#once a kuro idiot always a kuro idiot

[wrenrogue]

The first time Kenma heard Kuroo’s laugh, he thought is was the loudest most annoying thing he’d ever heard.

It was bizarre since his new neighbor had been really quiet up until then, quieter than him. So it took him by surprise when Kuroo guffawed with glee when the dirty volleyball landed in between his arms covering his sweater in muddy water, instead of bouncing off them like intended.

Kenma didn’t think much of it until Kuro only got louder with time and so did his laugh. He would laugh at everything, including when their volleyball would accidentally smack him in the face during practice.

It was annoying. Kuro was annoying. Kuro and his laugh were annoying.

And as they grew up, Kenma got to see Kuro annoying everyone else with his obnoxious donkey laugh. How he had a hard time staying quiet sometimes from finding something too funny. How he would get scolded by his grandmother for his laugh-induced coughing fits and almost throwing up on the furniture.

How Kuro had a phase where he invented himself an evil laugh and pretended to be evil around their neighborhood. How despite being “evil," when he accidentally broke his neighbor’s flower pot, he apologized profusely and took out his life savings (1000 yen) to try to buy her a new one.

And then Kuro met Bokuto.

Kuro honestly was polite, perceptive and had a high sense of self-control when he wasn’t laughing his ass off being a bastard to a poor victim. Kenma would’ve ditched him long ago if Kuro was just a high energy party animal with non-existent tact.

Somehow Bokuto loosened his self-control a bit too much though. They were loud together, had a ton of fun doing so too. But Kenma just wanted to play his games in peace and it was hard with Bokuto hey hey heying and Kuro’s taunting happening right beside him.

Kenma was truly the most miserable teenager in existence; he wondered if his misery would ever end. And then Kenma met Akaashi the year after and he thought he finally found solidarity in knowing someone else was plagued by their louder friends being idiots together.

What he found instead was Akaashi radiating the gay in massive amounts whenever he was around Bokuto that Kenma’s gaydar shattered irreparably. Kenma once told Kuro this, and like expected he turned into a hyena.

Kenma thought it wasn’t all bad when this happened, that Kenma was responsible for making Kuro laugh so loud. That he created that joy for him.

Kenma can’t really say Kuro’s laugh was always obnoxious. Because there were good things about it too. Like how Kuro’s eyes would crinkle at the edges or how Kenma was always flashed with all his pearly white teeth from that big mouth of his. Or how he’d turn red from laughing way too hard for way too long.

How Kuro, despite having a loud-as-fuck laugh, also had many other ones that were quieter, but just as effective. Like when he snickered at Kenma’s quips to other people and how he giggled at every joke Kenma told him. How sometimes his laugh was infectious and Kenma had no other choice but to laugh too.How Kuro had this particularly quiet breathy laugh that Kenma wasn’t sure how to describe, but that it was nice to hear anyway. How Kenma was many times the reason for that laugh to begin with.

The year Kuro’s gone to college, things didn't get any quieter, but the loud things weren't things Kenma liked to hear. Kuro’s laugh had always been obnoxious, but Kenma’s grown to kinda like it. If only because it belonged to Kuro.

If only Kuro was there to laugh at him for being so sappy. But he was far away and studying for tests instead of bothering him to practice a new special move near their bridge.

Kuro called Kenma that night out of the blue telling him he had the urge to bother him. “you’re not bothering me” kenma had said prompting a chuckle, something he missed hearing.

“how are you?” Kuro asked

“I…(miss you) played metal gear today”

“haven’t played that in years, let me borrow it next time I’m home”

“when will you be home?”

“aww kenma-kun misses me"

“shut up. my mom asked me earlier”

“riiiiiiight”

“i’m gonna hang up now”

Kuro cackled from the other end, and somehow kenma’s heart grew a little lighter.

Kenma joins Kuro at uni and their routine intertwines as is the nature of their friendship. But there’s a problem.

The thing about Kuro is that he was kinda objectively good-looking. Kenma wasn't dumb, he’d seen the entire student body ogling him from afar.

it’s kinda hard not to when Kuro was so tall, well built with a handsome face and even though his hair was always stupid, it looked good on him. Kenma was kinda mad at that honestly. How his childhood friend grew up into such a dreamboat with a foghorn attached. If he would’ve known sooner, he would’ve ditched him immediately.

Kenma thought this even more when his stomach wouldn't stop flipping like a pancake when Kuro started guffawing at his own corny jokes during breakfast, because since when did he find Kuro's laugh so attractive???

It gets worse. And it gets worse, and the years keep coming and they don’t stop coming. and Kuro's laugh gets more attractive and Kenma would just like to kiss him to shut him up once and for all. But he can't. All he could do was let the butterflies destroy his stomach as he stared dreamily at his best friend when he wasn't looking. He thinks he likes staring at Kuro more when he’s busy working on his things.

He was currently trying to apply to the JVA, said he wanted to make sure everything was perfect so Kuro was hunched over his laptop updating his linkedin account and kenma like a fool, watched as Kuro stuck his tongue out in concentration as he typed out his credentials, how he would randomly squint and make faces at whatever he was concentrating on, how he had a pen behind his ear despite the fact that he didn’t need to write anything down. How he was still in his pjs because he had stayed over at kenma’s house again and was too lazy to find any of his other clothes in kenma’s closet.

And kenma couldn’t handle seeing all that so he got up, only to come back to slide a plate of cut up fruit next to his best friend, because he hadn’t seen him eat anything since noon and he needed to eat.

Kuro turned to look at him, asked him “What for?” and kenma only shrugged. In response Kuro gave him a quiet breathy giggle and thanked him for the snack. kenma knows then that he’s completely head over heels fucked.

When Kuro gets the phone call that he got the job at the JVA, Kenma was there to see the glee write itself all over Kuro's face as he thanked the caller for giving him the opportunity.

He was there as Kuro joyfully celebrated his success, how he was loud, how Kenma couldn't help but celebrate too. How Kuro picked him up to twirl him around. How the excitement got to him enough that when he was back on the ground, he didn’t let Kuro go, instead bringing him down at eye-level to tell him “You did it” and kissing him on the lips.

Kenma’s not sure why he hadn’t thought of doing that sooner. He thinks Kuro’s laugh tastes sweeter than he imagined. Kenma’s not exactly sure when his own laugh got so loud. He thinks it’s probably Tetsurou’s influence.

Though he finds that he doesn’t really mind, especially when he laughs along side him as they reach more milestones together. Like when Tetsu became a staple in his streams, that they end up having a segment together. Like when Tetsurou kissed him feather light down his neck just to tickle him. Like when Tetsurou proposed to him the same day he was going to propose to him too. Like during their wedding and Tetsurou somehow got cake in his hair.

Like when they got a bigger house together and their friends helped them paint each room and lev got paint all over his face. Like when Tetsu lets their daughter give him makeovers and she makes sure his cheeks are as pink as possible. Like when their son learned to walk and immediately learned chasing their cat was a fun pastime. Like when Tetsu lets him hold him in bed while they giggle at how long it took them to get together.

Kenma remembers thinking Tetsu’s laugh was loud and stupid. He still thinks so, but he wouldn't want it any other way. Especially when he gets to experience all other laughs Tetsu has to offer, including the shy little giggle he does when kenma tells him he loves him before kissing him quiet.

[verdantcrimson]

Heaven and Earth / Creation of Heaven and Earth - 2

(Unproofread)

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[An hour later, a discussion room in the RhythmLink office.]

Souma: Kiryu-dono, I have made some tea for you. Here.

Kuro: Thanks. I’m parched, all that studyin’ was more exhaustin’ than a workout.

Souma: Fufu. Once again, thank you for your hard work…♪

Souma: However, Hasumi-dono has been involved in discussions for quite a while now. We had merely come here to accept the job offer to host ‘Rumbling Heaven and Earth’.

Souma: From what I could see, he has been talking to the higher-ups with a rather terse expression.

Kuro: Maybe they’re sayin’ somethin’ like “Actually, we changed our minds, we don't wanna give you youngsters this job”.

Kuro: I’m worried about him, cause if somethin’ like that is happenin’, he’s gonna be all stubborn and pushy about it. It’d be better if we didn’t piss off the higher-ups and have them turn on us.

Kuro: I know Hasumi always has a lot on his mind, but I’d personally prefer he just drop it instead of gettin’ in trouble with the agency.

Souma: Fufu. It seems as though Kiryu-dono is truly determined not to study.

Kuro: I just don't understand people that actually like studyin’. You seem to enjoy it a bunch though, Kanzaki.

Souma: I believe that the accumulation of knowledge is similar to training one's muscles or mastery of an art.

Souma: The difference simply lies in the fact that what is being exercised is the brain, rather than the body.

Kuro: The thought of trainin’ my brain never crossed my mind, cause I never really needed it.

Kuro: But well, just like trainin’ your body, it's not really useful in today's peaceful world. Bein’ good at beatin’ people up doesn't matter in this day and age.

Souma: Umu. Neither knowledge, nor martial arts, are strictly necessary to live in the modern world.

Souma: However, that is largely the reason that grants it significance.

Souma: Which makes one wonder, would it really be ‘correct’ to simply forgo it?

Souma: Humans are the only animals on this planet with a ‘culture’. We do not subsist solely on food.

Souma: Isn't the very fact that we have lived while partaking in such unnecessary behaviors what makes humanity valuable?

Kuro: Seems like you're thinkin’ about some seriously deep stuff, Kanzaki.

Souma: Yes. And I am speaking quite seriously, so I would appreciate for you to listen seriously.

Keito: —Sorry for the delay. I had expected this to be a short and easy conversation.

Keito: There was a surprising amount of confusion and contention. How incorrigible.

Kuro: Use words an idiot can understand. Cuntenshi- What's that?

Keito: Simply put, the agency has just revealed quite a few troublesome things just now.

Keito: If we are to take on the job of hosting ‘Rumbling Heaven and Earth’, we have to fulfill a set of conditions presented to us—

Souma: What…? Were they not the ones that approached us in the first place? It does leave an acrid taste in one's mouth to have it be revealed to one that the job they are on the cusp of undertaking covertly has strings attached.

Kuro: I'd appreciate if ya spoke in plain Japanese for once, Kanzaki. Well, I've known ya long enough that I can pretty much understand what you're sayin’ through vibes.

Kuro: So basically, the agency is bein’ an unreasonable pain again, right?

Keito: I wouldn't necessarily call this particular case unreasonable. Since ‘Rumbling Heaven and Earth’ is such a long-running show, there are more involved parties than in other shows.

Souma: By involved parties, you mean to say?

Keito: If I were to specify, it's that ‘Rumbling Heaven and Earth’ is a program produced with the support and opinion of actual historians.

Keito: Which sounds about right. Since it's an educational history show, it goes without saying that they would create it with the support of major authorities in the field.

Kuro: Oh so It's like if ya wanted to open a food stall, how that territory's established yakuza gang would say “ya gotta pay a protection fee to open up shop!”

Souma: Kiryu-dono, being Kiryu-dono, often speaks in a manner difficult for me to comprehend.

Keito: You don't have to go and learn that strange Kiryu-nese (?) language.

Keito: Anyways. Though we aren't being asked to pay a ‘protection fee’ of any sort—

Keito: I was told that in order to become the hosts of this show, we had to gain the recognition of the show's advisors.

Keito: Even if we, and the agency, feel like we're up to the task, the show won't succeed unless the advisors approve of it.

Keito: They said that without their approval, the show would be unfit to air.

Keito: So that's why, we have to travel around to seek the approval of those advisors— A group of historians known as the ‘Three Sages’.

Keito: We must have these ‘Three Sages’ endorse us as suitable hosts for ‘Rumbling Heaven and Earth’.

Kuro: They're called the ‘Three Sages’ huh… Doesn't it sound like somethin’ from a video game or manga?

Keito: That’s a rather interesting way to put it. Well, it is similar to your standard RPG storyline. Like when they say you must collect these five crystals to restore peace in the land.

Keito: It sounds ridiculous, but this is a crucial step. It's a journey we must go on in order to reach a brighter future.

Keito: In order for our protagonists to embark on their journey, they must first be recognized as heroes by a higher power. That’s how the story goes.

Kuro: And to do that, we gotta collect proof of our heroic deeds.

Kuro: Got it. If that's what we need, let's go and get it. Sounds a whole lot more fun that bein’ stuck at a desk and groanin’ over textbooks.

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[ladykissingfish]

can you do sasodei with jealous Deidara or jealous Sasori? 👀

Hidan: Hey, puppet-dick … you worried?

Sasori: Worried? Over what?

Hidan: Over blondie goin’ to see his girlfriend, that’s what!

Sasori: *chuckles* Nice try, brat, but she is not his girlfriend. Kurotsuchi is just an old friend of Dei’s, that’s all.

Hidan: You’ve got a stone cold heart, man. If it was me I’d be fucking freaking out if Kakuzu was just suddenly goin’ to see some chick he used to bang!

Sasori: … used to bang? But … but Deidara was never with anyone like that before he met me. R-right?

Hidan: Maybe “bang” is over exaggerating. But you know what isn’t? *lowers his voice* When they were kids, blondie told me they used to kiss all the time!

Sasori: Kiss? Really?

Hidan: Yeah. *puckers his lips and makes obnoxious kissing gestures* I saw her picture, she’s pretty damn hot. Makes ya wonder what they’re doin’ now, eh?

Sasori: Nothing. They’re doing nothing besides having lunch and catching up with each other. He … he would never do anything like … like what you’re implying.

Hidan: He might not want to, but blondie is fuckin’ young, and he’s always horny like a dog. Who knows what that little worm in his pants might lead him to do? He —

Kakuzu, coming into the room: Hidan. Enough. Get out of here, go bother somebody else.

*Hidan leaves*

Kakuzu: You needn’t pay any attention to him, Sasori. You know he only lives to antagonize others. You haven’t a thing to worry about regarding Deidara. His level of attachment to you is such that the rest of us find his devotion concerning.

Sasori: I … I know. You’re right, I have nothing to worry about. Er, please excuse me, I have some puppets I’m working on … *walks away*

*later that night*

Deidara: ‘Sori! I’m back, hm!

Sasori, back turned, tweaking a puppet arm: Welcome back. How was your afternoon with your friend?

Deidara: *sinks down into a chair* Exhausting, really. I’m worn out, but I had a great time!

Sasori: Y-you’re exhausted? Why would you be exhausted?

Deidara: Let’s just say there was something I had to show Kuro, and once I started she couldn’t get enough, hm. 

Sasori:

Sasori: *slowly turns to face Deidara*

Sasori: Dei. You and I have never had this talk before, but it seems it’s time to. I … am not someone who shares. I have never once put any demands on you, made any requests regarding this … this situation between us, but I feel I must make one now. You and I belong to each other. There is no room for anyone else in that same capacity. Friends, yes. Teammates, yes. But outside lovers? NO. It’s where I put my foot down. I love you, and when you truly love someone, you don’t —

Deidara, eyes wide: D-did you just say … that you love me?

Sasori, eyes also wide: Y-yes. Yes, I did. Because I do. I love you more than anything, Deidara. I —

Deidara: *rushes to Sasori and throws both arms around him, hard, nearly knocking him over* I love you too, Sasori!! I never thought you’d actually SAY that! *starts to cry*

Sasori: *pats his back* There, there, calm yourself. *raises Deidara’s chin with his thumb and forefinger, and pulls him into a kiss* No tears, but please, promise me you won’t … you won’t seek out the romantic company of that girl anymore. 

Deidara: *starts to laugh* Kuro?! What, do you think I did something with Kurotsuchi??

Sasori: Well, you said you were exhausted, so —

Deidara: Yes, you idiot! *holds up his phone* I have over one thousand pictures of you, and of us together. Kuro kept asking to hear the stories behind them. *rubs his face* My jaw feels like it’s gonna fall off from talking about you so much, hm!

Sasori: *chuckles* How painful for you. *starts kissing along his jaw* Perhaps you’d allow me to put you in my bed and take your discomfort away?

Deidara: Oooh, I’d really like that, Danna ~

Sasori: *lifts Deidara off his feet and carries him across the room before gently laying him in the bed*

Sasori: Right; I’ll just run to the kitchen and make you up some tea to take some painkillers in. Be back in a flash! *leaves, whistling*

Deidara:

[yarrayora]

kuromahi baking halloween cookies based on this servamp kinkmeme

Note: this fic is part of the kinkmeme prompt, where everyone who see it is encouraged to write their own version of it even if there are already others who filled it read more about it here

---

A lot of people said that cooking was like art where you didn't have to follow the recipes accurately to get good results but baking was science where a single mistake could lead to a disaster. Mahiru thought it was a stupid comparison. His hamburg steak still turned out tasty even though he no longer looked at recipes because he already figured out how to make it tasty.

Meanwhile when he was baking breads there was always a chance of it not turning out well properly even though he had already followed the same recipe for years, and whenever he googled to figure out why it happened turned out it might be moisture in the air. Or the sun was too hot outside. At this point he wouldn't be surprised if astrology played a part in whether a dough would rise properly or not.

Today too was a bad day for baking.

"This is way too wet!" Mahiru complained. "The cookie dough isn't taking shape!" His fingers were sticky and gross from trying to knead the dough into submission. And failing, obviously. "Kuro, did you add something?"

Kuro knew his Eve didn't mean to sound so harsh but he involuntarily flinched anyway. "Just vanilla extract." He admitted.

"What? We don't need vanilla extract." Mahiru frowned.

Kuro fidgeted nervously. "Lawless said it would taste better if I add it."

"Oh, well." Mahiru put his hands on his hip in annoyance. "He's stupid. He should have told me if he wanted some vanilla cookies. The dough ends up too watery because you added unnecessary liquid... how much did you add anyway?"

Kuro fished for his phone and scrolled to find his DM with Lawless. "The instruction said half of the bottle's cap."

Mahiru got even more annoyed. "That's stupid. That's not how this works. You need to take into account of the dough's consistency."

"...are you mad at me?" Kuro asked warily.

"I... no." Mahiru sighed. "Sorry, I just got frustrated. Sorry." He sulked. "I'm going to wash my hands and work on this later."

Mahiru turned the faucet on, the room was quiet with only the sound of running water and Mahiru's hands squeaking together trying to get rid of the sticky dough.

"So..." Kuro awkwardly approached his Eve, his hands were massaging Mahiru's shoulders with hesitation. "You wanna fuck the frustration away?"

The offer just made Mahiru sigh. "Nnnooope. I'm not doing that to you."

"I could top for once—" Mahiru snorted loudly, accidentally cutting off Kuro's sentence. "I could! You could sit back and do nothing for once!" The vampire was slightly offended.

"Kuro, you suck at being a top." Mahiru pointed out.

"I'm an excellent dildo." Kuro huffed.

Mahiru smiled teasingly. "That just means I'll do all the work again."

Kuro's expression softened seeing Mahiru was smiling again. He leaned on his Eve and planted a gentle kiss on Mahiru's forehead. "Cuddle?" His long arms were now embracing Mahiru's body entirely.

"Mmhm, cuddle."

(Except whenever they cuddled, it never ended as just cuddling)

(This time was no exception)

---

"Soooo, how was it?" Lawless waggled his eyebrows.

"What?" Kuro's eyes never left the screen as he was still focused on his video game.

"Did my 'vanilla extract' help?" Lawless nudged his brother.

"Dude, stop that. I'll get mad if I have to repeat this level again," Kuro said, despite his tone remaining as monotonous as ever.

Lawless sighed dramatically. "Did you have sex last night?"

"Yeah?" Kuro replied absently. "Oh, is that what the vanilla extract is for? Dude, no need for that. Mahiru just ended up mad that he needed to redo the dough."

Lawless went quiet for a couple of seconds. "Dough."

"Yeah?"

"Did you use a fucking aphrodisiac for the halloween cookies?!" Lawless freaked out. "Nii-san! You stupid! You idiot! We need to get C3 to recall the cookies before people start fucking on the street!"

---

author's note: reminder that for tanakabox's halloween event, tooru basically commissioned his nephew to bake cookies to help stop halloween time loop, said cookies are distributed to people all over tokyo

[germanreich]

Title: Humiliation and Determination

Disclaimer: This is a fan-made translation from Chinese translations! Please go easy and enlighten us on any mistakes or deviations from the original light novel. All credit goes to the original author and illustrators. - Hyaka and Kuro Shion

Warning: This chapter contains some potentially distressful scenes. Also, please prepare some tissue packs beside just in case.—————————————————————————————

2 October.

Guren Ichinose was being brought to the penitentiary.

The same one his father was being held in. Seeing his son enter the prison, father seemed rather lethargic.

“…..Why are you, coming here?”

Guren looked at his father– Sakae Ichinose’s face.

He did not resemble his father that much.

Gentle eyes, milky skin. A stoic personality.

Father had always been gentle with Guren as he showered him with praises.

He said Guren was like his late mother; very strong-willed.

Therefore, you will definitely become a better Head of the Ichinose House compared to me.

He longed for the father who wasn’t competitive and was carefree and calm no matter what happened.

However, the present father was sapped of energy. His hair was dishevelled and he looked unsightly. His white hair was also very obvious. Dark circles adorned his eyes making him look quite a bit older than usual.

Even though Guren could not remember his father’s exact age at this point in time, he was sure that father was not this old when they last met at Nagoya.

Guren asked.

“…..You were interrogated?”

Father gave a gentle smile.

“No, I lack sleep. That’s all.”

“….” “Rather than this, Guren, the things about you. Why are you here?”

“……”

“Is it because of me? Because I dragged you down.”

“This is not father’s mistake.”

“But Guren.”

“It’s alright. I was not interrogated. Still alright.”

“Really?” “Really.”

“Then, why are you here?” Hearing this, he frowned.

Why come here?

He was here to look at father.

He was here to meet father.

Kureto allowed.

“…..”

Before the execution, they could meet once. Hiragi-sama graciously granted that.

To have a chance to come here and meet father was hard to come by.

His hands were shaking. It seemed as if he was even a little careless, he might be swallowed  by flames of fury. Because the Oni in his body was already prepared to exploit this. Therefore, he tried hard not to let his emotions swell. However, depiste this,

“…….Father, I’m sorry.”

His voice was shaking despite all.

Father replied him calmly, as usual.

“What.” “I could not…..save father.”

“Then I’ll be executed?”

“Yeah.” “So it’s like this.” “This is all my fault.” But father smiled.

“This is not your fault.” “But.” Father interrupted his words and placed his hand on Guren’s head. Just like when he was a child, caressing his head. As he was already taller than father, he did not look up like he used to when he was a child.

He lowered his head.

“I’m sorry, father.”

He said. Father smiled again.

“Don’t cry, idiot.”      

“But.” “You have done well. I’m lucky to have a son like you, I feel happy.”    [note: OMG IM CRYING]

“…….” Tears streamed down incessantly; they could not be stopped no matter what. He fell silent as he thought about his shameful weakness.

Father said.

“Well then, if I died, will the other subordinates will be rescued?” Guren nodded.

“Yeah. I negotiated.”

To top it off, Mahiru gave him an unknown <Kiju> with Asuramaru residing in it. This should be a major reaping from the war. Asuramaru had this possibility of being able to substantially increase the natural capacity of <Kiju> weapons with a slight bit of investigation.

Kureto rewarded him for this. Initially it was for the execution date of his father and subordinates to be adjourned.

However, it was overturned.

During the meeting of the higher-ups of <Mikado no Oni>, the execution of Sakae Ichinose was decided.

The members of the meeting of the higher-ups included the Head of the Hiragi House, Tenri Hiragi and his nine cadres.

These nine cadres consisted the remaining nine Heads excluding the Ichinose House.

Nii House, Sangu House, Shijin House,

Goshi House, Rikudo House, Shichikai House,

Hakke House, Kuki House, Jujo House.           

[note: I cannot be sure if this is the right translation for the various houses.]

Mito’s father and Goshi’s father should be among them.

The decision to execute Sakae Ichinose was unanimous.

The reason was heinous.

They all agreed that by bringing back the vampire and Asuramaru, this reaping by Guren Ichinose, who swore his loyalty to Kureto Hiragi, might increase the number of followers of <Mikado no Tsuki>.

Therefore, for balance, the execution of the Head of the Ichinose House, Sakae Ichinose was decided to reinforce their position. They arrived at this conclusion.

The minutes of this meeting was heard from Goshi and Mito, so it probably was pretty accurate.

In other words, killing Sakae was an act to guard against Guren who flaunted his skills so arrogantly.

As such, Guren Ichinose, who could not even prevent the death of his father, would live up to his reputation as a loyal slave to the Hiragi House.

“Hey, father.”

Guren asked.

Father answered as he caressed his head.

“Why?” “We, what are we living for?”

“…..”

“If this continues, we’ll remain slaves. No matter how hard we try, things will never move the way we want to them to.”

Father replied.

“Everyone wants to overturn their current situation. But it is due to the difference in skill level, things ended up this way.”

“But, thanks to the selfishness of those bastards, father is going to be killed.”

“Yeah, that’s right. If I am unhappy because of that, then, perhaps, there will be no point in living. However, do I look like I am unhappy?” Guren looked up. Father was smiling calmly. As usual.

Looking at such a father, he frowned and said.

“Father is always smiling. I don’t understand.”

“Because I am happy. I have always felt happiness.” “Liar.”

“Really.”

“Where’s the happiness? To have all these rotten things being thrown at us, only to be killed alas.”

Despite so, father smiled gently and patted his head.

“But you can live on. After my death, you will be the Head of the Ichinose House. If it is you, no one will protest. I feel satisfied as this.”

Father seemed to be really happy at this as he looked at Guren with no hesitation present in his eyes.

Hearing that.

“…..”

Guren felt bitter pain well up in his heart. His tears were threatening to spill over again,

“…..I, was unable to be like father.”

“You can do it.”

“But I”

Father interrupted.

“If it is you, then anything can be achieved. Therefore, continue doing what you feel is right.”

Just then, a voice rang out from the outside.

“Oi, you guys, get out. It is time to execute Sakae Ichinose.”

This sentence did not even sound like it was the reality. However, these words would morph into reality instantly. Father was going to be executed.

The prison doors were opened. A few unknown men rushed in.

Father couldn’t care less about these men as he gave Guren a tight hug.

“It’s time to say our goodbyes, Guren.”  

Guren replied with a soft, shaking voice.

“No.”

“This is the end. Let us smile as we part.”  

“I don’t want.”

“Thank you Guren. For being my son after coming into this world.”

“I don’t want, this.”

However, father was being grabbed by the men and was shackled.

He could not stop all these from happening. If he tried to intervene, the execution of hundreds of his subordinates would follow next. Therefore, he had no power to stop this.

This was, farewell. They would not be able to see each other again.

“Damn, why, what exactly, should I do….”

Guren muttered as his father spoke.

“Smile, Guren. From today onwards, you will be leading <Mikado no Tsuki>!”

Father shouted.

Guren looked up.

Father was going to be taken out of the prison.

Looking at father who was being taken away, he let out something which he had never said before. Something which he should have said countless times, countless time before–

“FATHER!” “…….” “I, I also feel proud entering this world as father’s child!!”  

Hearing this, father smiled from the bottom of his heart.

Then, he was being led out of the prison. The execution ground was outside. Father would be killed there.

Guren could not watch his father’s execution. His body was devoid of energy; he was temporarily unable to move.

He sat on the prison bed his father used to lie on, unmovingly tolerating the flow of time.

Tolerating his father’s execution.

Tolerating the various hurdles life tossed at him.   

Just then, not knowing how much time had passed, someone called out to him again.

“Oi Guren.” Looking up, Kureto Hiragi was standing outside of the prison.

Kureto looked at him and said.

“It’s already, over.”

He meant that father had already been executed. This bastard delivered this message emotionlessly.

Guren gave a thin smile and replied.

“Are you satisfied now?” “Yeah, satisfied.”

“Then go away.”

“Yeah.”

Kureto nodded and prepared to leave. But he stopped midway and said.

“One last thing, I was pleased with what you brought back. Therefore, I opposed the execution. My father was the one who made the final decision.”

Guren looked at Kureto and said.

“Eh, so it’s like this.”

“I repaid what you brought back.” “So you want me to thank you?” “Yeah, that’s right.” “…..What are you joking about?” Hearing Guren softly complaining, Kureto looked at him with a little bit of pity.

“Well, I understand your feelings.”

He no longer wanted to reply. This bastard– being born to the Hiragi House, couldn’t possibly understand any of this.

However, Kureto continued.

“Your friends are gathering here. I’ll let them console you.”

“Ha? What was that. Are you being gentle with me? What kind of wind is blowing today?” Kureto replied.

“From today onwards, you will be the Head of the Ichinose House. You will be called by my father. I want you to understand your position before that happens.”

“The slave of the Hiragi House?” However, Kureto shook his head.

“No. You are my subordinate.” Hearing that, Guren looked at Kureto.

Kureto said something about understanding his position before meeting the Head of the Hiragi House, Tenri Hiragi.

It sounded like he must prioritize Kureto’s commands first before that of Tenri Hiragi’s.

Guren continued to look at Kureto and said.

“What is this about?” “It is what it sounds like literally.”

“You might be suspected of rebellion.”

“No. Or is it that you will discuss this in detail with someone?” “So what if I did?” “You will be executed too.”

Kureto said.

But this was a leak of his own weakness. His objectives were unclear. This could be a trap too.

A trap to determine if Guren, who would become the Head of the Ichinose House, had any intention of rebelling.

Therefore, Guren stared at Kureto and said.

“Kureto.”

“Hmm?” “Just now, you said you opposed father’s execution.” “Yeah.”

“I will thank you for this only.”

Guren said.

“Your gratitude is only natural.”

Kureto nodded and left.

Guren sat in the prison for sometime. Walking out from this prison meant facing a different world.

He would be leading <Mikado no Tsuki> and all the followers, becoming the Head of the Ichinose House.

The stress was abnormally oppressive. He could not believe that he would be able to immediately emulate his father.

Yet,

“No choice but to do it….”

As he said this, he stood up.

Because his father placed his hope on him. Because he still wanted to be praised by father. Because he wanted father to feel proud the next time they meet again.  [note: OH MY TEARSS T___T]

He stood up, walked out of the prison. After that, he looked buildings and took a step forward.

It had became somewhat of a congregation point outside. As if intending to surround something, people of <Mikado no Oni> were looking at the centre of the open space.

The cameras around were placed strategically, as if transmitting the whole scene to those outside.

A body laid in the centre of the open space.

Father’s– Sakae Ichinose’s body.

His severed head laid on the ground beside.

It looked like no one bothered to clean the corpse up. Perhaps, this was Guren’s business. This would be filmed by the cameras too- the absolute power of the Hiragi House and the weakness and servility of the Ichinose House. It would be delivered to the followers.

“…..”

Suddenly, a voice rang out beside his ear.

No, perhaps it was a voice from his heart.

The Oni’s voice.

The Oni in Guren’s demonic weapon, <Noya>.

<Ah ah, ah ah, so powerful. Guren. Such powerful hatred. Let this go berserk. It will feel very cathartic.>

“….”

Guren did not respond. However, it seemed like Noya was very noisy.

<Even if you pretend to be calm, it is of no use Guren. A large portion of you is already melded with me. Melded by Mahiru. This hatred would not stop.>

Noya said as he gave Guren power.

Enormous power.

Enough power to allow his fury to diffuse immediately.

If this power went berserk, he could at least kill those bastards who came to watch this cruel joke unfold.

If massacre could relieve this anger, handing his body over to wrath seemed like a rather good choice.

“…..”

But Guren did not move. Not listening to Noya’s bait.

Just then, the phone in his pocket started to vibrate. Fishing out his phone, an unknown number was shown on the screen.

He answered the call.

His friends’ voices rang out from the other end.

It was Shinya Hiragi’s voice.

[GUREN! You don’t have to do such a thing. We’ll clean it up. You don’t move.]

Mito’s voice could be heard a little further back. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

[Guren, are you alright?!]

Goshi’s voice was present too.

[We’ll get there as soon as possible. You wait for a while!]

From the camera, those guys were watching too.

That meant that Shigure and Sayuri were watching as well.

The followers of <Mikado no Tsuki> watched the whole scene unfold.

In front of them, he could not do something unbecoming.

Therefore, Guren said.

“Shinya.”

[Just five minutes. We’ll get there immediately.]

“I’m alright. There’s no need to come.”

[Impossible. Guren, we are now….]

But Guren interrupted and said.

“You guys can give me a proper consolation later. Let’s have a game.”

[OII!]

Guren ended the call.

And switched his phone off.

After that, he stood ramrod straight.

And looked at the centre of the open space.

Subsequently, he walked forward with mettle showing that he, from that day onwards, would be the one shouldering the Ichinose House.

His expression did not distort.

He hid his weakness.

No matter what kind of situation he had been put in, he swore to respond with calmness and stoicism just like father.

Guren approached his father’s body.

Once he approached, hatred, once again, surfaced from despair, fear and melancholy. The flames of indignation reignited. The weakness and intention to run away welled up.

Despite all, he suppressed everything.

“…..It’s alright, father.”

He said.

“It’s alright. I’ll do it. I’ll become the good boy father had expected me to. Therefore, please look on.”

He muttered as he picked up father’s severed head and cradled it near his chest.  [note: OH MY TEARSS AGAINNN]

After that, he carried the headless body.

At that moment, he lent a bit of the Oni’s power.

Noya enhanced his body’s abilities.

If not for Noya, he would probably be discouraged and would not be able to move father’s body.

The onlookers who were looking at Guren were totally silent. They only swallowed at the sight. They quietly watched the Ichinose dreg who was moving his father’s body.

After this, there were some things to be done right? He had no choice but to live a structured life right? Guren always felt that he saw the answer that day.

The position he was standing at and what he must protect.

And on that day, amidst this humiliation,

Guren Ichinose became the Head of the Ichinose House.

Translator’s Comments:

K.Shion: As I typed, the words started to become blurred. Thank god I have a keyboard cover or the my tears’ gonna seep into the keyboards. The amount of tears is no joke. WTF they killed Sakae out of jealousy D:< Kureto being able to understand someone’s feelings is like the Joke of the Year 2016.

On a side note: Listening to Akiko Shikata while translating this made this 10X sadder than it already is. T____T

[hauntingblue]

COMPLETELY forgot that blackbeard was the one that attacked drum??? Omg

So if everything usopp lies about ends up becoming true.... He is dying dying

Zoro reacting like this after his best hunting contest with sanji.... Yeah... (Zoro not trusting Luffy is defeated and Luffy thinking Zoro is trouble if he gets captured... Yeah)

I don't think Zoro posing to become a cool statue has the right to say anything about being a brainless idiot....

She did NOT take igarams advice because still in arabasta Luffy had to punch her to make her understand ajshajsni the sacrificing others at least (also Vivi asking zoro to cut her off too..... Insane as always)

Luffy coming thru once again.... Zero hesitation....

This page is so,,... It goes stupidly hard... Once again being kind and having a pure heart pays off

Wait a second,,,, kuro WHAT.... I think sanji hasn't called Zoro Marino yet.... Inspo...

Express round: sanji is dying soon, chopper is cute and why is full body blushing with jango's glasses on his hand???

[asoulofatlantis]

Yeah... he is that good.

This is ALMOST as satisfying as watching Jusis hit Rufus in CS4 XD Some people just deserve a hard punch in the face ;P

Right! Give it to him! He deserves it!

Well it was supposed to hurt!

Imagin someone who can even surprise Cao... this woman is going to be dangerous as heck. And when she eventually marries that man and they work together... urg, what a nightmare! Heiyuu will be unstoppable!

I wonder if the symbols on that thing have any meaning. Like that every Genesis stands for something. And all those somethings together, will form whatever is necessary to stop the end of the world.

Or something along the lines like this.

Oh so we know that already? I totally forgot ^^' But... influence life... was does that even mean?

Uh... I am not sure if I am happy about that or not ^^' But my grudge is probably totally stupid anyway, if Rean shows up here will probably be all buddy-buddy with her and I will feel like an idiot for being salty when he himself isn't... so... uh... hurray? ^^'

Thats tough. Like to get chased around by a caused Celis or...

Walkthrough says we have to do them both anyway eventually, so let just start with the first one for once. Maybe we work with Towa again... because I am not homesick enough yet XD

Something tells me that as soon as the game reveals who she really is we will all be: "OF COURSE!" after being shocked for a minute or two that is XD But seriously, I am at a loss. I have a few ideas, but they all sounds ridiculous if you think about them a bit longer. But there is no way in hell this isn't someone we know.

I almost forgot that I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning to check if my illness is better and because of that I have to wash my hair (I am a bit lazy with it when I am home sick, to be honest ^^') and then make my Steam Deck ready to be shipped, as I am sending it back because I am absolutely disappointed by it.

It was meant for gaming merly when I can not use my big (and expensive) tower-computer so I though around 700€ would spare me the money for a bigger and heavier gaming-laptop. However, I should have payed the extra money, as the Steam Deck is just... dare I say it? Cheap! From the 111 games I own (WOW!) only around 20 were Steam Deck compatible and there is no system behind it which one is and which one isn't. Cold Steel 1 is, but 2, 3 and 4 are not. Reverie is but Kuro 2 is not. Makes no sense whatsoever. ALSO Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games who always come out for the Switch too, so should be ready for a Console like this, are not compatible either. Not to mention that it took my over half an hour to get that thing even running do to an issue that A LOT of people have for years now... this thing was just not worth 700€. So I send it back.

Eventually I will get a gaming laptop. Might be more expensive, but I will buy one for around 1000€ in a sale around black Friday or so if there is a good offer than and than at least I can not just play ALL Steam games, but also ones from the other platforms, like Sims 4 from EA for example. And I can use Tumblr for Live-Reactions and watch Videos and so on. Its really more convenient to begin with and thus probably worth the extra money.

Anyway, that said, I have to get the Steam Deck ready to get shipped back so this is were my little trip to Kuro 2 ends.

[her-majestys-watchdog]

waittt i know this is kinda late but what are your opinions on why real!ciel is even doing all of this? i realllly can’t get a feel of whether he really really hates his brother or whether he really really loves him. and also what he even plans in achieving from coming back to life?

HAHA well. unfortunately, rciel is very like his father who was a tricky piece of shit to read; you could never absolutely know what vincent was thinking. 

so i’m not really certain about any of the assumptions i have with rciel.

moreover, the original human rciel is still dead because sebastian ate his soul. no coming back from that. undertaker’s rciel is almost the same kid, but easy to see he’s completely bonkers and way more unhinged than the original rciel ever was… depending on how you view past rciel.

(i.e: whether you think rciel murdered his family? i speculate he was somehow involved but wasn’t the main culprit).

and for a pretty obvious idea, bizarre dolls always have a fixation with something so most people assume rciel’s fixation is oc; makes sense.

why real!ciel is even doing all of this 

since ut and sebastian have been compared to each other i’ll assume it’s a similar dynamic.

which means that rciel:

doesn’t have a choice. not like he chose to be reborn

owes a debt to ut for bringing him back. if ut wasn’t around his body would just stop working, he needs the blood and etc

thinks he has more control over the situation than he does. ut and seb like to sit back and watch things happen but make sure the boys don’t go off course from the ‘goal’ seb/ut want them to achieve.

though i’m not certain what ut’s goals are? he’s a mysterious guy. he’s always said that he does things for shits and giggles but there’s obviously something else he isn’t telling us. it’s likely involved with cloudia but i’m not super knowledgeable about those theories.

he really really hates his brother or whether he really really loves him

yeah i feel that. honestly, it’s so hard to understand him. at this stage it’s probably easiest to say rciel is legit just a yandere character who goes from one extreme to another.

there hasn’t been any indication that he doesn’t care about oc at a base-level, but the way he goes about showing that is totally insane.

rciel really likes fucking around with oc and playing games with him, LMAO oc has two people in his life that fit that criteria. poor guy. maybe as well, rciel’s still kinda immature mentally since he died at ten? plus he’s hella traumatised by existence at this point, he did go through everything oc did and more. 

what he even plans in achieving from coming back to life?

at this stage i’m gonna say the same as ut’s motivations: shits and giggles. but likely something else that is hard to theorise on at the moment.

yana if you pls show us rciel again because i want to get a feel of what kinda dude he has become. please. there’s no way he’s a stone-cold guy all the time, ociel acts exactly the same when he’s in control:

but u see him ‘behind the scenes’ and realise he’s a giant baby.

phantomhives are a piece of work. lmaoo

[reikeip]

Crossroad ♱ Epilogue

Talks of death

Location: Repayment Festival

Season: Spring, the following year

Keito: …Fufu. Thinking back on it, you really were harsh, Sakuma-san.

And at the time I was an immature idiot, so very stupid. Such youthful indiscretion—I’ll be embarrassed by it for the rest of my life.

DEADMANZ, huh…

A three person unit consisting of me, Sakuma-san and Oogami. It was left behind on paper, because I just don’t know when to let go.

Until the very end, I held onto that hope; I really thought that if things got too crazy, I could just cling to Sakuma-san’s sympathy and beg for help, didn’t I? I’m such a fool.

Kuro: …What’s with ya, Danna? It’s weird—are ya laughin’ at memories?

Keito: Yeah… As expected of someone so close to graduation, I’m getting all emotional. I’m remembering all sorts of things, really.

Kuro: That so. But now ain’t the time to get caught up in old memories. We gotta get outta here and go to Kanzaki.

He seems to be workin’ pretty hard all by lonesome, yanno.

Keito: No, it looks like Hakaze is helping him out too… So Kanzaki isn’t completely alone, but I’m still a bit worried, so I’d like to get to him as soon as possible.

Kuro: Don’t get too hasty, though. Ya shouldn’t move too violently, the DEADMANZ costumes were hastily made, so the sewing is a lil’ weak here and there.

Keito: But it’s a costume made by you, Kiryuu, so I trust its durability.

Kuro: That right? Actually, I was feelin’ pretty moved myself, ya see.

I changed some of the details, but this is still a DEADMANZ outfit just like ya asked me to make for ya back then.

As I was stitchin’, I found myself thinkin’ back a lot too.

When I think about it, I realize we’ve come a long way. We ended up standin’ side by side like this…

Comrades chasin’ after our dreams together—I didn’t expect things to turn out like this.

Keito: Really… I’ll be honest, even back then, I sensed there was something special about you.

Kuro: Haha, is that right? Ya sure I’m not just your replacement for Sakuma or something?

After breakin’ it off with Sakuma, ya still needed a weapon to achieve that revolution ya wanted.

Keito: Don’t be mean. I won’t say that wasn’t my intent… But in hindsight, I’m glad you were my accomplice.

Thank you, we ran side by side to the end.

It may not have been what I envisioned back then, but because of you… We reached an even better, more glorious conclusion.

Kuro: It’s not over yet, Danna. Don’t let your guard down, you’ve always had a poor endgame.

Keito: I’m aware. But this time, I won’t lose. This time, I’ll run to the finish line without falling.

Kuro: Sure. If you’re too sloppy, I’ll beat your ass, Danna.

Rei: (...It seems Hakaze-kun has yet to make it.)

(Doggie too—I wonder, will he truly be able to make it to me as well?)

(It appears to be that Adonis-kun is lending him the support of a friend, so I’m sure he’ll be quite alright.)

(Spending time doing nothing but waiting—it is quite the prolonged form of suffering.)

(Since then… I’ve kicked the child who clung to my leg aside, henceforth becoming distant with Hasumi-kun.)

(From then on, I have lived a life of freewheeling, a life of self indulgence.)

(I took my fill of adolescence and savored it.)

(I traveled the world, I flourished, and finally, thanks to the five oddballs, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet companions that share the same capability as I, and the solitude which follows.)

(Together with dear Doggie, who waited for me with the remnants of DEADMANZ in his hands, so oblivious to it all…)

(I came back as a part of UNDEAD, with which I was able to enrich my time spent here.)

(In betraying and hurting my friend, I attained this glory stained in blood and sin.)

(I ask not for forgiveness, Hasumi-kun. If I were to bow my head and apologize to you now, I am quite sure you would only knit your brows.)

(Our roads have parted, never to meet again.)

(But unexpectedly, some hapless fate allowed us to meet fortuitously, and thus we appeared on stage together once more.)

(This must be a gift from some whimsical god, or perhaps they’re just being malicious.)

(Once more, that sin I must carry is thrust into my hands… And I shall continue to live as one egotistic, arrogant human being.)

(That day, due to a voice singing for the dead, I passed on…[1] I was born anew, able to set out as a human once more.)

(What the future holds, I know not. By karmic retribution, I may not obtain anything I desire, and may just rot away here.)

(But, if my wish could be granted.)

(God. One more time, would you please hear out “my”[2] selfish desire?)

(...It is quite noisy outside of the auditorium. That voice, is it Doggie?)

(Ah, he’s finally caught up to me. I am happy to see you’ve grown into a strong man, one who may grant my wish.)

(When we first met, you were just an adorable little Puppy.)

(Because of such things, life is truly fun.)

(Kaoru-kun should be showing himself soon as well. I, too, should really be rousing myself before long.)

(I must raise my spirits, and my voice… If not, I shall be mistaken for a corpse, and be thrown into a coffin.)

(It’s still too early for me to die, so… For a little longer, I shall enjoy my life.)

(~……♪）

← previous | all

Ok so. Rei uses the word 成仏 here, which can mean passing away and also... reaching salvation in Buddhist terms, reaching satori, or nirvana. It wouldn't fully make sense to take it only this way because when you do this, your soul isn't supposed to return to the mortal world, but the connotations are there no less.

Rei reverts to the pronoun he used in second year here, 俺 (ore), but keeps his current speech style.

[frymaform]

Amairin AU wip pasted from my notes

in which Amaimon and Rin are soulmates and the princes and Lucifer know about it but Rin doesn't. Therefore, Mephisto's playing matchmaker and trying to get Amaimon to play with Rin.

This is non traditional abo, demons are either submissive or dominant. They are all born one or the other and this decides what role they play in a mating/marriage as far as procreation goes. Soulmates are a rare occurrence in mid and low level demons and uncommon in higher level ones so they simply choose their mates for the most part but soulmates are definite for Princes/Kings of Gehenna.

Note/context for later: Through this, Bon and Rin are hinted to be crushing on one another. Rin had initially thought he was cool and wanted to talk to him but was turned off for a while by his shitty personality ofc. He’s still Rin so he still attempted to be civil (but Bon’s always starting shit) and he cares for everyone, no matter how shitty, so he still saved him from the leaper. After they made up, Rin absolutely went back to fawning over him and trying to insert himself into their friend group as he does in canon cause he’s cute. Bon absolutely got a crush on Rin after Rin jumped into the mouth of a demon without thinking like the fearless idiot he is and then turned around and yelled in his face that, not only did he take Bon’s aspirations seriously but that he has the same one and was going to fight him about it. Shima and Koneko picked up on this pretty quickly of course and this led to them encouraging Rin’s antics and inviting him into their group in every way they could like in canon. In between the moments summarized in this doc, there’s definitely romantic moments between the two in which they’re absolutely fascinated with the other person, though that’s not much different from canon either. 

As far as romance with Shiemi, it follows the manga more and paints them platonically. Rin didn’t know exactly whether he liked girls or not but he did sense that Yukio liked Shiemi and she basically immediately was friendzoned in his mind bc he’s not about to steal his brothers one and only love interest he’s ever seen thus far. 

Originally, Amaimon didn't know but was told during the first meeting with Mephisto. He had suspected and, rather than in canon, he had hesitated to ask if Rin was his mate. Mephisto confirmed and took Amaimon asking as a hint of interest, which he interpreted as an invitation to set them up cause he's Mephisto.

Amaimon suspected this because the kings of Gehenna are all mated to one another. The unmated ones that remained were Mephisto and Amaimon and Mephisto had laid no claim on Rin.

It's worth mentioning that from this point on, Mephisto wished to use Amaimon as a pawn in his plan. He knew he could control Amaimon and since Amai was the dominant mate, he could control Rin further in return.

At the second appearance, when Amaimon is watching Rin tame Kuro, he expresses that he'd like to play with Rin to assess his ability as a mate. With demons, a big part of the mating ritual is to fight their mate and test their strength, to decide whether they are worthy. This is not really needed for soulmates but for traditions' sake, soulmates tend to still participate. In Amaimon's case, there was the added fact that he only intended to claim Rin if Rin proved worthy, soulmates or not.

Amaimon then decided to get his curiosity of Japan out cause it had been killing him and he wished to learn a bit more about the culture Rin grew up in. He wished to study it to possibly understand Rin better and analyze him accordingly when they meet, as Mephisto had warned him that Rin had not experienced any kind of demon culture or education in his life and was rather dumb to the subject. 

Once he'd finally finished his spree and laid his collection out in Mephisto's office, he immediately asked to go play with Rin as he thought he was now ready. When he got to the amusement park, he'd watched with irritation and little patience as Rin floundered around a human girl, but chose to follow Mephisto's orders and wait to get him alone. He was curious about the fact that he couldn't smell Rin's demonic aura, the only way he'd detect if he was, in fact, his mate. He wondered idly if Mephisto was only mistaken and if Rin had actually inherited the demon mating hierarchy or not. He realized once he opened the Koma sword that Rin was, in fact, the most amazing thing he'd ever smelled in his life and that his demon heart was sealed inside the sword, along with his submissive status. Rin on the other hand, could smell something about Amaimon that was gnawing at him but without the context of why, he mostly continued as he would if anyone were fighting him like that.

He kicked Rin around for a bit and was let down, his interest waning despite his instincts screaming at him. He started to get angry at the situation and this pushed him to break Mephisto's rules. Again, soulmate or not, he didn't want a weak mate. His interest came back tenfold when Rin had finally started to fight back, meaning his irritation was far greater when Rin had saved Shiemi and calmed his emotions again. He wished to rile Rin up once more and see his beautiful flames again but Shura interrupted. In the end, he had decided to back down and continue their fight in a more suitable time and place. 

Shura takes Rin to the base and Mephisto is pleased when he can smell the territorial scent marking from Amai left all over Rin and the Koma sword. He chose not to reveal the purpose of Amaimon’s visit to anyone just yet of course, but couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy at the imposing scent of possessiveness and lust that clouded Rin’s true scent. It was overpowering since Rin’s true scent was sealed in the sword at the time so he couldn’t help but laugh and subtly cover his nose at the ridiculousness of it in the moment. 

Afterwards, Rin had idly mentioned to Kuro that Amaimon had wanted to "play" and that he'd had a sick version of playing that meant fighting. Kuro cleared up that fighting is playing for demons, pointing out that Rin himself gets excited during fights and Rin realizes he had initially been excited to fight Amaimon. This is what led to the scene on the roof in which Rin and Kuro play together. 

Alternatively, following the manga, Rin couldn’t sleep because he felt feverish and restless and wanted to take Kuro to play to let out some of his nervous energy. He figured it was emotional strain. While he’s talking with Kuro and Kuro asks to play, it reminds him of Amaimon saying he wanted to play earlier and he mentions that it was really weird to him. Kuro then tells him it’s very common for demons to fight one another as play, the way wild animals will play-fight to train their bodies in a fun way while they have free time. 

On the note of Rin being tired and sleeping through half of the next day, it wasn’t actually all due to them playing all night but late that night and into the next day, Rin had run a pretty high fever that left him a little queasy. This was why he started feeling restless and nervous at first when he originally got up and went to the roof with Kuro. While they were playing, his energy was sapped pretty quickly and he felt drowsy and hot and had gone back to bed. He ended up sleeping all night and well into the day bc of it. This was part of the reason he actually fucked up once he got to Shura’s class but mostly cause the boy can’t read for shit. 

Between this scene and the next chapter, add in Mephisto and Amaimon one on one. Basically, Mephisto had gotten wind of Rin’s absence in the morning and made a hypothesis that, at about that time, Rin would be experiencing a ‘phantom heat’ after meeting his soulmate and not being marked right away. It was a common occurrence and while it goes away fairly quickly on its own, it would make Rin a bit drowsy and feverish for the next couple days and his body would let off pheromones akin to a true heat and distress in an attempt to draw his mate back to him. Basically, he’d been recounting this to Amaimon to remind Amaimon that, no matter how much he’d want to give into the scent throughout this duration, he’d have to stay put and wait for the next most opportune time to see Rin. Of course, Amaimon had already been throwing a bit of a fit about not being able to finish playing with Rin but he became more pissy in his own shithead way about not being able to go see Rin right away, even though he was able to smell his mate from across the campus already. 

Adding on, Shura had been so calm about his tardiness because Yukio had given her a heads up that he had a bad fever and really was so deeply asleep that he wasn’t waking up for anything that morning. Shura was suspicious and wondered what could cause it, since demons don’t get colds or anything, but with soulmates being such a rare thing in demon society, there’d be no way for her to understand what was happening to him. Even the most knowledgeable humans among the Vatican had no idea about soulmates, and really only vaguely about demon mating; that there were mating seasons every year and a half or so in Assiah and that reproduction was similar to a human’s. They’d simply assumed that this meant Gehenna was split into males and females (only sex wise, of course) the way Assiah was. 

He finally told Rin they were mates at the next fight on their camping trip. Before that though, when he was setting up to face Rin again, first of all he’d gone on a rampage that was probably more aggravated than it needed to be while ‘greeting the spirit of the forest’. Though Rin’s phantom heat had passed, Amaimon was quicker to tune into Rin’s human scent, which was disgustingly muddled with the other humans he’d been too close for comfort with. He’d been focusing on it quite hard, leading to him shutting down and ignoring Mephisto, who finally started to grow a bit worried that messing with soulmates may have been something too hard to control, even for the prodigal son himself. 

In the meantime, Amaimon grew irritated watching the students bring back the peg lantern. One, because Rin was in the center of his wretched group of humans. Two, because he them had to wade through the river of demon worms without his scent marking or mating mark that told them to keep their grubby little legs off of Rin. Lastly though, because the peg lantern itself reacted more to Rin than the girl as a submissive and chased after him as if the lowly demon could ever possibly deserve such a mate. His little shitfit aside, Mephisto kept him under control for the time being as he teemed with the anxious energy of a caged bear. The giant moth actually made to grab Rin at the end to retrieve him for Amai but the poor boy had to wait a bit longer cause Rin’s friend saved his ass. Once Rin’s finished his assignment Amaimon loses his patience and pops out on the forest to fuck shit up. 

He'd taken Shiemi hostage under the impression that Rin had a crush on her, taunting Rin with the whole marriage thing. Ofc Rin was just confused as hell and wanted Amai to put his best friend down. It wasn't til Amaimon was hit with the fireworks that he realized it was Bon, not Shiemi, that Rin was interested in. That's why he went for Bon instead of the one that actually laughed at him. Bon started yelling at Rin and ignoring Amaimon and ofc Amai was even more pissed off that this asshole had the audacity to not only go after Rin but to straight up ignore him, Rin’s true mate. Rin yelled to stop and as much as Amai wanted to kill Bon right there regardless, he saw Rin grab his sword and realized he was getting exactly what he’d wanted, a chance to complete the mating ritual and take Rin. 

Rin draws his sword, Bon realizes everything’s a lie, and Amaimon and Rin finally start their fight. Amaimon starts announcing the truth to Rin, about what they are to each other, that Amaimon found him truly worthy, proclaiming his flames were beautiful. Ofc Amaimon got excited again and they started to fight like in canon and lowkey he was getting excited in another way because in his eyes, they had started the most intense and beautiful mating ritual the world had ever seen while Rin just wanted him to die.  Amaimon grabbed a hold of him from behind and Marked his neck, making Rin panic and kick him, stabbing him and trying to burn him after. When Amaimon grabbed Rin’s tail, an emerald ring of some sort appeared fastened to the base of Rin’s tail. He’d screamed at the sharp pain of it and Mephisto had assumed it was simply because Rin had never had his tail tugged in such a violent way. It was only afterwards that Mephisto realized the true depth of the situation, which made things a lot harder for him. 

Once he was marked, Rin had been overtaken by a demon heat. Before Amaimon got ahead of himself and took Rin right then and there, Mephisto grabbed the two, thinking he could stop them there and use Amaimon as he planned. 

Then, Rin split the clock in search of his mate and Mephisto was like oh shit. When Rin is thrown into view of his classmates, he's lost to emotions and instincts. He still has no idea why he feels like shit, his mind is swimming and on attack mode and he's trying to slow his mind down. He attempted to run toward Yukio, grasping for protection and touch from someone he loves. Yukio goes to shoot him, Shiemi runs out like in canon and calms him down with a hug. His body reacts and calms down because she's registering as a friend and another submissive type, someone who won't put him in danger and only wants to help. (In demon culture, a close submissive friend is usually in charge of comforting and taking care of the submissive demon in heat between waves so that the dominant mate can recharge as well.) Once he was calm, the exhaustion hit him and he passed out, being dragged to court with the others.

Meph had genuinely meant to keep Amaimon contained, he locked him away and came to meet the others, then went to the court. When Rin started having his nightmare, Amaimon had felt the discomfort through their new bond and, already half feral with what had happened, he broke free and headed toward Rin in a rage. This is why he fucking destroyed everything and started yelling about being able to smell Rin. At this point, everything is fucked, Mephisto has lost control and has to rely on Rin being confused enough that he continues to fight Amaimon, or that Rin and Amaimon can escape to Gehenna fast enough that they don't get their asses kicked. 

The next part is planned but gets dirty so it’s upon request 👀

[yououui]

“  what am i supposed to do when i can’t even trust my own mind?  ”  kurofai please

Fai has come a long way since Kurogane first met him.

He has grown, he has changed, he has learned to open himself up to love and allow himself the vulnerability that comes with it. He has even been able to move on from his past, for the most part.

Kurogane knows that Fai will never let go of the trauma of his past, not completely. Kurogane is grateful that Fai at least tries now, that the mage focuses on the present and the life he's been gifted with.

Still, those dark whispers of a long lost civilization still lurk in the back of Fai's mind and creep forward when he is most vulnerable. Sometimes, something triggers them. Sometimes, they seem to come out of nowhere. Always, Kurogane knows that Fai needs a gentle hand to lead him back to the present.

Kurogane wakes and the first thing he notices is that the other side of the bed is empty. Next, he sees a figure at the window, pale as a ghost and still as a statue. Fai stares through the glass, eyes wide and fearful, hands trembling at his side.

Kurogane approaches him quietly. "Mage...? What's wrong?"

Fai gulps. He lifts one pale, scarred finger, and points outside. Wind howls and flurries of icy snow fall to the ground. The porch light of their rented little house reflects nearby snow, but beyond its reach is pitch black.

"I thought I saw—" Fai's eyes grow more wild, more frenzied. He licks dry lips and leans closer to the glass, his own reflection looking back at him.

Kurogane looks. He sees nothing.

He doesn't know what Fai thought he saw, though he has his guesses. He puts a hand on Fai's shoulder and tries to gently guide him away from the window.

"There's nothing there," He says softly.

"No, I saw him—!" Fai puts a hand to the glass, and perhaps its the cold or something else, but that seems to snap him out of it. Blue eyes flit around, like they're trying to catch a hummingbird or something more elusive, before finally lowering in resignation.

Kurogane leads Fai away from the window and Fai lets him. Kurogane sits the mage on the bed, turning for a moment to shut the curtain and hide the snowfall. There's a sliver where the curtains don't meet that allows a bit of light to fall into the room and illuminate Fai, who now holds his head in his hands.

"Hey," Kurogane kneels in front of him, places a steadying hand on Fai's knee to ground him to the present moment.

Fai's eyes, now looking exhausted, lift to glance at Kurogane. He shakes his head, pulls at his hair a bit and his eyes twist shut. "I swear," He says with a dry voice. "I thought—he was right there—"

"I know," Kurogane says reassuringly.

Fai blinks his eyes open to stare at his feet on the floor. "...But he wasn't there, was he?"

Kurogane doesn't answer, though that is answer enough.

Blue eyes lift to look once again at Kurogane, almost pleading. "Kuro-sama," He whispers, a good sign that he is returning to this time, this place. "What am I supposed to do when I can't even trust my own mind?"

Kurogane takes Fai's hands in his own and gently pries slender fingers from blond hair before they rip any strands out. "You don't have to," Kurogane says, now holding Fai's hands in his own. "I'll be here to bring you back."

Fai's lips twist in a wistful smile, trembling like he might cry. He holds it back though, and simply relishes in the feeling of his cold hands in Kurogane's warm hold. "I'm sorry," He whispers hoarsely. "For waking you."

"What're you apologizing for, idiot?" Kurogane asks. The teasing tone seems to lighten something in Fai's chest, some of the brightness of his eyes returning. "C'mon. Let's go back to sleep."

Fai nods. He lets Kurogane guide him, too weak—mentally—to do much of anything. Kurogane doesn't mind; he lies Fai down and tucks him under the covers. He lies down himself and opens his arms to Fai when the mage curls into him, seeking whatever warmth he can as his body remembers the bitter cold at the base of a tower.

And Kurogane gives him all that he can, as he always has and always will. He hopes that this will pass by morning, for Fai's sake. He also hopes that the next world they land in will be warm, a place where Fai can be warmed by sunshine almost as bright as he is.

[wrenrogue]

Kuroo leaves a lot of his things at Kenma's house because that's just how it's always been, even when they were neighbors. Half the time he comes back to kenma wearing/using whatever stuff he left behind a week ago, or something kenma took from his apartment when he last visited.

Kuroo feigns being annoyed at times, but they both know it's not real annoyance, but if kuroo's annoyed at anything is that he can't take a picture of Kenma wearing his dress shirts without getting caught. Or that the only way he can get to kiss Kenma is indirectly by "accidentally" leaving his half drunk mug of coffee behind for Kenma to drink from in the morning. Or that he currently can't give Kenma access to all his things and himself full-time like he ideally wants to do.

It's become such a normal part of their routine though that sometimes kenma asks kuroo to take off the shirt he's wearing because "it's the one I want to wear today"

and Kuroo always goes "but you have your own shirts" as he's halfway out of his own, ready to hand it over.

"yknow sometimes I think you want to steal everything in my apartment" kuroo says as he finds a pan in Kenma's kitchen cupboards he thought he'd lost months ago

"And what if I did?" Kenma shrugs as he eats cereal from a bowl that also has been missing from Kuroo's apartment.

"that's so cruel of you to steal from the poor like that!!"

"The Poor literally sleeps over almost every night!!"

"because The Bourgeois has all my work shirts held hostage!!"

"you have 2 left in your apartment last time I checked!!"

"one has a stain I can't wash off!!"

"I'll buy you a new one!!"

"you'll just end up stealing it!!"

"No I won't!"

"Yes you will!!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Then just let me steal you, so I don't have to steal your shirts anymore!!"

"Kyanma!!" Kuroo gasps dramatically as he points his pan at Kenma, "so you were holding my shirts hostage!!"

Kenma rolls his eyes as he makes his way toward The Poor, "move in with me you weirdo"

"You're only saying that because you want my last good dress shirt"

"I want the idiot that wears it actually"

"You shouldn't call yourself mean things, Kenma"

"Kuro." It's in that moment that Kuroo realizes he's been cornered against the kitchen sink.

"Oh"

"Well?"

"uhhh" says Kuroo articulately. In his defense, it's not everyday one gets to be pinned against the sink by the love of their life, especially not with the offer of moving in together

"I know you want to" Kenma leans forward even further, "I want you to" he says softer still

Kuroo hopes Kenma can't see how hard his heart is currently pounding. It makes him kinda wish he hadn't given the shirt he wore earlier to Kenma. "Can-um... Can I steal something from you first though?" he asks, like an idiot. "It's only fair"

"Like what?" asks The Bourgeois

Since when did Kenma get 5 inches taller? Kuroo thinks as he decides to be an idiot and lean forward to steal a kiss. He realizes he doesn't mind not wearing a shirt when Kenma wraps his arms around his shoulders to close the gap between their bodies even further.

Kuroo briefly wonders as he explores Kenma's mouth if he'd like to take off the shirt he stole from him earlier too... it's only fair...

Unfortunately life isn't fair to The Poor and the pan he once held slips out of his grasp meeting the kitchen tile with a loud clang.

In his defense, kissing Kenma is more important than remembering he's still holding kitchenware.

"your pan" a half dazed Kenma says when he disconnects and his heels touch ground again

"our pan" Kuroo corrects

"Our?" Kenma looks up at him, golden eyes hopeful

Kuroo nods earnestly, beaming like an idiot as he picks up Kenma to sit him on the kitchen counter "Our."

Kenma smiles back, an idiot himself, before he wraps his arms around Kuroo's bare shoulders once more,

"our pan" he whispers before he guides Kuroo into steal another kiss from him, and many more after that; their pan left forgotten on their kitchen floor soon followed by their shirt.

[pain-in-the-butler]

Hello! This is KeensYourGears on ao3! I had a question about Coattails. Because I saw that the wiki has acknowledged Grelle's womanhood, I wanted to know what your approach of her would be in terms of her gender and the story should she make an appearance. Would the characters respect her as a woman or would it be a similar case with the first to seasons of the anime? (at least where the dub is concerned) That's all! Thank you and have a good day/night!

Oh, hello, KeensYourGears!! So good to see you by!

I actually do plan to have Grell show up in about three chapters! 🎉 I'm not sure how often we'll see her beyond that initial scene, but she's a character I really enjoy, so rest assured that if the plot allows, she'll come back for more.

This question was actually something that I wrestled with for a while, because while you and I know that Grell is a woman, in the canon it's not always clear if Local Idiot Sebastian knows it. We also know that misgendering Grell is largely an English translation problem and that Yana usually avoids having any character use pronouns for Grell at all, which is of course easier to do in Japanese (and that the act of avoiding gender pronouns is part of what led to the wiki using they/them for so long in the first place).

If we were going with entirely historical accuracy, I would say most of the Kuro characters wouldn't understand Grell or respect her pronouns. If we were to have a bit of fun with it, like Yana does, I'd say that most of the characters would at least have the capacity to use the right pronouns for Grell, even if they didn't understand her. But at least for the scene I have in mind, no humans are going to be around Grell, so that isn't something I'll have to fuss over. Sebastian is, however, going to be meeting with her.

In terms of the manga, I headcanon that Butler!Sebastian is a big stickler for rules, but only for humans, not for himself. He kinda loves when a human acts "proper" and with decorum and obeys social constructs, because doing all these things would mean that the human is masking a part of themselves. It's one of the major reasons why Seb's so interested in O!Ciel's soul: Ciel lowkey tortures himself every day with all this constant pretending he does. Therefore, Sebastian lacks respect for Grell partially because she doesn't pretend to be someone she's not. Seb judges Grell based on how he thinks her soul would taste, and he's decided it would taste bad. Hypothetically.

Demon!Sebastian however. He totally gets it. He's nothing and everything. He doesn't subscribe to human rules and he doesn't understand them either. Sebastian is a he, but not the demon behind Sebastian. The demon is every gender and no gender all at once. So, the fact that Grell is one of the few humans from England to grasp that gender is what you make it? She's kind of a galaxy brain for that. Not that he'd ever tell her he thinks so. He still wouldn't like the taste of her soul, after all.

So, with all of the above in mind, I think the plan right now is to use she/her pronouns for Grell when writing from Sebastian's third person perspective, and also to have Sebastian avoid using any pronouns for her in his dialogue. He sees Grell as a woman, but he isn't going to divulge that he does, because he's not interested in letting her know that. It would reveal too much of his demon side. And maybe make her like him more. Nope.

Does that make sense? Does that seem okay? I'm very open to suggestions and tweaks towards this. I've thought about this a lot, and I think it would be really hard for me not to use her pronouns. I also don't want to write an inauthentic voice, so maybe I'm just thinking wishfully here when I say Seb would recognize Grell as a woman. But Coattails!Seb is my Seb, so I can give him my views if I want, right? Anyway, I'm assuming no one is terribly upset with this decision, but I hope it doesn't come across as negligent of Grell's struggle either.

[ellayuki]

08052022 - Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

just how far we’d travel (both you and I know)

Tsubasa Chronicle Month - Day 8 - OTP

~

There’s something so tender about the way Kurogane brushes the hair out of Fai’s face, the way he cups Fai’s cheek like he’s something precious, the way he presses the lightest of kisses to the corner of Fai’s returned eye. 

Once, Fai would have made fun of him for it, would have teased and taunted, and hid behind his masks from the show of complete vulnerability and adoration. 

That version of him is gone, though, for the most part. There’s no part of him that can make light of a moment like this, now. He doesn’t want to. Not anymore. 

“Kuro-sama…” he breathes out, his fingers catching in the light cotton of Kurogane’s shirt. “Kuro-sama, I…” There are words, many of them, fighting their way up his throat, and Fai doesn’t know which of them to say first.

Kurogane hums against his temple. “You’re an idiot if you think I don’t already know.” 

Fai doesn't whine, but it's a close thing. "Doesn't mean I can't say it, Kurorin. Maybe I want to say it."

"I'm not stopping you from saying it, mage," Kurogane huffs, and the fingers on Fai's cheek slide through his hair to the back of his head. Fai wraps his own arms around Kurogane's middle, nuzzles into the skin on the inside of the ninja's forearm. Wishes Kurogane's metal arm wouldn't currently be a useless wreck so that it could wrap tight around him. “But every line on your body tells me you’re struggling to find the right words and I’m telling you, you don’t have to."

From somewhere behind him, out through the open balcony doors of the room the Queen of Clow Kingdom has bestowed upon them, Fai can hear birds chirping merrily. Somehow, it reminds him once again that they're free now, and alive, and that their lives are finally their own to live however they wish. "I love you,” he says at last, pulling back and looking Kurogane in his red, red eyes. “And whenever you wish to return to Nihon, if you'll have me, Kuro-sama, I'd like to go with you." 

Kurogane looks at him, eyes clear and trusting and full of… yes, full of love, Fai knows now. They’ve always been full of love for him, even when obscured by exasperation, and distrust, and pain. “Youou,” he says, and it makes Fai blink, because- “My real name is Youou, just like yours is Yuui.” 

And Fai’s breath catches in his throat. To hear that name in that voice, said like it’s a blessing and not… He shakes his head, focuses on the other part, the more important one. “Youou,” he tries it out, carefully, reverently. Tears he hadn't been aware of gathering at the corners of his eyes spill down his cheeks. “Mn, it suits you.” He leans his forehead against Kurogane’s collarbone, overwhelmed. “It suits you, but…”

Fingers card through his loose hair. “But?”

Fai laughs, just a few light huffs of air he can’t stop. He looks back up with a smile. “But Kuropon is still Kuropon.”  

And the smile that stretches on Kurogane’s face then is the most beautiful thing Fai has ever seen in his long, long life. 

“I love you, too, you goof,” Kurogane says, before swallowing Fai’s shocked gasp, with the most breathtaking of kisses.

[kiwi-the-servamp-addict]

Hi

Hey

Howdy

Hello

I haven't made a Sv hc post in a while sooo

Sv hc post

(These are straight from my notes just copy and pasted I have too many)

So

Enjoy

Sometimes in the middle of the night Mahiru just wakes up to Kuro's paw in his face because Kuro is hungry

Kuro hates fleas medicine

KURO HAS FRECKLES WHERE HIS WHISKERS WOULD BE

Mahiru likes kissing Kuro's freckles (back to the other hc lol)

Inner Kuro likes scaring Kuro in the middle of the night by standing in the door way and waking up Kuro

Lily is always trying to get Kuro to have a selfcare routine... it has yet to work.. he's considering asking Mahiru to convince Kuro..

Kuro has cat like features in his human form (cat like eyes[like the pupils spesifically]

Mahiru's mom's side of the family is Hispanic so Mahiru has learned a few habits from some of his family along with his mom and Tooru

Mahiru makes certain faces that remind Tooru of Touma

Once Mahiru made a pissed off face to Kuro but it looked like he was more pissed off then he actually was it made Kuro feel so guilty he started crying

Mahiru felt bad

Lily can't handle being insulted especially if it's from Misono

He's had a couple of breakdowns because of it

JeJe would never admit it but he really likes Mikuni's cooking

Nicco actually likes horror movies

But

He physically cannot handle gory movies

He out right refuses

Cappuccino once watched one with him and it just lead to him checking on Nicco in the bathroom because he threw up

When Kuro and Lily hang out they like to watch True Crime documentaries

It genuinely concerns Misono and Mahiru

world end will not stop bothering Shuuhei until Shuuhei gives him a kiss /or kisses (I made a fic about this hc lol)

Shuuhei found out he really likes cuddles and Ildio is happy to give him them

Shuuhei doesn't get much sleep and Ildio always ends up holding him close to get him to sleep

Shuuhei occasionally daydreams about Ildio and gets caught off guard when someone is talking to him while he's daydreaming

Freya likes to bake and her favorite thing to do is make treats for Tsurugi, Izuna, her siblings, and her Subclasses

One of Nicco's favorite drinks is actually cappuccinos he likes the bitter taste (Cappuccino finds it funny)

Kuro isn't a coffee addict but when he does drink coffee he puts an insane amount of sugar and creamer unlike Mahiru who doesn't put much sugar or creamer Kuro has tried some of Mahiru's coffee before and absolutely hated it he thought it was really bitter he clearly likes his coffee sweet 

Kuro has a big sweet tooth

Freya accepted the fact she can't bring Ildio and Hyde to stores with her

She's realized they're idiots

Tetsu can speak Spanish really fluently and he'll have conversations with Mahiru in Spanish everyone in the room stares at them confused

Lily likes feeding the stray cats and dogs that show up around the mansion

Kuro has a big fear of dogs and will cling to Mahiru for dear life

Ildio will sing his heart out to Selena's music

Ildio really likes Pan Dulce (I made a whole ass post about this like a year ago-)

Surprisingly Kuro has very smooth and soft hands While Mahiru has very cloussed(? Idk if that's the right word) and rough hands bc of house work and stuff (Both him and Kuro like feeling each other's hands just to feel the difference in texture)

Freya isn't much of a video game fan but Kuro got her into a few games (he knew she had a thing for farming so she showed her Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing she loves playing both of the games) while Izuna showed her a few games too (Pokemon, Minecraft, and a few others) so now she has a Switch and plays with her siblings. (Did I make this specific hc because I have Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley to cope with my mental health and the harsh reality of life? No totally not)

Uhhh

That is all for today

Have a nice night/day!

[kaiserposting]

Zetsu ― Swan Song

PAIRING: Zetsu/Reader WORD COUNT: 2.2k WARNING(S): Death, Zetsu-Typical Cannibalism😭, Vomiting, Spoilers for Shippuden TYPE: Angst

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Hey, Zetsu.

Zetsu knows he's not human. He doesn't want to be.

Supposedly inconspicuous but not quite, he's aware regular shinobi turn their heads whenever they bear witness to his peculiar appearance. Bystanders could spare many words describing him as they try to identify who they think of as Akatsuki vermin ― plant-like, for one, maybe even carnivorous. Humanoid is the one he likes.

Because humans have intelligence, but not enough. Emotions guide them and they feel like it's the only thing they know how to do. As a humanoid entity, Zetsu laments, he has all human virtues with the best possible distribution.

Of course, he's he doesn't get much respect among those bloodthirsty idiots in the organization, despite being a superior of sorts to them. The nicknames they come up with for him are always plain insulting, then behind the scenes he has to parade around as Obito's lackey. What does 'Madara' know about anything, anyway?

And because Zetsu teeters between the edge of human and something else, when you came along and started engaging with him, he was intrigued by you. Curiosity is also a virtue. It helps people develop and adapt. All discoveries start with a question.

Zetsu's curiosity manifests in different ways. Kuro would begrudge whenever Shiro urges him to go observe the fights, but always relents regardless, since they share their feelings to some extent. Less so because it's necessary. Once he goes down this path, it's inevitable that he reminisces.

It's Shiro who's more likely to be fascinated by anything under the sun. New techniques, reincarnating an overpowered alien, the way the world works, how someone's emotional distress can change their taste, you, typical stuff.

My name is [L/n] [Y/n]. Nice to meet you, I guess I hope we get along well.

When you had first become a member, they assigned you as his pseudo-partner. Nagato was all about that two-man team thing, a bit of a nut for rules, but you'd been his comrade just in title. He didn't aid you in battle and you seldom helped him with espionage.

Hey, Zetsu.

Considering your stoic and introverted personality, he thought you wouldn't be interested in conversing, which wasn't a problem for him. It wasn't unusual for you to ignore Hidan and Deidara's overbearing personalities, and even Kisame's strange brand of politeness wasn't enough to move you.

So you two can separate from one another? That's cool.

Yet, you were the one who'd initiate these exchanges most of the time, anyway. Maybe, in a way, you were drawn to him too, perhaps because he's something you've never seen before. He can't comprehend it in any different scenario.

You got along with both his sides, which was surprising as you'd scoff at the most charismatic of people approaching you, whether or not they were Akatsuki. It was almost like a permanent frown was etched on your face and your sharp remarks were always at standby lest someone annoyed you.

You thought Shiro's tendency to be playful ― if not self-satisfied with his teasing ― was amusing, and you didn't insult him about his passivity unlike some of the other crude members. Kuro's remarks rolled off of you like water. It wasn't like you ignored him; it was more so that you never took his unfriendliness personally.

In fact, so long as he didn't direct his scathing comments towards you, you were more willing to agree than argue with him. The two of you had a lot in common, being grumpy and serious, and so you thought his observations were spot-on, especially when pertaining to the other members.

Will you two stop arguing and get out of that Venus trap? I got the damn intel.

Your eyes never betrayed emotion, though he could see a hint of entertainment in them whenever you stumbled upon the dual man fighting with himself. Sometimes they'd try to coax you to side with either of them, but you wouldn't budge, turning into a centrist devil's advocate as you explained to them why they both had a point and why they should settle down.

It made sense why Zetsu, as one being, liked you and even sought your presence. Because you accepted them as a whole, not just one side of him, cherry-picked to your preference.

You had a temper, but you never directed it at him. He didn't expect you to pick favorites, but if he could take that role, then he had no complaints about it either. Your unique tolerance of him forced Kuro to be kinder to you as well, though Shiro had to request it enough to make his counterpart annoyed.

Hey, Zetsu...

(Because he was curious, he created a bond, unknowingly, unwarrantedly. But this organization is no place for such things, and the plan leaves no room for it.)

You preferred to listen to his rambles, having a rather tight-lipped demeanor. Yet, he felt entitled to know more about you, even if just because you'd observed him for so long and got a feel of his personality and desires. At first he'd went behind your back and dug out the reasons behind your exile from your village, though it painted you as irrational. He was quick to reject that notion and started bothering you about it.

The story you told him sounded much more justified, and so he accepted it with little thought. He's unsure if you ever began missing your pre-recruitment days ― there were times when you'd go on long-winded explanations about the things you'd do during your time as an ordinary ninja. Even if they were mundane in nature, probably because it had been you saying these things, he committed them to memory.

He planned to use this knowledge some day, and yet.

I'm telling you these things because I really trust you.

To be honest, admitting to something as feeble as trust in this dog eat dog, shit-stained system, as a criminal no less, must've amounted to a love confession. Not like he'd understand anything about that.

And yet.

He emerges from the ground, taking his time as if to attempt stalling while he watches you from afar. You're anything but animated, staying still with your form hunched over a rock. He's not sure what you're doing per se, it looks like you're simply admiring nature.

Shiro goes on some deranged tangent about how you look bewitching, struggling to pull more words out of his ass while Kuro's side of their mouth twitches into a subtle frown, and the other follows.

"Let's get on with it. Dumbass," Kuro commands, though it lacks its usual edge of extra malice.

"I suppose."

The next time he appears, it's right in front of you. You don't flinch or tremble at all, having sensed his chakra texture from the moment he was staring at you back then. You're sure if he didn't want you to notice his presence, he would've concealed it, anyway.

"Itachi kicked the bucket and the brat Sasuke Uchiha and his posse failed. The Hachibi they brought back was a fluke," Kuro explains.

Your face remains as stone cold as ever, like you'd been sensing what he was going to say.

"Please go hunt the Hachibi and bring the bijuu back properly," Shiro adds, though you've already understood the gist of the mission from his previous statement.

With no sign you've absorbed even a lick of this information, you stand up and peer down at him. Shiro tries to give you his usual brain dead grin, but can't. His muscles won't twitch.

It's easy to get lost in your eyes, but not in a romantic way. No, they don't shine, but they reflect. He finds himself distracted from the distorted image of himself he can see in them as you stay wordless.

"Goodbye, Zetsu."

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Zetsu, still human-like in some ways rather than others, can't help himself. Obito had wanted his presence for something, possibly some reiteration of his usual evil monologue to another unsuspecting target, but Shiro disregards it. Though Kuro nags at him as he usually does, they both know they agree and so, they set out to watch your fight.

He'd never quite seen you battle like this, which is understandable given Killer Bee is a fighter on another level. He might as well be your most formidable opponent when you take into account the skill level gap between him and the other jinchuuriki.

Your swordsmanship is not enough to defeat him, despite your display of reflexes and maneuvers Zetsu didn't even know you were capable of, much less with a sword. It looks as if you and Bee are having some sort of dance, but his unorthodox style seems to overwhelm you.

Next, you weave the hand signs to jutsu he doesn't recognize, manifesting different creatures out to get your enemy, and he finds your techniques mesmerizing as always. Even if Bee dodges them, even it's all an exertion of effort all for naught, he can't be anything but impressed with you.

As the Hachibi tries to evade you, the scene switches with you hot on his tail in pursuit, and Zetsu gets vertigo trying to keep up. Your chakra constraints just don't seem to reach Bee, and even though your techniques hit him in constant succession, they're never enough for a knockout with him being a powerhouse of chakra.

Nearing the outskirts of Kumo during this prolonged fight, Bee decides he needs to end this quick before he ends up with these annoying enemies inside the territory once more. He is relentless in his attempts at rhyming your name, but you don't react to any of his shenanigans.

Turning into his bijuu form, he tries to swat you down with his octopus leg. You jump out of the way, forced on the defensive for the first time in a while, but you show no sign of giving up. After a long leap, you run up one of the enormous tentacles in your last attempt to drain him of his chakra.

He continues trying to push you off, but you manage to duck out of the way relying on mere reflex. Still, he's wasting your time. You hurl a multitude of poison-laden weapons at him and in this form, he has no proper way of dodging. As he's distracted with these new wounds, you decide to restrict him with a binding jutsu next and then absorb his chakra, but your hand seals aren't quick enough.

It happens in a flash. Casual, somehow, not at all grandiose considering this was your best fight from what he's observed and that makes Zetsu all the more enraged.

You get smacked to the ground, laying face down in an imprint of the bijuu's leg, then don't move further. Bee recedes into his human form as an aftereffect of the potent poison he ingested thanks to you, and scurries away before some other dumbass phony can spot him and give him trouble, albeit sorrowful that he can't catch a break.

Zetsu emerges from the ground and turns your body around, holding out hope and that this was a fake out, that you're alive even though he had a feeling that's how it'd end. He supposes, through your bond, the two of you had grown a sixth sense.

Itachi Uchiha had died smiling.

Your face is icy as ever and your eyes aren't much different even now that you're dead.

"You know what we must do," Kuro reminds.

But he's disgusted ― despite Kuro's empty cue ― and he'd do it to anyone else without a second thought, but the concept of defiling your dead body like this makes him sick. Filled to the brim with repulsion and knowing what he'll need to do it to protect your secrets, Zetsu empties all the bile in his stomach near you, his throat retching horribly.

Once he is done, the smell wafts by his nose and makes him want to repeat the action. Kuro tries again, "Pull yourself together. Madara is waiting."

You entrusted your secrets to him. He should― he could just leave you here, he was in his right to refuse to do this, but a policy is a policy and being on Obito's dangerous side is never something he strives for.

(He wishes you would've smiled more.)

With one last woeful look at your corpse, Shiro is careful and uncharacteristically gentle when he takes your headband away. Kuro does not question why he's done this for you but no one else, and the two pull a collective grimace when they consume you after taking a piece of your DNA. Barely biting or chewing, just to get it over with quicker.

Shiro almost spits you out in a pile of more vomit immediately after they are done, but Kuro forces it down. He wonders if the afterlife exists, if you're watching him now and contemplating scrubbing all remnants of him off of you. He wouldn't judge.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Zetsu arranges a few stones and pulls out your headband, with Shiro grazing his fingertips over the scratch. He recollects your last battle, the way you'd moved with such elegance despite these being your last moments.

Goodbye, Zetsu.

He places your headband over the stone and twitches to write something on your makeshift tombstone, but they both decide against it. Pink-tinted. Bloodthirsty ninja like you and himself don't get eulogies.

They leave a bunch of your favorite flowers on it. Maybe if Konan was around here somewhere, they could ask for her eternal bouquets instead, but she appears to be too far away.

"Stop it. We should stop this sentimental crap," Kuro scolds, but his voice lacks resolve. His counterpart does not answer his pleas to forget you.

Zetsu knows he's not human. He wishes he were though, even if just for a minute, so he could cry for your loss.