#sakura week 23

[inosakutema]

❀ 𝐒𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐑𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓

�� March 28th is Sakura Haruno/Uchiha’s birthday! We compiled a list of 28 facts about her in celebration of her special day.

🌸DAY 1:

Sakura is the second oldest and tallest female of her trio and her generation after Temari. She was born on March 28th and she’s 165cm tall, the same height as Ino Yamanaka, according to her two official adult character design provided by Studio Pierrot.

🌸DAY 2:

Sakura is the kunoichi with the most outfit and hair changes of her generation in canon including The Last: Naruto the Movie.

She’s known for her sporty Chinese style of traditional qipaos or modern qipaos with a zipper in the middle and tights to complete the look. She also wears her ninja gear and Konohagakure headband is red to compliment her pink hair. Her representative color is red or scarlet, which she always in her clothes with some bits of white in the edges and pants. 

Her hair has also changed throughout the eras from long hair parted in the middle, shoulder length, slightly longer with bangs and a bop style with the hairline on her left.

(Her Naruto Gaiden and Sasuke Retsuden styles are not included in this picture)

🌸DAY 3: 

Sakura is the only kunoichi to wear her family’s crest on her clothes and the only one to wear her Konohagakure headband with all her clothes.

It’s a tradition she has cherished with since she was a child, wearing the Haruno crest on her back first and the Uchiha crest after marriage. This is also a token she shares with Team 7, with Naruto wearing the Uzumaki clan crest and Sasuke wearing the Uchiha clan crest on their clothes in the manga.

🌸DAY 4:

Sakura is the most popular kunoichi of Naruto according to the official manga character popularity polls during serialization.

Adding all the polls together, she obtained 11.889 points, earning the first place overall among the female characters. Link to the third databook character popularity poll.

She was also voted third most popular Naruto character in Naruto Worldwide Character Popularity Poll NARUTOP99 and the most popular kunoichi with 489.619 daily votes. Link to the poll results.

🌸DAY 5:

Sakura is the only kunoichi of her generation of Konoha shinobi to be promoted to jōnin rank and the second kunoichi besides Temari. After the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sakura and Shikamaru were promoted to jōnin, becoming the only shinobi of their generation to be promoted at the time. 

Up to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sakura Haruno, Temari Nara, Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyūga and Rock Lee are the only jōnin of that generation in Konohagakure.

🌸DAY 6:

According to official sources, databooks and novels, Sakura became the best medical-ninja in Konohagakure and the world at age 17 after surpassing her master, the Fifth Hokage and Sannin, Tsunade. Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage and God of Shinobi also noted that Sakura had also surpassed Tsunade in strength, becoming the strongest kunoichi too.

Sakura becomes one of the kunoichi to be considered “the best” at her field, medical ninjutsu and taijutsu with enhanced strength, along with being Temari hailed as the best Wind Release and tessenjutsu user in the world and Ino implied to be the best telepath of her clan.

🌸DAY 7:

Sakura was the sixth character Masashi Kishimoto created when he was thinking about the story. As he drew, he decided to add the heroine and create a love triangle between the hero, the rival and the heroine.

🌸DAY 8: 

According to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’ character trivia at the end of Volume 3, Sakura Uchiha is currently the strongest among her jōnin mates by a huge margin and also the third strongest ninja of Konohagakure after Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki.

She’s also still the second smartest person of her generation behind Shikamaru like it was said in the manga. Her profile also states that she has perfect taijutsu, ninjutsu and high resistance.

🌸DAY 9:

Not only is Sakura recognized as the strongest kunoichi in official material, but the Uchiha couple formed by Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha are also hailed as “the strongest married couple” in official material. Their descriptions in Sasuke Retsuden read: “The strongest couple fight at the end of the universe.” “… The strongest couple running through?!” “Spouses and partners. The strongest couple’s infiltration.”

This is because Sasuke is the strongest shinobi alive with Naruto Uzumaki.

🌸DAY 10:

Sakura is the third most experienced kunoichi of her trio and fourth of her generation. She completed 34 missions in total by age 16, a little less than Team 10 and Temari due to Naruto and Sasuke leaving Konohagakure and Sakura being left as the only member of Team 7.

However, she’s also the only kunoichi to have completed seven A-rank missions, which are normally completed by a group of experienced chūnin or jōnin mostly, while being of genin and chūnin rank. Some of these A-rank missions she completed as a genin. She also completed missions for Tsunade and escaped the village to investigate Sasuke’s whereabouts.

🌸DAY 11:

Despite only focusing on taijutsu and medical ninjutsu to fight, Sakura’s elemental affinities include Water and Earth just like Ino. She’s also very skilled in Yin techniques like genjutsu and her Yang Release allows her to perform highly complex medical ninjutsu.

One of her jutsu, the Cellular Extraction Healing Technique, manipulates Water Release to remove poison. According to Sasuke Retsuden, she’s also proficient in Fire Release. Sakura, Temari and Ino are the only kunoichi to use the elements in canon.

🌸DAY 12:

Besides her active job as a ninja of Konohagakure, Sakura has also actively contributed to the village in other fields. She has worked in Konoha Hospital from age 16 as one of the village’s top doctors, and now she’s the Medical Director of the health system of Konohagakure. She's also a member of the Cypher Corps shown during Pain’s Assault too.

Similarly, Ino used to help her parents at Yamanaka Flowers from time to time and now she runs the shop with her own family; while Temari was the Kazekage’s bodyguard and ambassador and now she’s the Ambassador between Konohagakure and Sunagakure.

🌸DAY 13:

Haruno Sakura (春野サクラ) means “field of cherry blossoms” and her name, Sakura (サクラ), means “cherry blossom flower”. This is a symbol of her pink hair and green eyes like cherry blossoms and red clothes like the cherry fruit.

The cherry blossom is also Japan’s national flower, very cherished and famous around the world because it signals the arrival of spring and flower season.

🌸DAY 14:

Sakura represents the cherry blossoms, a flower that is cherished and treasured in Japan for its beauty and short lifespan that is often associated with samurais. 

According to the Japanese language of flowers, Hanakotoba, the cherry blossom or Sakura represents kindness, gentleness and transience of life; while in China they represent feminine beauty. 

🌸DAY 15:

Sakura has been praised for her beauty by several characters in the manga and novels, and she’s the most beautiful kunoichi of Naruto and Boruto according to the author too.

Masashi Kishimoto in chapter 252 and The Last databook, Rock Lee, Naruto Uzumaki, Inari, Jiji and even Ino have praised her beauty in canon. Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki are also known to have been in love with Sakura while Naruto was serialized. 

🌸DAY 16:

Sakura is one of the two females of her generation to have a summoning, the other being Temari. She has a contract with the slug Katsuyu of the “Three Big Unexplored Sage Regions”, the Shikkotsu Forest. 

This summon is the most special in the series because it can only be summoned if the user possesses the Strength of a Hundred Seal. Katsuyu is also known to be an offense and defense type of summon with incredible durability and the ability to change from solid to liquid. Moreover, she’s capable of dividing her body into hundreds of fragments that can sense, heal and communicate with each other to share intel no matter the distance.

🌸DAY 17:

Sakura is one of the most skilled ninja in ninjutsu, taijutsu and a user of very advanced techniques. She is the only kunoichi of her generation to master not one but two S-rank techniques: Creation Rebirth and the Strength of a Hundred Seal; and with Tsunade and now her daughter, she has perfect chakra control that can’t be copied even with Sharingan or Mind Body Switch.

She can also use techniques on a superior level than others like taijutsu and medical ninjutsu.

🌸DAY 18:

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sakura was assigned to the Third Unit, the Intermediate-range battle unit. That group had specialist in both close and mid-range battle skills in taijutsu and ninjutsu with high speed and great strength including the masters Might Guy and Rock Lee with taijutsu, and Kakashi Hatake with ninjutsu. 

She was later joined the Medical and Logistical Support Division to help Shizune, where she healed many shinobi and defeated the White Zetsu, saving the Alliance from murderers and intruders.

🌸DAY 19:

Sakura is one of the shinobi most related to Hokages and she’s quite close with the Kage in general. She’s a student of the Fifth and Sixth Hokage, was praised by the First and follows his will, and the best friend of the Seventh Hokage. Gaara, the Kazekage, has also praised her skills in taijutsu and medical ninjutsu and considers her a pillar of his life.

Sakura is also quite close with the current Gokage and her status as a person with the highest rank after Naruto, she has attended Kage Summits and kept secrets of international interest. Moreover, she has also been acknowledged as a perfect replacement for the Hokage.

🌸DAY 20:

Out of 700 chapters of Naruto, Sakura appears in +330. Link to the manga count.

She’s the female lead and heroine of the series, and the kunoichi with the most screen time of her generation.

🌸DAY 21:

Sakura is the only kunoichi to have a side story starring as the co-protagonist in several formats: novel, manga and anime.

In Sasuke Retsuden, with Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha, she infiltrates a remote country called Redaku to find a cure for Naruto’s illness and becomes the heroine of the Observatory. 

🌸DAY 22:

In Naruto Retsuden and Boruto, Sakura is recognized as one of the five most important people in Konohagakure and the only most important kunoichi of her generation.

This is popularly known as “The Five Pillars of Konoha” and it highlights Sakura’s dedication to Konoha’s medical development from Naruto to Boruto. From the start, Sakura has contributed to Konoha’s health system as a top-rated doctor, later opening mental health organizations across nations and finally leading Konoha’s Medical Department.

The Pillars of Konoha is also a reference to the Japanese card game Koi-Koi (こいこい), played with the Hanafuda cards. The Hikari cards are the most valuable combination of the game (20 points) and the cards together are called the Gokō (Five lights - 五光). In that combination, Sakura represents the cherry blossom (桜, cherry blossom).

🌸DAY 23: 

According to the first fanbook, Sakura was praised by Iruka Umino, her sensei, for her great chakra control and intelligence in the Academy, and she aced all the written exams too with the highest grades.

She was also the only person to complete and answer correctly all the questions of the written test of the Chūnin Exams without cheating, something Ino took advantage of with her jutsu.

Sakura is known to be the sharpst mind of Konohagakure and the most intelligent kunoichi.

🌸DAY 24:

Sakura’s first ever friend was Ino, who defended her from bullies and helped her gain confidence and self-esteem. Despite becoming healthy rivals later on, both remained the best of friends and have helped each other many times in their lives

Also, Sakura was probably Temari’s first female friend. Not only was Temari’s first interaction with Sakura but they also show amity good feelings in part 2. Later Sakura would save Temari from a stab wound and together with Ino they’d become best friends.

🌸DAY 25:

Sakura, just like Temari, married into another clan that isn’t her own.

Originally from a small civilian family, Sakura joined one of the strongest and noble clans of Konoha, the Uchiha. She has become the matriarch and the mother of the first Uchiha born after the massacre.

🌸DAY 26:

In the new era, Sakura is the Head of Konoha’s Medical Department as a full-time job. Her main task is lead other doctors as the Director of Konoha Hospital as she's their main doctor always taking the most important cases. As the head of the entire medical division, she’s also a teacher of medical ninjutsu for the new generation.

She briefly became the head doctor of the Astronomy Observatory of the Land of Redaku.

Her continuation as a member of the Cypher Corps hasn't been brought up.

Sakura is also often seen training Sarada in chakra control, taijutsu, medical ninjutsu and shuriken.

She's still an active jōnin too that goes on missions regularly.

This is a repost. You can still find the original here: Sakura birthday post original.

Temari birthday post. Ino birthday post.

[aethon-recs]

This Week (x2) in Tomarrymort (1 – 15 March 2025)

We have been absolutely spoiled by how many amazing one-shots we got these last couple of weeks, thanks to both the Necro Tomarrymort Fest and @a-fem-tomarrymort-fest. Check out their AO3 collections—there’s art there as well! 🤍

*

Tomarrymort Completed Fics

The Trouble with Treacle and Tea by cassiopeiassin (M, 18k, complete) 

Tom Riddle is a genius. Once a lowly, mudblood orphan, now the promising star of Cornelius Fudge's political advisory team with a growing circle of loyal, pureblood followers to boot. Everything is on the up. And then he sees Harry Potter, auror-in-training, duel. For Tom, everything always goes wonderfully and absolutely to plan... until it very much doesn't.

*

Tomarrymort One-Shot Must Reads 

One Shot | Grounded by uninspyred

One Shot | death will not do us part but he will bid the devil to ruin by @curioushabitforarivergod

One Shot | Thou art a wickedness by @mosiva

One Shot | obscene worship by @theonceandfuturequeenoftarts

One Shot | The Mortician by @virgil-anon

One Shot | A Sunny Afternoon by @ictyn

One Shot | I Can Only Love You Dead by @blackseatwenty

One Shot | Voldemort's Blue Bedroom by @chaos-bear

One Shot | sakura snow by @rowena-rain

One Shot | Alone with You by lemonchase

One Shot | east end by @1300marshall

One Shot | To be Saved by @cyandenial

One Shot | Draped Over My Altar – Your Blood, My Bones by @hikarimeroperiddle

One Shot | Pushed too far by lemonchase

One Shot | red as blood, black as night by @blackseatwenty

*

Tomarrymort Ongoing Fic

Chapters 9 through 16 of thimble of the banshee by @houndsofheaven

Chapter 15 of Strings of Fate by @solelyseeking

Chapter 26 of What In Me Is Dark, Illumine by @telelli-writes

Chapter 20 of Ills of Murder by @shadow-of-the-eclipse

Chapter 23 of the stars, my destination by @milkandmoon-ao3

Chapter 1 of the devil wears sorority letters by @aitafrog

Chapters 4 and 5 of The Fledgling and the Fawn by @allthesmilesxo

Chapter 6 of Follow where she goes by @mosiva

Chapters 1 and 2 of penance by @cindle-writes

Chapters 18 and 19 of Anytime, Anywhere, Always by @moontearpensfic

Chapter 3 of Seaforth by @kippipies

Chapters 21 and 22 of you speak of the devil (like he's not your friend) by @amuria

Chapter 17 of flour power by @kozzieberks

Chapters 16 through 22 of the whole wideness of the night is for you by The_Side

Chapter 1 of Apokatastasis by Lytri 

Chapter 10 of the night is cold in the kingdom by @girl-with-goats

Chapters 13 and 14 of Part Two - To Grow a Heart by @iseliljathedreamer

Chapter 1 of Ouroboros by @allthesmilesxo

Chapter 7 of Dream a little dream (of me) by @cenedrariva

Chapter 15 of Reckless Cartography by @meles-merrivale

Chapter 2 of i see you (you see me) by @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger

Chapters 10 and 11 of Fool me once by @holaolla1

Chapter 7 of Goodbye Evergreen by @v33r00

Chapter 2 of love you down to the bone by @aitafrog

Chapter 2 of Thursday’s Child by interloved

Chapters 4 through 7 of Amortentia by Nati_the_Alien

Chapters 13 and 14 of the taste of autumn upon your lips by @kozzieberks

Chapters 1 through 4 of Hold me as I drown by @smolangryslytherin

Chapters 17 through 18 of The Weight of Gravity by @pagesinmylife 

Chapter 4 of a pound of flesh by @ictyn

*

[mostbelovedaewwrestlertournament]

Most Beloved AEW Wrestler Tournament 2: Week 1 Statistics Dump

Howdy friends, it's Saturday and that means I get to treat you all to an assortment of statistics (before reading further, just remember these stats are in progress. They should not be considered fair to anyone until the tournament is over and all brackets have been tabulated)

Total votes thus far: 70,711 (average of 129.5 votes per matchup)

The Ties

Now I've seen a handful of ties in my tournaments, but those were happening more when there were fewer votes and fewer brackets. I didn't think there would be any here. But there were. Twice.

The Crushing, Crushing Defeats

I am very pleased to say that there were no unanimous victories this week. However, there were two instances of a wrestler only getting a single vote

The Top 20

Above are the stats for the first 7 days of the top 20 frontrunners (I know they're tiny and probably illegible, but I have so many numbers and don't want to deprive anyone of them)

Wins VS Losses

With this tournament formatted how it is, it is only possible for 1 person to have 155 victories and 1 person to have 155 losses. There are currently only 20 names that have a perfect record of wins and 29 names with a perfect record of losses.

The Stock Market

This is where I'll list everyone's rank and pretend it's a little stock market so you see if people are going up or down. In future weeks, I'll add little arrows so it's kind of fun, but since this week is the first, everyone will just have their rank listed

Kenny Omega - 1

Kris Statlander - 2

Swerve Strickland - 3

Orange Cassidy - 4

Jon Moxley - 5

Konosuke Takeshita - 6

Julia Hart - 7

Toni Storm - 8

Adam Page - 9

Eddie Kingston - 10

Willow Nightingale - 11

Jay White - 12

Wheeler Yuta - 13

Chuck Taylor - 14

MJF - 15

Samoa Joe - 16

Kyle O'Reilly - 17

Daniel Garcia - 18

Will Ospreay - 19

Jamie Hayter - 20

Mariah May - 21

Claudio Castagnoli - 22

Queen Aminata - 23

Kota Ibushi - 24

Katsuyori Shibata - 25

Evil Uno - 26

Hook - 26

Kazuchika Okada - 28

Harley Cameron - 29

Athena - 30

Danhausen - 31

Riho - 32

Brody King - 33

Kip Sabian - 34

Bryan Danielson - 35

Matthew Jackson - 36

Nyla Rose - 37

Buddy Matthews - 38

Mercedes Mone - 39

Anthony Bowens - 40

Powerhouse Hobbs - 41

Juice Robinson - 42

Hologram - 43

Kyle Fletcher - 44

Isiah Kassidy - 45

PAC - 45

Christian Cage - 47

Nicholas Jackson - 48

Komander - 49

Yuka Sakazaki - 49

Hikaru Shida - 51

John Silver - 52

Jack Perry - 53

Dustin Rhodes - 54

Deonna Purrazzo - 55

Killswitch - 56

Darby Allin - 57

Mark Briscoe - 58

Matt Menard - 58

Emi Sakura - 60

Skye Blue - 61

Thunder Rosa - 62

Trent Beretta - 63

Sting - 64

Penelope Ford - 65

Ruby Soho - 66

Lee Moriarty - 67

Bandido - 68

Ricky Starks - 69

Abadon - 70

Billy Gunn - 71

Cope - 72

Taya Valkyrie - 73

Keith Lee - 74

Nick Wayne - 75

Bryan Keith - 76

Red Velvet - 77

Colten Gunn - 78

The Beast Mortos - 79

Angelo Parker - 80

Mark Davis - 80

Adam Cole - 82

Darius Martin - 83

Serpentico - 84

Roderick Strong - 85

Dante Martin - 86

Austin Gunn - 87

AR Fox - 88

Matt Taven - 88

Anna Jay - 90

Shelton Benjamin - 91

Marina Shafir - 92

Malakai Black - 93

Johnny TV - 94

Dr Britt Baker DMD - 95

Ricochet - 96

Bobby Lashley - 97

Kiera Hogan - 98

Mr Brodie Lee - 99

Lance Archer - 100

Alex Reynolds - 101

Rey Fenix - 102

Leila Grey - 103

Cash Wheeler - 104

Leyla Hirsch - 105

Wardlow - 106

Marq Quen - 107

Max Caster - 108

Colt Cabana - 109

Mike Bennett - 110

Brian Cage - 110

Angelico - 112

Tay Melo - 113

Big Bill - 114

Jeff Jarrett - 115

Brandon Cutler - 116

The Blade - 116

Lio Rush - 118

Mercedes Martinez - 119

The Butcher - 120

Diamante - 121

Dax Harwood - 122

Chris Jericho - 123

Scorpio Sky - 124

Luther - 124

Jay Lethal - 126

Matt Sydal - 127

Sammy Guevara - 128

Peter Avalon - 129

Lee Johnson - 130

Paul Wight - 131

Rush - 132

Josh Woods - 133

Preston Vance - 134

Michael Nakazawa - 135

Saraya - 136

Ortiz - 137

Action Andretti - 138

Toa Liona - 139

Shawn Dean - 140

Bishop Kaun - 141

Satnam Singh - 142

Kamille - 143

Ariya Daivari - 143

Rebel - 145

Tony Nese - 146

Griff Garrison - 147

Madison Rayne - 148

Dralistico - 149

Miro - 150

Vincent - 151

Dutch - 152

Anthony Ogogo - 153

Serena Deeb - 154

Aaron Solo - 155

Nick Comoroto - 156

Funniest Notification Award

The notification that made me laugh the most this week was this one by @sendhook on Hook vs Orange Cassidy

I promise there will be more stats next week cause I'll have something to compare it to. If anyone wants to see a particular trend or know a stat, let me know in the tags or send an ask. Can't do anymore thinking beyond this cause I've spent 2 hours on it already and I wanna go play Supermarket Simulator

[ecargmura]

Wind Breaker Episode 23 Review - Be Frank

The battle ends rather heartwarming. Suzuri wasn’t a bad person, he was just trying to survive by all means, even if it meant discarding things he actually wanted and liked—his identity in a way. I always commend Wind Breaker for having the main villains be the antithesis of the ones fighting them. For example, Choji was the antithesis of Umemiya where he lead with fear and corruption while Ume leads with kindness and humility. Keel and Furin are the total opposites of each other, especially with the enemies the first years were matched up with. For the Roppo-Ichiza arc, Tsubaki and Suzuri are antithesis of each other where one is proud to stand tall and like what he likes while the other doesn’t have such leisure to do so. Fortunately, Umemiya’s ideology of “fighting is communication” gets through to Suzuri and he’s going to reform for good.

I also do like that Shizuka does get reprimanded for her actions. No one praised her for trying to sacrifice herself and she even admits that her actions were all for the sake of having an easy way out and not out of self-sacrifice. I like that, honestly. Sometimes, female characters are often written where their actions are glossed over just for the sake of them being happy. It’s not the case here. While Shizuka does get scolded, she does have her own way of accountability and everyone around them is also holding themselves accountable for their actions too.

I did mention before that these major arcs always has Sakura take a bit of a back seat as he’s never the one defeating a major boss. The same goes for this arc where he stays back as told by Tsubakino. He develops his own opinions on the outcome of the fight and how he doesn’t like Roppo-Ichiza’s fighting style, which is fighting until they all drop. Given how he reacted to the Keel arc and how his classmates got hurt because of him, it makes sense. He hates the burden of not being able to do anything, but he also knows that he has to trust in others because sometimes, losing is okay.

I’m sure everyone was surprised when Mr. Frank, aka Endo, showed up. I think the Wind Breaker fandom is absolutely adorable with the way they were like “Endo this week or next week?” The answer is both! Clover Works is such a troll. Because he hasn’t been properly introduced, he’s credited as “Mystery Man” just like in Episode 16 and his voice actor is still ????. It makes the reveal even more anticipating. People are speculating Daisuke Ono, and I was on that boat too but after this episode, I feel like his voice actor is Makoto Furukawa instead… Anyways, the reveal will be next week and I know social media is gonna blow up.

Also, I want to apologize for a little error I made. I realized that Shizuka’s flashbacks of her harsh life in the Sunaba District was actually not in the previous episode but in this one. My memory can get a little hazy at times (I’m old). Anyways, it was cute how everyone was trying to push Kanji to confess to Shizuka. They are cute together! Even I can tell it’s mutual! I hope that the manga will have an epilogue or a side story set in the future where Furin attends their wedding. Let me know your thoughts on the conclusion of the Roppo-Ichiza arc!

[essentiallyleaf]

day 22. daddy kink. with. sakura.

758 words.

tags.

kinktober ‘23, futa!idol x female reader, daddy kink, cockhungry reader, somewhat rough sex, i’m not feeling very funny tonight.

notes.

they just keep getting shorter! i swear it’s not because i’m procrastinating writing until 12 a.m. though. exhaustedly, leaf.

You met the girl in a mall, she was reading Kafka with the most peaceful, relaxed air, like there was a desert around her, when in reality it was so crowded and loud that you couldn’t hear your friend talk to you from across the table at the coffee shop. She later told you she likes to hear the sound of the artificial waterfall beside the escalator while she reads; you told her, go to the river; she told you, it’s not the same, people go to the river to relax, I don’t read to relax; you asked her, what do you read for?; she answered you, I read to understand what the writer is like in bed. Anyway, you went up to her and asked whether she knew if there was a library in the mall - you knew there was one right around the corner, but pick-up lines aren’t your forte; whose forte are they, if truth be told? - and if she had a book to recommend. “Well, it depends, what do you like?” It’s very easy to make conversation, if you think about it: you can start anywhere you want, and it’s like tributary streams, at some point you always end up channeling into your common interests.

It’s just following the course of the river that leads to her writing down her number on the paper towel you’d gotten with your coffee - “It’s Sakura, by the way, but you can call me Kkura,” she said with a warm smile, like she loved her name, like she had chosen it herself - to the two of you meeting again (neither of you used the word date, but in retrospect, well, yeah) in a bar downtown. They didn’t call themselves a gay bar, but the place had queer written all over it; I mean, Monthly Murder Mystery Monday? Really? To the two of you seeing each other four times in the next week, to her asking if you wanted to come to her house to have a drink after the fourth, cause she wanted to show you her wild animal plushie collection. One thing that surely was wild was the sex, that night. Kkura was plunging into your pussy from the back as you were bent over her bed, ass in the air, and she felt huge inside you. Your face was sunk into the soft light gray-brown fur of the sloth when it escaped your mouth.

“Ngh- ahaadhd- …addy!”

“What did you just say?”

“I- Nothing, I’msor-”

“Again.”

The thing about a river’s delta is, it splits very gradually, just one extra fork at a time, so you don’t really notice how wide it has spread until you’re already deep into it. You start calling her daddy every time you’re hungry for her cock, and she feeds you (the unholy sound of your slurps fills the room like there’s three girls sucking it at the same time, but no, it’s just little old you), then every time you’re hungry. She’s the sweetest girlfriend, you know she’d always get you whatever you’re craving if you asked nicely. You call her daddy when it’s just the two of you, then if there’s close friends around. They still smile jokingly when it happens, but they understand, they know what it’s like; not to be with a girl whose rod that can rearrange your insides, but to be lucky enough to be next to someone that you love and to not be afraid to show it. You almost have a slip up the first time you meet her parents: “Dad- Da… Dadaism was, pretty… wacky, wasn’t it? Duchamp, what an eccentric soul, haha!” Even the save is embarrassing, but it’ll be a great story to tell your kids; ok, maybe not your kids, maybe your friends.

She’s your daddy when you sit on her lap and start grinding on it while she’s having breakfast, when you lay your head on her shoulder and she gropes your tits, only covered by a thin beige t-shirt, while you’re watching Worlds, when she fucks you missionary and slaps your thighs until they become red like your cheeks at her parents’ house, and her fingers gently wrap around your throat, and she kisses you like her throat is burning and only you can help relieve it. You can’t separate freshwater and salt, once you’re out in the sea. It’s all mixed together, as one. And it’s not good or bad, it’s all just part of a natural cycle. Sakura, Kkura, daddy; any name, any place, any time.

-

footnotes.

my favorite shirt from Raygun is the one that says ‘Iowa: flee to flourish’. friedly, leaf.

[mukieissukie]

Pt.23: The warmth of friendship

The practice room is buzzing with energy as ENHYPEN finishes another rehearsal, sweat glistening on their brows. Heeseung grabs his water bottle and steps out for a breather, his mind still on Hana.

He scrolls through his contacts, hesitating before opening a group chat he shares with a few idols from other groups-one of the rare safe spaces where they can talk as friends, not rivals. He notices Sakura and Yunjin are online. After a moment’s thought, he switches to a private message with Sakura, knowing she’s the group’s pillar.

Heeseung: Hey, Sakura-ssi. Sorry to bother you. Can I ask you something about Hana?

A few minutes pass. He wonders if he’s overstepping, but then Sakura replies.

Sakura: Of course, Heeseung. Is something wrong?

Heeseung types, erases, and types again, wanting to get the tone just right.

Heeseung: I know things have been hard for her since MAMA. I just… wanted to ask if you could keep an eye on her. Make sure she’s really okay. I’d do it myself, but you know how things are.

Sakura’s reply is immediate, warm and reassuring.

Sakura: Thank you for telling me. We’ve noticed she’s been down lately. I’ll talk to the others. Don’t worry-we’ll take care of her. And thank you for caring, Heeseung. I’m sure it means a lot to her, even if she doesn’t say it.

Heeseung lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He feels a little lighter, knowing Hana has her group to lean on.

Heeseung: Thank you, Sakura-ssi. Really. If she ever needs anything… just let me know.

Sakura: Of course. Take care of yourself too, Heeseung.

Heeseung pockets his phone and returns to rehearsal, his steps a bit steadier. He can’t protect Hana from everything, but at least he knows she isn’t alone.

That Evening

Sakura gathers the members in the living room after dinner. The mood is casual until Sakura gently brings up Hana.

"Let’s make sure we’re all looking out for each other, okay? Especially Hana. She’s been through a lot lately."

Yunjin nods, glancing at Hana with concern. "We’re here for you, Haneul-ah. Always."

Hana looks up, surprised by the sudden attention, but the warmth in her members’ eyes makes something inside her loosen. She manages a small, grateful smile.

The days that follow feel subtly different for Hana. It starts with little things: Sakura leaving a mug of hot tea on her desk during late-night stays in the studio, Yunjin pulling her into spontaneous dance breaks, Eunchae insisting they watch a silly variety show together before bed. Even Chaewon and Kazuha lingering a bit longer after practice, offering gentle words and warm smiles.

At first, Hana is confused by the sudden attention. She’s used to being the strong one, the one who looks after everyone else. But now, her members seem to anticipate her needs before she can even voice them.

One evening, after a particularly grueling rehearsal, Hana finds a handwritten note taped to her mirror:

"You’re doing amazing. We’re proud of you. Let’s get ice cream after practice!

_the girls"

Hana stares at her reflection, the note trembling in her hand. For the first time in weeks, she feels the tightness in her chest begin to ease. She lets herself laugh-really laugh-when Eunchae drags her out for ice cream, and she doesn’t even notice the stares from fans at the convenience store. The world feels a little less heavy.

One night, as the girls lounge in the dorm, Sakura sits beside Hana, scrolling through her phone. She glances at Hana, a soft smile on her lips.

"You know, you’re really lucky," Sakura says quietly.

Hana looks up, puzzled. "Lucky?"

Sakura nods. "To have people who care about you. Not just us." She hesitates, then adds, "Heeseung reached out to me. He was worried about you. That’s why we’ve all been… well, extra annoying lately."

Hana’s eyes widen, her heart skipping a beat. "Heeseung…?"

Sakura nods, her tone gentle. "He wanted to make sure you weren’t alone. He said he’d do it himself if he could."

Hana is silent for a moment, her emotions swirling-surprise, gratitude, a bittersweet ache.

A warmth spreads through her chest. She hadn’t realized how much she needed to hear that someone, somewhere, was looking out for her-even if it had to be from afar.

Later that night, Hana sits on her bed, phone in hand. She scrolls through old photos of Heeseung.

She smiles, a tear slipping down her cheek-not from sadness, but from relief.

She types out a message, hesitates, then deletes it. Instead, she whispers into the quiet dorm room, as if he could hear her anyway:

"Thank you, Heeseung. For everything."

She feels lighter, the burden of the past weeks finally beginning to lift. Surrounded by her members’ love and knowing Heeseung is there for her, Hana finds the strength to face another day.

Tags: @jiyeons-closet, @mymayaship

♡♡♡Thankyou for reading♡♡♡

[wonderlandgoblin]

Okay, so I don’t watch Hazbin Hotel (if I wrote it wrong, sorry) but for like weeks, the only thing I see in the asexual tag is people complaining about allos shipping ace characters in a very allo way, and it’s been annoying me to no end, because while we do have to be upset about that, the ace tag should also function in a way for us to share jokes, have fun and enjoy our identity without having to fight for our right to exist.

So I propose we do something different. Let’s annoy the aphobes. I propose that from now on, every character becomes ace/aro/aroace. No more shipping fanfics, just platonic relationships and friendships. Every fanart is now SFW and has the ace/aro/aroace flags colors.

I DEMAND A REVOLUTION!!!!

Tell me the characters you’re claiming!

My ace claimings are:

1-Luffy (any pairing with him just gives me nausea)

2-Zoro (fuck zosan, he prefers swords over anything except maybe luffy, who he has a squish on)

3-Bakugou Katsuki (I love that kid, I’m making him one of my own)

4-Sasuke (I hate that guy, but he rejected both Sakura and Naruto, that kid’s definitely aroace)

5-Yor (my queen mama prefers killing over kissing, that should be an obvious sign)

6-Yona (no one’s touching my queen, she never liked Soo-won nor Hak, it was all social pressure to not end up alone, fight me)

7-Xie Lian (I don’t like the idea of anyone touching the god I worship, so that means he’s ace now)

8-Kageyama (idk why, he just has a vibe)

9-Handa from Barakamon (I don’t think this needs explanation)

10-Fushiguro Megumi (I like him, he’s one of my own now)

11-Maomao (she prefers venoms over sex)

12-Mash from Mashle (like, look at him, that guy just wants to exercise, eat and be with his family)

13-Violet Evergarden (I don’t think I need to explain this, this girl dedicated her entire life to understanding romance as it made no sense to her, aroace queen)

14-Sokka (he’s too smart to like sex)

15-Zuko (he’s an angel, angels don’t have sex)

16-Magnus Chase AND Alex Fierro (they’re my babies, I identify too much with them, the idea of them having sex gives me the ickies)

17-Jude from the Cruel Prince (I liked her better before she fell for that stupid fairy)

18-Edmund from Narnia (he was my childhood crush, I’m making him ace)

19-Annabeth Chase (she’s too perfect to have sex)

20-Alec Lightwood (I just like imagining Magnus loosing his shit every once in a while because of it)

21-Leo Valdez (bc why not?)

22-Blue Sargent and half the women she lives with (no explanation needed)

23-Dick Gansey the Third (he prefers dead kings over sex)

24-Katniss Everdeen (if you disagree, what is wrong with you?)

25-Castiel (fuck destiel shippers, angels don’t have sex)

26-Felicity from Arrow (haven’t finished the series but as far as I know, she’s too cool for sex)

27-Barbie (she’s a doll, she has no reproductive organs, she can’t feel desire)

I could probably pick more characters but I think this is enough for now, have fun annoying the aphobes!

[loganslowdown4]

TS Show News & Community Updates 2025

spider buds 4 lyfe (Jan 3)

Patton Filming In Closet (Jan 3)

Patton + YouTube Update (Jan 6)

Um Actually Banner (Jan 8)

Hermes’ Statue Camping Trip (Jan 9)

cThomas Filming In Closet (Jan 12)

Thomas’ ‘Last’ TikTok Send Off (Meme)(Jan 14)

Virgil I Need Sleep Filming (Jan 14)

Patton’s Birthday Cupcake + 2nd Cookie Cake (Jan 15)

Sleep Birthday Coffee Cake (Jan 16)

Virgil In The Closet (Jan 17)

Last TikTok From Thomas (Jan 18)

TikTok Ban Patton Meme (Jan 19)

Janus Filming/James And The Giant Peach (Jan 22)

Remus Filming/New Mustache (Jan 24)

Finding Old Sakura Sweater (Jan 27)

cThomas on the floor filming (Jan 27)

Virgil Filming (Jan 30)

January 2025 Updates

Janus’ Birthday Self Care Pics (Lemon pie & curd tart) (Feb 3)

One more Janus pic (Feb 3)

Current TV Shows Based On The Sides (Feb 17)

Virgil Filming/Still Sick/Body Positivity Chat (Feb 18)

Return Of The Jam Anniversary + Logan = Sonic When He Loses His Rings Except It’s Empty Jars lolol (Feb 19)

Another Virgil Update (Feb 19)

Adam Kreutinger (Feb 27)

News About Adam Kreutinger (Feb 28)

February 2025 Updates

More Filming Closet Done + Roman (Mar 1)

Virgil + His Hair (Mar 6)

Return To SvS Courtroom (Mar 8)

Location Filming / Roman (Mar 12)

Patton Filming (Mar 15)

Pepper Spray BTS Shorts + Roman (Mar 17)

Patton + Um Actually Preview (Mar 24)

Patton BTS (Mar 26)

Logan Classroom Filming (Mar 27)

Virgil Filming (Mar 31)

March 2025 Updates

More Virgil Updates + Palm Shirt Selfie (Apr 8)

Thomas Get A Dog (Apr 16)

Logan Filming/Cue Cards Update (Apr 23)

Logan Let’s Go Lesbians Meme (Apr 27)

Flower Field Thomas Pics (Apr 28)

One-Take Logan Singing The Elements (Apr 29)

‘Patton’ Plays Among Us Escape Simulator Announcement (Apr 30)

April 2025 Updates

Lesson Learned (Dad Guy Short) (May 1)

Roman Encouragement Message (May 5)

Roman Update (Crop Top/Needs Tea & Rest) (May 14)

Virgil Update (Roman Screaming) (May 14)

Virgil Update (he’s tired) (May 16)

YT Update No Vid Today/Guess Next Week (May 17) / My Guess Was Correct (May 24)

May 2025 Updates

Roman’s Birthday Post (Chocolate Lipstick)/Rose Macaron (June 4)

Janus Youtooz Teaser (June 5)

Roman & Patton Filming (Jun 13)

Father’s Day Message Patton (Jun 15)

Roman Jesus MLP (Jun 22)

Patton & Remus Updates (Jun 17-24)

Remus’ Birthday Post (Jun 25)

White Tee Logan (Jun 26)

Gay Pride Flag Beach Towel Shoot (Jun 30)

June 2025 Updates

Bee Movie With Gavin + Anime Intro Comparison (Jul 2)

Logan’s White Tee Location Shoot (Jul 2)

Shopping With Gavin + Gary Prince Cosplay comparison (Jul 2)

Remus Sighting (Jul 3)

YT Update (July 5)

[mrs0verthink3r]

New blog intro

The basic stuff about me

Age:16

Gender: female

Pronouns: she/her

Sexuality: straight

•Still looking for friends

Personally

I’m nice, but sometimes I feel like being a hater on a bad day

I do curse

Willing to talk to anyone

Hobbies

Drawing, Reading , Listening to music, Watch tv , Baking, Cuddling with my cat, Exercising ,Shopping

My interests

Movies / shows : MLP , Miraculous ladybug , Ginny and Georgia, squid game, Alice in borderland, stranger things the rookie, modern family, young Sheldon, Orphan, Saw  movies , Triangle ,The autopsy of Jane doe,  Hell house , terrifier, Grave encounters , Ready or not ,A quiet place, The Blair witch project , mha, Madoka Magica, kakegurui, and many more

Games : Genshin impact, Honkai star rail, Roblox, project sekai, Minecraft, Fnaf, shining Nikki ,pony town. ( I don’t have a pc,console, or computer ) 

Other things : I like cats sometimes other animals,  my favorite flowers are red spider lily’s, cherry blossoms, blue lotus flowers, and peony.

Fandoms: Creepypasta, slenderverse, Sanrio, vocaloids, ever after high, monster high,Bratz, Danganronpa, and more 

( I’M  NOT A TOXIC PERSON ) that includes everything I like, I’m not that type of person,and I don’t hate on other’s interests, and I don’t Sexualize characters. So there’s no need to worry about me.

Music artists I listen to

( I really like music) ( It’s in no Pacific order) 

24 hanabie

23 ATARASHII GAKKO!

22 Itzy - my bias- Yeji 

21 New jeans - my bias - Hanni

20 Halsey 

19 Insane clown posee 

18 Katy Perry 

17 Millionaires 

16 Kesha 

15 ILLIT - my bias - Minju

14 Britney Spears 

13 Black pink - my bias - Jennie 

12 Red velvet - my bias - Wendy 

11 le sserafim - my bias - Sakura 

10 Ic3peak 

9 Twice - my bias - Dahyun

8 Ive - my bias - Liz 

7 Aespa - my bias - Giselle 

6 Marina 

5 Lady Gaga 

4 Baby metal 

3 (G)I-DLE - my bias - Yuqi 

2 Jazmin bean 

1 Baby monster - my bias -  Ruka 

Daily Reminders for you and me 

Remember to drink water and eat healthy don’t skip a meal it’s only going to hurt you. 

Feel good about yourself don’t let others take away your confidence. 

It’s okay to take a break from social media for a few days or weeks everyone needs one. 

Please try to stay healthy I know so from personal experiences it can be hard but I believe in you try and get motivators work out. ( I like taking a shower or working out when I feel down it might be different for you though) 

Remember no is perfect  so it’s okay to make mistakes sometimes just don’t let it overflow 

DNI LIST 

Homophobic, Transphobic,etc.

Misogynistic

Racist, Sexist, Ableist, Discrimination, etc.

DO NOT  send me  S/H, e/d, etc stuff like that  

Overall

am here to talk if you want but if it’s sounds like it needs professional help please talk to a trusted adult. If you feel suicidal please text or call 988, 911, 741741 

Also don’t be an asshole, it’s my blog if you don’t like it you have a block button for reason so use it,  instead of being a no life who hates on everything you see. Have a good night or day everyone  :) 

[anndcodes]

03/10/23

i finished shecodes week 5 homework, and now the app we're building has real-time temperature, as well as description of temperature, humidity and wind! you can search the city or you can get temperature of your current location!! this is really cool!

learning about api has being really exciting, so i made a simple page using meow-facts api where you click meow to get facts about cats, you can check the repository and the live page!

really excited to learn more about api!

ps: this sakura chocolate is the cutest thing! i almost didn't eat it 🥺

[anerdinallherglory]

Approaching Sun (36)

Author’s Note: Hey again! Surprising you all with a new chapter a week apart. I had to cut the last one short and this one short as well, essentially dividing one chapter into three. This doesn’t mean the wordcount is short. This one comes in just under 10,000. But keep your eyes out for the next part. I also wanted to drop my linktree here: linktr.ee/anerdinallherglory so it’s easier to find all my info in one place. Please go and check it out! I am also looking for beta readers for my own personal novel. I’m even considering starting a newsletter or posting it back on Wattpad as a pre-published draft, but haven’t decided on that 100%. I will let you all know as soon as I decide. The tracks I recommend for this chapter: 1) Let Me Touch Your Fire by ARIZONA and 2) Daylight by Crypto/DEIIN. Thanks again for reading! 

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

Chapter 36: Demons

When Sasuke stepped into the brothel disguised as a bathhouse, an empty room greeted him. Not a single soul was in sight, and Sasuke wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, but the place being deserted was the worst possible outcome. It meant no traces, no answers, and Sasuke dreaded finding Sakura’s trail end in this damned place. It also made his stomach knot at the thought that this might be what the room typically looked like on an average night considering the private and concealed activities that occurred in separate chambers.

Despite the absolute darkness, Sasuke could make out giant undisturbed baths beyond the reception counter, the water a still onyx glass as if the baths were only there to serve as a display, never to be used. And that’s probably exactly what they were: a lie to disguise the truth of what this place actually was. Only Sasuke’s Sharingan could make out the alcove, the inconspicuous hallway in the back that Sasuke crept toward in the shadows. 

His visual abilities revealed the outline of the door at the end of it, where someone without visual prowess might find nothing but a wall. Sasuke placed his fingertips against it to push on the barricade, not detecting any sort of seal or rigging to prevent it from opening. Sasuke wasn’t surprised that there wasn’t considering this particular establishment housed regular citizens and not ninja. If ninja did inhabit the space, Sasuke figured that it was for a short, purposeful visit, not long-term residency. The door gave to his pressure and a faint light glowed through the opening as Sasuke silently slid the door until he had had hairline’s width to peer through. 

A group of women were the first thing Sasuke noticed, all gathered in the middle of the floor, some holding candles in various states of distress. Muffled, crying sounds reached his ears and Sasuke naturally found the dimly-lit faces where the noises originated, paths of light-reflecting tears striping their painted faces. There were also lavish styled chairs scattered throughout the room, some tipped on their sides and others still erect in rows.

A gruff male voice interrupted the women’s soft, plea-filled weeping and Sasuke’s uncovered Sharingan eye instantly narrowed as he located three supervising figures that towered over the distressed girls. They stood just outside of the candlelight between Sasuke and the group they were terrorizing, their shadows passing in front of the light source which made it very easy for Sasuke to trace their movements, even without his Sharingan. Their mistake, Sasuke thought to himself, as the words became more substantial. 

“There must be something else that she said,” hissed one man as he reached forward and fisted one of the older woman’s robes, yanking her forward from the group. The other girls screamed, clutching at the dangling woman and halting her movement forward. One girl was kicked down by the man because she dared to stand before him in an attempt to wrestle the woman from him. “You’re the Mother, aren’t you?!” he spat viscously in her face. “How could you make such a mistake? You let the enemy in, and you will pay for it!”

“We already told the last group of men here,” the woman gasped, tearing at the sleeve of the arm that held her in the air by her throat. “She’s gone to the Land of Fire’s border. That’s all we know. Please let me go.”

“Where?! Where at on the border?” 

“We don’t know!” a fair-headed girl pleaded, crawling forward to the man’s feet to look up imploringly into his shadowed face. “That’s all she said after she took the men away.”

“There must be more,” another man spoke, coming forward to respond to the girl and glare up at the hanging woman, too.  

Sasuke waited, dampening his eagerness to intervene. A situation such as this one was not typically one to cause any sort of reaction from Sasuke, but as his conscience had come back to him over the years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, these types of intimidation tactics on people who didn’t deserve it were the sort that pissed the Uchiha off in an unforgiving sort of way. But he couldn’t be too rash, considering the information he, too, was receiving from the exchange. Unfortunately, Sasuke was still the sort of person who would let that woman dangle for an eternity if it meant that he would get the answers he needed about Sakura’s actions and whereabouts. But at the same time, Sasuke was desperately hoping she knew nothing.

The woman choked, face purpling. She was beyond being able to speak now, her body no longer receiving the oxygen to use words, so the girls huddled on the floor made implorations on her behalf. 

“Stop this! You’re killing her!” 

“Give me more information and she we will live!” the man shouted down at them. “Or stay silent and she dies!” 

Another minute of silent crying had Sasuke’s hand itching toward the door, not certain how much information there was left to learn. Their tactic worked as intended, however, and Sasuke stilled himself once more when a dark-haired girl shuffled forward on her knees, barely old enough to be considered a mature adult. With beseeching hand movements, she disclosed, “I’ll tell you everything. Just let her go.”

“Talk first!” snarled the offender, shaking the matron for good measure. 

“All I know is that she dyed her hair after arriving. She’s in disguise,” she confessed with a shaky voice.

Finally receiving a scrap of intelligence, the man threw the matron toward the group of girls and there was more shrieking as she landed roughly among them, and their hands all scrabbled in unison to catch and break her fall. The matron coughed violently as color began to return to her face. 

“And?” the man enticed the young girl to continue, leaning down to fist her dressing gown next. 

The young girl returned his gaze with a fire that wasn’t there before. Now that she had replaced the matron’s spot in the face of the zealot, she laced her next words with venom. “And,” she murmured. “She’s going to kill every single one of you bastards.”

There was a loud strike against flesh, but the sound was infinitesimal compared to the crack of lightning that suddenly struck and shook the ceiling above them. Everyone fell to the ground at the sound, covering their ears and crawling toward one another instinctively. Even the three men crouched in surprise, but they were the first to recover, casting their eyes about wildly. 

As the three extremists turned to assess the room’s entrance, the door that separated them from the Uchiha was now fully open, the darkness of the hallway consuming all of Sasuke’s person except for his unconcealed blood red eye. When he stepped into the room, the three ninja prepared themselves to face the new threat, which was a mistake, because all three of them locked eyes with red and purple. 

Without a second of passing time, the three men fell back to their knees and their screams were positively delicious sounds as they succumbed to the horrors Sasuke had planned for them in his genjutsu. They would suffer and the chakra it cost the Uchiha to do it was worth it based on their screaming alone.   

The girls scrambled to collect the candles they had dropped out of fear when the lightning had struck, each of them desperate to claim some light to reveal what monster had just stepped into the room with them. When the youngest girl successfully secured one, she brought it to her face only to reveal Sasuke’s dark outline standing before her. When she looked up into his Sharingan, she dropped the candle once more. 

“The devil,” she whispered, speaking the word as if doing so had sealed her fate. “He’s finally come for me.”

Panicked gasps, crying, and prayers fabricated into existence around Sasuke as the other girls beheld the apparition of him for themselves, a phantom of black and red and purple delivering punishment to the three begging men now behind him.  

Sasuke crouched before the young, dark-haired girl, the very one who had revealed information about Sakura to the three anti-peace members, all of whom would soon not be able to remember anything but Sasuke’s katana as it penetrated their bodies over and over. How fitting a description, Sasuke thought to himself as he remembered Itachi, whom the genjutsu he now used was modeled after, how devil-like the Uchiha clan became when they were set on protecting something they cared about.

“Not for any of you,” Sasuke responded coldly, wasting no time to reach for her terrified face over the flickering circumference of the discarded candlelight between their bodies. When he clutched her chin between his fingers, her eyes widened in fear, which was positively advantageous for the Uchiha as he peered through them to search her memories. 

Sasuke moved through this girl’s memories just like the phantom she imagined him to be, gliding through the very sins she committed tonight until he saw the scene he was looking for: Sakura’s face coming into view as she entered into the dark room in which this girl and a man were coupled on a lounge, both still wet from the bath. They were wrapped in one another’s arms, exchanging sweet whispers to each other in the dark. 

Sakura seemed surprised by this fact, as if she hadn’t expected to find them nestling into one another there. Sasuke watched his teammate hesitate for just a moment until a needle sank into the man’s flesh. The girl from whose eyes Sasuke watched his former teammate, gasped at the sudden attack. Untangling himself, the man swung in Sakura’s direction. “You,” he had hissed. “You’re—” he began before falling to the floor lifelessly, incapacitated by the drug that Sakura had injected him with.

Sakura stared down at him for a moment, eyes flashing back toward the girl, before she reached down to flip over the man’s body, so that he could breathe freely. 

Sasuke couldn’t focus on anything other than the raven black of Sakura’s tinted hair. A small part of his heart wanted to linger on the scene, imagine a child with Sakura’s features and Sasuke’s hair. He fisted the emotions and shoved them back, resuming the memory. 

“Hae, what are you doing!?” screamed the girl, scrambling from the lounge onto the floor beside the man. 

“I am sorry, Tabi.” Sakura whispered, biting into her thumb and performing a summoning jutsu that Sasuke was too familiar with. Katsuyu, Sakura and the Fifth Hokage’s summoning familiar, materialized into existence on the spot on the floor where Sakura had pressed her five-fingered seal. To Tabi’s extreme horror, the slug, human-sized, began to encapsulate the man she desperately tried to shield away from the creature. But her hands disappeared into the mucusy flesh of the gastropod, failing to gain any purchase.

“Who are you?! Why are you doing this?” she cried, backing speedily away when the creature began to absorb her hands as well. 

“There’s not much time to explain,” Sakura replied, coming to bend down before the girl. Sakura knelt before the girl, revealing a small canvas bundle of small bottles, needles, and medicines. “I’m not really in this business as I made all of you believe. I’m a doctor and I only have a few minutes to help you.”

When Tabi said nothing else, just stared at Sakura in confusion, she asked carefully, “Do you suspect that you’re pregnant?”

Tabi’s mouth fell open at the revelation and her hands moved to her stomach at the mention of pregnancy. The tears that began to fall from her face was confirmation enough for the medic. She asked her next question. “Do you want to keep it?”

“What?” Tabi asked, wondering how the woman before her could have suspected something Tabi only was beginning to experience the symptoms of. 

“Do you want this baby? There are ways to—”

“Yes, I want it!” Tabi cried, hugging herself and flinching away from the unrolled canvas parcel of vials as she began to see the collection in a new light. “The baby is mine and—” she protested, turning back to the man who was now completely encased by the slug. “What are you doing to him?!”

Sakura’s eyes flicked over to the man and only Sasuke was able to recognize the regret in them. “He’s one of the members of Zenshin,” Sakura informed the distraught girl. “It’s my mission to eradicate the organization.” 

“Please,” Tabi begged, grasping Sakura’s arms with her hands, stilling them over the bag of medical supplies. “You can’t take him. He’s different from the others. We love each other.”

Sasuke saw Sakura chew her lip in thought, rerolling the canvas bag into a tight parcel. He instantly knew Sakura was thinking of him, his face flashing in her mind as she faced Tabi. The confliction there let Sasuke know exactly what she was thinking. Just as Sakura so desperately wanted her own happy ending, she also wanted Tabi to have hers. But her eyes hardened, and she removed her arms from Tabi’s hands. In that very same instant, the slug dematerialized into nothing, taking the man with her to wherever the slug disappeared to. 

“If Toka loves you, he will come back to you once I am finished with him,” Sakura divulged, looking pointedly at her stomach. “Does he know?”

Tabi shook her head, more tears streaming down her face. “I was going to tell him once he left them. He was going to do it soon—run away with me.” 

Sakura nodded and shoved the canvas bundle into Tabi’s shaking hands. “Give these to the other girls and have them follow the directions inside. I don’t know how well you guys are taking care of yourselves here, but there are medicines in here. To prevent pregnancy— and to protect yourselves from diseases. As a medic, I can’t leave here without doing at least this.”

Sasuke flinched at the scene before him, knowing that Sakura had carried that on her person, probably having prepared it in advance for this very mission in this damn brothel, intended for her own personal use. Sasuke had never been so close to wanting to vomit in his life. He wanted to reach through this memory and grab her arm and force her to explain all of this to him. Why would she take such risks for a mission—abuse herself in this way?

“Where are you going?” Tabi beseeched, focused more on the fact that this parting gift meant Sakura’s immediate intentions to depart along with the man she loved. 

“The border of the Land of Fire,” Sakura responded without hesitation as she met Tabi’s gaze with hers. “You can tell that to whoever comes asking questions,” the woman who Tabi had believed was named Hae added. “It’s the truth and it’s not a secret. Let them come.”

Sasuke closed his eyes at the intentional crumb she had left for the enemy. She had probably told every girl who had asked this information the same response. It was obvious that she was luring whoever was left of the organization out of Tanigakure. They had more of a personal vendetta against her now after her actions tonight and would definitely pursue, especially since they believed she was acting alone. It would be perfect for them, to eliminate their Number 1 and get revenge in the same motion. The temptation to chase would be too great.

As Sakura stood and headed back for the door, she turned back to Tabi, who was still kneeling on the ground and clutching the bundle of medications to her stomach, shielding the small flutter of life that had started there. 

When Sakura’s eyes met Tabi’s, Sasuke suddenly felt as if Sakura were looking beyond them, into the memory itself until her eyes met Sasuke’s within. “In case you’re watching this, I can handle this alone. I don’t need your help.” Sasuke felt Tabi’s confusion as the girl failed to comprehend Sakura’s last words. Sasuke, however, knew exactly who those words were for: the Uchiha, himself. So, she knew. Sakura had known that he was here in Tanigakure searching for her. She had predicted that he would track her to this place and perform this very jutsu. 

When Sakura closed the door behind her, leaving Tabi to sob uncontrollably to herself, Sasuke rewound the memory further, past the indecencies between the girl and the man called Toka, until he was watching the same man spin Sakura in front of a crowd of lust-hungry brutes. Sasuke froze the scene before him, eyes narrowing as he memorized each of their faces. One man came forward and grabbed Sakura, pulling her into his lap. His eyes were tightly bound, and the blind stranger leaned his mouth against Sakura’s ear in the dimly lit room. To Sasuke’s extreme dissatisfaction, Tabi had not heard, and therefore Sasuke could not decipher what the man had whispered in his teammate’s ear. Sasuke was beyond disappointed to miss the very words that he would repeat to the man as the Uchiha eviscerated him. The memory of Sakura ended once more as Toka led Tabi away to their private room. 

Thoroughly enraged at what he had just witnessed, Sasuke cursed to himself as he released the young woman’s chin. Tabi gasped when Sasuke retreated viciously from her mind, and she fell back on her wrists away from him. Sasuke’s crimson gaze fell on every girl who clustered in the darkness, gaping openly at him in terror, and he couldn’t help but picture Sakura in all of their faces. They, too, had been feasted upon by the eyes of despicable men, dragged into laps and so much more. In another life and in different set of circumstances, who knows if Sakura might have ended up trying to earn her living doing such a thing, too. He pitied every woman who had no other options. Sasuke would not consider himself a sentimental or feeling person. In fact, he wanted nothing more than to turn on his heel and vanish from the room in the same manner in which he had appeared, letting his fire-style impede the very building in which he stood. But he wavered, glancing down at the tiny swell of Tabi’s malnourished stomach. With his Rinnegan, Sasuke could see the tiny orb of light there. It pulsed like a tiny, throbbing sun.

Leaning fully into the devil character they believed him to be, Sasuke did something very much unlike himself. He took the time to say, “Leave this place and do not come back. Every single one of you.” He turned back down to Tabi once more and said, “Your child deserves a peaceful world. The next generation does not need to suffer for the sins of their parents.”

And then Sasuke, like a demon specter made of shadows, turned and vanished back into the blackness of a hellish night. 

.

.

.

The downpour lasted long into the night and Sakura swore at her bad luck. Sakura had quickly snagged a set of clothing from one of the smaller ninja that she had rendered unconscious back at the bathhouse. Even still, the man’s clothes hung loosely on her thinner, angular frame and Sakura had apologized to the palm-sized version of Katsuyu that clung to Sakura’s skin at the slug’s initial repulsion to the smell of the stranger’s attire. Sakura hadn’t had time to find her original set of clothing once her mission had begun; the tight-fitting robes from the bathhouse had been insufficiently insulated, so Sakura had tugged on one of the radical’s dark pants, black jacket, and matching vest in the presence of one of the horrified girls without explanation as the girl watched Katuyu absorb another person and whisk them away. Strategically, Sakura had even adorned her forehead with the five-spiral headband tucked away in the man’s vest just in case it was slightly advantageous to do so. Sakura had only seen the forehead protector twice before, but more recently caught a glimpse of it in the desert when Mako was thrown the identical headband for successfully kidnapping her. 

With her shadow-colored hair tucked hurriedly under the jacket’s stiff-fabric hood, Sakura pulled the shirt’s loose-fitting collar up and over her nose so that only her eyes and the headband were visible on her brow. She had hoped such a disguise would at least get her out of Tanigakure unnoticed in the night. Surprisingly enough, Tanigakure’s “peaceful” reputation and open access to travelers made it relatively easy for Sakura to locate a small mountain path that exited the village undetected. The kunoichi also allowed herself a moment of pride, because not being stopped also meant that she had been quick enough with the execution of her plan. She had handled any immediate threats back at the brothel, making it out before any other Zenshin members could discover the cookie crumb she had left behind for them to find. 

It was dark, and the rain was merciless as Sakura skirted the side of the mountain, taking refuge from the rain in the dense tree cover that blanketed the landscape. The tree limbs bowed beneath the weight of her hurdles as she bounded from branch to branch, arms thrown behind her as she mercilessly raced toward the border between the Land of Rivers and Land of Fire. Once she had guided her likely pursuers into the Land of Fire, Sakura would be able to handle the rest of them as she pleased, as recklessly as she pleased. She would no longer have to worry about causing any catastrophes in Tanigakure that the Leaf or the Sand might have to take responsibility for. 

She had expected a pursuit. Mako had told Sakura that there were Zenshin members all throughout the shinobi world—eventually, they would come for her, too—but the remaining Zenshin members in Tanigakure would be absolutely desperate to prevent her from reaching the border. But what Sakura had not expected was the speed in which some of them had caught up with her. 

When Sakura had first picked up on the footfalls that those without the sharpened senses of a ninja wouldn’t be able to distinguish beyond the crashing rain against the canopy above, Sakura had immediately halted her movements in the branches. Tucking her body tightly into the bough of a tree, she contemplated her options as the voices began to near her. Considering that it took Sasuke and Sakura two days of leisure travel to reach Tanigakure from Konoha, Sakura was predicting that it would likely take her a fraction of that time to reach the border—which was located much closer to Tanigakure than the Leaf—at the speed in which she was travelling now. If her estimations were right, it would be essentially six hours, four of which had already transpired since her exit. Could she simply outrun them for another two hours? 

Maybe the solution was something simpler, something E-Rank that Sakura hadn’t used since her Genin days. Sakura thought back to her interaction with the second man she had spoken with at the brothel, “the clown” of the group as Rugo had called him. Sakura’s initial target who had asked Sakura questions, investigating if she were “new, new.” Sakura focused on his features as she performed a transformation. The Transformation Jutsu had its flaws, which is why it wasn’t used too often, especially in the presence of experienced shinobi or those who could see chakra with a visual prowess like the Sharingan or Byakugan, or detect chakra signatures like the ninja, Karin. But a confrontation was going to be inevitable regardless of whether or not Sakura could fool them with a jutsu; she would just have to face them head on sooner than she had wanted. If it were the latter, then the jutsu possibly failing was a moot point, so there was no harm in crossing her fingers and going for it. The jutsu wouldn’t have to be flawless to be effective.

She could hardly assess them, the rain a thick sheet between herself and the enemy. There were three of them, all cloaked and protected from the elements. The low number made Sakura suspect that this was one of many search parties and their likelihood of finding her had less to do with their skill at tracking and more to do with fact that at least one group was going to guess her direction of travel correctly and encounter her by chance. She waited until they were practically under her perch to make her choice. 

Without a second more of hesitation, Sakura dropped several feet in front of them, shouting in a voice that had thickened into that obnoxiously loud tenor from the brothel. “I think she went this way!” Sakura didn’t wait to hear a response as she darted forward into the night. 

“Araki?!” came a woman’s voice as she was the first to recognize the man whom was Sakura’s current disguise. The female immediately followed as she continued to shout after who she believed was her fellow Zenshin member. 

“Hurry!” Sakura screamed back in reply but did not slow her pace for them. One of the Transformation Jutsu’s innate failings that made it unfavorable to use, was that it was difficult to converse with others or perform other mental feats because a ninja had to pour a lot of focus into channeling chakra into maintaining the transformation. It’s the very reason why a lot of transformations didn’t last too long; some people were better at executing it than others. It wasn’t overly difficult for Sakura to engage in conversation while transformed, but she didn’t know her enemy very well or their various jutsu and talents, so she decided to take advantage of the chase element of their interaction to avoid super close proximity. 

Like shadowed hounds that thought they had found one of their own kind, they pursued after Sakura, barking after her as their feet collided with the ground, thinking they were joining the hunt when in fact they were chasing the very goose they were after. 

“How do you know she went this way, Araki?” a male voice called up to her through the thundering rain, and Sakura barely made it out. 

“She’s making a run for the Leaf Village, but we have to catch her before she gets too far over the border!” Sakura called back with the same arrogant confidence Araki had spoken to her with at the brothel.

“How did you escape? Weren’t you with the others at the bathhouse? What happened to them?” the woman’s voice called out again, firing questions off faster than the rain could fall from the sky, and maybe Sasuke had started to rub off on Sakura the past couple of months, but the relentless inquiries were beginning to annoy her.

Sakura didn’t know if she should even attempt to respond. She knew very little about this Araki’s personality, other than the fact that he was loud, bold, and talked incessantly as well. But Sakura was not comfortable sustaining an unrehearsed act for long segments, and was unsure exactly what types of ridiculous comments were normal for the man. A little too late, Sakura wondered if Rugo or Toka would have been a better choice to impersonate with their various stoicism in comparison to Ataki; their seriousness would have suited Sakura’s current circumstances better. As a side note to rationalize her choice, Sakura wasn’t too sure about how Rugo’s blindness affected his abilities, and Sakura naturally wanted to steer clear of casting Toka in more of a negative light in case he really was trying to cut ties with Zenshin as Tabi had claimed. 

“We have to move faster!” Sakura deflected, pretending not to hear them as she bounded further ahead of them to create a safer distance between them.

Sakura relentlessly pushed them forward, a shadow before them that they could barely distinguish as it was. She was desperately clinging to the transformation even as she strategically considered her next move. Sakura had crossed the river she and Sasuke had camped at on their second night of traveling together hours ago. She was only minutes away from the border now. For the most part, Sakura had chosen to stick to the same remote path she and Sasuke had taken from Konoha because it was the most recent in her memory and it was a small miracle she wasn’t getting the four of them completely lost in this starless monsoon. At some point over the past hour, she dissected from that trail, travelling northwest for the plains she remembered passing through during a mission with Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai. 

The forest thinned as Sakura neared the space between forests, the sizeable meadow surrounded by rocky plateaus like the very mountain the Leaf was built up against. Seeing such familiar forested landscape, Sakura could have wept in relief. Her lungs shuttered from the relentlessness of her breathing and her legs practically felt numb and cold from the freezing rain, but the pain was absolutely miniscule in comparison to the absolute thrill she felt in her bones when she took her first step across an imaginary line only a ninja who had crossed it multiple times would remember even in the hours just before sunrise. She stumbled to a stop in the knee-high grass, wading through ankle-deep flood waters, stealing herself for what was to come. As much as she wanted to fall to her knees, tilt her head up to face the rain, and not get back up, she couldn’t quit yet. 

The three ninja following her burst from the trees behind, lurching to a halt when they realized their front-runner had finally stopped. “Did you find her!” one called out to her, but Sakura didn’t answer as she turned to face them. Sensing a change, one of the ninja suddenly stopped in his tracks and held his arm out to halt the others. 

“Araki?” he asked, preventing his team from moving any further toward her as she stood unmoving and waiting for them. Sakura wasn’t intending to suddenly act so predatory, her shift in nature causing them to hesitate like all prey before a hunter, but she was just so tired of pretending. She let the transformation fall away and the girl in the group gasped. Sakura could still sense their confusion, and their assessments of her outfit and headband that mirrored their own was almost painful to watch. 

Deciding that the charade was truly well and over, Sakura relieved them of their nervous bewilderment. “Unfortunately, no,” she called back, talking loudly to reach them through the persistent deluge around them. 

“I was wondering why he was being so quiet,” one of the male voices answered, pushing forward to stand in front of his teammates. “It’s her. The Haruno girl. She’s in disguise.” Sakura could hear the girl gasp again before she grabbed onto the man’s arm fearfully to pause his advance.  

Sakura pressed against the inner-pocket of her jacket, whispering, “Are you still with me, Lady Katusyu?”

“Yes, Sakura dear,” the small slug replied, slithering out to greet her despite the rain. “I’m here if you need me.”

“Hang on tight, then,” came Sakura’s instructions as she tucked her back away. “I’ll be sending more your way soon.” 

A laughter broke out near the tree line and Sakura saw one man shove forward, past his concerned and apprehensive teammates. Sakura could make out his flashy, red cloak for the first time now that he was closer in the downpour. “You’ve given us exactly what we wanted—lead us far away where no one can help you, now! I am going to have so much fun beating you within an inch of your life!” 

“What are you waiting for, then?” Sakura goaded, pleasantly surprised when the cloaked man rushed forward despite his teammates’ beseeching council. 

The man charged at her, sloshing his way through the muddy field, and Sakura let him come, let his momentum carry him face first into the punch she had waiting for him. He sailed backward, right into his other male companion and they skipped like scattered stone across the flooding pasture. Even in the dark, Sakura could see the mud [SR1] that sprayed up around them, covering their once distinguishable features in total blackness. That felt so good. After days of secrecy, disguising her power and identity, the release of her physical abilities was positively glorious. Sakura didn’t have a ton of chakra left at her disposal after her repetitive use of the Summoning Technique, but she had the adequate amount remaining in order to take care of these three and anyone who decided to show up later. 

The girl, who had avoided the collision, came for Sakura next, and as she neared, Sakura was able to finally get a decent look at her. Her hair was white beneath her black cloak’s cowl and her brow was adorned with the anti-peace symbol. Sakura wanted to talk to her, ask her opinions and learn her story, investigating her personal vendetta against the peace they had all fought so hard for during the Fourth Shinobi War. The girl quickly began to form the signs for a fire release and Sakura’s eyes widened as the heavy rain suddenly steamed around her as it hit the girl’s body and hissed into hot air. When the floodwaters pooled at Sakura’s feet began to bubble, Sakura cursed as she jumped back and into the air to avoid the boiling water below. At first, Sakura feared that the girl might have the Boil Release Kekkei Genkai, a transformation of water and fire nature energies, but as Sakura began to descend from her fall, the girl met her in the air, and Sakura soon realized that she had a unique fire release that allowed her to direct heat from pinpoints on her body. Sakura’s shielding kick that made contact with the girl’s stomach was instantly scorched through her boot from having touched her, and Sakura hissed. 

“Die!” the ninja screamed, grabbing onto Sakura’s calf muscle with both burning hands and swinging her right into the arms of her knife-wielding companion. But Sakura gripped the man’s arms and simultaneously kicked against the girls’ stomach, deeper into her magma flesh, gritting her teeth at the pain, but directing her immense strength into the blow. The girl went sailing into the trees just as the red-coated man had done seconds before this second confrontation. Using the same momentum, Sakura swung up and over her captor’s shoulders, slipping easily from his grasp. 

She landed behind him, a dark-haired, broad-shouldered man with silver pupil-less irises that reminded Sakura of the Kazekage. She saw these eyes clearly despite the darkness and the mud smeared across his face practically made them glow. The ninja turned on his heel to intercept her next blow, his knife catching her cheek just before he also received the brunt force of her physical strength. 

Sakura could feel the water around her already tenderized ankle start to boil again, and Sakura swore, locating the girl with her eyes. Sakura had to admit that this girl was quite literally making it impossible to remain standing on her own two feet. Even if Sakura summoned chakra to the soles of her feet to walk on the surface of the five inches of saturation, Sakura knew that the water would quickly melt through her stolen shoes completely, so Sakura came up with another solution. She wouldn’t let this girl scald her from a distance; if this fire-nature ninja wanted to land another injury on Sakura, she was going to have to get up close and personal, just as Sakura liked it.

Sakura exhaled when her uninjured hand collided with the ground at her feet. “SHANNARO!” she screamed as the entire landscape fractured beneath her, spiderwebbing across the plain until all the rainwater succumbed to gravity, falling down the sides of new projectiles of earth, and down into the fissures. Sakura perched on top of one of the new pillars like a bird of night, staring down at her three recovered enemies who stared up at her with a new appreciation. 

“You bitch,” the female spat up at Sakura, but Sakura ignored her. She fisted the anti-peace forehead protector on her brow and tossed it down to the three of them. She pulled back her hood and looked up into the sky as it fell on her face, the rain fingering her dyed tresses until streaks of black began to run down her chin along with the blood from her sliced cheek. Keeping it always on her person, Sakura reached into her vest and revealed her own shinobi headband, the red one bearing the Leaf Village symbol she had worn as a chunin. She tied it tightly against her forehead and across the back of her ink-dripping crown and thought how fitting it felt to bear her flag now that she was standing in Land of Fire territory. She saw her enemies’ shocked and exchanged expressions when green regenerative chakra began to glow around her knuckles, her cheek, and the various burns on her leg and ankle, healing the damage in seconds. 

“You guys didn’t do a lot of research on your target, did you?” Sakura called down to them. She couldn’t understand it, the surprise. If they were not originally from Tanigakure, who had been neutral, that would mean they had all fought together in the war. So how did they not know every detail about Sakura? Sakura began to collect various pieces of information in her brain and a realization formed. Most of the members of this organization that Sakura had encountered in Tanigakure so far had not been overly remarkable. Aside from the shade she went head-to-head with in the sands surrounding Suna, everyone seemed to know the bare minimum of Sakura’s power. They knew of her, but not what she was capable of. In fact, they seemed content to hang back and relish in the fear created by their superiors, and Sakura suddenly realized why some of them might be interested in a world that created bitter and stronger generations to follow them. They were those ninja who hung back during the war, who let others—the strong and fearless—do all the work because they could not; it’s why they wanted to mimic conditions that would create strength in other ninja for them to hide behind. Huh, Sakura thought privately to herself. She wondered who exactly was taking advantage of ninja like this to kill off others who stood in their way. Who exactly was the leader?

“We know enough to kill you,” the silver-eyed one spoke, and his voice was raspy and menacing. Even his voice reminded her of the Kazekage, along with the sand-weilder’s path to redemption, and Sakura tried not to be distracted as she imagined this dark-haired ninja capable of a future where he could redirect his efforts into a righteous cause. This type of thinking, while keeping her intentions toward others good, would cloud her judgement now. 

“We have to get information from her first and then deliver her to the boss,” reminded the red cloaked one, whom Sakura had all but forgotten was there after she sent him flying for his bold move to attack first. 

The other two swapped looks of apprehension to one another, as if they weren’t sure they were going to be able to restrain and deliver blows to get her to talk, after all. And Sakura smiled because, she too, knew that wasn’t going to be happening. 

Sakura’s finger bled once again when she bit back into it, and now that the rain had washed away most of her ivory face paint, the Hundred Healing’s seal spanned out across her forehead in black stripes. It was still activated since her very first summoning of Katsuyu, and Sakura could feel the steady drain of chakra from her body that it was costing her to maintain the states of all her captives where she had reverse summoned them back to Katsuyu’s home in Shikkotsu forest. Since Sakura wasn’t having to heal her horde of hostages, but rather, keep them all in an unconscious state, cryogenized in the chamber of Katsuyu’s flesh, the chakra being loaned to her familiar was a trickle, but it was still depleting her already diminishing levels. 

“Are you alright, Sakura dear?” came Katsuyu’s voice from the inside pocket of her vest, the slug sensing her labored breathing and strain on the chakra connection between them. 

Sakura nodded, whispering, “Yes. I have a few more summons in me. If more enemies appear here, I might not be able to hold onto the jutsu. The connection will be severed between us. What happens then?”

Katsuyu’s answer came back as a whisper in the relentless pattering of rain against Sakura’s flesh. “It will take them all some time to come out of comatose. When they do, they will have nowhere to go. The Shikkotsu forest is an endless maze of jungle. They’ll be in the same spot when you come for them.”

“Excellent,” Sakura responded, reaching into her waistband, and withdrawing three vials of sedative. Privately and expertly, Sakura filled three needles with the drug and placed each between her teeth until three needles protruded from her mouth like the fangs of a demon.  Next, Sakura palmed her bloody hand into the top of the jagged steeple of earth on which she still stood and cried “Summoning Jutsu!” as clearly as she could manage with a mouthful of liquid sleep.  

The three human-sized divisions of Katsuyu’s body slithered down the sides of the post and came to a stop when Sakura’s own feet touched level ground once more, the water no longer coagulating around her ankles. 

“Here she comes!” shouted the girl, and Sakura smirked as she sprinted straight towards them through the rain, engaging each one in a pirouette of hand-to-hand combat. 

Just as Sakura had once fought Sasori’s countless puppets on the end of Lady Chiyo’s chakra threads, Sakura took control of her own strings now and navigated smoothly between her enemies’ strikes like a leaf darting on the wind. Deflect, block, strike, defend, parry, punch. The actions were faster than Sakura could even think of which move to execute next, and she let her muscles act on memory alone. 

She could feel the heat of the white-haired girl’s skin every time one of her open-palmed strikes grazed Sakura’s body. She was aiming for the most incapacitating of areas like the eyes, her hands, legs, or any other placement that might cripple Sakura temporarily. But every time the ninja got close to landing a hit on her, the sound of sizzling rain would alert Sakura’s sharp ears to her nearness and Sakura would dodge just in time. Sakura focused on the mud covered, silver-eyed enemy before her, turning to the side to dodge his kunai stab to her stomach. She fisted his own weapon hand with her own and used his own piercing thrust to direct it into the stomach of the red-cloaked shinobi who had come up behind her and fisted her inky, wet hair. She heard his cry at the same moment that the grip on her hair slackened. When the white-haired kunoichi recovered and came at her again, Sakura was ready. Grabbing the silver-haired ninja by the leg as he fell, Sakura swung him like her own weapon, right into the burning arms of his companion. The two of them collapsed into a tangle together, and Sakura’s knee was in the man’s back as she sank his body deeper into the lava skin of the fire-wielding ninja until he began to scream. Sakura used his screams to motivate the white-haired ninja. She would eventually stop her fire-nature jutsu. 

Sakura couldn’t risk incinerating the needle, so she waited patiently, yanking out the syringe of her mouth in the meantime. She saw the girl’s eyes widen at the damage she was inflicting upon her partner, and the melting instantly stopped. Sakura plunged the needle into her neck, followed by a dose for the silver-eyed ninja. [SR2] They both fell unconscious against one another, and two of three Katusyus had already crawled to meet them.  

When Sakura pulled the last syringe from her mouth and turned to face the red-cloaked man who had been stabbed, she was surprised to find him already standing before her in the darkness. He knocked the syringe out of her hand and seized Sakura’s throat, slamming her against one of the pillars of earth at Sakura’s back. The very blade that had lacerated his stomach was now pointing into her navel, still bloody and dripping from his own injury. Sakura’s next move was going to be to knee him directly where his wound bloomed the same shade as his cloak in order to create a safe space between them again. Even if he managed to cut her open, Sakura would use her Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu to heal herself before the blood loss rendered her unconscious. However, his next words made her reevaluate her actions at the last moment. 

“When Mozai finally has his way with you, I’m going to enjoy every minute of it,” he snarled as he pinned her body with his. The knife in his hand dug into her flesh with every word and Sakura hissed at the sudden pain. 

As she reached up to push against his hold on her throat, she choked out, “Who’s Mozai? Is he your boss?” She pretended to weaken at his hold. She needed to keep him talking and feeding her the information she wanted. 

“Someone who will do a lot worse to you than I’m about to do.” His knife suddenly pulled away from her and began to snake up Sakura’s clothing, cutting a trail of blood up her bare stomach. She gritted her teeth against the pain, holding back the instinct to break the wrist around her throat. If Sakura could just get him back on the topic of her choice. 

“He’s nothing without his henchmen. Didn’t you want to know what happened to the others?” she strained to ask next, spluttering the words, trying to regain his attention. 

He laughed, a cruel, wicked laugh that reminded Sakura of the deranged Orochimaru. It was the sort of laugh that alerted her to his madness, the deeper and more dangerous kind of madness that a medic such as herself was easily able to recognize no matter how hard one tried to hide it. “He knows where you’ve run off to, and we will find the others soon enough now that I know your pets have taken them.” He pushed harder against her throat and despite her efforts to remain calm and focus, Sakura’s vision still blackened from the lack of oxygen and her grip on him tightened. In that moment, Sakura barely even felt Kaguya’s small body drop from her clothing. With her squinting eyes, Sakura witnessed the small slug make a dash for the syringe that Sakura had dropped earlier. At the same time, she realized that Katsuyu knew that it was their last dose of sedative and the slug wanted to either protect or retrieve it for Sakura.

The rain was still coming down so hard, a shower soaking every inch of Sakura’s newly exposed stomach. It made the knife he was ghosting her skin with wet and slick as it bounced against her skin, causing knicks and superficial lacerations where it touched. Sakura couldn’t tell if she was only feeling the rain, or the trickling of her own blood. Was it pooling at her feet with the man’s own colors of red? 

“But he won’t mind if I have my fun with you first before he gets here,” came his thickened voice as he placed the hilt of his kunai between his teeth and replaced the pressure against her stomach with his fingers. They caressed her abdomen, smearing the blood there. Sakura realized in this moment that the game of holding back for information was over. 

But before she could act, break his hold on her, and shove him away from her, Sakura’s stomach dropped as her vision came to focus over the man’s shoulder at the shadow that stood there in the rain, red eye flashing as he unsheathed his katana. The rain rendered him nearly invisible in the dark and Sakura sucked in a breath of alarm.

“You’re going to die if you don’t let go,” came Sakura’s hurried warning to the man still inching his hand up her shirt. The vice on Sakura’s throat instantly slackened when a blade came across the man’s throat, not hesitating to sunder the man’s head from his shoulders. Before the damage was inflicted, Sakura’s hand shot out and grabbed Sasuke’s katana just in time, the bite of the blade sliding against the palm of her hand until she stopped its movement completely with her grip. She fisted the quaking blade, and it was immediately abandoned. 

Sakura was powerless to stop what happened next. In the very next second, the man was thrown from her, catapulted near across the field as Sasuke pivoted to ram his fist into the side of the man’s face. Sasuke, too, disappeared as he teleported, switching positions with the bloody kunai the man had possessed. Before the kunai stuck true in the grass at Sakura’s feet, the Uchiha was on top of his victim in a millisecond, and Sakura could hear the man’s screams as she ran toward them in the rain, still clutching Sasuke’s katana in a bloody grip.

“Sasuke, don’t!” she screamed, desperate to reach him in time. Sakura soon realized that the distance the man had been sent wasn’t just a coincidence. It served two purposes: to deliver a harder impact, and to generate enough space from Sakura to give Sasuke the extra second of time to exact whatever revenge he had in mind. The kunoichi spared one minute to find Katsuyu, a bright pinpoint of white in the overwhelming darkness. Beneath the slug, lay the last injection of sedative, and she scooped them both up. 

“Follow me,” she instructed the last of the three summonings of Katsuyu’s body.  

The screaming was Sakura’s only compass in the storm, guiding her to the source of the brutalization. When she finally neared them, two dark obscurities in the night, Sasuke was fisting both of the man’s hands with his single grasp. The black flames of Amaterasu were already ravishing the bones of his ten fingers. 

“You seem awfully fond of these hands of yours,” Sasuke sneered, “let’s begin here, shall we?” The flames spread to the man’s palms and then his wrists, a drawn-out creeping of flickering black that couldn’t be anything other than an intentional deliberateness—to maximize the pain of it. The red-cloaked ninja’s screams were louder than any suffering Sakura had ever heard. 

The kunoichi could see the smirk on Sasuke’s face as she finally came around to face him, and her stomach turned to ice. Even his words delivered a blow to her heart in a familiar way. It was like the Chunin Exams: the ferocity, the visible fury rolling off of him in waves, the embracing of inner-darkness. Sakura had only ever seen Sasuke resort to methods of torture a few times in her life, and the sight struck such fear into her heart. Don’t you see? She thought to herself at the terrifying vision of the Uchiha stooped over the scorching man. Don’t you see what the price of his love will be? 

“Sasuke! Stop! You can’t kill him!” she shouted over the rain and guttural begging, grabbing onto the Uchiha’s clothing, fisting the wet fabric in her fingers. He didn’t budge, just let the fire spread as he watched and drank the pinned man’s screams, as if hearing them would quench a deeply buried thirst. 

When Sakura’s immense strength lifted Sasuke to his feet and pulled him away from the man, Sasuke’s leer twisted into a frown and a different sort of fury filled his eyes. As if Sasuke sensed her impending interference and decided to finish the job before she could convince him to stop, the fire erupted over the man’s chest with a quickening ferocity. At his resolve, Sakura panicked, making Sasuke look at her with two palms to his face.

His dead eyes found her, and he spat a response to her previous demand, “He doesn’t get to live.” 

The earsplitting screams intensified, and Sakura physically shook Sasuke, but he just glared down at her as the flames resumed their feast upon the man’s vaporizing flesh. “You’re not going to do this. You can’t kill someone because of me. I won’t let you go back to that!”

The words broke Sasuke’s carefully controlled anger. “I have spared hundreds today in your name! If it weren’t for you, they would all be dead. One of them can die, and it’s going to be him.”

“This isn’t who you are anymore!” Sakura shouted, willing her words into a truthful existence. She would hold on to him, the Sasuke she loved. The Sasuke who could see reason, act on ninja principles, and not let his emotions override his judgment. Not anymore. As a last attempt, she added. “You can be merciful. You don’t have to kill unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Sasuke scoffed, choosing not to hide his smoldering ire as he broke eye contact with Sakura in order to survey the damage being done to the man who had attacked her. “It’s necessary.”

When he didn’t say anything else, Sakura demanded, “Spare one more. This is my mission and I need him to live.”

After a moment of deliberation, Sasuke snarled, like an animal being forced to give up its kill, and turned his back to her. With the dying of the Amaterasu, the screams turned into painful whimpers as the man spasmed on the ground. 

Sakura knelt beside the man, who now looked at her with desperation in his eyes. A begging for mercy that hadn’t been there earlier, now glistened with tears. “Remember that I spared your life,” Sakura told him, penetrating the vein in his collar with the needle of the syringe. “Maybe one day, a future version of you will deserve it.” The man’s eyelids fell, and even in his unconsciousness, Sakura could sense the relief that came with oblivion. The third slug had appeared by her side, and Sakura watched as Lady Katsuyu began channeling Sakura’s chakra in order to heal the man’s injuries. They were deep, penetrating wounds that would require intensive medical treatment. The draw on Sakura’s reserves zapped her, real fatigue coming over her now. 

“I can’t hold the summoning,” Sakura relayed to the two Katsuyus, one small and gliding over Sakura’s shoulder, the other encapsulating the injured man as the creature healed his injuries. She was the first to vanish, just like all those summoned before. 

“Don’t worry about me,” came Katsuyu’s small reassuring voice. “I can handle the rest until you arrive. Will you be okay?”

Sakura nodded, “Yes. Thank you, Lady Katsuyu.” With the last of the jutsu released, Sakura exhaled a sigh of relief as the drain on her chakra reserves lessened. She caught her breath, sitting in the muddy grass for a moment. 

When she turned to Sasuke, he was standing over her, silently brooding with an emotionless mask slipped back into place. 

Sakura wanted to yell at him for his recklessness. For interfering when she was more than capable of handling this herself. “You have potentially jeopardized my mission,” she informed him bitterly, rising to stand toe to toe with him. 

He didn’t respond, unmoving as he received her rebuke. Even the rain hailed down on them harder if that were even possible. And then the Uchiha was moving, taking her bloody palm, the hand that had come between Sasuke’s killing blow and his victim, between his fingers. She fisted it rebelliously, stiffening her arm, not quite ready to let her anger go. 

And so he grabbed her wrist instead, pulling her with him toward the circumference of trees closest to them. 

“I can’t leave,” she protested, digging her heals more firmly into the ground. She became immovable. “More of them could be on their way. I need to intercept them.” Sakura didn’t know how many more there would be, or what she was going to do to incapacitate them now that she was no longer able to summon Katsuyu. She would have to dig deep, fight until she couldn’t stand, pummeling them until she knocked them unconscious. 

Still not looking at anything but the wrist in which he gripped as if Sakura could be ripped away at any second, Sasuke confessed. “Every person who was headed in this direction in pursuit of you tonight was handled. I shoved each of them into another dimension.”

Sakura’s eyebrows rose as she stared at him speechlessly. For the first time since she observed him, Sakura noticed his heavy breathing. His Rinnegan eye was closed and the Sharingan deactivated, and Sakura recognized the tell of his exhaustion. He had overexerted himself, definitely a sign that he really had transported an unknown number of men through his Rinnegan’s portal tonight.

“At least for now, let’s get out of this rain,” he told her. “There’s a place not far from here.”

Sakura pulled her hand free from his grasp and Sasuke didn’t move to take it again, accepting and mirroring her own frustration. After a moment, he turned, and Sakura followed the coiled back of the Uchiha into the shelter of the trees, allowing him to lead her from the battlefield.  

[mostbelovedaewwrestlertournament]

Most Beloved AEW Wrestler Tournament 2: Week 16/Month 4 Statistics Dump

Well fellas here it is, the final statistics dump of the tournament (cause I couldn't figure out how to make sure everyone only had 1 round a day beyond 117 days so any stats I present from this point forward would be unfair and therefore pointless)

Total votes thus far: 612,393 (average of 47.85 votes per bracket, up from 45.37 last week!)

The Ties

Yes, I had to update my laptop's operating software so the hands are now different. It couldn't be helped

80 wrestlers have now been part of a tie, making up 51.28%

The Crushing Defeats

To celebrate Pride Month, I turned the crushing defeats into a new flag. This marks Willow's 7th unanimous win and Kamille's 7th unanimous loss (or 6.25% of their total brackets thus far)

25 wrestlers (16.03%) have had a unanimous win and 27 (17.31%) have had a unanimous loss. No one has had both.

The Top 20

Below are the results for Day 106-112 of the top 20

Top Teams

Hurt Syndicate's new ringer did them wonders this week

death riders - 6208.4 (Wheeler Yuta - 8223)

the opps - 5867.75 (Samoa Joe - 7111)

hounds of hell - 5683.666667 (Julia Hart - 6864)

the elite - 5471 (Matthew Jackson - 6057)

the paragon - 4883 (Kyle O'Reilly - 5754) +1

bbg - 4881 (Jay White - 7363) -1

the patriarchy - 4832 (Christian Cage - 5987)

the hurt syndicate - 4631.666667 (MJF - 7603) +5

don callis family - 4615.166667 (Konosuke Takeshita - 7159) -1

dark order - 3877.75 (Evil Uno - 5405) -1

private party - 3532 (Isiah Kassidy - 3978) -1

the vendetta - 3468 (Deonna Purrazzo - 3511) -1

spanish announce project - 3194 (Serpentico - 3503) -1

top flight - 3064.5 (Dante Martin - 3271)

ftr - 2825.5 (Cash Wheeler - 3181)

the kingdom - 2623 (Matt Taven - 3096)

la faccion ingobernable - 2548 (The Beast Mortos - 4552)

cru - 2384 (Lio Rush - 2634)

butcher & blade - 2332.5 (The Butcher - 2771)

shane taylor promotions - 2132.333333 (Lee Moriarty - 3787)

gates of agony - 1790.5 (Bishop Kaun - 1861)

premier athletes - 1260.333333 (Josh Woods - 1345)

the outcasts - 1014 (Saraya - 1014)

Stock Market

Kenny Omega - 1 - 1 ( = )

Orange Cassidy - 2 - 2 ( = )

Adam Page - 3 - 3 ( = )

Toni Storm - 4 - 4 ( = )

Swerve Strickland - 5 - 5 ( = )

Willow Nightingale - 6 - 6 ( = )

Wheeler Yuta - 7 - 7 ( = )

Kris Statlander - 8 - 8 ( = )

Eddie Kingston - 9 - 9 ( = )

MJF - 10 - 10 ( = )

Chuck Taylor - 11 - 11 ( = )

Jon Moxley - 12 - 12 ( = )

Jay White - 13 - 13 ( = )

Will Ospreay - 14 - 14 ( = )

Konosuke Takeshita - 15 - 15 ( = )

Samoa Joe - 16 - 16 ( = )

Julia Hart - 17 - 17 ( = )

Mariah May - 18 - 18 ( = )

Nyla Rose - 19 - 19 ( = )

Harley Cameron - 20 - 21 ( +1)

Matthew Jackson - 21 - 20 (-1)

Christian Cage - 22 - 22 ( = )

Kyle Fletcher - 23 - 23 ( = )

Kip Sabian - 24 - 25 ( +1)

Hook - 25 - 28 ( +3)

Athena - 26 - 27 ( +1)

Kyle O'Reilly - 27 - 24 (-3)

Queen Aminata - 28 - 26 (-2)

Claudio Castagnoli - 29 - 29 ( = )

Kazuchika Okada - 30 - 30 ( = )

Katsuyori Shibata - 31 - 35 ( +4) MOST SPOTS UP

Daniel Garcia - 32 - 32 ( = )

Jamie Hayter - 33 - 31 (-2)

Kota Ibushi - 34 - 34 ( = )

Brody King - 35 - 33 (-2)

Nicholas Jackson - 36 - 36 ( = )

Evil Uno - 37 - 38 ( +1)

PAC - 38 - 37 (-1)

Bryan Danielson - 39 - 39 ( = )

Hikaru Shida - 40 - 41 ( +1)

Anthony Bowens - 41 - 40 (-1)

Danhausen - 42 - 44 ( +2)

Powerhouse Hobbs - 43 - 42 (-1)

Mark Briscoe - 44 - 43 (-1)

Adam Cole - 45 - 45 ( = )

Mercedes Mone - 46 - 46 ( = )

Jack Perry - 47 - 48 ( +1)

Riho - 48 - 47 (-1)

Buddy Matthews - 49 - 49 ( = )

Abadon - 50 - 50 ( = )

Mark Davis - 50 - 51 ( +1)

Skye Blue - 52 - 53 ( +1)

Thunder Rosa - 53 - 54 ( +1)

Darby Allin - 54 - 56 ( +2)

The Beast Mortos - 55 - 52 (-3)

Penelope Ford - 56 - 55 (-1)

Emi Sakura - 57 - 60 ( +3)

Killswitch - 58 - 57 (-1)

Anna Jay - 59 - 62 ( +3)

Marina Shafir - 60 - 61 ( +1)

Ruby Soho - 61 - 58 (-3)

Komander - 61 - 63 ( +2)

Juice Robinson - 63 - 59 (-4) MOST SPOTS DOWN

Trent Beretta - 64 - 64 ( = )

Sting - 65 - 65 ( = )

Matt Menard - 66 - 66 ( = )

Bandido - 67 - 67 ( = )

Hologram - 68 - 68 ( = )

Nick Wayne - 69 - 69 ( = )

Austin Gunn - 70 - 70 ( = )

Isiah Kassidy - 71 - 71 ( = )

Roderick Strong - 72 - 73 ( +1)

Yuka Sakazaki - 73 - 72 (-1)

Malakai Black - 74 - 74 ( = )

John Silver - 75 - 75 ( = )

Lee Moriarty - 76 - 76 ( = )

Colten Gunn - 77 - 77 ( = )

Red Velvet - 78 - 78 ( = )

Cope - 79 - 79 ( = )

Mr Brodie Lee - 80 - 80 ( = )

Dustin Rhodes - 81 - 81 ( = )

Keith Lee - 82 - 82 ( = )

Ricochet - 83 - 86 ( +3)

Deonna Purrazzo - 84 - 85 ( +1)

Serpentico - 85 - 83 (-2)

Bryan Keith - 86 - 84 (-2)

Shelton Benjamin - 87 - 87 ( = )

Billy Gunn - 88 - 88 ( = )

Taya Valkyrie - 89 - 89 ( = )

Angelo Parker - 90 - 90 ( = )

Big Bill - 91 - 91 ( = )

Dante Martin - 92 - 92 ( = )

Lance Archer - 93 - 93 ( = )

Cash Wheeler - 94 - 94 ( = )

Max Caster - 95 - 97 ( +2)

Matt Taven - 96 - 95 (-1)

Marq Quen - 97 - 96 (-1)

Ricky Starks - 98 - 98 ( = )

AR Fox - 99 - 100 ( +1)

Angelico - 100 - 101 ( +1)

Leyla Hirsch - 101 - 99 (-2)

Darius Martin - 102 - 105 ( +3)

Bobby Lashley - 103 - 103 ( = )

Kiera Hogan - 104 - 106 ( +2)

Leila Grey - 105 - 102 (-3)

The Butcher - 106 - 104 (-2)

Alex Reynolds - 107 - 107 ( = )

Johnny TV - 108 - 109 ( +1)

Lio Rush - 109 - 108 (-1)

Rey Fenix - 110 - 110 ( = )

Wardlow - 111 - 111 ( = )

Brandon Cutler - 112 - 112 ( = )

Diamante - 113 - 114 ( +1)

Luther - 114 - 113 (-1)

Brian Cage - 115 - 115 ( = )

Dax Harwood - 116 - 117 ( +1)

Mercedes Martinez - 117 - 116 (-1)

Matt Sydal - 118 - 118 ( = )

Tay Melo - 119 - 119 ( = )

Mike Bennett - 120 - 120 ( = )

Action Andretti - 121 - 121 ( = )

Scorpio Sky - 122 - 122 ( = )

Dr Britt Baker DMD - 123 - 124 ( +1)

Lee Johnson - 124 - 123 (-1)

Colt Cabana - 125 - 125 ( = )

The Blade - 126 - 126 ( = )

Bishop Kaun - 127 - 127 ( = )

Jeff Jarrett - 128 - 130 ( +2)

Ortiz - 129 - 129 ( = )

Toa Liona - 130 - 128 (-2)

Peter Avalon - 130 - 131 ( +1)

Rush - 132 - 132 ( = )

Jay Lethal - 133 - 133 ( = )

Griff Garrison - 134 - 134 ( = )

Preston Vance - 135 - 136 ( +1)

Michael Nakazawa - 136 - 135 (-1)

Shawn Dean - 137 - 137 ( = )

Vincent - 138 - 138 ( = )

Dralistico - 139 - 140 ( +1)

Sammy Guevara - 140 - 139 (-1)

Dutch - 141 - 141 ( = )

Josh Woods - 142 - 143 ( +1)

Madison Rayne - 143 - 142 (-1)

Chris Jericho - 144 - 144 ( = )

Tony Nese - 145 - 144 (-1)

Satnam Singh - 146 - 147 ( +1)

Ariya Daivari - 147 - 146 (-1)

Paul Wight - 148 - 148 ( = )

Aaron Solo - 149 - 149 ( = )

Anthony Ogogo - 150 - 150 ( = )

Miro - 151 - 151 ( = )

Saraya - 152 - 152 ( = )

Rebel - 153 - 153 ( = )

Serena Deeb - 154 - 154 ( = )

Kamille - 155 - 155 ( = )

Nick Comoroto - 156 - 156 ( = )

Roster Differences

All the changes in the Official AEW Roster since the start of the tournament

LOST:

Malakai Black

Miro

Ricky Starks

Leyla Hirsch

Rey Fenix

Dutch

Vincent

GAINED:

Carlie Bravo

Josh Alexander

Kevin Knight

Mansoor

Mason Madden

Megan Bayne

Mike Bailey

Mina Shirakawa

Shane Taylor

Truth Magnum

Turbo Floyd

Only 149/167 roster names have been present for the entire duration of the tournament

And finally, the highlight of all of our weeks:

TAGS OF THE WEEK

@finndoesntwantthis for letting me make a promise on behalf of the round robin tournament format

@idyllic-idioms for foiling me

@sendhook for this retelling of the Pied Piper story

@powderflower for bringing kink discourse into this

@dykecassidy for going for booker of the year

@13-kuehe-und-ein-melkeimer for the pun

@himbos-hotline for properly cooking cute

@lesbian-with-a-chainsaw for doing what all southern Christians want and making the Bible set in Texas

@sarahcakes613 for talking about a fic I'd like someone to drop the link to

@throesofincreasingwonder for having the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair

@chainsawchuckiet for forgetting my Alamo

@sumeriandeathsquad for perfect use of a smiling emoticon

and finally this suspiciously censored blog who definitely isn't someone who'd have a very strong opinion on this matter

We're down to the home stretch, ladies and germs. Going forward, stat dumps will be by request only, so if there's a stat you want to see, send an ask and I'll drop it right away

This won't include tags of the week because obvs I'm not a monster and I love celebrating the people who engage with my tournament. Tags of the Week will continue as scheduled, every Saturday until the end of the tournament

[coldfanbou]

Weekly Update 6/17-6/23

Hi everyone! This week, I'll have another two fics out, though I'm not exactly sure what they'll be I know one will be a Nayeon smut to celebrate her comeback.

As always, you can send your kinktober thoughts here

Below, you'll find examples of what people have submitted

Loona-Heejin (gangbang)

Lua-Weki Meki (Exhibitionism)

Chaeryeong and Yuna-Itzy (Rimming, Cum eating)

Jennie-Blackpink and Jessi (tentacles)

Sheon-Billlie (roleplay)

Swan-Purple Kiss (stepcest)

Solar-Mamamoo (facial, massage)

Ryujin (GP)

Giselle and Winter (breastfeeding, lesbian)

Hayoung-Fromis 9 (Petplay)

Chaehyun-Kep1er (uniform kink)

Eunha (Humiliation, Impact play)

Hwasa (Body Worship)

IU (Cheating)

Actress Park Bo-Young (Size Kink)

Seulgi (Lesbian)

Jeewon cignature (Stepcest, titplay)

Nayeon Twice (Breeding)

Yubin Oh My Girl (consensual Somno)

Karina, Yeji Itzy (GP, Swingers)

Arin Oh My Girl (Gangbang)

Jiheon Saerom Fromis (Watersports)

Sohee Alice (Gangbang)

Chaeyoung Twice (Pegging)

Sakura (Mommy)

Somi (BDSM)

Jeongyeon and Momo (Lactation)

[rosiewalks]

April Hobby Recap

Favorite Photos

⭐ Overall: Sakura Venus See more of Venus in the cherry blossoms here.

⭐ Restyle: Fern See more of Fern in the azaleas here.

⭐ Cover Model: Cleo (I also really liked this book)

⭐ Lighting: November (read more about her here)

⭐Pose: Bubbles and Dru -- more of this story to come, once I get it written well enough that I feel good sharing it.

Numbers and Stats

Number of dolls photographed: 23

Dolls acquired: 4 G3 Ghoulia (ebay, in a lot, $37) CR Frankie (gift from B.) 2 Cave Clubs (gift from B.)

Hobby things acquired: Blow dryer ($10 from the thrift), for eye/hair mods Addy's school outfit & accessories (gift from my mom) Mini books, Addy boots (gifts from B.) Mad Science Ghoulia's dress and lab coat (with the above ebay lot)

Dolls sold: 7 (March and April) Twinpack Sunny; Custom Luna; Thrift Bella; Margot; TLC Ghoulia x2; stitched Frankie

Memoa Uploads: 19ish Monster High Dead Tired, Roller Maze, and one-offs (15), National Library Week, added fungus reference pics, April reads, Venus

Looking back

- Accomplished half of my goals:

- Rearranged storage to be more functional: moved all lighting, backdrops, and props into the chest on which I take photos; put all craft & restyling supplies in my dresser, and rearranged dolls in the storage bins - Worked on Bubbles & Dru's story - Took photos and made posts for National Library Week - Hybrided November (and named her) - Addy got very spoiled for my birthday month: two dresses made by B. as well as boots; plus her school outfit and supplies from my mom - Posted a bunch of backlog things for sale. Made a few sales and given the current economic volatility I'm not surprised that there hasn't been more movement.

Looking forward

- The formatting on Tumblr posts is being annoying. I have to switch to the HTML editor to fix the rich-text errors; shout out to C. for helping me figure that out. - I've saved ~$300 towards my smart doll goal, but with tariffs and nonsense, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get one. Still trying to think of a dolly side-hustle.

[shungyo]

# 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐘𝐎'𝐒, 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒 & 𝐀𝐔𝐬 🌸 。

━━ rules. about. verses. bonds.

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒 。

00. RENEWED SPRING COME BACK TO ME / MAIN VERSE.

follows the IN-GAME TIMELINE post inazuma arc with the slight difference that tomo never truly died in that duel.

using the fandom theory that they had been all along in the plane of euthymia, tomoya manages to come back two years later ( during sumeru's arc ) after an opening appeared in ei's plane thanks to the wanderer coming in contact with irminsul to remove himself from it.

having to readapt to society and retaking their role as a ronin, tomoya joins the crux from time to time to travel all around teyvat as they deal with the wounds and scars left behind by the war they once fought.

AGE.  28 years old ( natlan arc, updates with every nation release ).

AFFILIATIONS, ft. the crux.  a partial member of beidou's crux. compared to kazuha, they only join in when they need a free ride to get somewhere or if the captain herself asks for their presence in certain circumstances.

USUAL LOCATIONS.  Inazuma ( Inazuma city, Chinju forest, Yashiori island, Watatsumi island ), Liyue ( Minlin area, Chenyu Vale, Liyue city ), Sumeru ( Port ormos, Sumeru city ), Mondstadt ( Mondstadt city, Dornman port, Starfell Valey ).

01. TO DEFY DE STORM / VISION HUNT DECREE ARC.

set during THE VISION HUNT DECREE, a year or two prior to inazuma's arc. tomoya stands up against the raiden shogun's ideals and joins joins the cause, making them a wanted criminal seeked out by the shogun's army.

AGE.  23 - 25 years old.

AFFILIATIONS, ft watatsumi army.  an ( un )official soldier. sometimes taking the role of a warrior in the frontlines, other times doing work in the shadows like bringing supplies to the island or taking care of the refugees.

02. BEFORE THUNDERSTORM THERE'S PEACE / PRE INAZUMA ARC.

at this point in time, tomoya travels freely from one island to another, from one nation to another, serving as a samurai with no settled home. in times of peace, trying to find themselves and figure out what fate has prepared for them, they meet a certain wandering samurai from the same nation and travel together for some time.

AGE.  23 years old.

03. & THE LIGHT STRIKES AGAIN / REVIVED AU.

their death was inevitable but getting a second chance wasn’t exactly on fate's plans. with the divine curative powers of the one and only, sangonomiya kokomi, tomoya's able to live for another day, for another week, and for another life-time.

they are alive, but at the cost of everything. tomo has forgotten about their past life, remembering only their name and the cat at their side, they have lost almost all their memories.

currently living in watatsumi island, tomoya works as a local fishermen in charge of the southern area.

with their memory loss comes their current inability to fight and be the ambitious warrior they were once. are they just the shell of what remains of the person who once was tomoya ? will they ever be the same ?

AGE.  28 years old ( natlan arc, updates with every nation release ).

VISION.  visionless. has the shell of their past electro vision, sometimes they are able to reactivate it. for the time being they are trying to relearn their physical combat skills.

APPEARANCE.  Tomo lets their hair grow out up to their chest, having it in half a ponytail.

AFFILIATIONS, ft watatsumi.  their new home. they are in constant supervision by her excellency and considers the island the perfect place to start over.

04. & THE LIGHT STRIKES AGAIN / ARCHON AU.

left in the sacred sakura tree by their mother in an attempt to give them a better life, tomoya was taken and raised by the guuji of the grand narukami shrine. after seeing their ambitions and oustanding social and combat skills, being a clear representative of the inazuma society, guuji yae offers tomoya to raiden ei as the perfect vessel for the new public face of the raiden shogun.

although not a puppet, ei accepted the child, turned them into a divine being when they were 30 so they could take the role of the shogun while she meditated in the plane of euthymia to achieve eternity for herself.

since then tomoya was taught the responsibilities and tasks of an archon, as well as training their newly obtained skills - so when the moment came, they could officially become the new public face of the god of eternity - an electro archon born from the people, for the people.

little do the current inazuma citizens know that ei herself resides in the katana they wield and present herself as their advisor and mentor.

AGE.  100+ years old.

HEIGHT.  7'9'' in god form, usually 6'4'' when taking the form of a human for everyone's comfort.

VISION. holds the power of electro.

APPEARANCE.  Tomo lets their hair grow out up to their waist, having it in half a ponytail.

AFFILIATIONS, ft yae miko.  she's raiden ei's familiar, not theirs. tomoya doesn't see her as mother. . . at best, she would be similar to an aunt. they deeply respect her and thanks her for guiding them in life.

AFFILIATIONS, ft raiden ei.  tomoya considers her their mentor. although they have a keen eye in battle, their ability isn't as good as hers just yet so she takes the major military decisions as they learn along the way. tomoya takes the public face while she's their shadow. she's that voice in their mind ( or well, sword ) guiding them and the nation to eternity. although they don't always agree with her ideals, both walk towards the same goal : protecting inazuma and their people.

𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄 。

AU. IN A GARDEN OF FLOWERS THERE'S ALWAYS ONE THAT NEEDS MORE LIGHT / MODERN.

set in modern japan. tomoya is a single parent to a little five years old girl called tama and a big brother to a ten - eleven years old girl called chihiro. currently they are the legal guardian of both and work hard to sustain their small family of three.

with the responsibility of taking care of two small children, tomoya left college and started working in a bar near their apartment, taking up to two jobs a day to get the money needed and come back home to assist the children. it's one busy life but it's worth it if that means those two are happy.

AGE.  20 years old ( when they got tama ), 25 - 26 years old ( currently ).

AFFILIATIONS, ft tama.  their five years old daughter. the accidental product of a one night stand with a stranger back in college. tomo doesn't even remember the name or face of tama's mother and honestly, they couldn't care less about a mother that abandons her baby. she's just a little gal.

AFFILIATIONS, ft chihiro.  their ten years old sister. after their parents died, tomo became her legal guardian and since then, they have been an inseparable duo. well, that's until the duo became a trio. now chihiro is not only a great sister but also the best auntie tama could ask for.

𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐊𝐀𝐈 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐀𝐔𝐬。

AU. GOD'S PREY & DESTINY'S SLAVE / HSR 01.

after losing in a duel against the throne in their home-world ( teyvat ), tomoya is punished by the god of eternity and slashed with the musou no hitotachi. what they expected was the end of their story but instead became the start of a new one.

after receiving the strike, they wake up in a new and more advanced society; the xianzhou luofu. there they discovered the truth of the universe and learned that teyvat was only a world out of thousands.

desperate to get back home and finish what they started, tomoya travels all around the cosmos looking for their planet. it is in one altercation that they come across elio, the leader of the stellaron hunters, who not only saves their life but offers them a place as a stellaron hunter as fate dictates. a new place to belong to while searching for the planet they once considered their home.

it's now that they understand that one can't simpl mess with fate. ( yes, it's an isekai ).

AGE.  33 years old ( it's been eight years since they came to the xianzhou. . . ).

AFFILIATIONS, ft stellaron hunters.  a rebel at heart had to join the most rebellious organization in the cosmos. they play along elio's script, mostly working in the shadows as the one that prepares the "stage" for the play, their past techniques as a ronin made them perfect for the job. tomoya is in good terms with all of the members but most times they tend to do solo missions focused on preparing the stage for the main actors of the story. in every place you see the stellaron hunters, tomoya was there beforehand to prepare the stage. for every play there's someone on the backstage making sure things are going just the way they should be .

APPEARANCE.  it's been eight years since they left their home world yet they maintain the look of a samurai with a more modern take. they let their now half blond half gray locks grow to reach their waist as they held some of of it in half a ponytail ( similar to jing yuan ). they got more scars across their body, especially the one on their chest with the symbol of the musou no hitotachi. their looks are similar to the one of the general of the luofu. call it a coincidence or something far more interesting if you will.

PATH.  Preservation.

COMBAT TYPE.  Lightning.

CURSE. after the strike tomo's real body became ashes. what you will encounter is nothing more than the manifestation of a physical one, their essence and soul inhabiting a "body" made out of electro and abyssal energy. Although it feels and works like an actual real body, it's the fact that they can't die what sets them apart. Only will going back home give them the chance to rest in peace, a seek of the truth as well of an eternal rest. in a way, if as if they had become a seelie - they will only rest when finding their "right spot", their grave back home.

ABILITIES. despite the lack of a vision, they are able to manipulate electro at will. tomo's able to make copies of themselves, clones that can last up to three hours if the conditions are right. these clones will break if attacked violently and can only be a kilometer or two away from the real tomo ( from their soul ). tomo can manipulate these clones but their attacks will feel like a light electro shock. the one you should be wary off is the real tomo as the unlimited electro in their body mixed with their ronin abilities can truly turn into a real problem.

AU. MAY LIGHTNING GUIDE THE GENERAL. / HSR 02.

space inazuma where tomoya is the general and kokomi the master diviner. tomo's a long life specie native to their home planet. their job as general has made them participate in endless battles and wars, making them and acclaimed and well respected general that up to this day, still works along the master diviner to protect their land. more tba.

AGE.  500+ years old.

AFFILIATIONS, ft. the master diviner.  their relationship is. . . complicated. co-workers that happen to live under the same roof, sometimes share a bed and who knows what else those two do together. despite kokomi trying so hard to get their role as general, they deeply care about one another in ways they rather keep between just the two of them.

APPEARANCE.  imagine jing yuan but with some blonde strands of hair, violet eyes and a scar in the bridge of their nose.

PATH.  The Hunt.

COMBAT TYPE.  Lightning.

𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐔𝐬 。

AU. POKEMON TRAINER TOMOYA WANTS TO BATTLE ! / POKEMON.

Set in Sinnoh's feudal era ( pokemon legends arceus timeline ). A Kanto native wandering samurai that travels all around the world alongside their partner pokemon, Tama the eevee. Despite pokemon battles not being their main focus, they'll gladly accept any request - as well as any possible work offer that could take them to explore further in the wilderness.

AU. POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON.

Local Luxray comes to terrorize everything and everyone. more tba.

AU. LET'S DO IT ONE MORE TIME / SPIDER VERSE.

more tba.

[eventuallyaugust]

bbtr plot timeline

everything happened in bbtr (both private and public)*

2022

JANUARY

• chapter 1-24 took place (yes, all of that is just in january)

• matchmaker was filmed for the remaining weeks of the month

FEBRUARY

• matchmaker eps were released two days apart (1st ep was released on 5 and ep 5 ended on 14; valentine's day)

• the show garnered all of attention locally and globally, making the pair getting shipped together more often

• several matchz photoshoots happened to promote the show, including attending some variety shows together as a pair

MARCH

• seol blowing a party for sakura and moas have a field day when seol posted an ig story being in sakura's bday party, showing off her tattoos

• fans trended yunjin and seol in several various social media platforms due to a photoshopped photo of them together (the original was a photo of oddz with sakura and eunchae between the pair)

APRIL

• bighit started to tease moas about a potential seol solo album with a teaser photo of a burning car

• seol joined in the fun by posting several pics of her being in the studio

• kmoas caught seol and umji shopping together in public, making a dating rumor spark between them which was later denied by bighit and bpm entertainment

MAY

• lesserafim debut date

• reports of txt seol caught outside lesserafim's debut show cheering on the girls

• seol threw a debut party for the girls in private

JUNE

• on the first day of the month, seol posted several pics of her and some pride flags before ending her post with a pic of her showing off a pride pin, causing a sort of backlash from the homophobes

• yunjin posted for the pride month and it caused a minor inconvenience for them because of the fans shipping them together

• bighit started releasing photo teasers for seol's solo debut

• something happened to seol and bighit announces her hiatus from the group on the last day of the month

JULY

• seol's hiatus announcement on the last day of the first week

• seol's supposed solo debut release was postponed

• a sudden hate train on seol started on the third week from different fandoms while seol is on hiatus

• bighit instantly announced that there will be an action for the people making malicious comments and posts to seol

• hybe caterers was filmed with seventeen, le sserafim, fromis_9, txt without seol, and several other idols.

AUGUST

• seol's hate train continued until the first week of the month because of txt

• two txt members got into a heated argument in the dorm one day,

• two txt members started acting cold one another, making the fans notice the odd behavior between the two

• there was a noticeable drought of replies from txt in weverse

• moaville has been in the shambles without seol

• seol finished recovering but decided going against her initial decision of announcing her return

SEPTEMBER

• txt made up from the fight and celebrated yeonjun's birthday

• good boy gone bad photo teasers were released on the third week and fans were both upset and disappointed that seol wasn't on the teasers

• following the gbgb photo teaser releases, a sudden hate train on seol manifested in several social media platforms, saying seol won't fit into the concept since it'll be all boys

• bighit surprised everyone by posting gbgb photo teasers of seol, including the group photo teasers she was edited out of for surprise purposes

• multiple fandoms were surprised and shock at the sudden change in seol's appearance

OCTOBER

• good boy gone bad was released on oct 1st

• noticing several changes in seol with eyebrow piercing and new tattoos, moas claimed that seol's entering 23 year old curse along with yeonjun, and they loved everything about the mv and the visuals, glad that seol isn't in hiatus anymore

• an anonymous source revealed the reason why seol has undergone in a hiatus, making her name trend so much txt needed an extra layer of security in public

• following the unprecedented leak of the reason of her hiatus, another hate train manifested

• gbgb promotions was cancelled on the third week of the month due to the threats seol was receiving

NOVEMBER

• everything was quiet in this month with minimal responses in weverse from soobin and yeonjun, but not the other members

• no selca, no halloween costumes, nothing

DECEMBER

• seol never got to debut for her solo album up to this month

• seol "came home" by posting a few selcas of her wearing a christmas pajamas and santa hat, greeting her fans a merry christmas

• seol released a cover of a christmas song: rockin’ around the christmas tree by brenda lee

• bighit released a statement of seol's departure from the group and company on the last day of the year

2023 (will be doing a separate post)

*note: i am very aware that gbgb was released on may, but i will change the release date for plot purposes ONLY and nothing more

*another note: i might write some to explain on some events on what had truly happened each month & this is not proofread.