#otp: young blades

[anerdinallherglory]

Approaching Sun (38)

Author’s Note: Long note ahead. 

You guyssss. I’m sorry for the delay. The Sasuke that I am writing is new territory for most of us. I write, then rewrite until it feels right. And I have never rewritten my own script as much as I did in this chapter. If you enjoy my writing, please take a chance on my live draft on Wattpad called Beneath the Hollow Grove. There will be romance, so the same chemistry between characters in my fanfiction is very likely to be appearing there. This chapter is dedicated to Teo and ttsukei. Thank you for your extra support and love. It means everything.

Approaching Sun will eventually come to an end (sad but rewarding at the same time). I am guesstimating a total of 42-45 chapters total. I never foresaw A.S. being as long as it is already, or taking as nearly as long as it has to finish it. To be honest, I started this years ago to improve creative writing with my OTP, and anticipated on ditching it when my ADHD got the better of me. But the community kept asking and I kept giving. You can thank those people if you have enjoyed it because this story was written 100% in return for their comments and support.

Also, if you enjoy my SasuSaku, you can find a one-shot I wrote before A.S. on Fanfiction.net/Wattpad by the name of “Sakura’s Letter.” It fits these A.S. characters well. 

Last but not least, there is a facebook fanpage for A.S. at the link on my Tumblr if you’d like to join. Hoping to share further A.S. resources there after the story is complete. 

Songs for this chapter: Technicolour Beat by Oh Wonder & Feel Something by James Young

Thanks always, ANerdinAllHerGlory

. . .

CW: Discussion of Suicide; read with caution

Pairing: SasuSaku

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37

Chapter 38: Methods of Atonement & Eternal Burning

Just when Sakura thought the insect-glow induced spell might diminish or expire between them, she glanced over her shoulder as she bathed in the warm cave waters to see that Sasuke watched her from the bank. He sat familiarly reclined with an arm over his knee, and where Sakura might have expected his countenance to have once again returned to the smooth planes and carefully composed eyes of guardedness, she sucked in a breath to see an expression wholly new to her. His mouth was parted in a silent reverence as he beheld the cleansing paths her hands traced over her collarbones, down her neck and through her hair. Had she even thought Sasuke capable of looking at another human that way? Well, it lasted until she reached up and over her shoulder to run water down her back, right between her shoulder blades where Sasuke’s fingers had traced the Uchiha symbol. His countenance slipped, a frown of consideration deepening the lines between his brows. 

Having an idea of his annoyance, she turned her back to him and smiled silently to herself when he stood, waded waist deep into the starry-lit water to join her. 

“Washing already?” he murmured in that low Uchiha disappointment that told Sakura he was pretending to pout. And his faux ire at such a notion was pleasant enough to warm Sakura from within and she prided herself on her self-restraint in this moment, because she wanted to smile like an idiot until her face split at the creases of her lips. 

With Sasuke’s strict abstinence of years and a single-sided willpower to outlast her own desires these last several months, Sakura was pleasantly astonished to discover that Sasuke Uchiha didn’t have such restraint in that moment. Turning her to face him, he stilled her efforts completely by touching his lips to hers. And the kiss was softer. Much slower than before. Like a whisper in a cave.

Sakura had always daydreamed about what sort of lover the untouchable Uchiha, Sasuke might be. She always expected him to be as Sasuke-ish about everything possible, including his love life. He would be the sort of man to keep his interactions with her formal in the public eye, respectable, reserved, and avoiding all physical contact that some couples easily flaunted for others to see. This was the reality that Sakura had long predicted and, therefore, accepted and did not anticipate Sasuke to be the sort of partner who, over the last couple of months, might secretly hold her hand while she slept, find excuses to be next to her, crave her touch in the private moments shared between them, and kiss her tenderly even after their bodies separated. As sad as that sounded, Sakura had predicted it, because despite how much she loved him, he was still going to be Sasuke, in the most adjective form possible of the word.

Which was why Sakura certainly had not expected the overwhelming passion of moments ago, the longing that passed between their mouths and the intensity of years’ worth of suppressed feelings into such a surmounting detonation. An explosion of celestial matter.

“It’s annoying,” he growled mischievously between their lips, tearing Sakura from her thoughts as she concentrated back on his current vexation. It had to be because Sakura had washed away the traces of Uchiha symbol he had marked between her shoulder blades. She laughed in response and continued to pull him deeper into the water, ignoring his attempts to stop her from erasing the evidence of his actions. Not even his devoted mouth making her breathless and his following steps as she descended into the river, was enough to prevent Sakura from completely submerging. And with her impossible human strength, she pulled him under after her. 

Sakura saw his eyes widen in the dim glow of ethereal lights, and she grinned wickedly in return, just before complete and total blackness consumed them. The water was brisk but not freezing, the balmy cave already warming the new layers of flood water. In the depths, void of sound and light, she felt Sasuke’s arm twine around the dip in her spine, binding her body to his, and the lack of all other sensation made the grasping touch alleviate every nerve in her person. Like a healing salve to an old wound Sakura hadn’t even realized she still possessed, Sasuke’s touch was the remedy to every feeling of loss, every doubt, and confusion she had ever had in regards to him. His possessive touch that clung to her body like she was now an extension of himself made everything in the past suddenly forgivable even if what had happened wasn’t okay. It was forgivable because it brought them to this. 

That look of reverence he had been appraising her with just a moment ago was completely replaced when they surfaced, an artificial glare of mild displeasure at being drenched completely eclipsing it. “Have I told you lately that you are the most annoying woman I have ever met?”

“Twice now in the last five minutes,” she giggled, wrapping her legs around his waist as Sasuke’s feet found the smooth underground surface once more. And that glare evaporated, turning back into veneration as Sasuke’s body reacted to her embrace. And Sakura realized that needed to say something now, before his knee found a chakra-controlled perch on the glassy surface of the water and he was pulling her up with him to take her between his body and the water below. She could see that he was already envisioning something of the sort in his mind.

“The last thing I want is for this between us to end,” she announced as she wound her greedy fingers through his wet hair—she had always imagined doing this very thing and it was so satisfying to finally be able to do so. “But we’re running out of time. I need to survey the area, and in the morning, I need to report to Katsuyu in Shikkotsu Forest and check on the men I’ve captured. Waiting for the off-hand chance that remaining members of Zenshin might discover our location won’t exactly get us anywhere.”

“You need food,” he whispered against her skin, and Sakura sighed as his wet hand slid up her back to reach the same spot where he had traced the Uchiha symbol earlier, giving up his quest and washing where she could not. She knew Sasuke would be sensible with her decision to move forward with her plans and reasoned that he would probably try to focus his attention back on his own mission of Kaguya once this electricity between them dissipated into a comfortable normal.  

And as his words settled, Sakura realized she hadn’t eaten in almost forty-two hours and her stomach grumbled loudly to Sasuke’s victorious smirk as he successfully delayed their departure by a few moments more. 

. . .

Sakura returned to the central cavern after a few private minutes to herself, the charred fragrance of something crackling over a fresh fire luring her from the enchanting tunnel of glowworms. The muffled roar of the waterfall was distant and had quieted significantly enough that Sakura could hear the crack of the fire as Sasuke roasted whatever little, unfortunate, and very possibly blind cave dwellers he had managed to find down here for them to eat. 

“What are those?” she asked, crouching beside him to assess the row of tiny fish now charred and black on the skewers. 

“Something between an eel and a fish,” he announced. “Neither and both. Living fossils only found in caves.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow as she investigated the freshwater fish. She couldn’t quite make out anything distinct about them now that they had been basically cooked to a crisp. Sasuke handed her a skewer and her ravenous appetite made her overlook the unfamiliar eel-fish quickly. 

As she ate next to him, Sakura began to feel the contrasting shift in Sasuke’s demeanor. He ate silently, avoided her eyes, and kept the small space undisturbed between them as he stared off into the black beyond the illuminated circumference of their warming fire. Sakura stiffened in response, simultaneously annoyed at the change and nervous at its meaning. She searched his expression for any clue as to what he might be thinking and felt her stomach dropping the longer he refused to return her regard. Could a few moments apart have already cleared his mind and reset his determinations somehow? How could he go from “We won’t be able to go back from this” and “Until death” to being all hesitant again? Sakura halted her spiraling train of thought before she came crashing down like one of the stalactites hanging off the ceiling. Maybe it was something else and she just needed to address him directly. That was healthy, wasn’t it? 

“What’s wrong?” she blurted. “You’re overthinking things aren’t you?” She was frightened that he would answer that with more silence or even worse, a declaration of how he had thought about what had happened, decided it was a mistake, and had changed his mind. But he laughed instead, that small, signature hmph of ejected air that had Sakura sighing in relief. 

“There’s no going back now, remember?” she continued teasingly, capitalizing on his small sign of amusement at her words.  “Because It’s too late to mope and reconsider how you’re not the best for me and blah blah blah.” She would do what many women often did when faced with uncomfortable couple confrontations. She would call him out on his thinking, his pattern of behavior that signaled her anxiety, and disguise it as a lighthearted chastisement and reminder. “We get to choose each other.” 

“I meant what I’ve said,” he answered seriously before rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he fumbled for the words that always tangled in his throat. “But, I was irresponsible earlier and—I am sorry. What do I need to do for—Do you need anything?” 

Oh. That. Sakura's face instantly reddened at the words, because she immediately knew what he was referring to and what exactly he had been hung up on until now. There were no precautions taken in the moment, and Sakura didn’t know if Sasuke’s questions were because he was worried Sakura might be angry about his carelessness after the fact, or worse, he might fear the possible consequences of such an impulsive choice. 

Sakura assessed his own flushed face and he looked away again, firelight-reflecting eyes revealing the warring predicament she hadn’t been able to decipher up until now. She looked down shyly as well when she answered him. 

“You don’t have to worry,” she whispered, genuinely hoping to ease his concerns even if a small part of her wished he didn’t have any. “I had prepared before… before the brothel. Just in case.”

And as his eyes snapped to her face, Sakura saw him set his jaw in understanding and trap the words he was holding there. Sakura didn’t make any adjustments to her phrase or retract her statement, because it was the truth of it, and even if it wasn’t the exact answer he cared to hear, she hoped it would be enough reassurance for him. Before Sakura had left Sunagakure, she had prepped the bag of contraceptives, taking several doses before handing over what was left to Tabi, the girl Sakura had entrusted the supplies to before she left. She hadn’t planned on using her body as Sasuke had originally feared she meant to do, but Sakura also wasn’t naïve to think she might be completely untouchable despite her claims to Sasuke that she was. As a woman, physician, and ninja, she wasn’t going to be unprepared walking into a brothel; she had also reminded herself that it would be a wise choice to get started on them anyway after expressing her desires to Sasuke about being more. Regardless, the contraceptive had been taken and the doses were supposed to last months per measurement, so Sakura wasn’t too concerned about her and Sasuke’s actions tonight. 

When Sasuke stiffened and made to angle his body back toward the fire, Sakura reached out for his hand and gently grasped his fingers, a now special form of communication between them. In the beginning of their traveling together, the tender touches between them had been the first blessed crack in the ice constructed walls of Sasuke Uchiha—the big bang initiation that led to the them��of now. And she hoped the gesture would work for her again as she used it once more to bring him back to the warmth they had discovered together behind those walls. 

Sakura focused on her courage, fighting to have the desire to stay on the topic while it was before them. Even if her preservatory instinct was to move on from the subject as quickly as possible, Sakura knew that the mature, responsible thing to do would be to discuss it. Thoroughly, so that they could come to an agreement, find common ground, and try to be on the same page heading forward. It was a condition to their partnership that they had long since established: communication. 

“Sasuke, I understand if you don’t want a family right now.” And he was looking away from her again as he, too, struggled to overcome the new discomfort of serious “couple” conversations between them. Sakura’s heart panged as she thought that maybe this nervousness meant that Sasuke Uchiha would never want children, even with her. She told herself to breathe, and not jump ahead, but she couldn’t resist voicing her fear: “Do you never–"

“It’s not a never,” he shuttered, finding her eyes with his own. “It’s just—my mission concerning Kaguya is unforeseeable.” He found her eyes and looked down when he saw the sadness his response instantly elicited in her face. He rushed to add, squeezing her fingers back. “But I promise to fight for that future. I’ll find the Otsusuki race. I’ll make the world safe so I can come back to you.”

Sakura nodded, her heart still feeling unsettled at such a promise. She reminded herself that by choosing Sasuke, she was choosing him and him alone. She wouldn’t force him to abandon his goals in order to be a husband and a father. “Even if we spend our lives like orbiting stars, passing one another in the night,” she had promised. “The miniscule amount of time I spend next to you will be more than I would want with anyone else.” It was her own vow to him, and Sakura had never meant truer words. Sakura knew what this life meant, and she could tell by the look on his face that he was worried, already concerned that she was regretting. And maybe in her heart, she was disheartened that their reality would be a difficult one. Sakura would be sacrificing several dreams, and she would have to make her peace with it all in time, because despite it all, she wanted Sasuke more than anything else. She also wanted a peaceful future, and Sasuke was the only person, in a combined effort with Naruto’s future leadership, capable of ensuring that it came to pass by fulfilling his side. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he shook his head, and Sakura saw him steel himself with a breath before forcing out, “I’m already sorry for so much. I think I’ll live our entire lives being sorry, Sakura.”

She gently squeezed his hand and shook her head as well. “I meant what I said too. I want this life with you, whatever it looks like. And of course, I eventually want a family with you, but only if that’s what you want, too. It comes second to everything else. Or not at all. Okay?”

He nodded in obvious relief and, to Sakura’s continuing list of surprises, pulled her to him. Her hands found his chest to brace herself and he inhaled the scent of her hair, whispering an apology in the crook of her neck. She kissed his lips sweetly with a comforting smile, but Sasuke took advantage and kissed her again, fervently, tenderly, consolingly in return. And Sakura decided to let him push her to the ground beneath him where his hand slid up her thigh. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sakura made the connection that Sasuke’s conversation skills were barely adequate, but that in the private moments between them, he would choose to compensate for it with the language of bodies. This, too, was not what Sakura had expected, but it made sense that the stoic, awkward Uchiha might choose to express himself with the dedicated dialect spoken with the only other person who could receive, comprehend, and appreciate that language. With her legs tossed over his shoulders, and her fingers in his hair, and Sasuke’s head between her thighs, Sakura submitted completely as he made her forget her current and future grievances. He devoted his apology to her body like an act of repentance, and Sakura decided she would take him, take the man who promised a lifetime of regretful apologies, if this was his method of atonement. Sakura didn’t know that apologies could come in the form of slow arousals, roaming tongues, and­­—holy shit, suction. The sound of his own name from her mouth was the only verbalization of forgiveness that Sasuke needed in their mutually exclusive vernacular.

.

.

.

Sasuke was a fucking idiot. He had thought this to himself as he fisted each and every eel fish coasting below his feet, as he tried to explain his thoughts to her about starting a family, and even now as he stared at her back as they lay tangled together in sleep for the second night. Adding to the list of self-deprecations, Sasuke cursed himself for foregoing the Uchiha symbol on his clothing several years ago as an act of penance. At the time, Sasuke had felt that in order to preserve whatever was left of his clan’s dignity, he needed to part with wearing the symbol until after he felt properly atoned. He didn’t want his past and image to represent the Uchiha, furthering the disgrace of his clan in the eyes of those who knew their history or was learning of it for the first time. But as he had traced the symbol between Sakura’s shoulder blades, Sasuke had had the realization that Sakura, the only other person to bear the Uchiha name, was now going to be the new face representing their clan. In contrast to himself, Sakura had always been unwavering in her goodness, unblemished by wrongdoings, and righteously leading a new generation of mental health advocates and creating new healthcare standards. Her reach would know no bounds and there wouldn’t be a better individual walking this dimension to wear the Uchiha crest, to start a new history associated with it. It wouldn’t be Sasuke leading the Uchiha clan into the future; it would be her. 

Which is why he was cursing himself now for not possessing at least one article of clothing with his crest so that he could be staring at her back in the firelight as she boasted the mark that identified her to the world as an Uchiha and as his. Did that make him a possessive bastard? Probably. But it was an Uchiha trait to be so and Sasuke was more Uchiha in both good and bad senses of the word than many before him. 

And, he thought privately to himself, if his actions of last night bore the natural consequences, there could be two individuals aside from himself demonstrating to the world what the Uchiha could be. Which is why he was a fucking idiot. Because fuck, he wanted that reality as much as his next breath of oxygen. He wanted to be staring at his family’s backs as a miniature raven-haired child clung to his wife’s hand through a busy Konoha market street. It was why he had made a mistake last night, choosing to recklessly chase his high with abandon because it was the dream he wanted—knew that at the end of the day, was what Sakura wanted too. And that’s why it had devastated him to make that apology to his new wife, prepared to do what he needed to do to not force the responsibility of a child on Sakura alone while he had no choice but to continue on his mission to find those who Kaguya feared, the rest of the Otsusuki race. 

He had even fucked up that apology, incompetently trying to form the words. How did he tell the woman he had just tied to himself in a cave of stars that he fucking wanted to watch her grow heavy with the swell of his child while simultaneously dreading the reality of what that would mean for her. And for him. He would miss it. He would miss all of it. He had promised Sakura a fifty-fifty partnership, and Sasuke had only just realized how badly he would fail that promise.

And these thoughts continued into the morning as the fissure in the ceiling went from boasting the brightest of stars above them to the thin purpling stripe of summer dawn, and Sakura rose from their tangled sleep, a new set determination in her shoulders to handle the members of the organization she had sent days ago into the home of her personal summon, Katsuyu. 

“What’s your plan?” he asked as she turned to face him, triple folding his borrowed black trousers along her hips to make them fit better. They still hung loosely around her calves and she rolled the arms of his long sleeved shirt until the cuffs were chunky and hit her wrists exactly. He raised an eyebrow appreciatively knowing that Sakura was just making do, but the vision of her sporting a modified version of his attire sent his mind back into a perilous orbit. 

“You’re not going to like your options in my plan,” she announced, oblivious to his wandering eyes. 

That statement was more than sobering and it instantly put Sasuke on guard. He frowned at her. 

She swallowed before saying, “You can stay here and focus on your—"

“Don’t finish that sentence,” he bristled as he interrupted her, getting really tired of hearing that phrase come out of her mouth—even though he had been the one say it a million times before this. He guessed that he deserved to hear it as often as he had said it. “I’m going with you.”

The absolute irony of his words hit them both immediately as he said it. 

The pink-haired kunoichi laughed and rubbed the back of her neck as she bluntly said, “Then your second option is to be very still while Katsuyu swallows you whole, and I release her summoning back to Shikkotsu Forest. It’s the only way for you to get there. Just like the rest of them.”

Sasuke’s eye visibly twitched. “And option three is?”

“You could walk, but it would take you weeks to catch up, not to mention how much work it would take to avoid the hazards of Shikkotsu Forest such as beasets, acid pools, and toxin seeping trees.”

Sasuke tried not to be miffed that she was suggesting it might be difficult for him to traverse Shikkotsu Forest, even though he had spent the last several years exploring similar dimensions, but he trusted that if she was saying that it was bad, then it probably very well was. “And you were planning on transporting these people back to Konoha, how exactly?”

“The same way I plan on getting you in and out.”

He groaned and she smiled innocently. 

They had to get these people back to Konoha somehow. Not to mention the dozens of Zenshin members Sasuke had tossed into a dimension two days ago, telling them to begin their walk northeast for about thirty kilometers where they would find a stash of supplies Sasuke kept there to sustain them while they waited for his return. He hadn’t bothered to explain that if they weren’t at the designated spot, where the dimension spaces crossed with the Leaf Village, they would eventually die in that dimension. At the time, he hadn’t quite cared what happened to them in there, and he selfishly hadn’t spared them another thought sense. Sasuke supposed that it was a tiny reason to speed things along so he didn’t have any unnecessary victims, even if they did deserve it, at the very least, for not being able to follow simple instructions. He just didn’t want to have to explain it to Sakura. 

And the next thing Sasuke knew, Katsuyu was being summoned and Sasuke was resigned to a slimy fate of the inching human-sized slug as it ascended his body. And that pink-haired woman of his had the absolute audacity to declare teasingly with a grin, “It would be easier if you were laying down,” but he only glared at her with his most severe displeasure, not having the time to respond or even scoff before the damn thing had consumed his face entirely. And as Sasuke was encapsulated in a bath of mucus, water, and salt—yes, it somehow got in his fucking mouth (probably when he lifted his lip to sneer at Sakura’s black-streaked cheeks and sadistic expression)—he realized with a newfound appreciation how endearing Aoda seemed in comparison. That was indeed one beautiful snake.  

And within moments, Sasuke found himself on his back, eyes projected toward a tree canopy so dense, the light struggled to penetrate below, creating a blue-green cast that darkened the forest around him. Travelling from the aphotic void of the underground sanctuary of seconds ago to the ear-piercing hum of the insect and amphibian infested jungle of a forest, left Sasuke feeling deafened by the abrasive cacophony. In a satirical form of irony, Sasuke suddenly wasn’t so opposed to the slug form currently detaching itself from his face and ears. Katsuyu, the source and embodiment of healing itself, even left the Uchiha feeling more restored than before which made Sasuke just the tiniest bit sorry for his initial disgust towards the creature. He bit back his urge to say something in condolence to the beast who had no initial indication of his discomfort to begin with, so Sasuke bit his lip, feeling all sorts of confused feelings in that moment. 

“Sasuke,” the slug spoke to him in her singsong of a voice, “Milady will be present shortly, appearing where my main body is two miles north of here. She asked me to deposit you here to help corral a man back to the central location. He has wandered to this location.” 

Sasuke instantly frowned at the slug’s words. He supposed some silent conversation had happened between Katsuyu and Sakura in the minute it took to transport him. That, or this was some clever way to distract Sasuke while she took advantage of the distance he still had to traverse. Hadn’t the kunoichi just told him that the Shikottsu Forest was a hazard maze? Well, she obviously had more faith in his abilities than she had let on when discussing option three, the annoying tease. 

Sasuke took in his surroundings more carefully, trees taller than the Hokage Monument towering to the sky as vines thicker than Aoda twisted up and around them. It made the forest where the Chunin Exams were held almost miniature in scale. Sasuke supposed it made sense that beasts of gargantuan size such as the three Sanin summons to have come from even larger habitats, environmental determinism and all that. 

A thick fog hovered above the ground, and Sasuke stood and leaned his head up to view the treetops above, breathing in as he activated his ocular jutsu, the tomoes spinning into both red and purple eyes. With his dual dojutsu, Sasuke surveyed the area more closely, peering beyond the fog blanketed trees in front of him, where the treacherous swamp and pools of bubbling black acid threatened to pull him into a fiery oblivion like the siren call of an eternally burning river in hell. Sakura had been right to warn him of this place; she had personally encountered Kaguya’s acid-sea dimension, after all. Acid didn’t stop burning until it could be scrubbed from the skin. Falling in a lagoon of it would be the absolute worst of deaths. Sasuke moved forward, toward the chakra network and watery outline of the soul he was supposedly sent to retrieve. Approximately fifty meters beyond the trees in his immediate vision, Sasuke analytically watched the flickering figure before him, their heartbeat speedily beating as they stood erect, still, and unmoving. 

Sighing, Sasuke moved toward the individual, slowly and silently, contemplating what exactly Sakura had expected him to do. It was indeed perilous, to navigate the small path that winded between acid reservoirs, and Sasuke’s footfalls were near silent as he proceeded with slow and deliberate caution. The physical form of Sasuke’s fixation materialized from the mist, a man who stood before one of the black, endless, gurgling acid ponds. The stranger’s back was turned to Sasuke and, unexpectedly, the man’s head tilted in Sasuke’s direction as he detected the Uchiha’s approaching presence. Sasuke raised an eyebrow privately at the man’s perceptiveness despite Sasuke’s silent footfalls. He had to be a ninja, then, without a shadow of a doubt, if he was able to sense him. 

Sasuke took in the man’s appearance more carefully: tall, dark hair, a tailor-fitted suit as if he were some sort of mobster instead of a ninja. Of course, that suit now displayed various tears and holes, the wearable evidence of days in the Shikkotsu Forest. Was he missing a shoe? 

“Reaper?” came his voice next, a resigned, melancholic breathlessness as if he were talking to himself rather than acknowledging Sasuke’s presence. 

Sasuke was getting that sort of association a lot lately. If the world continued to sense him as such before they even knew him, was he honestly doing a well enough job redeeming himself? He shook the thought away.

“But I haven’t done it yet,” the man whispered again, just before toeing the pool of acid with is remaining shoed foot. He screamed instantly when the acid ate through the leather of his sole and found his toes. He bent, ripping the melting shoe away. Well, that explained the first shoe, then, Sasuke assessed. And then Sasuke’s gut was sinking as the man straightened his back, finding the resolve to do it again, and the entire situation started to make a lot more sense to him. Just exactly why Sakura had sent Sasuke to retrieve him. The slug had known what the man was planning, what was about to happen.

The man was going to jump—all in, at once. He bent, sucking in a loud breath as if he were about to dive. And then propelled his body into the air. And Sasuke’s Rinnegan was activating before he could even register his choices. And within seconds, Sasuke’s body had replaced the man with himself feet above the black abyss of acid, and now he was on the planned trajectory of the consequences of this man’s suicide attempt. And before Sasuke could even question whether or not a ninja might be able to direct chakra and walk along the surface of acid like they did water, the Eternal Mangekyo of his right eye was spinning, and the skeletal arms of his imperfect Susanoo shot out and braced their hands on either side of the acid pond. Sasuke sneered in the man’s direction after he righted himself and stepped down onto the bank and stalked back toward the man who now lay sprawled where Sasuke had just been standing seconds before. 

The giant fist of the Susanoo shot outward, collecting the man into its glowing grip, the blazing yellow eyes of the Susanoo’s face inches from his own. 

The man cried out in surprise, probably believing that he had indeed fallen into the realm that came after death. But his next words gave Sasuke pause. “Who’s there?” Despite the man’s initial fear, Sasuke suddenly realized that he wasn’t seeing the Susanoo at all. He felt the grip that held him, the crushing digits of the chakra-controlled entity, but he cast his wide eyes about as if not sure where he should be looking. 

And then Sasuke saw it. The dirty bandage-wrapping that had fallen from his eyes at some point to rest around his neck like a prophetic noose. Because the man had been correct. It was the Reaper that had found him. Sasuke was going to finish the man himself because recognition hit the Uchiha in full force. He had seen this ninja before in the memories of that girl at the brothel. Before him was the ninja who had pulled Sakura into his lap and touched her black-dyed hair as if she had been his to do so. Rugo. That was the name Sakura had relayed to him over a campfire in a cave, and Sasuke had let the name sear a hole into his memory the same way the flames of that fire burned into his vision. He would never forget it. 

“You were right the first time,” Sasuke smirked, gladly becoming that deathbringer of his fear, the darkness in the Uchiha like an incurable itch that he sometimes craved to scratch. Even though it was when he indulged himself, that he got into trouble, Sasuke still couldn’t resist the urge when it came to defending his friends.

“Uchiha,” Rugo breathed, more solid but still another fearful recognition coming from his lips. “You might as well be.” He grunted as the Susanoo’s fingers tightened as if they were Sasuke’s own.

“That’s right.” Sasuke confirmed, that characteristic drawl he used with his enemies coming back full force out of Sakura’s company. “You should have been faster. There’s nothing that burns like the black flames of Amaterasu. It doesn’t stop burning until there’s nothing left. The acid would have been a mercy in comparison.” 

A steely calm came over Rugo’s face and Sasuke didn’t quite care for it. “I don’t know where she is. I had found her. Begged her to help me. And the next thing I knew, I woke up in this godforsaken place with those bastards for company.”

Sasuke registered his words with that signature “hn,” of acknowledgement, but nothing more. But internally, Sasuke was at war with himself. This was one of the men who had touched her. Sakura, his Team 7 teammate. And now she was more than that; she was his. This bastard had touched his fucking wife. The scene of that girls’ memories played over and over in his mind like his own personal hell of Sharingan genjutsu. But all he could hear was her. Those convicting words of her letter playing in his skull, still tucked against his chest as if it could be the second heart to operate and stand in place for his blackened one: ‘remember who you are.’ Damn, he really wasn’t trying hard enough honor his promise to himself, was he? Quite frankly, Sasuke didn’t want to. But Sakura’s order through the memory of mud and rain pounded in his ears as she yelled: “This isn’t who you are anymore! You can be merciful!” A declaration of weight whispered in a cave between bent heads came to him next: “You’re not a monster. Naruto and I will not let you be a monster.” 

Sakura had sent him here. Knowing everything she did, the woman he loved still believed it was going to be Sasuke who would be the best between the two of them to retrieve this man. And he was suddenly very annoyed with her unwavering faith in him because it suddenly made Sasuke feel like he had to be worth that faith. Damn slug should have just left the issue—let the man do as he pleased. 

Aw, fuck. Fine. 

Sasuke sneered as he dropped the man to the ground before him, his Susanoo of chakra retreating back into the essence of him. The man scrambled to his knees and Sasuke turned and began to walk off before he changed his mind. “You’re very fortunate that the woman you speak of spared your life,” he drawled. “It’s the only reason I do now.” And after the wide eyed, unseeing man blanched, Sasuke added: “But by all means—don’t let me get in the way of what you were doing.”

The man nodded once, that serious, resolved expression returning to his ashen face. 

But even as Sasuke put distance between them, his feet slowed when Rugo’s voice carried after him. “You’ve found her then. It’s the only way you would know how we got here. That’s good.”

Just keep walking, Sasuke told himself. Let the man do as he wished. He would tell Sakura that he hadn’t killed the man, at the very least. And what else could she honestly have expected of him? What was he supposed to do? Talk to him? She was delusional. Grab the stranger by the collar of his suit and corral him back toward her, the last person he wanted within a mile of her? Hmph. Unlikely.

“It must be wonderful,” Rugo exclaimed as he found a tree to lean back against. “To look at her. To watch that mouth and that hair.” The man let out a small groan. “I can only imagine it. She was the last woman I ever laid my eyes on. Not a bad view, for the last thing to see.”

Sasuke closed his eyes as the manipulative declaration designed to ensnare his rage hit his ears. And his feet came to an abrupt halt. He counted to three before he spoke next. “You really do have a death wish, don’t you?” Fucking bastard, testing his fragile resolve.

“You’re a fool to let her do what she did,” Rugo announced, and Sasuke wondered where all of a sudden, he found the fucking nerve. Probably was trying to get the Uchiha to run him through with his katana or burn him alive with unrelenting flame. “Now, Mozai will do more than just kill her. He’s vengeful, and he will make her pay for what she’s done personally. She’s done nothing but paint a bigger target on her back. And you let her.” 

Sasuke had never been so tempted to laugh. As if he could stop that woman from doing anything she set her mind to. The two of them were alike in that way. “And if he ever dares to come close enough, he’ll see her back for himself and learn exactly who she is now and who he dares to fuck with.” Because Sakura Haruno was an Uchiha now, and he would soon show the world that. She would wear his crest. Their symbol. He had already decided it, but it was without question now. He would beg her if he had to.

Rugo laughed, and Sasuke turned to see him bend forward over his knees. “It won’t be enough.”

“Then tell me how to find him,” Sasuke drawled again. “I’ll kill him right after I’m done killing you.”

“I don’t know where he is. He could be anywhere. He is never in the same place, always moving.”

“There’s not a corner in this world where I have not been,” Sasuke told him. “I’ll find him soon.”

“That’s a relief. Good riddance.”

And Sasuke was a little curious to know why this man was even with them if he expressed hate for the leader. Rugo had said something about begging Sakura to help him? And Sasuke eyes flickered back toward the man’s bandages as Sasuke made the connections. He was blind. He was able to recognize Sakura in a brothel despite being so. She had been the last person he had seen before blindness… The war, then, Sasuke concluded. Rugo had been injured in the shinobi war.

“Is that why you’re set on killing yourself then?” Sasuke asked after a second of indecision. He was in the limbo of not caring, and being mildly curious simply because Sakura had been involved in some way. His interest was more along the lines of knowing one’s enemy and their motivations. “Because you lost your vision?” Sasuke scoffed cruelly. 

“You couldn’t possibly understand, so don’t pretend that you do,” came Rugo’s angry accusation. “You’ve been blessed with the visual prowess of gods. You get to see the people you love.”

Sasuke sighed. He really wanted to just walk away, but for some reason, Sakura was always involving him with people who needed some sort of reality check. Sasuke wasn’t Naruto, but damn if he didn’t always end up in situations where he knew exactly what that idiot might say to these men. Something about joining him on his journey to bring peace to the shinobi world as if he were some sort of Saint to be followed. And hell, it had worked on Sasuke and many more, hadn’t it? Sasuke sighed in decided annoyance. Sasuke wasn’t inherently good like Naruto, but he had learned a few things over the last few years to draw upon for this speech. Especially in the last few months. 

“I would give it up in an instant,” Sasuke told the blind man. “These eyes are a curse. They come with power and responsibility. If I could trade them for the life of peace that you could have, I would switch places with you this very second. Even with my vison intact, I soon won’t see get to see the people I care about most for a very long time. But if I were you, I could still hear her. Touch her. Not a second spent, would I miss these eyes and the mission that comes with them.”

And how true it all was. Because Sasuke had been literally blinded for a year after the war as he sat in a prison cell in Konoha with his eyes sealed and covered. But as he looked back on it now, it had been such a peaceful year, knowing that it was all out of his control and it was alright to do absolutely nothing for a year. And then she came. Every day, without fail. Just as his friend had attended his bedside in their youth, Sakura had come to visit him. She was only allowed forty minutes to check on him as a physician, and they didn’t talk much at first. But damn, if it didn’t quickly become the forty minutes of every day that he looked forward to. Now, he realized it might have been the only thing to carry his sanity out of that endless darkness. 

If he were blind like Rugo, then maybe he could be present. His lack of power would make it so. The job of hunting down the Otsusuki race would fall onto someone else’s shoulders. And in exchange, maybe Sasuke could be there every day. Wake beside her every day. Touch, taste, fuck, and hear her tell him that she loved him over and over. Have children with her. Hold their tiny bodies against his chest as he whispered his own declaration of love to them. Every. Day. Even if he had to tolerate Naruto’s nonsense daily for the rest of his life, it would be worth it. He would be the better man, and leave the fallen Sasuke behind.

“Get up. Come to the Leaf. Live a simple life. And if you must be ambitious, fight with us to create a world of peace for the next generation.”

And as Rugo’s sightless eyes filled with tears, Sasuke felt a little more like Naruto. Because he meant those words. 

.

.

.

“Took you long enough,” one of the men spat in Sakura’s direction as she stared down the twenty-seven individuals who were now looking back at her as an enemy; there was a narrowing of the eyes, a hesitation in their shoulders, and the erratic exchanging of nervous looks, that was not displayed back at the brothel when they merely thought she was an instrument of sex. In the span of a few days, she had taught them the mistake of underestimating someone. 

They were gathered around a campfire, cooking some poor scrap of a thing they had managed to catch in these woods. They should consider themselves lucky that they hadn’t become the meals themselves here. If not for Katsuyu’s looming gargantuan presence nearby that warded away other predators, they undoubtedly would be. Many of them appeared haggard around the firelight and the dense tree coverage combined with the dimming sky already gave the appearance of night. Owls of monstrous size hooted in the distance, already eager for the night and the prey it would bring them. The members of Zenshin, in contrast, did not seem as keen. They sat huddled together as if in perpetual watch for whatever beast might pay them a visit tonight. 

“I’m sorry,” Sakura smiled brightly despite their stabbing glares, “afraid of the dark, are we?”

There were murmurs of varying degrees of bitterness and disbelief. There were even some choice words Sakura ignored completely as she moved into their company. They were like wolves, snapping and growling as she got near them, and like wolves, a few of them decided to charge her. 

The first man, the loudmouth of the group whose person Sakura had originally aimed for first back at the brothel, and then used his identity to fool his friends later, boldly sprinted in her direction. With murderous, bloodshot eyes and a gaping mouth, he brought his open hands together at the thumbs as if he meant to choke her, but Sakura quickly remedied his mistake. Her foot shot out, her monstrous strength sending him hurtling into the gigantic tree in their immediate proximity. There was a crunch and a splintering of wood, and Sakura felt more sorry for the tree than the man who would walk away fine after she healed him. Sakura couldn’t say the same for the poor, hollowed out tree. She winced, already prepared to apologize to Katsuyu for the violation of the sacred forest. 

“Araki!” came a feminine screech as the man slid down from the tree like one of Katsuyu’s many slug divisions, and he crashed to the forest floor with a groan. Recognizing the voice who had called out to him, Sakura quickly identified the white-haired, Boil Release Kekkei Genkai ninja whom Sakura had battled with days ago. She stood from where she was sitting among the men next to the fire and she pointed an accusing finger at Sakura as she screamed, “You bitch! That wasn’t necessary!”

“Hello, again,” Sakura waved and the girl growled as she fisted both her palms with radiating fury. “Mind if I sit?” Sakura asked unbothered, before coming as close as she dared to the group, a body’s space away from the fire and sat crisscross as a large scroll materialized with a poof in the palm of her hand. She unfurled it, a white, encrypted document that served as a dividing line between them. 

Staring back at their blank, confused expressions, Sakura got straight to the point. “This is the warrant for your individual arrests by both Sunagakure and Konoha as declared, signed, and sealed by the Fifth Kazekage and Seventh Hokage respectively. Each of you will receive a minimum of ten years in either correctional facility on the account of trespassing, kidnapping, attempted murder, or at the very least, illegal engagement in sexual acts for compensation.”

As she spoke, the outrage grew loud again but it fell on deaf ears as Sakura continued to read the document. 

“However,” Sakura added with the snapping of the scroll as it tightly retracted back into form. “You will be given the choice of where to serve your sentences.” 

The outrage quickly grew to silence as Sakura modified the original, documented warrant with her own condition.  

“You can serve your various sentences back in Sunagakure, where the Kazekage eagerly awaits you. While serving your sentence, you will become potential new test subjects for the Kazekage’s new Mental Health clinic, and simultaneously perform excavation indentures to further create the sand dungeons you’ll be staying in.”

Their faces paled, so Sakura informed them of their second choice. “Or, you may return with me to Konoha where you’ll quickly be enrolled in the Mental Health clinic already established, perform community service, and also qualify for parole based on good behavior and reform. Those are your two options.”

And of course, there was always that wise guy who had to add: “And what makes you think we will go willingly to either?”

“You see,” Sakura smiled again, leaning back on her arms as if she were content to rest there. As if it were just another night around the warm campfire for Team 7 as they traveled for a mission. She gestured to the buzzing forest around them that grew darker by the minute.  “Coming with me will be the only way to leave this place. You’re more than welcome to stay here and try to find your way out on your own. But I wouldn’t recommend it.”

They carefully considered her words after that. They exchanged petrified glances and shook their heads at one another. 

“Perfect,” Sakura clapped her hands together in artificial delight, retrieving a separate scroll from thin air and an ink brush followed after, plopping onto the ground as it was summoned. Sakura unfurled this one too, a red blank document that she instantly divided down the center with the following two headings: “Konoha” and “Sunagakure.” She glanced over their shoulders to regard Araki first, who still lay unconscious in front of the tree he had been hurled ungracefully in to. She wrote down his name first and said to herself: “Araki, Konoha.”

“You can’t choose for him!” seethed the white-haired female who had returned to a seated position at some point, but still stared into Sakura’s person as if she could boil her alive just from staring at her. Sakura made a mental note to stay out of touching distance from her. This girl didn’t seem the type to retain information from the lessons others taught her. 

“I can,” Sakura responded, “because he is going to need medical attention and will need to come with me in order to do that. Should I mark him under ‘Sunagakure,’ instead? If he lives from that, you can explain why you made that decision for him.”

The girl didn’t respond and so Sakura left it. “Ok then. Who else chooses Konoha?” There was a hesitation at first as no hands were raised. But a motion in the back caught Sakura’s attention. Not looking at her directly, a man sporting a familiar red, hooded cloak raised one of his mutilated and scarred hands. Sakura winced as she recognized the man who had attacked her, groping at her body before Sasuke ignited him with black flames.“Remember that I spared your life,” she had said to this man after interfering in Sasuke’s torture-attempt, and Sakura didn’t know if he raised his hand now because he felt indebted to her, needed further medical attention for his hands, or something else. But it didn’t matter, because like the first rain drop before the torrent of many, his hand was followed by the others.  

Sakura placed a fake frown on her lips despite her internal relief. “Not a single person wants to attend Sunagakure? Gaara is going to be so disappointed.” And Kakashi, she thought to herself, when he realized he was about to gain twenty-seven new fugitives to care for. She could already imagine the Hokage’s slack jawed surprise when she showed up with them tomorrow. 

Not a single voice responded, and Sakura grinned as she stood and dusted the forest floor from Sasuke’s oversized slacks. “Well, that’s settled then. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“Morning?!” someone called out. “Why not now, before the sun sets?”

Sakura looked around as if she had only just noticed it was growing dark. The crickets of nighttime began to chirp, large amphibians exchanged mating calls, and some growling beast began its nightly prowl with a roar in the distance. “I think one more night will be good for you.” Just to remind them of their choices. 

And with impeccable timing, something he always managed to seem to have, Sasuke emerged from the woods behind her. His red and purple eyes seemed to glow from the shadows as if he, too, were some nocturnal beast of the Shikkotsu Forest come to pay them a visit. He stalked forward like a panther until he stood beside her. Those who might have had anything to say grew wide-eyed and gasped at his arrival, not coming to recognize him even as he stared each of them down. His gaze flickered to the red-cloaked individual in the back whose hands he had decimated, and his eyes seemed to rest on him longer than the others.  

“Did you find him?” Sakura asked the Uchiha and his eyes reluctantly slid to hers in the darkening woods. He dipped his chin in a silent nod before gesturing behind him with a tilt of his head. Slowly, as if moving at a much slower space, Rugo stepped out of the trees behind them. At his appearance, the voices around the campfire picked up once again and they mocked, belittling the man who had made promises of walking into the woods and not returning. One man even went as far as saying, “Should have been a man and gone through with it, Rugo. Mozai will kill you anyway—” but he stopped midsentence and began screaming. The rest of the group panicked, scattering like cockroaches away from the individual, trying to identify the source of his torment. 

But as Sakura glance to her left and saw Sasuke’s Sharingan, she knew instantly that it was him, taking it upon himself to silence the man with a torturous genjutsu. After the screaming continued for longer than what made her comfortable, Sakura sent a pointed look to her teammate. The shrieking died after that, but Sasuke added for good measure, “Be quiet. All of you—before you piss me off.” 

Rugo didn’t stop until he came within a few feet of Sakura, and even though she knew he couldn’t see her, he stopped and stared at her as if he could, as if by sheer will alone, he might be able to. Sakura held his unseeing eyes as she chewed her lip in thought about how she might be able to help him through this more, before he silently turned and headed back toward the fire, sitting alone and far away from the group. He looked morose, haggard, and was he barefoot? 

“I’ll be right back,” she informed Sasuke who turned to follow her anyway. She thought of asking him to stay behind and keep watch over the group, but she thought better of it. She had informed them of their options. They were free to make a run for it…if they dared to. 

“Where are you going?” came Sasuke’s peeved, clipped question once they were out of earshot. She rolled her eyes even as her medical mind whirred and calculated. Despite the gloom and perilous nature of The Shikkotsu Forest, it was also a goldmine, a plethora of hard-to-obtain plants and fauna that made Sakura’s eyes sparkle in delight. Now, some of these things were rather tricky to get your hands on, but it made them all the more tempting. 

H. Perforatum, for example, a yellow-flowering shrub that grew tangled at the base of large trees, was highly sought after for its medical properties; Shikkotsu Forest supposedly had it in abundance but no one dared to face the Shikkotsu Forest just to get their hands on it. Unfortunately, the trees here also often oozed toxic, milky-white sap that blistered the skin on contact, which would make the extraction complicated. But Sakura didn’t tell Sasuke that as she circled several bushes like one of Kakashi’s scent hounds on the trail. 

“I’m looking for a plant known to help with depression. I’d like to offer it to Rugo and see if it can be help to him.”

She didn’t see Sasuke’s blink of surprise, but she felt it in his silence. She knew he didn’t care enough about it to ask further. At least until she snatched her hand away from a tree just in time before a sizzling dewdrop of white fluid fell from a branch, narrowly missing her fingers. Sasuke frowned at her and she smiled innocently while moving on to the next tree. 

“Leave it,” Sasuke said as he peered up at the trees with a newfound trepidation. “He’s fine now.”

But Sakura discounted his words, plowing on until she saw it: the blue-green leaves and the bright starshaped, yellow flower clusters that Sakura had been desperate to get her hands on since she formulated the plan of coming here. It would be revolutionary in its use with her Mental Health clinics. And as she bent to pluck them greedily, she glanced above her head to watch for falling sap, but was surprised to find the purple hand of Sasuke’s Susanoo stretched above her. He stood cross-armed and aloof beside her, acting as if he had little regard for her tasks, but Sakura smiled to herself as the arm of charka reached out from his body with the intent to protect her from searing drops overhead. Seeing him do so reminded her of simpler times during their Genin youth, when Sasuke’s attitude was abrasive, but his actions always spoke his true feelings. 

“Was it his permanent vision loss that made him want to do it?” Sakura inquired as she loaded the pockets of Sasuke’s oversized pants with yellow flora. Katsuyu told me he was in danger of himself, and I couldn’t think of why else.” There were millions of Katsuyu divisions spread through the forest, keeping tabs on all of Sakura’s charges, and the slug who had come to transport Sasuke to Shikkotsu had told her of the situation after Sasuke had been swallowed.

“Hn.” Sasuke acknowledged as she shifted beside her and she nodded, understanding that Sasuke might not give any more details than that. Sakura wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from sending Sasuke, but she had hoped he would be able to handle the situation better than she might even though it was her expertise. Maybe it was an instinct, knowing that Sasuke might be the right person to talk to someone who had lost his vision. He had been able to convince him somehow, and for that she was grateful. 

Sasuke surprised her again when he spoke lowly. “I’ve told him to come to the Leaf and he agreed.” 

“They’ll all be coming to the Leaf,” she informed him, popping one of the yellow flowers into her mouth, tucking it into the inside of her cheek to ruminate. It was both simultaneously bitter and pleasant; sort of like drinking Black Tea. It would be better brewed like a tea, but chewing would have to suffice for now.  

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her words. “And we’ll be taking the slug express back to Konoha, how, again, if you’re here? You left that part out.”

“Lady Tsunade is waiting for the signal. She’ll perform the summoning that will take us all back to the Leaf.”

“Hmph,” he smirked, not being able to hide his regard for her ability to thoroughly plan something out to this extent in the span of twenty-four hours. 

Sakura may have been a medic, but she was a ninja first. She wasn’t a mastermind strategist like Shikamaru, but she could hold a candle to many team leaders of her generation. A small pang of regret filled Sakura’s chest at the thought. She would never have a rookie team of her own to lead because she had dedicated her life to medical science. 

Knowing that she wouldn’t get the chance once they returned to the watching eyes and glaring scowls of their group, Sakura daringly stood up on her tiptoes and kissed an unexpecting Sasuke chastely on the cheek, before turning to return to the campsite. At his reddening expression and clearing of his throat, Sakura smiled innocently, those hands coming to rest behind her back as she leaned forward and tilted her head, a habit leftover from girlish youth. And maybe she was interpreting things, but the Susanoo didn’t disappear from above her head until they were well away from the deadly trees, and to Sakura, it was all she needed in return to know that Sasuke was expressing his own form of love back. 

.

.

.

In the dead of night, when the detainees had all passed into sleep, Sasuke kept his eyes trained on them, making sure that their heartbeats and cadence of breath signified genuine sleep. To his surprise, it seemed no one had any indication or plans to run. Not that he cared in particular, but it still didn’t ease his uncertainty. He wondered what Sakura had offered them to get them to go along with their sentencing. Regardless of their snoring and dream-filled twitching—which could easily alert prey to their presence; he didn’t know how they could even sleep knowing where they were—Sasuke didn’t trust them. Despite Sakura’s assurances, Sasuke still watched them as if he were the predator of their fears. Maybe that’s why they slept so soundly, knowing Sasuke was there to keep watch over them. Maybe it gave them some sort of security knowing that the man who protected the ambitions of their target-turned-jailer was there to ensure everything went according to the kunoichi’s design. Maybe, subconsciously, they knew Sakura cared about what happened to them at the very least, and as a result Sasuke was forced to as well. Perhaps it was the same factor that made them all choose to return to Konoha with her. 

From a non-poisonous, outstretched branch, Sasuke watched two interactions initiated by Sakura on the ground below him. First, and expected, Sakura sought out Rugo, offering him the yellow flowers, explaining in whispers how to get the most out of the medicinal properties it offered. Saskue narrowed his eyes at the man, whom Sasuke still didn’t quite care for, as Sakura crouched before him and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. He couldn’t hear her or read her lips with his Sharingan because her back was turned to him, but Sasuke saw that Rugo only nodded in response to everything she said and asked and kept his respectable distance. Smart choice on his part with Sasuke present. 

Her second stop in the crowd below, however, had Sasuke leaning forward, his right eye glowing red as he made out the conversation below.

“Toka,” Sakura was saying, cross-armed as she stared down at the man who was reclined against a tree toward the back of the crowd. Sasuke recalled the stranger’s identity when she said his name, recalling the visions of the man clinging to the girl Sasuke had stolen the vision from. “We need to discuss something.”

“I don’t plan on discussing anything with you,” he sneered back at her, rolling his head back to the side to pretend to sleep against the tree roots. 

“Tabi is pregnant,” Sakura deadpanned, and Sasuke could tell by her posture that she had adopted the professional voice of the physician. Toka’s eyes shot open with disbelief and his mouth went slack. Even Sasuke’s stomach dropped a bit at the abrasive announcement, suddenly feeling more empathy about the situation considering the context of his and Sakura’s conversation last night. No man would want to learn of his partner’s pregnancy right before facing a prison sentence. 

When Toka recovered from the shock, he glanced nervously around at the others to see if anyone might have heard them. Sasuke could barely discern the furious whisper on Toka’s lips in response: “Why the fuck would you say that out loud in front of these people? You don’t understand the gravity of what you could have just done.”

“Does this mean you care about them, then? About Tabi and the baby?” she probed, unphased by his alarm. Sasuke wondered if Sakura did exactly what had triggered him just to assess his reaction. 

“Why does it matter to you?” he asked angrily in a murmur, still trying to keep his words private between them. 

Sakura turned her head in Sasuke’s direction unconsciously, and Sasuke’s eyes met hers, and she instantly looked away having realized what she’d done. And Sasuke frowned, because suddenly the conversation between his pink-haired teammate and the man sitting before her took on a new and uncomfortable context. Sasuke suddenly felt as if this were a personal topic for Sakura and she was asking from experience. As if she was hoping Toka would say yes, that he didcare. That he would do anything to go back to the mother of his child and make their family whole. To stop his foolish conquests and ambitions and be the man they needed him to be. Sasuke felt himself go rigid as he waited for Sakura’s response.

“Because Tabi told me you were different. I’m hoping that’s true.”

“I would only bring them heartbreak and pain. They’re better off without me.” Sasuke winced as the words that could have been his own landed directly as a blow to his chest. 

And then Sasuke knew. He knew Toka was not the only intended recipient for her next words. “They’ll be in more pain to know you had a choice and your choice wasn’t them. All because you thought you knew best. Because you thought you didn’t deserve them.” It may have been Toka’s first time hearing such words, but for Sasuke, it was another echoing reminder. 

He only stared at Sakura’s feet, and so she said, “I thought it might change your decision to come to Konoha. I’ve said that I won’t stop anyone from running if they want to risk the forest. Someone with a family waiting for them on the other side might just be brave enough to make it.” There was no response as she walked away from him, surveying the group one last time before making her way to the teammate she knew observed her every step from above. 

And when she came to settle in the treetop beside him, Sasuke couldn’t meet her eye. For the longest minute of his life, he held his breath as her gaze settled on to him. Slowly and with fearful anticipation, Sasuke glanced at her to find that Sakura had merely propped her back against the trunk where the branch met the tree and had closed her eyes to sleep. Sasuke wanted to reach for her, tug her against his chest as he had last night in a different environment of darkness. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry. To tell her that she was his choice because he was hers. But a family…it couldn’t be his choice right now. Not when he knew what was coming for them. Sasuke’s choice would always have to be his mission, but he prayed to whatever sentient being looked down on them, that he would find the Otsusuki race, eradicate them quickly, and get back to his life with his wife. 

Sasuke stared openly at her as she slept and he knew her decision to do so was to not force an uncomfortable conversation on him in the moment. Not after the trauma of the day. Not after witnessing a man attempt suicide and the conversation that followed, or from overhearing her discussion about families and choices with Toka. The day had been full of discomfort, and Sakura understood the Uchiha enough to know that now was not the time to have another. It was an indescribable mercy. And why she made a damn good doctor and rising therapist. 

And with this realization, Sasuke wondered when, in Sakura’s eyes, he had become like a patient with his own mental health needs as well. When did she start seeing him as someone who needed to heal instead of someone she needed to heal from? 

And Sasuke thought back to pools of acid and black flames that never stopped burning. And he thought of Sakura, the star in the sky of his darkness who still eternally burned for him despite everything. And Sasuke wondered when exactly he had started to answer that burn with a fire of his own. Even if he were galaxies away, he would burn eternally for her, like the black flames of Amaterasu. 

[des-no9]

Des' Masterpost

Hey I'm Des <3 Old. Writer, artist, sometimes cosplayer.

I write a lot about githyanki, their lore, culture and language from their beginnings, to now. I focus a lot on their 5e and BG3 verses, whilst expanding it into my own verses and HCs.

I mostly centre my writing around Kith'rak Voss and Prince Orpheus, and their relationship with my Tav, Vanquish.

Fics

Writing Tag // My AO3

Tales of the Forgotten Prince, his Closest Blade and The Breaker of Chains series - fics following the relationships of Kith'rak Voss, Prince Orpheus and Vanquish from the beginnings of the githyanki, to the events of BG3 and beyond.

Vanquish's diary during BG3

Vanquish - deliberate and deep Vanquish's journal entries following significant and poignant moments of her journey in BG3 connected to Kith'rak Voss, Orpheus and Lae'zel.

My /reader fics

Orpheus/Reader - godless grace You're Prince Orpheus' saviour. And tonight he's going to thank you. Kith'rak Voss/Reader - class in session You're a new sarth under Kith'rak Voss. Fresh blood. And he's going to teach you some respect.

Cyberpunk AU setting and premise

Interactive novels

I've written a short interactive novel where you can meet Prince Orpheus for the first time as three different githyanki.

Play here - who are you, to the Prince?

WIPs

I'm also currently writing another two interactive novels! One where you can fuck the one the only Kith'rak Voss in three unique scenarios, and the other which will be finished first where you can interview Vanquish, Voss and Prince Orpheus.

Any updates and chatter about it here will be posted in the tag #interactive voss and #interactive novel

Art Tag

My short comics: The Space Between - about Orpheus/Voss and grief HO - about Orpheus' tattoos Beast - about being in love with danger Second Hand Love - about sharing love and falling in love because of who we love Sha Va Zai - about the meaning of love to Kith'rak Voss Var'cha - about Kith'rak Voss finding comfort in an unexpected place

Githyanki Worldbuilding and Language -My dictionary of created gith/tir words -HCs on the githyanki language drift and words of affection -On Gith the Liberator, Vlaakith I, and Zerthimon -My re-design and explanation of most of Orpheus' tattoos -My githyanki gential HCs -Githyanki and their culture of dance -Thoughts on young Voss -The meaning of istik and mla'ghir to Vanquish, Voss, Orpheus -Orpheus and language adjustment

About Vanquish

OTP: Adilshar (Vanquish/Voss) Vanquish and Voss in 5 mins (X)

OT3: The Prince, The Blade, and The Breaker of Chains (Vanquish/Voss/Orpheus)

My Kith'rak Voss cosplay My Vanquish cosplay My tir'su and Van/Voss tattoo

Where else you can find me:

Twitter Bluesky Tip me on Ko-Fi My Patreon Tip Jar My Strawpage

[dark-ice-god]

A KariBaku prompt: Listen To Me

Because I can dawg(that was supposed to be longer judging by how I imagined it)

They have different quirks here(bc I can dawg)

@itzairiii heard karibaku is your otp, that one's for you

-----------------------------------

Bakugou Katsuki — it's about uncontrollable destruction. About ground shaking, lightning striking through the air, blades slicing through reality and matter, destroying everything on their way. About fresh, warm blood spilling on the ground, making it slippery and sticky, about eyes matching the colour of the liquid as it gets on his face, soaking once white hair into red. It's about scars that don't heal, leaving the eternal marks on his body which are hidden under the bandages.

Bakugou Katsuki — it's about betrayal. About invisible knife that was just sharpened stabbing under the ribs, piercing the young heart again and again, about despair, about losing something you can't replace. About tons of forgotten wishes and dreams turning into ashes and disappearing in the silent abyss of nothing.

Bakugou Katsuki — it's about peace that is so much needed but never comes. It's about suffering that doesn't end. It's about hope that he himself threw away, knowing he can never take it back.

All his life is a search for a spot to rest the tired mind on.

He was blessed cursed the day he stared into the rainy sky with glassy eyes, holding his side and feeling the blood leaving his body, moveless, emotionless, almost breathless, with head empty with only the buzzling sound in his ears telling him about Death coming.

It didn't take him that day. It touched his shoulder, placed its hand on the wound, held it here and left, leaving Katsuki alone again.

It was always following him. Wrapping its arms around his head, messing with his thoughts, taking his sanity away day by day as he distanced himself from his classmates.

One one day he broke and fled. That was when the voices had finally shut up.

He was left alone again, but now he had only himself. His body. His mind.

"I heard thousands of stories about you, but never hoped to meet you."

This person who was holding an umbrella was unnaturally calm after seeing him take out the entire hero group in a matter of seconds. Their hair was matching his eyes: dark and deep.

Calming.

"You need an umbrella?"

He remained silent, the sword's blade in his hand still pulsating with dim dark purple light. They only chuckled and smiled softly.

"I'll take that as no, judging by your gaze."

They took a step forward — the blade flew up, pressing against the person's neck. They raised their hand, trying to get the sword down, but he remained still, increasing the pressure.

"Alright, I got you. Sorry."

He slowly lowered the blade to their torso, watching them step back where they were. They were, indeed, strange. All calm and smiley against the villain who was wanted dead or alive in the entire world.

"Please, listen to me."

And he suddenly felt nothing but calmness fill his mind and body as he dropped on his knee, his head hung low and the arm with a sword touching the ground. The rain stopped — they walked closer, the umbrella covering both the person and him. He saw them kneel in front of him, pushing the hair from his face aside so gently that it sent goosebumps down his spine, their fingers travelling to his neck and on his shoulder, caressing it. Then they spoke in a quiet, soothing voice:

"I have no intention to hurt you and do anything bad. How can I call you? What's your name?"

He shook his head, backing up a bit — just so little that they wouldn't have to reach out their hand for him.

"I don't remember it."

"Well, if so..." they looked to the sword he was holding, "may I call you Blade?"

Blade?..

...Sounds not so bad.

New-named Blade nodded as the person finally revealed theirselves too:

"My name is Kariage, but you can refer to me as Kafka, if you like that more."

Blade nodded again. The sword dissipated, and Kafka took his hand, rubbing the palm softly. The umbrella seemed to levitate on its own as he carefully pulled Blade closer, ruffling the once spiky, now only a little bit curly, hair and rubbling soothing circles into his shoulders.

And for the first time in years Blade let his guard down, closing his eyes and allowing Kafka to pull him into a warm, safe hug, relaxing against another man's shoulder. For a moment he waited for Kafka to push him away and wake up in the middle of the rain, but that didn't seem to end. Kariage's palms were taking the pain away and-

— giving him the peace he was looking for.

Yes, maybe he could become addicted, but if that is the price for that — yes, he would sacrifice himself for it.

And if Death wants to mess his life up again — well, Blade will see it try.

[xserpx]

Glokta for the character meme! He was my favorite from The Blade Itself!

How I feel about this character?

He's one of the most iconic characters I've ever read, I think. The way Glokta instantly captures people's hearts is like 90% of why Abercrombie ever became popular in the first place IMO, as good as most of his characters are (like, Glokta isn't in my top 10 First Law characters overall, but he should be the series mascot). The bit where he falls down the stairs in that first chapter is so, so good. I also think the way Steven Pacey voices him in the audiobook, with the lisp in his dialogue and no lisp in his internal monologue, is top-tier narration that adds to the experience. Not only is it a constant reminder of Glokta's disability, but, snake-like, it also makes his dialogue even more sinister.

I also like how Glokta is literally just an employee, shepherded here and there by his annoying boss as you do. In The Blade Itself, he's solving a murder mystery, in Before They Are Hanged he's sent to another city to defend it from a siege, and in Last Argument of Kings he's rigging an election purely for Sult's benefit. That sense of people being tiny cogs in a much, much bigger machine that they have no control over is one of the best things about the trilogy, and the way it gradually zooms out to show more and more of the canvas is spectacular. You realise that even Sult is just a cog himself. And Glokta, for all his disadvantages, still manages to claw his way up the ladder.

All the people I ship romantically with this character?

Ardee and young!Rews. I absolutely love the mutual respect Ardee & Glokta have, and I love the unrequited admiration Rews clearly has for pre-tortured!Glokta in the Sharp Ends prequel. He's so sycophantic it's delightful. There's also a lot of juicy history with Pike/Glokta that could be interesting to reminisce about/explore the implications of. Carlot dan Eider/Glokta is also a great one and would heal him, especially in the BTAH-era, but god Carlot/everyone is my OTP, she's just so incredible and such a survivor she would and should fuck everyone.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Severard and Glokta is the easy answer, the way they riff on each other is delightful (I guess Frost as well, but he's not as interesting as Severard). There's that one scene with Ferro and Glokta that I totally love, and I wish we got to see more of them. The fact they were both tortured by the Gurkish, and Ferro felt empathetic towards him as a result, is something fairly unique to them at least as far as named characters goes. I also desperately want more of Glokta & Leo. I've never really had an in-law OTP before, but the way they both hate and sort-of-maybe begrudgingly respect each other in deeply fucked up ways is so much fun to contemplate. Leo as the new Jezal, Glokta hating Leo for being both nothing like him and too much like him, Leo desperate to avoid becoming Glokta, Glokta admiring Leo for anti-Bayaz reasons, Glokta's hopes and fears for Savine, Leo's resentment of Savine, Leo's lack of a reliable father-figure, etc etc. Climbing the walls tbh.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Oh boy. I guess my main one is that Glokta is not in my top 10 First Law characters. As brilliant as he is, I think he's pretty one-dimensional compared to many of Abercrombie's later characters. People say that Leo is Glokta 2.0, but really Glokta is the precursor to Leo; he click, tapped, pained so Leo could click, tap, grunt.

I also think people who claim Glokta is self-aware are talking out of their ass. He's self-deprecating for sure, and that gives a veneer of self-awareness, but he's still incredibly arrogant and particularly in AoM Savine pretty much tells him to his face how ironic it is that he essentially wants to become the thing he hates. He's a very smart guy who's good at playing the game, but he lacks the ability to properly soul-search the way that guys like Shivers or Temple or Orso can.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon?

Hmm... Bit of weird one but I'd quite like for him to have died in TWOC (or even in TTWP, off screen, would have been even better >:D). I think it would've given Savine and the new POVs (and Pike!) more space to shine, and helped the trilogy feel like it had properly moved forward without being in the shadow of LAOK. His appearance in TWOC felt too much like fanservice to me, although that's probably the least charitable interpretation of it. That said, I wouldn't then have the possibility of more Leo & Glokta in-law shenanigans, so maybe he can keep living for now. But Sholla couldn't carve cheese as thin as the ice he's on. Your days are numbered, Glokta. Body found floating by the docks...

[thedragonagelesbian]

For the OTP asks: 5, 13, 22, and 26 for Cyrus and Wyll

yaaaaaaaaaaay

5. What activities do they enjoy together?

Cyrus socializes like a cat, so he's happiest just being nearby for whatever activity Wyll wants to do-- snuggling while Wyll reads or listening him play his flute (or his cello once they're moved in to their estate post-game). Wyll similarly insists that his greatest creative inspiration comes when he's with Cyrus and loves to compose in Cyrus' garden, drafting sonnets and serenades while Cyrus is tending to his plants.

As for things they really do together, they love planning outings into the woods around Baldur's Gate. Romantic picnics, hunting, foraging, birding, just getting away from the bustle of the city

13. Name something they would never do for the other person. 

Cyrus for Wyll: I think Cyrus outright refuses to do the Champion/Ansur/whoops bitter gay exes quest. Not even in a reluctant 'I'll tag along to make sure you stay safe' thing, drags his heels to the very edge of the chambers of trials and is straight up like 'we shouldn't do this. I don't care how helpful the dragon will be we should Not Fucking Do This please don't do this i don't want to lose you to some impossible bullshit test you're already enough please don't make me watch you do this'

Of course there's no vindication in being right.

Wyll for Cyrus: Hmmmm Wyll is so accommodating it's hard to think of what he'd refuse… Of course there is the classic "you don't have to be the Blade of Frontiers" for me early on. No matter how many times Cyrus tells him that he doesn't have to perform for him, it's so hard to let go of a technique that has allowed you to cope with & make the best of such horrendous circumstances

22. If their lives were what was originally intended at birth, would they have still fallen in love?

Oh boy the 'at birth' specification is interesting, I've never really thought about what this version of Malcolm and Leandra had planned for him… He grew up on the road because Malcom was being hunted by his archfey patron who ends up killing him when Cyrus is very young (tho I have some. Extremely vague ideas about a post-game adventure involving Malcolm actually still being alive & Cyrus & his LI needing to save him). Presuming Malcolm doesn't die and is thus still around when Leandra passes from her illness, I could see him raising Cyrus as a much more well-adjusted rangers, mayhaps even of the fey wanderer variety as they work to free Malcolm from his patron

(…..i dont know how i've gotten this far without realizing before that the first loss in cyrus' life was to a vengeful warlock patron but it sure. Uh. Adds some Something to this dynamic…)

Wyll more obviously grows into a young lordling, but even without Mizora, I think he goes through life about 5 terribly repressed seconds from a nervous breakdown having grown up knowing absolutely nothing but his father's rigid expectations

And while I can't think of any self-evident way for their paths to cross, the notion of Wyll meeting a more fey version of Cyrus who whisks him away from the pressures of noble life for a whirlwind adventure straight out of the fantasies and fairytales Wyll grew up reading and dreaming about but had given up experiencing himself… well i think it FUCKS immensely

26. What are their favorite parts about physical affection/sex?

For both of them, the best part about physical affection is feeling safe. It's so new for them, but being able to melt into each other's arms and let all of their past disappear into the sound of the other's breathing and pulse is just one of their favorite things about being together, period.

For Cyrus, his relationship to sex is different than other iterations of the character because of his history with Meredith. Generally, Cyrus has two somewhat contradictory things he wants out of sex: to please his partner as much as possible, and to know himself and his body in relation to them. Contradictory because that first desire always trumps the second one and can even foreclose it entirely, depending on the partner, or make him vulnerable to someone who wants to control his sense of self.

Whereas ranger!Cyrus is pretty adamant about not relying on anyone else for that external validation/appraisal/identification. That just leaves "trying to give Wyll a religious experience every time," and that is something Cyrus adores immensely. (And his favorite part of /that/ is any indication of incoherency-- babbling and whining and stammering. Any sign that Wyll is trying sooo hard to be the calm & collected Blade and failing miserably turns Cyrus on a Lot; he refers to it playfully as 'making Wyll sing')

And as hard as it is, Wyll enjoys being made to let go and get out of his head and into his body and being taken care of and treated with a level of slow, gentle tenderness that is almost too much to bear (but he does and Cyrus praises him throughout to tell him he's doing a very good job bearing it)

[cat-denied]

1, 9, & 11 for the salty asks?

thanks for asking! gonna go ahead and answer these for fire emblem since thats the fandom im most active in as a fandom

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

oh man, a lot. a lot of heterosexual ones, i feel like? alm/celica. merric/elice feels so abrupt and meaningless in the way that basically any of the non-main-protagonist NES game relationships do, even when they try to retcon it in in the remakes, because it just...forget chemistry, they don't have any interactions! like what!!

felix/sylvain. like, i dunno, i just don't really feel any emotions looking at these two. they are fine? they're fine. i don't...that's it. lmao

also, honestly to an extent i don't really get tharja/robin in awakening. like, i love both characters on their own, but they don't really gel for me in the same way they seem to for a whole lotta other people lol.

ALSO! not fire emblem and i am not in a "fandom" as such for full metal alchemist but shipping roy mustang and riza hawkeye Does Not Gel For Me. i get why people do it but like...i do not understand it.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

i bear grudges especially towards Arvis FE4 (because the narrative treats him as noble and well-intentioned, and basically just tells us that he means good without doing literally anything to back it up) and Gray Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (because i am so fucking sick to death of "guy bothers uninterested woman until she relents into having a relationship with him" AND they always end up in a fucking relationship in their end cards even if you didn't unlock any of their supports).

also shoutouts to olwen FE5, who rules hard and who i love don't get me wrong, but whose supporting cast (fred and reinhardt) are like...way less cool than her. i especially do not vibe with reinhardt, considering he chooses not to defect despite presumably knowing about the child hunts (!), meaning the intended arc of "tragically you cant recruit this cool dude" falls flat because...is he really that cool if he can't be arsed to stop perpetuating tangible horrific evils in fiction? then again, he is working with ishtar, who is described as saving as many kids as possible--but also that only gets mentioned in her other game, which means it's not brought up directly with reinhardt--look the point is i'm not interested in him he's a boring man and i don't know why he has sixteen different alts in Heroes when olwen has one. olwen is the cooler fucking sibling get a grip lmao

i also hate virion (any man who is introduced chasing after a vocally uninterested woman is not worth my while, doubly so if he does not have any sort of tangible character arc), berkut (GOD. AWFUL man. somehow manages to fridge his own wife??? you should be able to recruit rinea in echoes i am forever peeved about this. he's an excellent villain all the way up until you can't recruit rinea about it), and perne (because the narrative apparently believes that kidnapping and torturing a young girl into doing your bidding via frightening her with insects is, like, not a big deal you guys don't sweat it).

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

i love Kris from new mystery of the emblem, i think she rules, she's a goofus. big fan. also all the new mystery gang tbh. i would say i don't understand why people hate her so much, except i do, and it's the same old same old "everything was better in the old days, when we didn't have support conversations or characters with more than 1 line of dialogue" that you get in every fandom, but i've certainly noticed in fire emblem.

i love edelgard, but i wouldn't say the fandom doesn't: i would say some of the fandom doesn't, but it's a split it would seem. i fucking adore monica but so does everybody else with taste. i really like wendy (inasmuch as anyone in the binding blade has a character), admittedly half due to her class as armored knight and half out of spite at how her wiki page says she's non-viable, but there's a solid half in there to appreciate her on her own merits also. this is again a mixed opinion and not a totally unpopular one, but i love ingrid, i think her story arc is fascinating. i LOVE jill i think her story arc is super compelling, she's one of my favorites. look, i don't know, who's unpopular? if you get me a list of "unpopular" fire emblem characters i will probably pick out every woman on there and be like "aw cmon she's cool/underutilized/worthy of appreciation". except camilla.

thanks so much for asking! this was very fun.

[n7viper]

HEY i was creeping in maeves tag can you tell me about her too if you want??? Like fave songs for her or fave weapons or just whats on your mind about her rn!

Ooh, thank you for asking! :3 This got away from me and is rambly, so strap in. But first, I’ve got a playlist for her here:

A lot of it is angsty because that’s just the kind of music I listen to lol. It’s a bit of a mix - the first part is sad angsty music, then it goes into a handful of Mae/Crow songs, and then finally into some sort of “happy” songs. I update this every so often, so there will be more OTP and happy songs in the future. I’ve just been a little depressed in the first half of the year, and her playlist has suffered for it 😅

A bonus fact before we get into my rambling is that her tag (Maezi) is a nickname that I imagine Saint giving her. I don’t think I ever said that here, now that I think about it? It really just came about because I was thinking of her normal nickname combined with her last initial, Mae Z. It sounded like Maisy when I said it aloud, and it also sounds like a funny name someone would give her, Saint being an obvious first choice. I spell it like that because her last name is Zin.

Mae is my main guardian, one half of my Young Wolf pair. I only recently started playing D1, so I don’t have a ton of info about that time. For D2, I’ve mentioned in a few random places (so forgive me if you’ve seen this) that I started playing a few months before Forsaken came out and then left sometime around Season of the Drifter, I believe. I didn’t come back until last year, about halfway through Season of Plunder. So there are a lot of gaps in Mae’s story and things that I haven’t really thought about because of having to rely on going back to watch videos on Youtube to absorb the story. So as a general disclaimer, things change in her development A LOT. I know this is normal for OC creation, but I always feel really insecure about it. There are already some things from just a few months ago that I've retconned. So yeah lol

Mae is a jack-of-all-trades hunter who is primarily an arcstrider, sometimes nightstalker (spectral blades). She is capable of using solar light but chooses not to, and doesn’t often rely on either of the Darkness subclasses. For long-range combat, she prefers bows; Wish-Ender and Le Monarque most often (no, I’m not projecting that at all). Melee and close-quarters combat is more of her jam, though. She most often uses hand cannons and SMGs, swords and glaives for actual melee. For armour exotics, it’s a little complicated. In an ideal world, she would wear Liar’s Handshake and have some leg armour that looks like ST0MP-EE5 but don’t necessarily function as they do in game. She wears (fake) stompies because of their bracing; she has a persistent stasis-induced injury to her right ankle that is not easily healed. (Things might have changed on this since BL was quite some time ago, but Ghost repeatedly says in that campaign that there isn’t much he can do to fight stasis. Seems like if you got a shard of that embedded in your skin or in a joint, it would be difficult for a Ghost to heal, even if the shard was removed. That’s my thought process on this little aside.)

This is her canon armour, as long as you pretend that those hardened basilisk vambraces are Liar's Handshake :P

High level overview of what I currently have in mind for her general story — the other half of my little YW pair (Phaeston) dies between Curse of Osiris and Warmind. She handles this pretty poorly. Phaeston had been with Mae since she was revived, and they’re sort of a platonic bonded pair. She feels a little lost without him, feels like it was her fault (WIP), and becomes a bit reclusive. She has a pretty significant shift in personality as a trauma response, going from being a playful hunter to a quiet and solitary lone wolf. Cayde tries to help in his own way, feeling like she may be feeling like he did after Andal died (not that he would ever admit that to her). It only sort of helps and mostly just makes things worse after he dies too. She feels a little skeptical of the Vanguard after she kills Uldren and takes an extended assignment to the Dreaming City to help Petra try to contain the curse cycle. Anything between the end of the Forsaken campaign and Season of the Lost is mostly just a WIP.

Mae is also a Crow-mance because I am weak lol. Loosely, Crow is the one who takes the lead in their relationship and initiates it in the first place. Mae originally takes him under her wing as a sort of protégé, remembering what it was like for her when she was trying to find her footing as a guardian. She also feels mildly guilty for his early life, whether she necessarily should or not. He’s a good catalyst for getting her back to her old self and getting her to reconnect with her friends, but I do want to stress that it’s the early mentor/mentee relationship that does this, not the romantic one.

These days, she’s doing about as well as most guardians can be, I suppose. I haven’t even started thinking about her mental state this season with [potential spoiler] bringing up past regrets for several of the main seasonal cast. I’m still stuck in past seasons 😂 I could ramble on for an eternity about Forsaken and Season of the Haunted if you let me.

God uhhhhh idk if this really answered much of anything, but it’s been 2 hours since I started typing some of this out, so I should just call it here. I’m trying to get better about engaging with ask games again, so hopefully I can answer some specific things in the future.

[phoenixlionme]

My Favorite Fictional Couples Part 34

NOTE: Be respectful of my choices; the OTPs are not ranked, just of who I thought when making this list.

1. Mortal Kombat franchise: Johnny Cage + Sonya Blade = Cageblade

2. Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away: Chihiro + Haku = Chihaku

3. Disney’s The Jungle Book franchise: Mowgli + Shanti = Mowglianti

4. The Lunar Chronicles: Jacin Clay + Winter Hayle Blackburn = Jacinter

5. Record of Grancrest War: Theo Cornaro + Siluca Meletes  =Theoluca

6. Final Fantasy franchise: Oerba Yun Fang + Oerba Dia Vanille = Fanille

7. Pixar’s Brave: Merida DunBroch + Young MacGuffin = Meriguffin

8. Marvel Comics: Danielle Cage + Lucy Rand = Powerfist

9. Marvel Comics: Danny Rand aka Iron Fist + Misty Knight = Ironknight

10. Marvel Comics: Sergei Kravinoff aka Kraven the Hutner + Calypso Ezili aka Calypso = Kravelypso

[munchbell45]

yahiko for your character gameee ^.^

Sexuality: Bisexual, baby!

Gender: Cis Male

Ship: My OTP is Nagato/Yahiko/Konan, though I am also cool with just Nagato/Yahiko or Yahiko/Konan. I'd also consider reading Yahiko/Sakura (if it was time travel or something,) Yahiko/Reader, or Yahiko/OC, but I haven't read any of those yet.

BroTP: Nagato, Konan, and the rest of the original Akatsuki. Also, Jiraiya as a father figures in AUs (don’t know what was with the typo earlier) where he takes the Ame Orphans to Konoha and/or they wind up going to Konoha at some point

NoTP: Yahiko/Jiraiya, Yahiko/Hanzo, Yahiko/Zetsu

General Headcanon: Yahiko taught himself (or learned from someone else) how to do basic repairs for whenever something in the Akatsuki base broke. I also headcanon that he was the best at taijutu of the three Ame Orphans, and maybe that Jiraiya taught him how to use a tanto blade. We see him with a sword when he was older, but a tanto would be a good starting blade since Yahoo was young when Jiraiya trained him.

Opinion Overall: He is my baby boy, my beloved, and I am hugging him tightly. In all honesty, I can definitely see why Nagato and Konan became so close to him. They worked together to steal stuff to survive, they probably saved each other multiple times over, they trined together, and they all had a common goal. In some ways, he's a bit of what they need: an extrovert to help get his introverted friends interacting with others, especially the shy Nagato.

In some ways, he kind of reminds me of Naruto in terms of personality, but not as heavily… Naruto-like as Naruto himself. He's got a nice mix of a goofy side (at least in fillers,) but with a serious determination and charm that helps bring him allies to fight for him. NGL, I want more Ame Orphan/Yahiko's Akatsuki content.

He and his friends did not deserve what happened to them, with Yahiko being forced to chose between his life and his friend's life, and all of the trauma that came as a result. I want to hug all of them.

[edwinspaynes]

If I don't bother you too much....

Grace Blackthorn

i'm not bothered and i LOVE grace

favorite thing about them -> i'm actually really attached to her interest in science. i think it's so rare in a shadowhunter and am pleased to see a young woman, especially one who was suppressed for a long time, diggin it

least favorite thing about them -> the sexual assault. she obviously was in a bad position and didn't really have a choice, but i still don't love it

favorite line -> “You made me cold and hard. You taught me there was no love in this world, only power and selfishness. You closed my heart. You made me what I am, Mother, your blade. Do not now complain if that blade is turned on you.”

brOTP -> i think she should foster a friendship with alastair.

OTP -> gracetopher </3

nOTP -> i've seen quite a few people ship her with matthew and that's a hard no from me, sorry. like, no shade, but hard no. i'd like to see them become friends, though!

random headcanon -> i like to think that grace invents something awesome in the future that shadowhunters still use today. idk what it might be, but i will die of joy if we see something invented by grace blackthorn in the wicked powers.

song i associate with them -> either mad woman by taylor swift or fields of innocence by evanescence

favorite picture of them -> this one

[hexblooddruid]

BrynXWyll: 8, 11, 20; BrynXAstarion: 5, 24 for the OTP asks

OTP Asks

Bryll

8) What were their first impressions of each other?

Bryn as as Baldurian and an avid reader of lore and legend absolutely knew of The Blade of Frontiers. She was completely starstruck when she met him, especially combined with his introduction. But her first thought the moment she had time to collect herself was that she could not believe how young he is, barely a man with the weight of the coast on his shoulders. She at the same time admired and pitied him.

Wyll had a mixed reaction. It was a familiar sight to him, the birth of a young adventurer, a young person thrust into the problems much larger than themselves. He admired her leadership and desire to help the Tieflings. He was also wary of some of her decision making and judgement. He saw a combination of naivete and recklessness (especially when it came to her own safety) that could be dangerous.

11) What causes them to fight?

Their own bullheadedness. In my Bryn redo, they are still pretty early on in their relationship and at the beginning they clash simply because they don't want to talk about how much they mean to each other. They end up getting frustrated with each other and thinking that the other doesn't care.

Bryn later on in their relationship also gets frustrated with Wyll's tendency to view her care as transactional. She tries to tell him that he doesn't owe her for every kindness she shows him but that's simply what he's used to.

20) What is a promise they make to each other?

To make time for each other. It starts at the Tiefling Party. When Wyll tells Bryn "there will be another time for us", she makes him promise and he swears. The morning after, since Bryn still ended up sleeping with Astarion that night, Wyll tries to shrug it off saying "they've made no oaths to each other" but Bryn won't let him. She makes her own oath to focus on them from then on.

They carry this into the rest of their relationship. These two continue adventuring for a long time. They are always going to want to travel and dedicate themselves to helping people but they remember to take time for themselves by making time for each other.

Brynstarion

5) What activities do they enjoy together?

After Act 2 they settle into a two cats sharing the same space type of relationship in their downtime. They spend a lot of time just being together while reading, writing, or doing other work. Bryn likes to do research and read with Astarion around because he's smart and blunt. She finds him good to bounce ideas off.

They also talk A LOT. Bryn is not especially chatty but she's a good listener and Astarion will go on. Bryn's also opinionated and snarky (with him especially) and will not let him get that last word so they talk about everything and anything. I imagine that they get immediately recognized as a couple in Act 3 because Bryn is constantly on her tippy toes and Astarion is constantly leaning over, the both of them just in each other's ears.

Bryn also coerces him to be her morning hiking and foraging buddy. Before Halsin joins the camp, they are usually the only ones up at sunrise and she convinces Astarion that he should explore nature in a way that he couldn't before, while he still has the chance.

24) What is something they have each had to forgive each other for?

The whole second half of their relationship is them trying to forgive each other for the first half. Both of them went into the physical part of their relationship not thinking of the other person at all. Astarion obviously using Bryn's attraction to him to manipulate her into staying by his side (unnecessarily since she already agreed to that a few days into meeting him), and Bryn pointedly ignoring the red flags and playing along just so she can feel wanted and let off steam. After Act 2 they are so careful with each other and talk everything out, just so they don't make the same mistake again. Well, they try to. They end up struggling with honesty again in Act 3.

[a-really-big-cat]

uhhh I'm sorry but I gotta disagree with this example (even though I certainly agree with the post in general). There's absolutely no evidence that Aqua/Ruby is "the endgame". The only thing of note that has happened recently is that Ruby was revealed to still be attracted to her former mentor even though he's now her brother. That in no way means that the author is planning to make them the OTP; in fact it screams literally the opposite: that Ruby has not grown out of her immature obsession with Goro and that said obsession has warped her understanding of healthy, ordered relationships. Ruby's character has always been presented as having an extremely immature worldview combined with disordered attractions and obsessions, so it is in-character for her to think that Aqua being her brother doesn't make him off-limits. TL;DR Ruby being attracted to her brother is 100% meant to be read as a bad thing; a continuation of Ruby's descent into darkness and instability. And given that there are several hints that the mysterious crow girl seems to be manipulating her and driving her to become more unhinged, it's even more unlikely that this is supposed to be something that the audience is supposed to support.

On the flipside, Aqua is wholly uninterested in Ruby in any sexual way. Why should he be? His connection to Sarina was as her doctor and as someone who felt sympathy for how her family neglected and abandoned her. As her brother, he becomes someone who thinks he has to protect her from the dangers of the industry in the way that he couldn't protect his mother. Some people read this is an incestuous attraction, but I don't see it at all; he's approaching the situation as any young man with the experiences and memories of an adult would: "I have to take responsibility for the safety of my sister".

Calling OnK a "little sister anime" is a laughably shallow take; for real, one of the biggest jokes in the fandom is how Ruby basically vanishes from the story for 3 dozen chapters because the Tokyo Blade arc takes focus.

alright genuine question, are modern anime fans actually getting worse at noticing plot flags, or am i just seeing that more because they're loud about it? there have been so many times in the past year where something that was OBVIOUSLY going to happen, Happened, and everyone freaked out about it and swallowed as much copium about it as possible. and like... i get it, i've been caught off guard by things before, but i don't really understand why people are missing the signs that something is NOT going to be to their taste. if you want to avoid incest, you need to learn how to spot potential incest plots before they actually get there. if you want to avoid 3rd episode tone death, you need to learn how to spot the signs that something is Wrong™ with the world before people start dying. if you want to avoid sexual assault scenes, you need to learn how to read obsessive characters and dangerous situations. if you want to avoid queerbaiting, you need to learn how to look at a piece of media in the context of its genre and largest audience; a shounen story geared towards 14 year olds with a token female character in the core cast is PROBABLY not going to make the main guy and the rival kiss, i'm sorry. these things should not be catching you off guard. very few times have i seen any of these pulled where the signs weren't screaming at you from day one. hell, even things FAMOUS for catching people off guard, even stuff that did on purpose, the signs are there. There's a massive difference between fans coming up with nasty stuff on their own, and people reading the room and figuring out what sort of story they're in for. you NEED to stop assuming that media you like will follow your own sensibilities, especially stuff from another country. i cannot emphasize enough how much of a minefield it is trying to be an anime fan who doesn't want to see any incest. for the sake of yourself and everyone who has to deal with it when you get caught off guard, PLEASE LEARN HOW TO SPOT THAT EARLY ON.

[incorrectmegazarak]

Keith: Puns are the lowest form of humor.

Keith: Actually, they’re not even funny.

Corrin: This relationship is a nightmare.

[purelyangenergy]

genshin ships- my thoughts

hey everyone, this is a little different to the usual! i figured i would share my thoughts and little headcanons about the various ships of genshin. i should also say, this won’t include every ship. maybe i’ll do a second part of this is well received! so, with that, let’s dive right into it.

chongyun x xingqiu (xingyun)

ah, these adorable boys. if you’ve read anything from my page before, you’ll know i adore this ship. since it’s canon that they get along really well, i would say that they act like an old married couple. bickering, and disagreeing on various matters (mostly chongyun’s dietary requirements), but still head over heels for each other, and would jump in front of a blade for each other without hesitation. my rating, 10/10, my genshin otp. would only be made better by xingqiu actually coming home.

chongyun falls asleep whilst xingqiu is reading, after a long unsuccessful ghost hunt overnight. so, xingqiu, smiles and moves the young exorcist’s head onto his lap, carrying on with his book quietly, one hand playing with chongyun’s fluffy blue hair.

the spirit hunts they go on usually end up turning more into dates when they realise that it’s another dead end. chongyun has chased xingqiu round with carrots numerous times, and it usually ends with a spicy popsicle.

so many evenings in the rain. it’s one of the times chongyun doesn’t have to worry as much about his condition, so it’s the almost closest he gets to his unrestrained self. they usually tend to sit near the adepti statues, just watching the rain fall, enjoying the other’s company.

they’re just generally sweet. they’ve always acted that way since they became friends, so people don’t usually realise they’re dating, unless they’re told. there are obviously a few exceptions to this statement.

kaeya x albedo (kaebedo)

ah yes, my favourite mondstadt boys that probably aren’t actually from monstadt (albedo was confirmed not to be after writing this, so i went back and added this note). they have very different personalities, but i feel as if it works for that exact reason. kaeya’s outgoing attitude, charisma and subtle manipulation clash with albedo’s calmer, softer personality, and it balances out for that reason precisely. kaeya wants to make it very obvious that they’re a thing, whilst albedo would rather not so he could do his work in peace without the cavalry captain clinging to his waist. overall, cute ship, and i don’t see any problems with it. 8/10

albedo definitely walks kaeya home after his nightly drinking spree at the taverns so he’s safe. not that kaeya can’t defend himself (even whilst ridiculously drunk), but albedo wants to make sure he’s okay. it’s become such a common occurrence that kaeya automatically starts walking to albedo’s place if he leaves earlier than the alchemist expected.

ice sculptures. dragonspine, a cryo user, and a talented artist. kaeya’s always happy to help if albedo wants to sculpt with ice, or to create anything with his vision if the alchemist can’t find a suitable muse. kaeya is ‘unaware’ that he’s usually the subject of albedo’s doodles when the man can’t concentrate.

diluc has once approached albedo and asked him how the hell he puts up with kaeya’s irritating self. albedo simply said he didn’t really know, and left.

albedo plaits (sorry, should say braids) kaeya’s hair whilst the taller is asleep. the result is either true elsa, or wavy haired kaeya. both of which are pretty.

kaeya always pays the check when they go out for food. every time.

kaeya x diluc (kaeluc)

this is certainly a controversial one. mostly through translation issues into english from chinese (from what i’ve gathered anyway), this ship is seen as uh…very morally dark. if you put aside the fact they regard each other as siblings (this applies in both the original and translations), these two have a very toxic relationship. kaeya’s been shown to try to manipulate him numerous times, and diluc is not exactly nice to him in return. their canon relationship doesn’t exactly give any favours for anyone trying to find reasons for this ship. admittedly, while i was very confused as to what their relationship was at, i thought they’d look decent together. however, with a few googles and delving into the lore more, i very obviously took this back. personally, i see these two as friends at most. they were once, and with a lot of therapy, they could probably be once again. i should add that i personally see these two as siblings anyway, so anything other than platonic affection between them is definitely not my cup of tea. if i was rating them as a strictly platonic, sibling-like relationship, it would be 6/10. but, as i’m rating these ships in a romantic sense, this gets 1/10. only reason for that is because of the great melt reactions from them being in the same party.

not comfortable writing for this one, for obvious reasons.

diluc x jean (jeanluc, i think?)

this is one of the more popular diluc ships i believe. they have a fair few interactions in canon, so the ship makes sense. and with that, they get along fairly well despite some very different opinions. so, it’s pretty reasonable to see these two as a pair. though, i do see them more as that pair of friends that everyone thinks are dating since they don’t hang out with many others. then again, romantically, it’s also a very sweet pair. they’re both very mature characters, so i think the best way to describe their relationship would be elegant, or almost regal. the kind you find in a fantasy book. overall, a solid 7/10, it would be more if i didn’t see it platonically!

klee wants them to get married. despite finding diluc a little weird (and grumpy), she sees how happy jean is with him, and she wants the dandelion knight to be as happy as she can be. the pair didn’t know how to react when the child randomly stated this in the middle of an important meeting. kaeya laughed and teased them after. jean was the only reason that diluc didn’t chase kaeya out of the room.

diluc is constantly checking up on jean, making sure she gets enough rest and eats something, under the disguise of reporting nearby hilichurls. it’s a little obvious that isn’t the reason, and every one of the knights knows it. but they don’t really mind, because it means that the acting grand master is taking care of herself a little better, and that’s the best thing they could ask for from diluc.

hilichurls fear them.

kaeya x childe (chaeya…?)

when i first joined the fandom, i absolutely despised our resident ginger. i’ve grown a little more tolerant now, probably since i didn’t understand him properly at that time. kaeya however, is one of my favourite characters, and has been from the start. my opinion on this ship has changed a lot since i first learnt of it. after playing around with it a little, i’ve discovered that i have a bit of a soft spot for it. two bois that are both traumatised as hell, both kind of a nightmare, finding that safe middle ground within each other. plus, their visions work well as a unit too, so it wouldn’t be hard to see them actually becoming friends if the traveler were to bring them both along. overall, a solid 8/10. would be higher if we got actual interactions.

they definitely spar a lot. people have reported their fighting so many times but, the authorities just brush it off since it’s normal. usually, these fights end with both of them frozen. so, they sit by the fire afterwards with a warm drink, teasing about any potential mistakes they saw.

this is one relationship that diluc certainly doesn’t approve of. which is why they tried to keep it as quiet as possible, since the knights wouldn’t be happy about it either. however, drunk kaeya happened, and suddenly the whole of mondstadt knows they’re a thing.

yet again, they’re both very highly traumatised. there’s a line of secrecy, so if they ever share any highly classified information, it never leaves the comfort of their embraces. doesn’t stop them from acting on it regardless, just not telling anyone why they know things that they shouldn’t.

zhongli x childe (chili)

now, this is one that i understand. whilst their canon relationship is…complicated, the interactions before the whole trying to destroy liyue thing are something. hence, why the zhongli broke joke is probably worse than it was before, since childe is basically his sugar daddy. these two are perfect candidates for an friends to enemies to lovers story, and i very much see why people love this so very much. however, i also see why people have reservations about this. there’s a rather large age gap, of literal thousands of years, despite zhongli’s youthful appearance. they would probably have that conversation pretty early on, and eventually reach an agreement to not treat it in that way. it’s a fun ship to play with too, since childe’s seen as a fairly playful character, in contrast to zhongli’s serious attitude and calm composure. it can be applied to so many aus, and it works so very well. overall, 7/10, a very nice ship.

zhongli is constantly explaining various random topics to childe. despite not really understanding what his partner is going on about, childe eagerly listens, occasionally chiming in from his experiences.

eventually, zhongli manages to teach childe how to use chopsticks. it takes a while, but with perseverance and slight bribery, he manages it. what were the bribes, you say? they had a contract, in which everytime childe managed to improve his precision, zhongli would give him a kiss.

zhongli is basically permanently using childe’s savings to buy stuff, and there have been a few times that the fatui have asked childe why exactly he keeps spending so much on pointless things. childe just sighs and says not to question it at that point.

they’ve sparred once and it was an obvious victory to zhongli. however, he felt a bit bad since childe was so determined to beat him. so he let himself get a little more hurt than usual. before throwing a meteor at his partner. the only rule was that childe wasn’t allowed to use his foul legacy form, as zhongli didn’t want him to hurt himself.

ningguang x beidou (beiguang)

two of liyue’s girl bosses in a relationship? yes please. similar to chili, this is very much an ‘opposites attract’ or enemies to lovers scenario. they canonically have a bit of a rivalry going on, and their personalities also rather different. aside from both being fairly competitive individuals, they don’t have much in common in terms of opinion. ningguang is stern, calm and goal oriented, whilst beidou (though equally as ambitious) is much more carefree and passionate. ningguang abides by the rules, beidou couldn’t care less for them. despite all of this, they do seem to get along underneath the guise of rivals. and of course, their appearances balance each other out in this way too. this also, the fan art for this one is incredible. i’ve seen so much gorgeous art for these two. their looks are also probably where part of the whole ‘kazuha’s mums’ thing comes from, aside from his motherly relationship with beidou. overall, it’s a ship which you can play with in so many different ways, and that’s what makes it so great. it works well every time i’ve tried to. a solid 7/10, i only wish more content in-game with them!

i wholeheartedly support the kazuha’s mums agenda. ningguang probably spoils him when she gets given the chance, much to beidou’s dissatisfaction, as her partner seems to prefer her ‘son’ to her. ningguang does usually buy stuff for beidou, but she doesn’t directly hand it to her. instead, she allows kazuha to discreetly place it in beidou’s quarters.

the confession happened over a particularly heated game of chess. ningguang was having yet another rematch with the captain, but couldn’t focus on the match because of beidou’s stare. when beidou teased her about it, ningguang quite calmly responded, saying that it was hard to focus with such a beauty staring at her. this subdued beidou into silence for a moment, before she leapt from her seat and crouched down in front of ningguang, clutching one of her hands between her own. that was how beidou somehow managed to turn a chess match into a date.

ningguang believes that beidou has kept their relationship secret. only a select few of her companions know. these are ganyu, keqing (who overheard the conversation with ganyu) and zhongli. meanwhile, beidou overshares absolutely everything with anyone who was willing to listen. the entirety of the crux knew, kazuha obviously knew, the traveler and paimon knew, even gorou and kokomi knew. it was a feat that the whole of tevyat didn’t know yet.

kazuha x kazuha’s friend(tomo??) (i have no idea what the name for this ship is)

i’ve heard of a few people calling him tomo, so i might just call him that for the sake of writing this. though we don’t really see much of this one for obvious reasons *cough* tomo’s dead *cough*, it’s obvious that these two had a very strong friendship. we don’t know much about how long, or why they became friends, but it’s clear to all that they meant a lot to each other. purely based upon kazuha’s reaction to tomo’s death being so strong, it wouldn’t be hard to believe that these two could have potentially been a little more than friends. whether it’s written pre-raiden, canon divergent, or a whole different au, chemistry between these two wouldn’t be too far from the truth. there isn’t much to say here, since we don’t know as much as i wish we did, but from the small glimpse i’ve gotten into people’s work on this, it seems wholesome. and tragic because we all know the canon. so, 6/10, would like to know more about this one!

👏friends👏to👏lovers👏

tomo has a cat. we all know this. said cat is more or less their child, as they take it everywhere they go, and only the most trusted folk are allowed to hold the little feline. tomo was highly reluctant to let gorou pet the cat since he’s partially enemies by nature with said creature.

kazuha being kazuha, writes love poems and signs them with a maple leaf. when tomo wakes up to find these on his window sill, they bring a smile to his face. they always made a bad day good, and a good day better.

snuggles. they camp outside a lot, and during the colder months, they snuggle together for warmth. since tomo’s a fair bit taller than kazuha, the anemo user always feels safe in his arms, as they stare up at the starry sky, waiting for sleep to consume them.

scaramouche x kazuha (kazuscara)

this is one of the ships i discovered shortly after arriving in inazuma. from what i’m aware, these two have never actually been specified to have even met in canon, so my assumption is they’re literal strangers. i know that some believe that scaramouche was the master kazuha had before he turned into a wanderer (and outlaw), but the timelines don’t match up too well for that to actually be the case. regardless, i believe this dynamic would be one of those two friends that you have no clue on how they are still, or even became friends. these two young men are so incredibly different, the only thing that they really share is a deep dislike for the raider shogun, although for very different reasons. so i suppose you could say they’re a case of opposites attracting and balancing out their many personal flaws. it’s a fun ship to play with, and i revel in the idea that scaramouche has a soft spot for a certain soft-spoken samurai. 7/10, i quite enjoy it, though it would be higher if we actually got any sort of canon interaction. of course, if there has been, and i’m wrong, please tell me.

they met on a battlefield, and may have tried to kill each other initially. then kazuha felt bad and sent him a cake as an apology. and so, a cycle of exchanging gifts and letters later, they unconsciously fell for each other.

dates…in public? during the daytime? being an outlaw and a harbinger, going out into public to spend time together would not only result in death to random guards, but a lot more publicity then scaramouche would appreciate. if they do leave a private space, hoods and discreet clothing is a must.

there have been times that they’ve just sat down and ranted about all of their raiden shogun related trauma. tea has literally been spilled in shock a few times.

no one knows. with the exception of gorou, who burst into kazuha’s accommodation soon after kazuha reunited with him, and ended up walking in on the pair cuddling. the doggy general was and still is being bribed with sweets to keep quiet about this whole thing. gorou wouldn’t have told a soul anyways, but appreciates the payment of confectionery every two months.

kazuha x gorou (kazugorou??)

ah yes, most people’s favourite inazuman good bois. one literally being part dog, and the other just being really nice. these two have a solid, canonical friendship and balance each other out so well. canon divergence is easy to write, the friends to lovers consumers are happy, and they’re just generally cute? they just work, i don’t know how else to put it. they have a slightly teasing, mostly platonic and a pinch of romance within their relationship within my head canons anyway. as if, they’re so close that people believe they’re together, even if they actually aren’t. 8/10, no potential toxicity needs to be removed, and it’s very wholesome in general (pun not intended).

cuddles. so, so many cuddles. despite still being sensitive about anyone touching his canine extremities, gorou is quite a touchy person. when they sleep over at the other’s place, they’ll fall asleep in each other’s arms. occasionally, kazuha pets his partner’s ears whilst he sleeps, helping with the occasional night terrors from being involved in wars. (seeing the people who trusted you die around you has to be pretty traumatic, and i believe gorou mentions feeling guilty in his hangout.)

when they aren’t talking strategy, kokomi has been known to tease her general about his relationship. she’s happy that he’s found something to look after outside of work. beidou has attempted to kidnap gorou numerous times, by setting sail with him still on board. fortunately, kazuha notices before they’re too far from land and uses his vision to make sure that gorou doesn’t have to swim all the way back to sure.

mountain climbing and picnic dates. when both men have the time, they’ll go on a long walk, and sleep under the stars. gorou finds that kazuha’s most beautiful words come out when they’re doing so. plus! it’s still kind of training, just in case one day, they have to fight on a cliff side.

itto x gorou (…i don’t have a clue. ittorou? ittogorou?)

this is obviously a fairly new ship in general. however, my goodness. it’s so good? whilst there isn’t as much fanon for this quite yet (time will prove me wrong eventually), the canon is intriguing. as i’m sure most of us know, gorou is (unknowingly) using the alias ms hina to answer letters for the advice column of yae miko’s magazine. many people believe that itto might have a crush on ms hina, and mentions that when he’s near gorou, he gets a warm feeling, and that he feels like he could tell him anything. maybe i’m paraphrasing slightly, but that’s the rough outline. so. there’s been a huge eruption of this ship in fanfics relating to the ms hina situation lately, and from what i’ve read (which is quite a bit of it), they’re so good? these two have a very playful dynamic and it’s very easy to see how they could potentially end up romantically involved. their skill sets within the game are basically made to work together, further adding reason for this ship. whilst i did actually quite like the sound of this one before i found out about the ms hina thing, that did solidify it in my mind. only complaint? can people…pLEASE write more fan fiction that isn’t smut? a fair portion of their tag on ao3 is rated e, and i really would rather not read it. 9/10, give me more content, talented humans of the fandom.

weirdly enough, despite adoring this ship, i don’t know what to write for it? so i’ll summarise. fluffy, itto being a himbo, getting caught in a storm after being idiots. oh, and ridiculously flirtatious letters to ms hina that yae miko has to censor so people don’t figure out that the one may perhaps know what the columnist looks like. and that they’re in a relationship.

and that’s all for now! i might do more (if you have any suggestions of ships to rate, that would be great), but as of this moment, my brain has given up on me. i hope you all had very happy holidays (if you celebrate, of course) and have a very happy new year. that’s all from me, signing off!

-☁️

[usamamoweek2022]

Featured author:

@linlamont

Today’s featured author is @linlamont also known under her pseud Peitho for her "more smutty" works

Lin Lamont is a 27 year-young SAHM from Utah who loves singing, books, and binging anime. She will come for anyone who would dare to put nuts into brownies. Oh! And did we mention she's a classically trained singer?

What Lin Lamont says about her work:

UsaMamo is my OTP, though I've dabbled in other characters and fandoms. I love combining fluff and angst to explore the dynamics of a real working relationship. My fics range from super fluffy comedy stuff to deep dark themes, smut, and everything in between.

Featured work: "Love and Other Drugs"

When Usagi crashes at Mamoru's for the weekend, it throws a serious wrench in his plans. How will he ever figure out what his dreams are telling him with that annoying Odango-Atama hanging around? Throw in a life-altering stomach virus and chaos will ensue. UsaMamo beginnings. AU. Reincarnation.

Rating: Teens and up

Things people have said about her work:

"This is adorable. Fluff heaven, I'm in fluff heaven. Don't tell me it gets dark, I don't wanna know. It seriously reminds me of Alicia Blades' early stuff."

"Thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic between the two!

I love that Usagi was intuitive enough to recognize Mamoru's infatuation with her through his childish teasing and antics. And I always love a jealous, protective, and slightly irrational Mamoru."

"(...) And awww I love them sharing their dreams with each other, and the thesis of the story being that this is the life where they actually get to be happy together without secrets and stress. So cute!! Thank you for writing!!"

Links to socials:

Find Lin Lamont on AO3, FF.NET

💕To see the prompts for this year’s UsaMamoWeek click here💕

[theoriginalladya]

Obligatory OTP asks #s 11, 12, 15 and 42 for William and Cullen

from this list

Ooooo! Okay, let me state this right now (in case I haven't said it before): William and Cullen are and will always be good friends. (William actually will end up with Dorian) HOWEVER, if you take OTP to mean that friendship, well, let's see what we've got here...

11. Do either try to hide their emotions if upset? Can the other still tell?

Hmm, I would have to say that when they are young and at the templar monastery together and becoming friends, relying on one another and getting into the usual mischief young boys do even when away at training, yeah, they could tell when the other was upset. Maybe not right away, but certainly before most others could tell. But then they have 10-12 years or so apart; Cullen off at Kinloch Hold and then Kirkwall, William back in the Free Marches. When they first meet up at Haven, I'd say it's more difficult. It comes back to them quickly, however. Even before they evacuate Haven, they have started to read one another almost as well as they did when younger.

12. Do they have many heated arguments? How do they smooth things over?

Honestly, the only time they end up having heated arguments with one another is during Cullen's withdrawal from lyrium. Will doesn't hold it against him by any means, even if some of the things said do hurt. Also, it isn't one sided. William is human, after all, and will bite back with a sharp word or retort that can cut like his usual blade. But for as many (which aren't all that many, honestly) arguments as they have with one another, they have just as many discussions that lead to smoothing things over because they both know they are better with the other in their life and now that they've been reunited, they aren't ever going to let that friendship go again.

15. Do they always say ‘i love you’ before leaving?

Hehe. Well, as I said, they aren't an OTP in the usual sense. That said, they do have their usual 'good bye' phrase to one another, something akin to "Maker be with you" but not that. (I just have to figure out what that phrase is! lol) Their relationship is purely platonic, but they do love the other like a brother and they aren't afraid to let the other know.

42. What’s their favorite type of weather to enjoy together? (getting snowed in together, watching thunderstorms, etc.)

Probably have to go with Autumn (or the Thedas equivalent) for this one. There was a village near their monastery that used to have a Harvestmere festival every year. Those in training were allowed to attend the festivities, and it was at those times that Cullen and Will would actually talk about themselves in more depth to the other, comparing the festival to how they would celebrate back home while they walked around the festival there. Those memories actually help sustain Will after he leaves the monastery and returns to the Free Marches, especially during the more difficult times.

Thank you so much for the questions!!! These are great!