindsided. Everyone but Myoga so far has taken the news with little reaction (to be fair, we’re not sure how the OG gang felt but Kohaku wasn’t in utter disbelief as far as I remember). Maybe that’s just because he knew Sesshomaru for a long time and he really can’t believe it, but I have this feeling we saw his reaction being a bit overblown (and honestly, kind of undignified) for a reason. Something clearly went down between Zero, Toga, Sesshomaru’s mother, and possibly involving Sesshomaru as well. Kirinmaru seemed to have made peace with Toga and he doesn’t appear to be on adversarial terms with his son, but something is wrong. Everything feels very personal, like somehow Sesshomaru marrying a human and siring children with her is an insult to Kirinmaru personally. If he already knew about the hanyo threat by that point it would make sense but no dice, so then why.

Also, if Osamu Kirin is in fact Kirinmaru in human disguise, wouldn’t he save himself a lot of trouble by just killing Towa in the Reiwa period when he had the chance? It’s not like she was hiding her presence, she didn’t even know she was a hanyo. So if that theory is true, did he choose to leave her alone for a reason or has he suffered memory loss? We already know Kirinmaru in the fuedal era was a little off so it’s not a stretch.

[tundrainafrica]

I’m so scared that the Hanji’s shard was actually her coming back to life!I’m not talking about the beast titan theory.I kinda think that for some reason the rumbling victims will be brought back to life (Zeke style with the titan carcass) and since I feel like Levi’s gonna sacrifice himself next chapter to detonate the bomb,he wont be back because they can only bring back the ones who died from the actual rumbling.I hope I’m making some sense right now.That promo photo of the vets where Hange was the only one looking directly at us was scaring me.Is that a hint of some sort?Don’t get me wrong,I truly want her back but at what cost?

Thanks for the ask anon! This is a pretty interesting take on the ending. 

To be honest, I kinda avoided making predictions about AOT at first because recently, every time I try to predict what happens next in a show, I imagine game of thrones and I imagine all the people who made predictions about game of thrones only to get that sorry excuse for slapstick humor that is season 8. The disappointment the fans of GOT is unfathomable and I don’t think I want to experience the same thing with AOT.

But... Since you’re bringing up predictions about the final chapters of AOT, might as well unearth my own thoughts about what will happen based on patterns I see from Yams and the general theme of the story.

yolo coz this answer is gonna be obsolete in like a week anyway.

I’m so scared that the Hanji’s shard was actually her coming back to life! I’m not talking about the beast titan theory. I kinda think that for some reason the rumbling victims will be brought back to life (Zeke style with the titan carcass)

I don’t believe Hange’s coming back to life. She’s my favorite character, I would have wanted her to get a better ending that what she did but I don’t think that’s where the story is going thematically. So I think Hange will stay dead. 

The main saviors of this show were set up to be Armin, Mikasa, Gaby and Falco and possibly the 104th cadets so I think generally vets like Pieck, Zeke, Hange and Levi are gonna end up dying (which they are already doing) to give space to the main cast to shine and step up. 

And I don’t think Yams would be the type of person to pull some Naruto Pain Arc shit and would magically bring everyone back to life. This show just never approached death similarly to other shows. The only time the show has ever brought someone back to life was with Armin (and okay fine to a degree Eren) but those two were never dead. With Hange, I think there was some finality to her death because although Hange did amazing stuff in the story, a lot of parts of her were not as fleshed out as that of EMA or FG so it would be odd for Hange to suddenly get revived and take the spot light when it was FG and EMA who were set up for something greater. 

(Now that I think about it though, with what’s happening now, I kinda have trouble understanding what type of message Yams wants to give so I might still be completely wrong)

As Levi mentioned in his own monologue though in the latest chapter, the vets job ended when they lead the kids to the sea and I think there should be a thematic reason behind that and that line really is giving hints to what Yams has in store for them.

I feel like Levi’s gonna sacrifice himself next chapter to detonate the bomb, he wont be back because they can only bring back the ones who died from the actual rumbling.

I am really bracing myself for Levi’s death. I really don’t think Levi will survive until the end of the manga. Although, I am praying he does, at this point, I think I’m praying more that I’m gonna have the strength to handle it if he does die. 

Levi has been getting a lot of death flags lately. I mean if you notice how the main characters have been dying lately, it’s usually like they get a really horrible injury or a permanent injury then within a few chapters, they die. That same thing happened with Erwin with his arm, then Sasha (Her injury in Shiganshina was bad) then Hange with her eye. 

And Levi got the brunt of all of those injuries. If Levi does survive he’s gonna be bedridden for months but I don’t think he’s even gonna make it back, his knee is fucked, his innards are fucked but to a degree, I feel like Levi was built for something, Yams didn’t let him survive being blown off then being bitten for no reason so whatever he dies doing is going to be incredibly important to the plot. 

Maybe, he’ll be the one who detonates the bomb like you said. But I don’t know I’m having trouble imagining how detonating the bomb would be the most crucial piece of bringing Eren back. Although they have been talking about it for a while, the fact that its taking them 2 chapters to even decide on detonating it? With Pieck trying and with Mikasa hesitating? I don’t think it will be that easy. There must be another crucial piece they will be considering and whatever that crucial piece will be, Levi might just lose his life making it possible. 

I hope I’m making some sense right now. That promo photo of the vets where Hange was the only one looking directly at us was scaring me. Is that a hint of some sort? Don’t get me wrong, I truly want her back but at what cost?

That promo art was beautiful and Hange is beautiful. It might be a long shot considering the relationship between promo art and the ending. Her promo art was unsettling but I think one big reason for that type of art could be a hint to her development in season 4 and the fact that she’s a lot more subdued this season. We all have seen how she talked in the last two episodes. I feel even Romi Park was coached on Hange’s traumas and her insecurities because with Romi Park’s work with hange in the last two episodes, it almost felt like Hange was a different person which is reasonable given her development the past 4 years after becoming commander. I do have a meta on Hange’s psych which you can check out here.

I want Hange back too but I kinda don’t want Hange back in exchange for some asspull. If she is built up for some return then that would be great but really, how often has Yams brought a character back to life and would he really bring her back side with only three chapters left and with EMA and FG still not completely developed?

There’s a word for this in Tagalog with no English equivalent which summarizes my thoughts on Hange’s fate. HAHA. So for my filipino followers who end up reading this. 

Oo nabibitin pa rin sa naging buhay at naging kamatayan ni Hange.  

Roughly speaking, Hange’s life and death seemed incomplete to me. Maybe because personally I was so fixated with her, I am so in love with her that I just couldn’t believe that she would end up meeting that type of faith. Because to me, she was always built for a greatness larger than she experienced then. But maybe it was all in my head, maybe that was just my own personal perspective as the audience. 

Yams gave us enough crumbs to get us to understand that Hange is great. Hange was an amazing character. Just like he gave us enough crumbs to understand that Erwin was a great character too. Sasha was an amazing character too. 

But Yams made sure to remind us too that everyone dies and so many amazing people are fated to meet unsatisfying deaths and he’s been saying that same thing since the first chapter with the fall of Wall Maria with that comparison between humans and cattle and let us all remember how horrifying the deaths of many of our other favorite characters were.

And in the grand scheme of things with the themes Yams was building, slowly transferring the fate of the world to the younger generations, where do Levi and Hange fit? 

At this rate, I’m probably gonna end up getting my fix from fanfiction so I’m really just bracing myself for this.

(I really hope I’m wrong though)