#some of his wording even sounds very yahiko

[not-so-terrible]

So Kisame's often considered the fourth most powerful Akatsuki member, but the top three are pretty unanimously Obito, Pain and Itachi. And with Kisame's motto being survival of the fittest and MO being taking out the weakest links, it’s fascinating to see him end up as one of the most well connected members of the Akatsuki. And since the top three never openly get to clash, technically speaking, he stays loyal to all of them. He's; 

- Working broadly for Pain, Akatsuki's open leader, who wants to create peace through traumatising the world through a cycle of war

- Working secretly for Obito, Akatsuki's real leader (and by proxy, Madara and Zetsu, Akatsuki's real-real leaders), who wants to create peace through trapping the world in a dream realm

- Working day-to-day for/with Itachi, the Akatsuki's biggest name, most powerful field member, and a secret double agent, who wants to create peace through becoming the most powerful shinobi that's ever lived,  and through using that power 'as much as he wants', 'lead the world to subjugation'

So either Kisame is the ninja equivalent of the minions, or the dojutsu wielding top three of the Akatsuki all looked to him and went 'yup, he's Henchman Shaped'

[ikemenomegas]

oh, just meant your name 'Io'! sorry!

it's just very pretty, i like the mythology and sound of it lol

would any of your naruto! omegas be willing to share their alpha with one of the others, like a triad??

No need to apologize, I just had never heard that term before! Thank you for your kind words. It was a happy coincidence, and I'm lucky it works!

Achievement unlocked anon.... you've found one of my favorite things. Like raindrops on roses etc etc, poly au's make me smile. They usually require situations where things have gone particularly right or things are at least going right enough for a time. I'm also not a big fan of any kind of character vs character outright jealousness, and will preferentially pick a poly au instead.

Unusual pairings that require specific scenarios to come together are fun to do but I suck at coming up with them, so probably people have already done things with the pairings I think of, but that's fine.

(That said! I think you could come up with justifications for any triad you want to, but it always requires trust and communication to work.)

Possible poly ships:

cw: non graphic mentions of sex, polyamory, biology consistent with Kisame being a shark

Itachi x Reader x Shisui

For years I thought these two were cousins, which is a personal squick, but that seems to be more of a Uchiha fam au preference than reality so I could see Itachi being willing to share an Alpha with someone he trusted as much as Shisui. Even if they are willing to share with each other though, there is balance required in this pairing to allow Itachi and Shisui to remain friends. Romantic relationships are all well and good, but isolating yourself from the other people in your life because of them is not so good. Itachi in particular does not need more isolation. Shisui however I don't see as being particularly willing to share with anyone but Itachi and this scenario would happen only if Itachi and his Alpha wanted or needed to pull Shisui in for some reason.

Kakashi x Reader x Iruka

Kakashi seems less the sharing type and is contradictory in his interpersonal relationships. He's possessive and loyal yet detached. He might however get along in a romantic relationship with certain people. He teases Iruka with the aim to fluster but they get along well and Iruka has never been overawed by Kakashi's status or skill level, never afraid to challenge him. Unfortunately, my head is a bit empty about how these three would get together because it sort of needs to happen all at once. Either you and Kakashi start courting first and then add Iruka or somehow Kakashi claims you and Iruka simultaneously and then you and Iruka start courting each other. Kakashi is even more shy in this scenario than when it's just him and Alpha though, feels like he's asking too much of the universe.

Reader x Nagato x Yahiko x Konan

The order of these names is very key here. Through the limitations of not knowing any of the other people around him, and also knowing his friends are the only ones with his full implicit trust, I can only really see Nagato having a polycule in this kind of order. Konan doesn't like him at first the way an Alpha likes and Omega, but she does like to see Yahiko and Nagato happy and would be intrigued at the prospect of them finding pleasure in one another. I think Yahiko might be interested in knowing more about what Nagato sees in his Alpha, and Nagato would enjoy seeing Yahiko engage with his Alpha. Konan is really hot and she and Nagato's Alpha make out at least a few times while Nagato and Yahiko are doing the same. Konan eventually sleeps with Nagato, but it's the last thing that happens. It's nice because it opens opportunities to truly overwhelm him.

Reader x Itachi x Kisame (cw: mentions of eggs)

Another pairing where order matters. Itachi and his Alpha claim each other first, and then Kisame joins. I HC that Kisame's genetics don't align him with the usual a/b/o dynamics. (There's also a nonzero chance of eggs being involved.) Kisame also isn't affected by Itachi's heat the same way, and he doesn't bond the way an Alpha and Omega do. Kisame's instinct is to be a good protector and caretaker for Itachi based on respect alone, but realizing Itachi is capable of certain emotions awakens something in Kisame. He's not good with romantic feelings, doesn't really feel them at all. Itachi is still special though, and once his Alpha wins Kisame's respect from one predator to another, albeit of a different kind, he becomes curious about the different layers to their bond.

[Honorable mentions]

I could see Sai being open to having multiple Alphas, but not having another omega close enough in that way for that kind of triad, mostly because those omegas are already happily with another Alpha

Naruto and Sasuke could absolutely share an Alpha, they've shown their personalities to match in the right way to eventually pull it off.

Gaara and Sasuke might actually be able to share an Alpha, but it would be a more casual relationship where Sasuke is sort of in and out as need be, away for long periods of time

Gaara and Naruto could be able to share an Alpha but it would be a political nightmare

Finally, this is truly a rare pair I'm sure, but I could actually see Haku and Gaara getting along really well, well enough to share an Alpha. Also you get fun little ocean/desert motifs to play with

[kenkaodoll]

Kamiya Dojo Monogatari Tale 64 (JUMP SQ 23/04)

About Kamiya Dojo Monogatari:

Tales of Kamiya dojo is written by Kaoru Kurosaki and published along with the ��Rurouni Kenshin Hokkaido” arc in JUMPSQ. The tale involves the Rurouni Kenshin character in daily life that takes time between Kenshin and Kaoru marriage until the epilogue chapter in the original manga before the Hokkaido Arc. Until this month (March 2023) there are a total 64 chapters in Tales of Kamiya dojo. This is an unofficial translation. 

Previous Story: https://www.tumblr.com/kenkaodoll/711951115757961216/kamiya-dojo-monogatari-tale-63-jump-sq-2303 

・

Yosaku wished to cut down the trees. He was the spokesperson of the villagers that were trying to cut down the sakura trees that cause some problems every year.

On the other hand Juyuemon wanted to make the Hanami party more lively where he could bring a large number of his henchmen. He wanted to get the best seat and impress his henchmen, but they’re getting drunk and causing trouble for the villagers.

When Yahiko talked to Juyuemon about his plan for the Hanami, his face looked bitter.

“You're going to show dance from Akabeko waitresses?? No, my henchmen will not be entertained by such a dance by a girl. We're not going to be satisfied with soft stuff.”

But Juyuemon would really like to enjoy the open stall store at the village while drinking sake.

Yosaku, on the other hand…

“I can't make a judgment until I see what the dance is like.”

He was a cautious man.

Yahiko had been expecting Yosaku to reject their idea in the same manner as Juyuemon, so he was relieved when Yosaku said that he had to take a look at it.

“Then come and watch the practice at Akabeko and you'll see what it's like.”

Then Miyako responded too.

“If you need a boat, please ask me!”

Miyako clapped her hand and begged.

Yosaku agreed, saying, "I can't help it."

“Juyuemon-san too!”

Miyako asked Juyuemon as well.

“I don't need to see it. I'm against it.”

“I'll take care of that.”

Miyako’s plea didn’t seem to work, but Misao came to help.

“Why don't you just go to Akabeko and eat beef hot pot there?”

“Beef hot pot.... Well, I haven't had it for a while.”

“Akabeko's beef hot pot is excellent.”

Yahiko's words seemed to affect Juyuemon.

“I'll see you tomorrow, then. I'll gather my henchmen and go to Akabeko to eat, so you can show me your dance. Since we are going all the way down the river to the Asakusa area, I might as well treat them to a plate of beef hot pot.”

He was a very generous boss.

“Yosaku-san? Will you come tomorrow?” Miyako asked.

“Actually, I don't like the idea of being in the same room with Juyuemon and his gang...”

Yosaku nodded, though his face was difficult to read.

・

Then, the next day.

Juyuemon took his henchman to Akabeko.

Yosaku came alone, with Miyako’s boat.

Beforehand Yahiko told Tae that they wanted her to show the waitresses dancing.

“Please wait for the beef hot pot!”

“Hot sake!”

First, Juyuemon, his henchman, and Yosaku enjoyed their beef hot pot and drank sake.

“We would like to have a beef hot pot stall at the Hanami party.”

Tae said to the villagers with a smiling face.

“Well, it is true that it is good to have not only Hanami bento but also something hot and tasty like this.”

Juyuemon seemed to like Akabeko's beef hot pot very much.

“So, what’s about this dancing thing?”

Yosaku asked Yahiko with a serious look on his face.

“It's about time, you’ll find out.” 

Yahiko said and handed Yosaku two hand fans.

“What is this?”

To answer Yosaku's question, Yahiko held a fan in each hand.

“You have to wave it like this,”

Yahiko shook the hand fan energetically with a shuffling sound.

“Swing it like you’re trying to create wind, you can't swing fast enough.”

“…?”

Yosaku was puzzled. 

“Well, well, I'll explain in a little more detail later!”

Yahiko grinned and handed two hand fans each to Juyuemon and his henchmen.

As Yahiko just handed the hand fans to them, Ichiwaka-san came out with her Shamisen.

“Good evening… I’m called Ichiwaka. Everyone, thank you for coming today!”

The place was filled with excitement. As one would expect from the popular Fukagawa geisha, Ichiwaka-neesan. Even some of the audience said, "She's not a girl, she's a geisha."

“Well, well. Today I am the hostess of the event.”

Ichiwaka smiled sweetly.

A part of Akabeko's tatami room was set up as a stage and Ichiwaka sat at the end of the stage with her shamisen.

“Then, here… they are...”

The shamisen was strummed, and the pretty waitresses entered the room. They held a hand fan in their hand, just like the guests.

“Everyone, please wave your hand fan just like the people on stage.”

When Ichiwaka nodded, Juyuemon's henchmen looked at Juyuemon timidly.

“Mm-hmm. Do as she says.”

Juyuemon nodded and his henchmen waved their hand fans as the waitresses did.

Yosaku and Juyuemon folded their arms and observed the situation without smiling.

“Okay then, it's time for the real thing. Please wave along with the dance.”

Then the waitresses started their dance in earnest and the henchmen waved their hand fans to join them.

“Swing this way, then this way... I made a mistake!”

“I can do it!”

“Look at that. Isn't that good?”

“That little girl on the right is so cute.”

“I saw her eyes.”

The henchmen were getting more and more excited.

“...”

 Juyuemon watches him with his arms folded.

 “...”

Yosaku got up from his seat,his expression was unreadable whether he was pleased or not.

Yahiko looked at Juyuemon and Yosaku and grew impatient.

Juyuemon did not even smile.

Yosaku got up from his seat.

They had prepared this especially for Yosaku who said he had to see what it’s like, so it hurt to see him leave his seat. Yahiko thought that he might be on their  side.  .  .  It seemed that neither Juyuemon nor Yosaku liked the dance.

However, the henchmen were very excited.

“Then, starting with the person at the end of the table, please raise your hand fan and lower it in a big wave.”

Ichiwaka-neesan asked them to make what we called "waves" in this present time.

“Yes, Neesan!!”

The henchmen did the wave as instructed.

“Oooh!”

“What a sense of accomplishment!”

“This is so fun!”

They enthusiastically continue to wave their hand fan, rolled by the palms of Fukagawa Geisha.

Yosaku and Juyuemon didn't seem to like it, and Yahiko broke into a cold sweat wondering what to do.

At this rate either they would do like Juyuemon wanted and they would have a bloody Hanami party or Yosaku’s idea to cut down the cherry trees and they couldn’t see the cherry blossom again.

“What should I do?”

Yahiko pondered. But no good idea seemed to come to mind.

・

At that time, Tsubame was not among the waitresses in Akabeko's dance.

Ichiwaka had quickly prepared a dance for Tsubame as the main character, so she was practicing it by herself around the back door of Akabeko.

“Hah, how did this happen?”

Tsubame was confused.

But there was no use in rolling her eyeballs around forever. It was her own fault for not saying, "No, I don't want to". If that was the case, she had no choice but to do what she must do.

“I'll do my best.”

She muttered to herself, then someone called.

“Oh missy, aren't you going to dance over there?”

It was Yosaku who approached her.

“Hiyaa... Oh, uh, uh... That.......”

Suddenly, Tsubame was startled and let out a strange voice from the back of her throat.

“Did I scare you? I'm sorry about that. Did you stay here for practice?”

“Oh, yes. I'm still an amateur, so I need a lot of practice.”

“I see. I see. You're good at it.”

Yosaku looked at Tsubame as if he was looking at his grandchildren. Tsubame was puzzled, not knowing what to do.

“Ah.. Uh, that..”

She couldn't practice if somebody were staring at her. She had no choice but to move to a different place.

“Missy, let me see you practice your dance.”

Yosaku said something unexpected.

“Eh… eh..?”

“Not only dancing, but any other art form, when you show it to others, it improves ten times more than when you practice alone.”

“Is that so?”

“That's right. It has been so since the time of Ama-no-Iwato, when Ama-no-Uzemi-no-Mikoto danced before Amaterasu Omikami.”

Tsubame was so surprised by what she had just heard that she couldn't help but gulp.

“So, why don't you try dancing?”

Yosaku urged her to dance, to which Tsubame unintentionally replied, "Yes". She could not say "No" at all.

“Hmm.”

Yosaku took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it.

・

Meanwhile…

“Hey! Hold a minute”

Yahiko received a call from Tae.

“You know, I haven't received any orders since a while ago…”

Tae’s face looked troubled.

“Because of the stage set in a corner of the tatami room, there are fewer customers than usual, so the alcohol consumption is also quite low. This is bad for business”

”I'm sorry, Tae. I wanted to see if the drunken people would go away if I had them hold the fan in both hands and ask everyone to wave it.”

“Let's not have that kind of experimentation again.”

“I am sorry.”

Yahiko apologized to Tae who was complaining.

“But it seems no one is getting drunk, so the experiment is a success,”

Tae smiled at him, but Yahiko was not happy. He had yet to convince Juyuemon and Yosaku.

Notes:

*)Hanami : Literally flower viewing, when people gathering to see cherry blossom 

*)Hanami Bento : Bento/ lunchbox which is eaten during Hanami 

*)Shamisen : Three stringed traditional instrument 

*)Fukagawa Geisha : Geisha from fukagawa area, read Ichiwaka story from Tale 37

*)Neesan : Older sister, usually used for called senior Geisha

*)Tatami room : Japanese room with traditional tatami flooring

*)Ama-no-Iwato, Ama-no-Uzemi-no-Mikoto, Amaterasu Omikami : Deities from Shinto belief.

.…..to be continued in chapter 65…… 

TLnote(1): translating Japanese is so hard because the sentence structure is very different compared with English. Also the style of writing is different, plus there’s a lot of figurative, poetic language and things that don't make sense if it’s directly translated into english. So forgive me if this is very weird to read, and please tell me if you want to give corrections. 

TLnote(2) I will provide the original Japanese text for correction if any of you who read have better knowledge of the Japanese language. Just dm and I’ll send the file.

TLnote(3) Dtninja had translated some earlier chapters on his website. You can go and check on there

Read the rest of the story here: https://www.tumblr.com/kenkaodoll/686193523858538496/rurouni-kenshin-tales-of-kamiya-dojo?source=share

[gakkubi]

Pain is the corpse of a 15 year old because Yahiko died at that age. So if you decide to draw anything nsfw between him and Konan please make sure its an au where Yahiko did not die and he is an alive human being becuase that will also be considered necrophilia. Or not! If you're into that.

Hello! I was expecting this subject to come up sooner or later once I started posting art of PainKona. Truly, I understand where you're coming from with this. When I started drawing again and came back to tumblr last year, I too had some serious problems with PainKona. I was very sensitive about it, and voiced a few times an opinion about PainKona that is very different from how I feel about them nowadays.

Allow me to offer you a different perspective on things, one that perhaps might be more enjoyable since we're talking about a work of art and fiction (Naruto):

First, you say that Yahiko is 15 because of the databook entry; that is fair. But timeline is a common issue in Naruto, and the age stated for Yahiko is incorrect. I don't mean to sound arrogant by stating the official databook is incorrect, but, it was made for a shonen audience; the goal was to make Yahiko "relatable" to that shonen audience of teenage boys, even at the cost of plot logic. His age as 15 makes no sense, not only taking from the plot (Chōji assumes Pain Tendō is 25-30) but also considering how Kishimoto draws him. Using Obito's age as a time constraint and taking Nagato/Konan's age and Naruto's age during Pain's Assault, that makes 35-16=19. I can dwell on that on another ask but, if anything, Yahiko is the corpse of a 19 year old.

Second, the corpse issue. As far as I know, bluetooth controlled corpses aren't a problem in real life, so let's start from there. Naruto is a work of fiction; it's art. Pain Tendō isn't a literal dead corpse, not even in fictional sense. He's not rotting on the floor, decomposing, inanimate. He moves, talks, breathes, his skin is just slightly lighter than Yahiko's was - not grey as most corpses are drawn. Do corpses talk? Do corpses have personality? Not at all, and as you can see, I'm not drawing Konan with a dead body filled with worms. I'm drawing Konan with Pain Tendō, a character that symbolizes pain and suffering, and the inability to let go.

The Pain Arc is about, well, pain. Nagato literally has the eyes of Saṃsāra (Rinne), the endless cycle of rebirth where humans are trapped between 6 realms of existence (that's where the Six Paths of Pain come from), an eternal succession of pain and suffering that only comes to an end when the person attains Nirvana (enlightment). Pain's Arc is filled with symbolism from start to end, and the Pain Tendō is just another one of those symbolisms.

When Kishimoto created Pain Tendō, he created a metaphor to the inability of letting go and making peace with the past. Pain is literally pain embodied - Yahiko remains in the lives of Konan and Nagato as "a wound that never heals." (I'm stealing Nagato's phrase here).

Yahiko's there, constantly inflicting pain on them, a literal "live" wound that never heals because it never closes; Konan and Nagato never allow it to close. They want Yahiko to "remain alive". They don't accept his death. Pain Tendō is how they cope with his "death" - he never died. So, when I draw Pain and Konan, I'm drawing Konan loving what remains of Yahiko, because she can't (and doesn't want to) let go of him and of what he means, as neither can Nagato. It's an impossible, unreal situation because, as you know, bluetooth controlled corpses don't exist. It's a metaphor, one that I find especially sublime.

Because, well, when have you had in fiction such a physical way to show the grief, the absense, the suffering that remains from the loss of a loved one, as you have with Pain and Konan? Konan wants to love Yahiko, but all she has is... Pain. (And by saying this, I'm almost quoting Nagato word by word in a different phrase).

When I draw Konan hugging Pain, I'm actually drawing Konan wanting to hug Yahiko, but Yahiko is not there. It's the same as not drawing him at all, but how can I visually show the anguish of wanting to hug a loved one that isn't around? PainKona gives me that possibility. Pain's presence is the absense of Yahiko. That's the beauty of it; it's horrid, and yet Konan and Nagato keep him around because Yahiko's ever present absense is better than not having anything at all. And if you add on top of that the other impossible situation - a person inhabiting the skin of another, as Nagato does with Yahiko -, it's just too interesting for me not to think about it. The emotions, the human emotions of it all, because at the end art is about us.

So, this is why I ship them. This why I draw about them, why I will keep drawing about them. Honestly, from where I'm standing, the whole story looks a lot more fun than the literal interpretation you're making of a fictional work of art and literature. How about you give some time to reflect on this? Maybe you'll also find it's more enjoyable to see art as an expression for our emotions. Or not! If you're not into that. ;)

[ladykissingfish]

A Date with an Angel // Part Three // Sasori and Itachi

Sasori

“Do you like this place? It’s really colorful, isn’t it?” “It’s alright.” “These nachos are delicious. Do you want some?” “No thanks, the cheese would upset my stomach. I’m mildly lactose intolerant.” Konan just sighs to herself and picks her drink back up, slowly sipping as she tries to think of a good topic for conversation. Earlier, when the redheaded house member Sasori had invited her to spend an evening with him, her surprise had been greater than with any of the others so far. When she’d first been introduced to the household back when she moved in, she’d taken one look at Sasori and had been shocked; later on she sat in Nagato’s room and demanded to know why he was employing children to do the type of work that they did. “Children?”, he’d responded, shaking his head. “Sasori is no child; he’s 35 years old. He’s older than me and you, even.” 35?? With his short stature, smooth, unlined face and vibrantly colored hair ... it was simply unbelievable. The more she got to know him, however, the more she realized that he was indeed very mature; maybe too mature. He never smiled, never laughed, and made even less conversation than Kakuzu did. Whenever Konan made meals, he never joined any of the others at the table. “Don’t worry; it don’t have anything to do with you or your cooking,” Deidara had told her one night when she questioned it. “The guy just never eats. Hardly sleeps, either. It’s like he’s not human or something.” Considering his quiet, serious personality, his choice of venue to take Konan to tonight was entirely odd. “A comedy club?”, she’d asked, as he guided her through the doors. “Mm. They’re amateurs but really quite good. I’m sure you’ll laugh a lot.” And laugh Konan did — but not Sasori. His facial expression didn’t change once all evening, and he didn’t so much as crack a smile through even the most hilarious of acts. Now it was the interlude between sets, and Konan was trying to find something, anything to make conversation about. Before she can, the next guy comes on. It’s a man with a small dummy that he sits on his knee, that “tells” the jokes for him. Konan happens to glance at Sasori and is startled; for once, he seems interested. His eyes stay fixated on the little wooden toy throughout the man’s set, and when he’s done, it’s the first time that Sasodi cracks any kind of a smile. “Are you a fan of ventriloquism?” Sasori turns towards her, and unleashes more words than she’s heard him say in the entire time of living at the house. Sasori is gesturing, he’s vivid and animated as he explains the process of creating dummies and puppets, and the finer points of ventriloquism. “I didn’t know this was a hobby of yours.” He raises an eyebrow, and tells her it goes far beyond a hobby. The show is over so he takes her back home, and brings her straight to his room (which she’s never seen the inside of before). She gives a little gasp upon entering; Sasori’s shelves are filled to the rafters with various wooden constructs, some unfinished, some painted, some clothes, some with hair and jewelry and —

Konan goes to pick up a smaller one laying on a bench, gently turning it this way and that. “This is so realistic,” she says, softly. “I wish I had the patience for creating art like this.” “What do you mean? Your art is amazing as well.” She blinks when he says that; surely he’s not referring to — “I’ve been in awe of your origami for quite some time. The things you create are very beautiful. I’d love it if you could teach me your technique sometime.” Konan blushes; nobody except Yahiko had ever complimented her origami hobby before. She sees a piece of paper laying on his desk, and begins slowly folding and teaching him how to make a basic flower. After observing and asking questions, he’s able to replicate the simple lotus. She then asks him if he could walk her through the process for creating one of his pieces, which he does, from sanding to sculpting to painting. “Things like this are better than humans,” he tells her, quietly, at one point. “These you can create, and you can control. But you never really know what a person is thinking, or feeling, or what they’re going to do next.” At the end of it, Konan glances up at the clock on his wall and gasps: 1am?! Where had the time gone?? She gets up and thanks Sasori for (what turned out to be) a lovely evening. He hesitates, then takes her hand and gives it a light kiss. “You are welcome to come back any time you wish,” he says, as he walks her to his door. “I’m a night owl so if I’m not out on a job, I’ll be awake and working.” She nods, smiles, then returns to her own room. Before she falls asleep she thinks of another flower to teach him: the campanula. These bright blossoms offer beauty, and intricacy ... and are a symbol of new friendships.

Itachi

“Oh my Goddd.” “What’s wrong, Konan?” “Nothing; it’s just, I haven’t felt this relaxed in a while. Itachi smiled and took a sip of his lemonade, before answering, in his quiet way, “Me, too.” When Konan had been approached by the dark-haired Itachi earlier in the day and asked if she wished to spend some time with him that afternoon, she’d been excited. Itachi was somebody that mostly kept to himself within the house; always quiet, very soft-spoken but when he DID speak he always said the most profound things Konan had ever heard. He was one of the most calm and mature members of Nagato’s team, an Konan’s shock upon discovering that he was only 21 years old was immense. One night she went into the kitchen to cook everyone a meal, and was pleasantly surprised to find Itachi there ahead of her, doing prep-work for the dish she had said she was going to make. From then on, the two developed a slow, lovely friendship, punctuated mostly by them cooking together and occasionally watching a movie in the living room. Today however was the very first time she went anywhere with him in public, and she was nearly flabbergasted when they pulled up to a well-known luxury spa. “This — Itachi this kinda stuff is expensive. I can’t let you —“ but he just waved her off, took her inside, and told the lady behind the desk that they both wanted “the works”. A slow, soothing full-body massage, manicures and pedicures, eye and hair treatment, mud masks, as many desserts as they wanted (Itachi especially seemed to have a thing for the sweet dumplings), and now, a hot tub. “I wouldn’t have thought a guy would be into stuff like this,” Konan commented, reaching for her sweet tea. “Man or woman, everyone needs the chance to relax, don’t they?” Konan nods, and then says “Well I’m sure that all of you that work for Nagato do. But me? What am I doing that I deserve something like this? MY job isn’t nearly as stressful, and —“ “You take care of all of us. You’re there for us. That may sound simplistic, but that’s no small feat, my dear.” The two are quiet for a while, listening to the relaxing nature-esque background music of the spa, before Itachi says, quietly, “If — if you ever feel like talking about HIM, you can talk to me. I don’t know if you’re ready but I want you to know I’ve experienced loss, too.” Konan closes her eyes; while she appreciates Itachi’s kindness, she’s NOT ready to talk about Yahiko. So she asks instead, “You lost someone close to you?” He nods, faces her, and tells her the story about losing his parents in a car accident when he was 12. His voice wavers when he tells her that they were coming home from a parent-teacher conference for HIM, and how, for the longest time, he blamed himself for their deaths. “Me and my younger brother Sasuke were taken in by my older cousin Shisui,” he explained, now smiling. “Nice guy but definitely not father material. I guess it’s just the Uchiha curse; you lose someone and have to go to someone else. It happened to me, to Obito —“ Konan stops him, and is REALLY surprised to learn that Itachi and Obito are distant cousins. “But anyway, I just want you to know I get it. If the day ever comes when you want to talk, I can be there for you.” She scoots over in the water and hugs him; she blushes when she realizes her towel has slipped, and for a brief few moments their bare chests are touching. “S-sorry about that,” she says, backing away and covering up. “Don’t worry about it,” he replies; but he’s blushing quite hard as well. The drive home is quiet, each feeling comfortably invigorated and relaxed. When they get to the front door, Konan leans up and kisses Itachi’s cheek, thanking him for a lovely day. He tells her that she made the day even lovelier. They go inside and all of the boys make it a point to go up to Konan and tell her how great she looks after her day of pampering, which she appreciates. She goes into the kitchen to start dinner, and once again finds Itachi there ahead of her. She smiles and ties on her apron, and the two create another delicious meal together.

[naruto-littlespace]

Akatsuki Littlespace Headcanons

I could and probably will write more, but I don’t feel like it right now, so here’s this.

Disclaimer 1: Littlespace, in the AU and in real life, is a coping mechanism for everything from everyday stressors to psychological disorders like PTSD. If you sexualize littlespace do not interact with this AU or me, I will block you.

Disclaimer 2: Littlespace in this post is slightly different from in real life, magic-ed up in a similar way to how ninjas are magic-ed up in the Naruto universe. Chakra-using littles actually revert to the size they were when they were their little ages, although they retain any bodily changes since then (little Kakuzu still has stitches, little Deidara would have hand mouths.) The exception of course is Sasori, whose body is manmade and doesn’t change. People also do not necessarily remember their big lives when they slip into littlespace, sometimes becoming confused about where they are and who they’re with. They will sometimes be confused about what time period they’re in as well, believing things to have happened that hadn’t happened yet in their little age but were far in the past in their adult age.

This isn’t how I’m going to treat littlespace w/ Naruto characters all the time on this account btw, it��s just an idea I’ve been playing around with, like the psychological defense of reverting to a childlike state inadvertently triggers a transformation jutsu to match.

Nagato:

Little age pre Yahiko’s death was 6-7, post is 2-4

Started regressing shortly after the formation of the original Akatsuki. She and Yahiko had to do research to figure out why their teenage friend had suddenly turned into a child, but after they learned they took care of him: treated him like a child, bought him kids books from the local thrift shop, tucked him into bed. He called them uncle and auntie.

He would stay in littlespace for a surprisingly long amount of time, for 4-6 hours on days between missions.

After Yahiko’s death he spent many days in a row regressed to age two. Konan scrambled to take care of him and handle her own grieving. After that was over he promised her she wouldn’t have to take care of him again.

Nowadays of course she still takes care of him when he regresses, but he tries to force himself out of it if he begins to.

He still has board books and stuffies, so if he does fully regress he’ll have one of his pein bodies bring them to him.

Being ~3 he doesn’t have the mental capacity to control all the Peins, so they just kind of idle for awhile.

Konan:

Little age is 3-5

Pre modern Akatsuki she didn’t like regressing at all and only did it involuntarily. She would handle it by either walking it off or reading Nagato’s board books by herself.

This continued pretty much until she started becoming friends with Kakuzu, who openly admitted he was a little (he thought she should know, in case it ended up delaying his missions--it was mostly so she would stick up for him to Pein. No, he wasn’t hunting bounties, there’s a perfectly logical explanation--)

So she had a bad day while she and Kakuzu were at the same base and went ‘can you please deal with me for a couple of minutes’ and he was like ‘ofc’ so she sat down in front of him and shrank down to a little girl and started crying. He picked her up and bounced her on his knee until she calmed down. She ended up staying little for a couple of hours because Kakuzu took her out of the office and telling her stories about his childhood while they prepared dinner.

Kisame becomes her caretaker too when the three of them start dating.

Sometimes she starts crying inconsolably about something she won’t talk about other than someone leaving her and something being unfair. Pein showed up during this one time and said he knew what she was talking about and it was none of her cgs’ concern which ofc made them concerned but they haven’t gotten the chance to talk to her about it.

Itachi:

Little age is 2-4 but since her chakra is often very low so she doesn’t always physically become that tiny.

She didn’t regress until after she joined the Akatsuki, but when she did Kisame wasn’t surprised. He reintroduced himself as her babysitter, slipped her a lollipop and took her to a library to pick out some kids books.

Loves to be pampered. Oh god it’s the only time she can relax at all

Wears reading glasses because they can’t get her in to an eye doctor appointment

She’s trans in this au because I say so

Likes playing with weasel and crow toys, esp when her caretaker (usually Kisame, Konan and Kakuzu as well when they’re around) plays the weasel and she’s the crow. She’ll tell stories where they go out to the woods to train or just hang out.

She loves to sit in laps <3

She eats a lot more in littlespace than out so whoever’s feeding her makes lots of food. For her to grow big and strong u know

Kisame:

Little age 0. He is just baby

Being reminded of the bloody mist triggers his littlespace, though he has to be in a bad headspace in the first place. It really does not happen often.

Post Akatsuki the first time he slipped was after he, Kakuzu and Konan started dating. Kakuzu woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of crying and woke Konan up immediately afterwards because holy sh*t there’s a baby in our bed!!

It was Kisame. Kakuzu picked him up and rocked him back to sleep. Konan asked how he was so good with kids and he was like ‘oh I had a baby once.’ She does not ask him to elaborate. Kisame wakes up as an adult the next morning.

They keep a container of powder formula for him if he regresses but won’t get him a pacifier because they’re afraid he’d bite off and choke on the teat. They have bottles but Kakuzu makes the nipples for them out of one of his threads on the spot bc he’d bite through literally everything else with his tiny demon teeth.

Sasori:

Little age is unclear (unlike some of the others, he’s never said it.)

Signs he’s in littlespace: stops talking, stops walking if he can afford it, walks unsteadily and a little bowlegged if he can’t. Stops using ninjutsu and if he’s near a kitchen he might try to eat despite not having a digestive system anymore. Has been known to ask where Granny Chiyo is. The answer is ‘back home.’

Deidara got him a pacifier and a coloring book. He does use them but not when anyone else is watching, not even Deidara.

He is a bit upset when he’s reminded that his body is wooden. He would like to feel things please. But he learns to just enjoy the sensation of squishing a stuffie and his jaw chewing on a paci.

Deidara:

Not actually a little. He just hasn’t gone through sh*t like the rest of the Akatsuki have, and has coping mechanisms for when he is having a bad time.

He caretakes for Konan when her boys aren’t around and for Sasori if he’ll let him.

Hidan told him about littles after Kakuzu regressed in front of him and thought Deidara might need to know because of how much baggage Sasori has (he doesn’t know what it is but he can smell drama)

So he looked out for Sasori becoming a kid and learned instead to look for him not acting like an adult. He walked out of Hiruko and tried to eat in front of him and Deidara had to tell him he couldn’t have a strawberry because it was bad for his health and not because it would probably make his insides mold. It’s weird but Deidara is also weird and he makes it work.

Kakuzu:

Little age is 9-10

Post Akatsuki the first time he regressed was in front of Hidan in the middle of the woods. He didn’t recognize him and immediately tried to run and then beat him up when he chased him. Hidan had to think fast and tell him he was his new neighbor and pretend to be taking him home. The next time he was babysitting.

Sometimes asks where his husband is. The first time Hidan heard this his response was ‘what the f*ck’ and Kakuzu told him that was a bad word.

Enjoyed activities include reading, sparring, and to the surprise of some, hunting. He’s not bad w/ a bow and arrow.

The best way to keep him in/make him feel comfy in littlespace is to make him a meal. U can let him help to the extent that he sets the table or pours the drinks or smth (because he will ask) but take care of the food for him, because he hasn’t had someone else handle that for him in a long time.

Regressing isn’t necessarily a common thing for him to do but he’s one of the only ones whose regression can be triggered by physical pain as well as emotional. He can usually harden his skin to block attacks but if he doesn’t in time he may turn into a ten year old. It actually can surprise an opponent enough for Hidan to be able to take them out.

Hidan:

Not a little either.

Knew about littles bc there was an old man in his village who had ptsd from some long forgotten war and sometimes turned into a six year old.

Caretakes for Kakuzu pretty exclusively, unless Kakuzu is big and taking care of someone else, in which case he’ll help out if he’s feeling nice at the time. Itachi is actually his favorite to take care of because Itachi is a very manageable child.

Obito:

Little age varies wildly from about 1-11. He blocks his physical regression because he regresses Often and doesn’t want to blow his Madara cover.

He has been regressing since p much immediately after he got crushed. Madara was really having none of it and went from patiently waiting for him to become ‘big’ again to pretending it wasn’t happening, forcing Obito back into a uh. ‘’Normal’’’’ headspace

The Tobi act is actually covering his littlespace though when he’s an adult he has no idea how to realistically act like a kid so when he’s actually a kid it’s kind of jarring for all involved

When he’s a baby he just screams. Not really crying in distress but screaming because he can

He’s so eager for attention. Please talk to him! Play toys with him!!! Read a book, eat dango, run around outside, catch bugs, train!!!

Never mentions Kakashi or Rin but sometimes will mention his grandma or Lord Fourth as if he is the current Hokage

[godofame]

❣️🌸✍️

Send a Symbol / Anonymous

❣ - hands

Nagato’s hands are very dry, and only keep getting drier. Certainly isn’t keeping them moisturized. His fingers are long and slender, but have only become thinner over the years the more and more he overexerts himself and his chakra and uses jutsu like the Gedo Mazo. They aren’t strong, they are rather frail and skinny, but they aren’t skeletal, we can say that much at least.

✿ - laugh

An absolutely rare thing to hear. If you weren’t Yahiko and Konan in the past, then you likely will never hear his laugh, and even around them they weren’t often. More than anyone else would get though. But if you do get to hear it, you’re most likely to hear a low, quiet chuckle from him. Closer to a “hah” under his breath when he’s amused by something. His smile is more telling of how he feels than the sound of his laughter. You could also get a slightly longer, softer chuckle, one that is reserved for those he cares for or even those he’s teasing. Every time he laughs it’s so short lived and so quiet you may have to wonder for a moment if you heard it at all. If you ever get the super rare experience of hearing him laugh without much restraint, it’s still quiet but they come out in short little bouts one after the other and slowly grow into broken up tiny giggles. Now this, this is something that is so rare you might have to practically find a spot to tickle him in and hope to not get yourself Shinra Tensei’ed away. But if you can get it naturally, well aren’t you special to him?

✍ - writing style

Nagato has very neat handwriting, normally at least. When he’s doing work related to both Amegakure and the Akatsuki then his handwriting starts to get a little quicker and less neat. His handwriting normally, when he is in no rush is careful, easily readable, some might even go as far as to call it pretty. But then when you’re working on report after report from a village and a criminal organization, it remains legible but certainly clear that he was not writing as carefully. Paying attention to the words he’s writing and that you can read it, but not as carefully as he would in no rush! At least no matter what you should have no problem reading anything he writes. And most of what he writes is reports so it’s not as though it’s anything interesting to read but at least on the ones he took slower they can be aesthetically pleasing to the eye!

[earl-of-221b]

I'm going to try articulate what it was about RK movie 1′s Battousai reveal that’s so amazing and different from the manga/anime.  

In the manga/anime, the reveal is the intro of the entire story and happens fast-paced. The fake Battousai has come to Kaoru’s dojo to cause trouble. Kenshin, in order to disparage this weak fake Battousai using his name, gives a show of ego and power along the lines of “You call yourself Battousai? I am Battousai. Even if I don’t want it, I’m not about to allow that title to you.” It’s cool as shit, everyone gasps because omg!! He’s the real Battousai!! But he’s tiny!! But he’s so Strong!! Fun, clear, simple. Kenshin demonstrates his skills and that’s the general gist. 

RK live action movie expands a lot more to this 1 ep plot. Kenshin and Kaoru have a scene that takes places in the Kamiya dojo. Kaoru has been patrolling the streets in order to bring down the fake Battousai. In the movie, the fake Battousai and his handlers have been sort of creating propaganda saying Battousai uses Kamiya Kasshin ryu. This is in order to bring disrepute to the Kaoru’s Kamiya dojo, the legacy of her samurai father, which she singlehandedly runs. (They want to ruin this dojo because it’s on a choice piece of land that the villains want to take.) Since the fake Battousai has started serial murdering, Kaoru’s dojo emptied out because the dojo is seen to have lost its honour. No one wants to learn the style of an evil serial killer - and not just only any old serial killer - but the bane of the Bakumatsu war, the mythical and terrible Hitokiri Battousai, a historical boogey monster. Kaoru’s honour, her father’s legacy, and the dojo itself is utterly ruined. 

But Kenshin quite bluntly says, “You should give up on him. He is far stronger than you, Kaoru-dono. A swordsman must be honest about his foe’s skill and his own. You must have realised what will happen if you face him again. The dignity of your school...such a thing is not worth your life.” 

Fake Battousai is way stronger. He’s way meaner. He actually uses a real sword, unlike Kaoru’s wooden one. It’s obviously suicide to go after this man. It’s blunt, but important. Kenshin values human life. The dignity and and honour and reputation of Kaoru’s school are abstract things (things he used to operate on, things he used to have, believed in, once upon a time) - but these invisible things don’t mean anything if she’s dead. It’s just not worth it. People are always more important. Reputation is not. 

But Kaoru kind of takes his words the wrong way, and it’s completely understandable why. She’s a lone woman running her father’s dojo, who just had to be saved by this wanderer man when facing down the fake Battousai. From her perspective, it looks like Kenshin is looking down her, patronising her. You’re too weak to beat him, just stop. Kaoru goes after a known serial killer every day because she is committed to her dojo and style. The dojo is her duty. Her father’s memory. Her lifeblood. It’s everything to her. She takes immense value on the reputation and honour of her dojo because if she didn’t she’d lose everything. She’d even lose her identity, if she didn’t fight for these things she loves. Some things are worth fighting for. Dying for. 

“The sword is not a tool for killing. Kamiya Kasshin ryu sees as ideal the sword that brings men to life.” The discipline that her style teaches is so very optimistic in this kind of abjectly post-Bakumatsu war world: swordsmanship is an art that should be cultivated, it’s a piece of heritage that should be shared, and a thing to make people’s lives better. It’s for protection, for leisure, and not for killing. “For the school to be stained by a sword that kills is unthinkable. But a mere wanderer,” Kaoru says, “can never understand this pain!” Kenshin is stunned a little by Kamiya Kasshin ryu’s philosophy. A sword that brings life. A sword that never kills. Isn’t that completely antithetical? Especially to him, who we know is the Real Battousai, who we just watched straight massacre 30-ish soldiers at the movie’s intro. He leaves pondering, with a quick bow to the dojo before going. 

Later, the ronin thugs sent by Kanryu (villain) come to intimidate Kaoru into selling the dojo. They run around in their shoes dirtying the floors, bully Kaoru’s only student Yahiko. Things are bad, Kaoru can’t possibly fight all 30 men. Suddenly, Kenshin bursts in. He tells the thugs, “You are right. Her words are of a person who never soiled one’s hands with a killing. Sounds like childish nonsense. A sword is a weapon. Swordsmanship is the art of killing. No matter what pretty words you use, that is the truth that cannot be changed. But in the face of this awful truth, I prefer the naive words of Kaoru-dono.” 

He says it’s naive nonsense. Then he turns around then defends it. He defends Kamiya Kasshin ryu, he defends Kaoru, and he defends the dojo by beating all 30 men to a pulp. First he uses his bare hands. Then he switches to a few wooden swords, which he had to keep replacing cos he’d literally break them. It’s ‘nonsense’ to him because he’s a murderer, he’s been to war, he’s seen the worst mankind has to offer. In the new era that he killed to create, to people like Kaoru, who never had to go through that, it’s not nonsense at all. She believes it. This optimistic philosophy. This kind, sincere thing. And that’s worth defending. Kenshin says one thing and does another. It’s clear where he stands when he takes the time to remove his shoes before going into the dojo where the thugs do not. He takes the time to bow in the doorway before going in. 

And then the best and most heart palpitating part. Kenshin says, “The style that Hitokiri Battousai uses is that of Hiten Mitsurugi ryu. It’s an ancient style that pits one against many.” Kenshin unsheathes his sword even though he’s already singlehandedly defeated all the thugs. He doesn’t need to do this, they’re already on the floor, but he does. He does it so he can demonstrate his own style, Hiten Mitsurugi ryu. 

He has just announced to everyone that he is Hitokiri Battousai, in the flesh.

And more importantly, Hitorkiri Battousai’s style is NOT Kamiya Kasshin ryu. 

Think about it this way - Kenshin has spent ten years of his life wandering, laying low, and disappearing out of sight. He hates Battousai because he used to be him. He used to be this great killer lauded for his skills in killing and nothing else, and he has killed hundreds of people before running away from that life. Running away from that version of him, that truth of him he’d do anything to escape. He wanders around, keeping his head down as low as possible. Battousai is even seen as a criminal by people these days, and because of the impersonators. Now after ten years of hiding, Kenshin comes out into the open for the first time to announce, “Battousai uses Hiten Mitsurugi ryu, NOT KAMIYA KASSHIN RYU.” He gets out his sword to prove he is the real Battousai. 

And he does it to save the things Kaoru holds dear - her dojo, her reputation, her father’s legacy, her Kamiya Kasshin ryu, her ‘naive nonsense.’ He does everything to clear her dojo’s name. He surrenders himself to the Mortifying Ideal of Being Known to give her her things back, things that he’s tangentially responsible for ruining. Kenshin does it by disgracing himself just by admitting he is Battousai. He even sacrifices Kaoru’s good opinion of him, Miss ‘For the school to be stained by a sword that kills is unthinkable’ who will now obviously hate him. He opens himself to violence and hatred by admitting this. This causes the rest of the movie events to happen because he outed himself as Battousai - he goes to prison, he’s found by Saito, by Yamagata Arimoto, by Takeda Kanryu, Jinei, even Megumi, even Sano - by all these people who want a piece of Battousai. 

And he did it for Kaoru, whom he just met. Because people are worth it. And Kaoru and her style and her philosophy are worth it. And his own peace and blissful anonymity is not. 

But of course, Kaoru doesn’t hate ‘Battousai.’ Because she gets what he just did for her. That’s why Kaoru pulling Kenshin out of his Battousai craze at the end of the movie matters. Maybe swordsmanship doesn’t have to be the art of killing. You can protect without killing. He defended Kaoru and her philosophy, and its Kaoru and her philosophy that saves him from becoming Battousai again. Kenshin’s entire existence proves that Kamiya Kasshin ryu is not nonsense, does it not? This movie and climax perfectly ties up like this and I love it.

Also. Somehow Satoh Takeru makes beating the shit out of 30 men and then boasting about his legendary sword style look like an act of utter surrender. 

[manatehispants]

A New Dream

It’s early morning as Konan stands on the outskirts of her home village. She’s been thinking lately about this village and about the message which Akatsuki is meant to send to the world. When Yahiko, Nagato and herself created this organization they were meant to be a symbol of hope for the people. Their presence was supposed to be a sign of peace and evoke feelings of comfort from all. They were meant to be symbol of hope.

That had been her childhood romance’s biggest dream; a dream which Konan had swore on her life to keep alive. Both her Nagato had sworn to do so, but had they really done so? The Paper Angel of Death stared up at the dark clouds that filled the morning sky. Rain poured down on her snow white skin as the smell of this rain filled her nostrils mixed with wet mud and leaves. Her eyes of amber closed for a moment and her mind went back to the days when Yahiko was still alive.

She could so clearly remember everything detail about him. His laugh when he made his carefree jokes. How that laugh had been one of the few things that to truly uplift her heart and inspire her on a spiritual level. She could recall his strong leadership and his gentle love for her. Konan also remembered the look of determination in his eyes when he spoke of not only their future, but the future the world. He had been so sure that he would stop this rain; that he would be the one to end his people’s suffering. And Konan in her young foolishness had believed his every word. When Yahiko knew that would not be the case he had entrusted the future to Nagato and Konan.

She would never forget how he had giving his life for this dream and ultimately for her survival. Konan would forever be in debit to the man she once loved with all heart. The man she still loved so dearly even so, she had to wonder what had their group really done? The tears of suffering still flowed and the proof of this covered her small frame now. She was becoming lost in thought when a voice screeched out her name.

“KONAN! DAMN IT! THERE YOU ARE! I CAN’T WORK WITH HIM A FUCKING SECOND LONGER!”

Hidan, the most difficult and easily loudest member was approaching her fast. He was in yet another of his moods. The Jashinist is the completely opposite of everything Konan is. He’s loud, impulsive and wear’s his emotions on the sleeve of his shirt for all to see. In many ways the female is jealous of Hidan. The others claim him to be an idiot, but he’s an idiot who is free of the cage social restrictions which most are bound to. He says and does what he wants, when he wants and damn the rest. Although she despises his disrespect towards Nagato and his often disgusting habits as well words she had to respect somebody who was so authentic in who they are. Now, she would never tell Hidan this. The man didn’t need his ego getting any lager than it already was and he would take it all the wrong way as was his habit. A faint smile came to Konan’s face for only a second before she became her usual emotionless self.

“YOU NEED TO TALK TO KAKUZU ABOUT HIS DISRESPECT BEFORE I KILL HIM! LIKE SERIOUSLY KILL HIM AND DO NOT GIVE ME THAT SHIT ABOUT HIM IMMORTAL! I WILL FIND A WAY AROUND IT! I SWEAR TO JASHIN SAMA I WILL!”

The silver haired male now stood only a few feet from the so called Paper Angel of Death. His eyes filled with a rage that was not uncommon for him and his pale body was shaking with emotion. Konan met this fearsome glare with without a hint of fear. At only five feet five she held herself with the confidence of ten foot women ready to rule the world.

“What has happened?”

Konan asked in a monotone voice already knowing Hidan was going to go off on another one of his pointless hour long rants. As much as she hated his almost daily rants she was very near thankful for the current one. It kept her from thinking too much more on the past. Doing that is a dangerous thing. It’s what often makes people become self destructive. Still, one thing was certain. This was far from the way Yahiko had envisioned their future and this wasn’t his idea of how the organization should look. But standing there listening to Hidan, Konan became reassured of one thing. She would create Yahiko’s future and she would do so by any means necessary. She would make the rain stop. The world would know peace even if she had to use men with dark intentions such as the one who stood before now.

For almost a half hour Konan stood in silence listening to every word the Jashinist shouted out though most happened to be some form of profanity. It’s almost impressive how he doesn’t stop to so much as take a breath as the rain starts to come down harder. Hidan finally stops talking for a second. Konan says nothing. She can see it in his face. He isn’t done yet and sure enough shouting more comes.

“AND THIS FUCKING RAIN! WHAT. THE. FUCK? CAN WE NOT MOVE OUT OF IT!?”

This part of his complaint is almost laughable. Absolutely nobody was forcing him to stand out here with her. She had come out here to be alone and think for awhile. Hidan could easily have stayed in the hideout out of the rain.

“Nobody told you to come out here, Hidan.”

Silver brows came together as a scowl formed on his face. His usual gelled back hair is currently stuck to the sides of his face weighed down by the rain. She’s right and he knows it. He shoves his hands into the cloak pockets with an unnecessary amount of force. Hidan can feel some of the pocket stitching tear. Good. He hopes it rips wide open. He hates the damn thing anyways. The Jashinist snorts and finally looked away from Konan. His own eyes now went to the sky.

“Oh fuck off. I came here because our oh so fearless leader isn’t around and I need somebody to step up to handle shit around here. You’re the only who ever does......”

Hidan muttered the last part under his breath even so Konan heard it perfectly. She would be lying to herself if she said this wasn’t a little shocking. Normally Hidan didn’t have much of anything positive to say about people. Occasionally he would say something sarcastically nice about Kakuzu, but everyone in the organization knew that was only done to push buttons. It was difficult to tell sometimes if Hidan and Kakuzu hated each other or if the things they said and did to one another was just the way teo psychopaths flirt. Konan and everyone else in the organization tried their best not to think too much on it. Sometimes it’s better not to know things. Besides, Konans was fairly certain at this point the two men didn’t even know the answer to it.

“I’ll speak with Kakuzu when I return to base. Was that all?”

Hidan let out a sigh that was a mix of annoyed and being out of energy. He ran his pale long fingers through his hair trying to slick it back again only to have it fall right back in his face. He really hated this damn rain.

“Not a damn thing.”

Finally Hidan turned and left. Konan could hear immortal muttering cuss words as he headed back to base or at least she assumed that was where he must be heading. With Hidan you never could be too sure. He was rather impulsive and it was all too possible if he wasn’t on a mission he would wander off to do one of his rituals instead of heading directly back to base. That was a troubling thought. His rituals always caused a scene. She should have warned him to head back to base, but then again if she had he might go off on his own just to prove a point about her not being the one who controls him.

She let out a soft sigh that was drowned out by the sound of rain. This wasn’t Yahiko’s vision of how peace was to be achieved. It wasn’t any of their childhood visions, but it was the hand they been dealt. Konan would find a way to use the cards of life to build the future she once dreamed of. The organization was still key to this and now it was time for to head back to base. It was time for her to nurse the organization and help it grow from something dark and sinister into something beautiful. She looked up at the sky and smiled softly. His....No, their dream would be realized. Closing her eyes Konan’s body became millions of pieces paper which quickly vanished from sight. It was as if she had never been there at all and one day the same would become of the tears of this village. Gone without a trace.

[raendown]

Pairing: HinataKonan Word count: 940 Soulmate au: The one where you have a meter on your body that tells you how dangerous your soulmate is

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header! 

Chapter 212 

Hinata knew quite a lot of dangerous people. As she and her classmates grew in to themselves and learned the true limits of their abilities it came as no surprise to her when most of them discovered soulmates with red meters on their wrists. If they wanted to, her friends could take the world by storm. 

She considered them friends because they didn’t want to. 

Watching the flash of blonde hair darting to and fro across the village below her, Hinata smiled and brought her hands forward to trace one wrist with the opposite fingers. Once she had thought that Naruto must surely be her soulmate. Who else could be meant for her meter with such a deep shade of red? After a childhood spent chasing, yearning, it was a relief to finally discover the truth, to put down the weight of expectations and face what she had always known deep down: she had never really wanted it to be him. All she had ever wanted was a friend. 

Being there on the day when Naruto discovered his true soulmate was like having the chains holding her down unlocked and being set free to breathe when she hadn’t even realized that she’d forgotten how. It was nothing short of a joy to watch a good friend discover happiness. Even more so having the chance to seek her own. 

“Having second thoughts?” a warm voice murmured in her ear. 

Lips already turning up in a smile, Hinata leaned back and trusted the other woman to catch her weight. Konan’s arms circled her in a loose embrace, the fingers of one hand slipping down to trace the shape of her wrist, unerringly finding the meter with its needle buried in the deepest red. Such a soft and gentle touch from someone capable of such incredible destruction and yet Hinata knew that she had never been safer than she was at Konan’s side. Her soulmate would tear the world apart stone by stone if it kept her from harm. Such devotion was a new and happy burden to bear. 

“Of course not,” Hinata assured her partner. “Konoha will always be in my heart but my friends understand why I’m leaving. You are my home now. I’m happy to follow wherever you need to go.” 

“And your...family?” The moment of hesitation in Konan’s voice said more about her opinions of the Hyuga clan than anything else but all Hinata did was shake her head, still smiling. 

“Neji will miss me. And I can only hope that Hanabi thinks of me from time to time. I don’t particularly care how my father feels about this.” 

How could she after being set aside so cruelly simply for not progressing as quickly as the man had wanted her to? It had taken years and the support of many good friends to finally realize that if he did not love her as she was then he did not deserve her. Did not deserve to be called father. There were some in her clan that she would miss but leaving Hiashi behind made her feel very little. She would miss her caretakers more than him. 

“Should we be leaving now? I don’t mean to hold you up!” 

When she turned around in her partner’s arms Konan was smiling too, so fond it made something deep inside her ache with happiness. 

“I would like to bring Yahiko’s body somewhere that he can truly rest in peace after everything that’s happened. There was a place close to the village we grew up in, somewhere we were all happy once with our sensei.”

“That sounds lovely,” Hinata told her. 

“After all this time it probably doesn’t look very lovely but a little time and effort should fix that.” 

“Let’s get started then!” 

Her partner gave a low chuckle and leaned forward, pressing kisses against her temple and whispering praises for her earnest nature. It was all Hinata could do not to burst in to flames with embarrassment. No matter how many years went by she didn’t think she would ever learn to accept any sort of praise gracefully. 

When they parted Konan reached down to entwine their fingers as she turned away to lead them off on their first true adventure. Neither spoke any farther, a hundred conversations in the silence between them, but Hinata found that her attention was drawn mostly to the link between them and the meters that bumped together each time their wrists brushed. Sometimes it was still quite a lot to wrap her head around. If it weren’t for the instinctual moment of knowing that came with touching one’s soulmate for the first time she wasn’t sure this mortal goddess could ever have convinced her they were meant for each other. 

But the proof had been there in the instant their skin made contact, irrefutable, so Hinata could do little more than shake her head bemusedly at the deep red of her soulmate’s meter, as dark as her own. In the silence of her mind she comforted herself with the knowledge that a soul gauge was not always meant to show how dangerous a person was, how violent a life they lived. Some were meant only to show how dangerous a person was capable of being.

Trying to imagine how she would react if anyone ever tried to separate her from this woman who had finally made her whole, Hinata almost thought she could understand why they both carried such deep red in their wrists. The color of blood, the color of love, the color that had led her to where she was meant to be. 

[minnochu]

Lustrous (pt. 12)

Hybrid!Kook x Reader AU

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7 | Pt 8 | Pt 9 | Pt 10 | Pt 11 | Pt 12 | Pt 13  | Pt 14 | Pt 15 | Pt 16 | Pt 17 | Pt 18 | Pt 19

(A/N): Here we have a little peek into the memories of reader-nim that had been locked away by sir vampire-who-had-his-head-chopped-off-and-burned-previously.

Enjoy. And please don’t be afraid to let me know what you think!!

.

This sensation is familiar, you suppose. It’s on the brink of feeling like your body is burning in the eternal flames of hell and being whisked away on the most fluffiest cloud you could ever feel. If that’s what clouds felt like. 

A blinding light had burned itself into your retinas as soon as Taehyung spoke his final words and everything had been consumed in the light. If monsters and magical beings didn’t exist, you would’ve believed that the sun finally destroyed Earth with it’s scorching heat. You eliminated that thought, and any other thoughts following it when your world grew dark and your eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling. Blinking several times, you lift your upper body from the bed to glance around the room. A gasp leaves your lips at how oddly familiar your surroundings are. It results in a dull ache in your temple as you look down at your shorter legs and smaller hands. 

‘Don’t panic (Y/n),’ a deep voice lulls in your head calmly. You recognize it as Taehyung’s voice and immediately calm down. ‘We’re in your memories deep within your head, it’ll be dangerous for both me and mostly yourself if you go into panic.’

You nod, feeling a little less worried as you shift to kick your feet over the side of the bed. The bed seems to be the top half of a bunk, another bed similar to yours situated against the other side of the wall. The other beds are barren and made as if no one has ever touched them. 

Taking the time to get changed, you glance into the mirror at the younger version of yourself. Fuller and more chubbier cheeks, large eyes that glimmer with mischievous youth, and a smaller body that hints at your young age. 

“This is crazy,” You whisper to yourself and Taehyung, wincing at the high pitched voice that meets your own ears. 

“What’s crazy?” A familiar voice asks. The sudden newcomer makes you jump and you try to play it off awkwardly as you gaze into the same color eyes that reflect your own. 

“Minerva?” You choke in surprise, not even realizing your mistake as you become overwhelmed with emotions. The memory of having to face the reanimation of your murdered mother was too much. Seeing her now causes you to burst into tears, it draws shock to her beautiful face as she scoops you up into her arms.

“Minerva?” She repeats quizzically, her fingers twirling in the air as a drawer opens by itself and a face towel comes levitating towards you both. As it wipes away your tears, she smiles softly and nuzzles your forehead with her nose, “Don’t you mean, mother? Did something happen, my dear child?”

“J-just a bad dream…” you sniffle although hugging closer to her bosom and relishing in the warmth of motherly love. You can’t deny that the care you received from Yahiko would be the closest substitute to a mother was one you would be grateful for all of your life, but feeling the real thing even if it were just looking into the memories locked away within you was something you just couldn’t overlook. It was all too real, her heart beating against your ear as she made a noise of adoration and hugged you close to her chest.

“That must’ve been scary! Why don’t we go grab something to eat and have you start where you left off yesterday, sound good?”

You make a sound of agreement as she sets you down, her hand encases your smaller one easily and she beams down at you as she leads you towards the dining hall. Slowly, you remember this building. This place you had once called your home. Your dreams of this place made it feel eerie and straight out of a horror novel, like it were some evil lair. However, your dreams are a far cry from the real deal that you are witnessing, or perhaps maybe you were just stereotyping your image of witches living in dingy little huts with nothing but a cauldron and loads of ingredients and specimen in glass containers lying around. The hallways were endless, marbled floors that contrasted the wooden one in your room. Your room had paneled off-white walls, while the interior of the halls and possibly other rooms were a rich red mahogany stained wood. Gilded doors with intricate designs stood every so often along with tapestries and vases filled with flowers. Was this really a place owned by the BlackWells? Further inspection led you to the realization that this was in fact a mansion with four floors. The dining hall was on the first floor where you gaped at the grand staircase from the second to the first floor in the foyer. If you hadn’t been so taken with your surroundings, you would have noticed the leers of other witches and warlocks on the way to the hall. 

Minerva sat you down at one of three of the lengthy dining tables. By then, you started to notice the looks you both received from the other inhabitants in the room. Some looked away as if the very sight of you were revolting, and others snickered and whispered amongst themselves.

“Why do they look at me like that, mother?” You ask innocently, bowing your head in thanks when she sets down a plate in front of you with a glass of milk.

She makes a noise of surprise before shaking her head, “Don’t mind them my dear, they only fear of what amazing gifts you have.”

You wondered what she meant as you finished your meal and she took you back up to the second floor. Figuring out what she meant by where you left off, you realized meant studying witchcraft as she found an empty study when she presented you with a textbook to study over. As you read and memorized, you found yourself speeding through the text and sketches, learning things you didn’t from Seokjin. Halfway through your second textbook, Minerva placed a necklace around your neck. 

“I’m so proud of you, (Y/n), you’re so smart and talented… no matter what they say about you, I will always be proud of you.”

You held in your breath as you laid your eyes upon the amber stone. It was identical to the one that Yahiko had claimed your mother had given to her to give to you. And you realized that was what it was as each day passed and your mother held your hand each time when you practiced your magic. She let you siphon from her and complimented you each time without fail. As days passed and you practiced both magic and brewing concoctions and whatnot, you realized why the other beds in the room looked untouched. Not a soul lived in that room besides yourself. The other girls and boys your age looked at you with pity and disgust. When your mother couldn’t meet with you for meal time, you sat by yourself at the end of the table with multiple seats distancing yourself from the others. If you were not studying - as the elder witches expected you, a mutant witch, to not be able to perform witchcraft - you were outside studying nature or lazing around in your room. 

At times where you tried to socialize with your brother and sisters, they all made the same cold expression. They looked at you as some sort of monster, it made you feel ugly and unwanted. Some snickered at your loneliness, calling you names such as “defect” or “mutant”. Not that mutant was much of an insult, but they fortified insult to injury during meal times when your mother wasn’t there to sit with you by sending slobbery pieces of napkins shot through their straws at you. Childish bullies tripped you up in the halls and on your trek towards your deserted side of the table, whether it be physically by their own feet or magically through whispered spells that cast winds that tipped you over. Most times, you caught yourself and sent frowns their way as they snickered and pointed at you. Rare times and on really bad nights, you fell forward and landed face first into your dinner.

Taehyung felt bad for you, he sympathized for the bullying you endured as the other adults glare at you for your supposed clumsiness and shook their heads.

“Why does Minerva even let that thing show face around here anymore?” They whisper amongst themselves.

“That mutant is a disgrace to Brother Colhen, what did he see in that fool Minerva?”

You found yourself used to them picking at you, but your heart hurt at the disappointment directed at your mother. It wasn’t her fault. You knew very well it wasn’t on her for giving birth to a mutant witch. But your mother shushed you at night before bed, coddling you close to her bosom with her fingers running soothingly through your hair.

“Hush child, don’t listen to them,” She would hum, “Sleep now and forget the childish ways of the others, they know not what you are capable of. You are so smart and beautiful, they just don’t see what I see in you.”

Ostracized from your own family made your heart ache for your younger self. You shed no tear in front of them, nor your concerned mother. However you felt it full force, the loneliness of being the only one different and treated like a tumor. You weren’t sure if you yourself were feeling the emotions or if it were your younger self’s doing, but you cried and wept in your room with Taehyung’s voice doing his best to soothe you. 

It was one day when you were studying with your mother did an incident happen. Her ears picked up on footsteps, and immediately with the wave of her hand and a quick incantation, the textbooks and other items were swept away back into order. You sensed their auras approaching quickly as Minerva ripped the stone from around your neck and shoved it into her pocket.

The door slammed open and the scrutinizing eyes of two witches make their way inside. You shrink underneath their admonishing gazes, looking down upon you as nothing but filth underneath their shoes. They barely regard you before turning their glares towards your mother. Her painted lips pursed as she stepped to stand in front of you in a protective manner.

“Might I ask what brings you both here?” She asks politely as you grasp at the long fabric of her skirt. Minerva glances down at you lovingly, reaching down to pick you up.

The two witches watch on with mild disgust before looking at each other and remembering what it was that brought them to seek her out.

“Sister Eris would like to speak with you.”

Anything that had to do with Eris seemed like an unspoken command that it was urgent and something you just couldn’t wave off. 

Minerva leaves you outside the living space of the lead witch. You sit there in contemplation when a thought comes to mind. It might fail but you still feel the lingering traces of siphoned magic within your body.

Pressing your back against the wall separating the hall from the room, you close your eyes and listen. Whispering the incantation of a spell you’d casually looked over a month ago, your senses sharpen and your ears picks up on every and any voice within radius. Focusing, you concentrate on the ones behind you and tune out the ruckus of others that you held no care for.

“I know what you are doing Minerva,” the voice of Eris speaks. It’s rather melodic, enchanting, bewitching in it’s sound. In your mind, you remember the glimpses of her you saw in your dream. How cold she looked down upon you when you were born. It made you shiver. She was a beautiful woman, no doubt, blessed with endless coils of raven hair that contrasted against the pale snow of her unblemished skin, a slim figure with long legs, and dark eyes that had once bore down at you with disappointment and knowing of the innate intelligence that you would have when you grow up. You had known you had some sort of affinity for witchcraft, but experiencing it now as a child made you seem more like some kind of surprise prodigy as you flew through many books and master spells to the point of not having to recite their incantations. Perhaps that’s why Seokjin was so surprised and fearful of your quickness in catching on to witchcraft and the dark arts.

“And what is it you believe that I’m doing, Sister?” your mother asks back.

“You know very well the future of that child of yours.”

You suck in a breath, not like they’d hear you.

“I will not allow you to kill my daughter.”

“And what do you suppose we do?” A man’s voice asks in annoyance. You recognize it as your father’s. Colhen BlackWell.

“Please let her live, if not here, then anywhere else!”

“She will bring ruin to us all!”

You suppose that was to be expected it they knew your mother was training you in secret. They would find you a threat to them for a reason you had no care for. They threw you away, took your memories, and were now trying to kill you, what ruin could you bring to them when you were busy trying to stay alive and fend for yourself?

“Please! Would you not feel any remorse for your own child if their fate were to die for being a mutant?!”

Minerva’s voice is trembling, it vibrates your shaky heart, tearing apart in guilt of your fate. This wouldn’t be happening if you were only normal. Minerva wouldn’t have been burned at the stake if she didn’t defend you. 

Your mind brings you back to that vampire. It brings chills to your spine, hair rising in alert at the impending meeting with that man. Terror runs through your bones and shakes your heart as you continue to listen but vaguely process any words as they continue to banter about Minerva teaching you witchcraft when you were going to either be executed or banished anyways. 

‘You need to stay calm,’ Taehyung instructs but it does nothing to comfort you anymore as you await the day they let the blood sucker into the BlackWell residence. 

It’s just like your dream but you are experiencing it yourself. The trepidation, the seclusion from the rest of your so-called family that are probably shaking with glee to have you soon ridden from their lives. Your mother could only watch sadly while you shivered and trembled in your shoes at the man looming over you with a pitiful smile. 

His lithe fingers spread apart and rise to your head. The breath gets caught in your throat as you stare wide eyed at his sickening smile and glowing eyes. 

Taehyung’s voice was soon drowned by the anxiety welling up inside of you. You felt dizzy, vaguely hearing your friend’s voice screaming inside your head now to get a grip as your heart pounded obnoxiously in your ears. 

“Forget little one, and live a life this family has so mercifully allowed you to have. Memoriam oblivione delebitur.”

Everything had gone blank. There was that blinding light burning anything and everything and your mind went haywire with fear and panic before it all became nothing.

Taehyung knew he’d fucked up as he willed himself to exit your mind. More like your mind had officially shut him out. Your brain had grown too unstable and shut down with imaginary walls around it as it sent him out and back into his own. 

He blinked once then twice as he returned to his body, regaining control in time to catch you from falling over. 

“(Y/n)?” He called out to you, hands on each side of your shoulders and gently shaking you in effort to wake you up, “Hey, come on!”

The vampire knew there could be complications to fishing into your mind. He tried his best to keep you calm, but he knew it would be overwhelming on your part to have to face your childhood. 

Fear was only an understatement of what he felt. He knew he was in deep shit when he spotted a certain tawny-furred wolf exiting the cabin. Before he had met Jeon Jungkook when the youth had joined their mixed pack, he thought he knew what fear was. But the trepidation that gripped at his lungs and vocal chords could not be compared to what he thought fear was before.

Just on time, you had come to in Taehyung’s arms, blinking away the sluggishness of having been in your own mind for what felt like years. But your mind drew a blank, remembering nothing of what you had witnessed in your mind. Glancing at the man above you, your mind also drew a blank. Instead, you felt the anxiety in his wavering aura as well as the dense and overwhelming one from the large wolf approaching you both.

You recognized his eyes, a glimmering gold that reminded you of treasures and riches, which broke you out of your confused reverie. Panic situated itself in your throat as you squeaked at the two.

“O-Oh! Oh my god, please don’t eat me!” You shriek, scrambling away from the two as Taehyung let you out of his grip in his own confusion at your reaction. You wave your hands as some sort of protection against them, but your panic is only increased when the stone around your necklace illuminates a brilliant red and a dark purple runic circle appears in your waving palm. 

Jungkook is quick to react to your frantic movement, leaping over to cover Taehyung as large spikes come flying their way. The attack is stopped by glowing crystals that have manifested over them. The vampire glances towards the cabin to see Seokjin and his hand stretched towards them as a result of his protection spell.

“Who are you?!” You gripe as the warlock approaches. 

The eldest casts you a confused look before his handsome face is marred with an unimpressed frown that is turned towards the vampire.

“Kim Taehyung, what in the hell did you do to her?”

.

Tags:  @twilight-loveer @reinyrei@mistytail@mygukandonlyficrecs@xanny91@unpocodesoledadywisky@xxqueenwxtchxx@lildemonangele@gukworld@sunnyoongles @zamirayinyue13@hannahdearr @serendipity-secrets @ilaria-np @jules-park @treetops68 @mischiefmakerliesmith5

@tiredjedi

[this-is-my-canon]

My @kakaobiweek prompt for today, Crossover

Stowaway

Read it on Ao3 here

Obito missed the hum of the engines at times like these. He missed feeling the excitement of Akatsuki taking off into space, sending him and his crew across the galaxy on whatever job the universe landed on ‘em. These here stops at port were near intolerable for a ship’s captain. But unfortunately, they were the jobs that paid - and as much as he disapproved of his high class cousin’s profession, Itachi was a reliable and steady source of income for the crew.

While stuck picking up his noble companion of a cousin, it didn’t hurt to wrangle a few more fares. People were always lookin’ to pay their way to someplace. It was an easier way to make money than heistin’. Even Konan couldn’t argue against the benefit of it.

By the time he was finally able to launch them back into space, sending Yahiko to the controls and Kakuzu and Hidan to survey the back of the ship for any signs of chase, Obito was tired. In his exhaustion and stress, he hadn’t paid much mind to Itachi’s shuttle’s return to the ship, or what comp’ny he may have brought on board his Akatsuki. It wasn’t until he was standing at the helm, recoverin’ from a deep sleep with a hot cup of coffee cradled in his hands, that Konan pointed out a terrible fact which should’ve been brought to his attention from the beginning.

[[MORE]]

“Itachi...what now?” he asked, massaging his brow as he tried to process it.

“BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO,” Konan murmured, shooting him a sideways glare. “Did you honestly not see him come aboard with a man on his arm, Sir?”

Obito shook his head. “I was too busy watchin’ Deidara makin’ googly eyes over the doll-like doctor he brought aboard.” He groaned and ran his hand down his face before setting his cooling porcelain aside. “I need t’see Itachi.”

Yahiko snorted and muttered something under his breath, but wise-like, he kept his hands on the wheel and his eyes fixed on the starry constellations out in front of ‘im.

“Good luck, Sir,” Konan said coolly.

On his way out through the porthole, Obito scowled at the back of the blue head of hair on his best fighter and oldest friend on this ship. After meandering his way through the twisted corridors of rusted pipes and steaming piles of junk that made up the ship that was his pride an’ joy, he still had the same scowl when he busted through the door to Itachi’s shuttle.

“Obito,” Itachi said coolly as Obito scanned his gaze across scarlet pillows and black velvet curtains in search of his cousin. “Glad to see you haven’t forgotten our discussion about how to knock.”

“I’ll remember your discussion,” Obito said to the pale and stoic face appearing from behind a parting silk curtain, “when you ‘member my rules about bringin’ strangers on my Akatsuki.”

“Technically,” Itachi drawled, shooting a pointed glance over a pale, exposed shoulder, “he’s not on your Akatsuki, he’s on my shuttle.”

“And technically,” echoed a second voice muffled behind the curtains before there was a shuffle. The curtains parted again to reveal silver hair and a jagged scar on a face that was all too familiar, “he’s not a stranger, either.”

“Kakashi,” Obito hissed his name like a curse.

“Oh,” Itachi hummed, shooting Kakashi a wink. “You two know each other?”

“You know goram well we do,” Obito growled.

He pushed his way past his refined whore of a cousin to the piece of shit so-called friend who dared to take him up on his services. Kakashi was slightly taller, forcing Obito t’look up his nose at the stunning, half-lidded eyes and red bandana covering the contours of fine lips and chiseled jawline Obito already knew to be hidden beneath it.

He shoved his finger into Kakashi’s chest, finding it just as firm as he remembered it to be. “What’s the big idea, hitchin’ a ride on my ship?”

Kakashi shrugged. “Companionship.”

“You don’t want Itachi’s companionship.”

“How can you know that?”

“You don’t.” Obito huffed, waving his hand in broad, lazy gestures at his refined, polite, and not-at-all-Kakashi’s-type cousin. “He’s doing this as some sort of twisted favor to you, though I dunno what either of you stand t’gain from this.”

Itachi and Kakashi exchanged a glance, and if Obito didn’t know any better, an entire conversation just happened in front of ‘im without his knowin’ about it.

“Okay.” Obito remembered t’breathe. “What is goin’ on here?”

Itachi reached forward, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, but Obito didn’t dare meet his eye. Itachi could kill a man with his look. Obito had seen it before.

“Obito,” Itachi said soothing-like. “Cousin. I like to give my clients full discretion. Whatever arrangement Kakashi and I have, it is no business of yours.”

Obito saw red, feeling the blister of his rage boil to the surface. “Kakashi! Get off my ship.”

Kakashi glanced sideways at the shuttle’s hatch, which would lead him outside to the vacuum of space. “Sure,” he deadpanned. “Of course I can do that.”

“At the next stop,” Obito said, wagging his finger. “Soon as we’re planet-side, you’re off.”

Obito turned with a flourish, leaving Itachi grumbling and Kakashi sighing in his wake. He stormed through the corridors of his ship on his return to the bridge, determined to drive any thoughts or questions he might still have about Kakashi Hatake out of his mind. He didn’t need to know what all that business was about. He only needed his ex off the Akatsuki as soon as possible.

-

As soon as possible wasn’t soon at all, as it turned out.

Konan explained it all in her usual condescending tone, but none of it made no sense. Yahiko couldn’t pull into port at the next planet because the doc who’d just joined their little crew was apparently wanted there. Yahiko couldn’t turn them back to Konoha, where’s they’d just picked up Itachi and Obito’s latest inconvenience, because some thieves over there’d been trynna take their fuel. After the Sand they were so inconveniently passing, twasn’t nothin’ for light years.

This was Shiong mao niao.

“So Kakashi,” Deidara said, swinging his long blonde hair across the dinner table, “how did you and the captain meet?”

“Oh, we’ve known each other since we were-“

“I won’t be havin’ no interrogations at the dinner table on my ship,” Obito interrupted gruffly.

“Damn,” Deidara sulked, sinking into his chair, “I was just bein’ conversation-like, un. What about you, Sasori?” He shot a smile at the red-haired doctor across the table. “I could use some lookin-over. Been a long time since the Akatsuki’s had a bonafide doctor on board.”

Sasori frowned. “I don’t believe my passage requires that I work for this crew.”

“Everyone works on my ship, doc,” Obito said around a mouthful of food.

“But you could,” Deidara pressed, his one visible eye lighting with hope, “couldn’t you, doc? As a favor to me?”

“Jen mei NAI-shing duh FWO-tzoo,” Hidan grumbled, pounding his fist into the table. “Just tell the guy you want his ass, Dei, and let the rest of us enjoy our dinner.”

“Hidan,” Kakuzu hissed.

Hidan flinched, baring his teeth in a wince, while Obito rolled his eyes. His crew was his family. They were lucky they were, because otherwise he never would’ve tolerated this level of aggravation.

“Keep your thoughts locked up tight in that hollow head o’yours,” Obito told Hidan before pointing his fork at Kakashi, who was opening his mouth when he shouldn’t. “And you! Keep trynna flap your lips and I’ll have you strapped down in the infirmary ‘til we get you off this ship.”

Kakashi met Obito’s gaze with a twinkle of mirth shining in his grey eyes. Obito realized the implications of what he’d said, which made him recall their times together in a way that was very inconvenient when he was makin’ a point to push Kakashi away and instill his hatred of the bastard on the rest of his crew. Obito knew Kakashi was thinkin’ all kinds of smug retorts. Maybe he was here to undermine Obito’s authority in front of his crew. Maybe he wanted to pay Obito back for some unkindness he’d never had a chance to repay after the war. He couldn’t be here for any other reason, so the suggestiveness of Obito’s words meant nothin’.

“Yes, Sir,” Kakashi said.

Obito narrowed his eyes, first at Kakashi and then at his snickerin’ crewmates. Konan at least had the self-control to rein it in after one curt eruption of laughter, and Yahiko had the decency to cover his mouth, but the others blatantly exchanged glances and disrespected Obito on his own damn ship. This was the kind of trouble Kakashi brought with ‘im.

Obito curled his fingers around the edge of the table until it hurt. “Kakashi. Can I speak with you a minute?”

Kakashi raised his brows. “I don’t know. You asked me not to talk, Capt-“

“To them,” Obito growled, waving a hand across their company. He shoved off the table, kicking his chair out as he stood. “This way. Now.”

He walked out with his fists curled by his sides, ready at any moment to pound them into Kakashi’s stupid face if he said one more thing to demean him in front of his crew. Fortunately, he didn’t hear another word from Kakashi, only the sound of his footsteps trailing after. By the time he found the infirmary, where he could question Kakashi in peace and also where he was seriously considering following through on that threat to incapacitate him if it came to it, he wondered at Kakashi’s agreeableness. When he turned to face Kakashi and saw him sealing the infirmary door behind them, Obito realized with a groan he was givin’ Kakashi exactly what he wanted with this.

“I didn’t know any other way of talkin’ to ya,” Kakashi said.

“Ever heard of sendin’ letters?”

“Obito. It’s Rin.” Obito’s blood ran cold, all thoughts of arguing with Kakashi draining away with the devastating mention of her name. “I found her. I need Akatsuki’s help to get ‘er out, though.”

Obito shook his head. “You’re not makin’ any sense.”

“We thought she died - in the war. Obito.” Kakashi paused, lookin’ like he was havin’ as hard a time sayin’ it as Obito was with hearin’ it. “She’s alive. She’s been held prisoner in Tsukuyomi. We can get her out - if we work together.”

“Work together? With you?” Obito snorted, but feelings rolled in at just imaginin’ his chance to right the greatest wrong he’d ever witnessed in this universe. He gulped. “Are you sure we can save her?”

Kakashi hummed. “It all depends on your cooperation. I’ve got everythin’ all planned out.”

Obito bit his bottom lip. “Good. ‘Cause I can’t take no false promises, not about this.”

Kakashi shook his head. “Nothin’ false here. I promise.”

Obito choked back a sob, refusin’ to let himself cry in front of the man who’d always jumped on the chance to call him a crybaby. It would be strange, workin’ with Kakashi again. There were feelings, feelings he thought he’d gotten over, but could already feel bubblin’ to the goram surface again. He didn’t want to open himself up to it, but for Rin, he would.

He had to.

Kakashi reached forward, and for an instant, held his hand just short of Obito’s. Obito didn’t move. He wouldn’t close the gap, but if Kakashi did, he wouldn’t pull away either. He didn’t know what he wanted in regards to Kakashi. Rin was easy. Rin was safe. Kakashi, with all his eccentricities, would always be a puzzle to Obito. He hated him. He needed him.

If he ain’t had no better sense, he’d have to admit he still loved him.

“Trust me, Obito?” Kakashi asked as he withdrew his hand to his side.

Obito smiled. “I’m ‘fraid I ain’t grown out of that flaw.”

Kakashi smiled back. “I’ve been holdin’ onto a few m’self.”

“Bastard,” Obito scoffed.

“Deadlast,” Kakashi said fondly.

They would find Rin, and they would save their comrade. Might even rekindle somethin’ Obito wasn’t quite ready for. But then, there was never any bein’ ready when it came to Kakashi.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Forty-Four: On an Island ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Hoshigaki Kisame ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Blue Waves and Black Flags ] [ AO3 Link ]

What else is an orphan lad of an island nation to do but become a pirate?

Hanging from a web of rigging, Sasuke watches the waves roll and feels the seaspray against his skin. It’s nearly the end of a cloudless day in late Spring, and the weather is about as fine as seafarers could ask for as night begins to fall. The wind ruffles his flyaway hair, a small smile on his face. Should be easy sleeping tonight with the calm waters.

As tough as life has been these past few years...he knows he’s simply lucky to see them passed. With most others sharing his blood long gone, Sasuke had little choice but to resort to the less lawful ways of surviving.

Of course...his current arrangement wasn’t, at first, intended. Attempting to filch some supplies from a slew of crates along his hometown’s dock one foggy morning, he’d found himself caught and hung upside down by an ankle. Protesting quite loudly, it hadn’t done much to sway the pirate that had caught him red handed in their goods.

“Seems a little rat’s nibbled his way into the rations,” he’d laughed, ignoring Sasuke’s thrashing. Solidly built and covered with ink, he’d gathered a few others around. “What d’you say, lads? Bit scrawny, ain’t he?”

“Put him down, Kisame,” a flame-haired man retorted. “He’s harmless, and we’ve got crates to load if we’re to make it to the meeting point on time.”

“Feisty little bugger, I have to say...seems a waste to let him sit here and starve…”

“We have enough children mucking about,” another man cut in. “We don’t need any more strays, Kisame.”

“What, we were all strays at some point, Sasori! How many of us can you say were conscripted at any sort of ripe old age? Not even you!”

“We’re still getting that blond brat to obey orders, let alone the albino. Last thing we need is another mouthy child to fight with before we get short and toss them overboard for the fish.”

At the threat, Sasuke had quickly settled down.

Kisame’s mouth had settled into a firm line, brow furrowed. “I’ll keep an eye on ‘im if it’s such a hassle, then. I’m not about to squander promising youth.”

“If he can pull his weight despite his being scrawny, then do what you will. Just keep him out of the way and get the supplies loaded.”

“Aye, Yahiko sir.” Setting Sasuke down, the one called Kisame had crouched, looking him over appraisingly. He’d seen his fair share of abandoned children on the docks, and had been one himself once upon a time. “...think you can trade a bunk and some food for manners and obeying orders, laddie?”

Still wary, Sasuke had realized he didn’t have much choice...and nodded.

“...good, then. Now...grab that sack, there. Can’t start too early, eh? Need to bulk you up,” he’d then taunted, ruffling the little Uchiha’s hair and chuckling at his protest. An arm flexed, showing the sizeable muscles. “Someday we’ll have you strong as an ox, but for now...best you start off light.”

And that was how Sasuke ended up on the ship among the group calling themselves the Red Dawn. Though not the only child, he’d been the youngest, close in age to those like Deidara and Hidan. The former detested him on sight, and the latter enjoyed having someone younger to pick on...but at least he was alive.

Now he’s fifteen, and though still far more lithe than Kisame and his bulk, is much stronger than he’d been when first discovered pilfering their supplies. Self assured, and maybe a little cocky, he’s one of the quickest and most agile of the crew, and it’s common to see him climbing about in the rigging like a monkey.

“Oi, boyo!”

Glancing over to his mentor, Sasuke leaps down to let Kisame speak to him face to face. “Aye, sir?”

“Find any frayed lines or slipping knots?”

“No, sir. Everything looks to be top form, sir.”

There’s a snort. “Always with the ‘sir’...I think I know well enough by now you respect me without you spittin’ the word every few words, hm?”

“Aye sir.”

Ignoring Sasuke’s smirk, Kisame gives his shoulder a shove. “Off to bed with you, then. We’ll be landing midday tomorrow, so best you be rested.”

At the notion, Sasuke can’t help but brighten. It’s been several weeks since they last made landfall, and he’s eager to get off the ship for a while and explore a new town. “Will we be moored long?”

“A few days, give or take. Just be sure you don’t get yourself into any trouble,” the elder pirate advises, giving the youth a rather pointed look. “None of your shenanigans from the last time we docked...got it?”

“It was just one brawl -”

“And you had two black eyes. Not to mention we were nearly ousted and thrown out. I’m serious, Sasuke...keep your head down. We can’t afford to muddy the waters.”

“...yes, sir.”

“To bed, then.”

Making his way below deck, Sasuke doesn’t waste much time crawling into the hammock he sleeps in, kicking off his boots and not bothering with anything else. He’ll just change in the morning before they make landfall and at least look somewhat presentable.

Until then...he swiftly falls asleep to the gentle rocking of the ship.

...at least, for a few hours.

“Sasuke...Sasuke!”

Eyelids squinting, they open as he hears his mentor’s voice. “...Kisame…?”

The pirate’s expression is solemn. “We’re coming up on a nasty squall...no avoiding it with the winds as they are. Best you get up and secure yourself before it hits.”

Sasuke’s gut sinks, but not entirely. They’ve faced storms before. Sure, some get lost now and then, but he’s yet to go overboard.

...and yet, Kisame’s face makes him wonder.

Slipping on his boots, he makes his way topside to a terrifying sight. Even as color peeks over the horizon, the rest of the sky is quickly being consumed by a reaching, contorting black. Clouds roll and tear at the ferocity of the winds, and the curtain of pounding rain is quickly approaching.

...this doesn’t look good.

The crew is shouting and running, moving to tie down anything that moves. Sasuke leaps into the fray, helping to check the rigging he only just finished securing the night before. The whipping winds snap the sails like thunderclaps, and he pales as perfectly good lines already show signs of stress.

This really isn’t good.

Waves begin to swell, cresting further and further over the deck. Clothes are quickly soaked, Sasuke moving to mop water from both heaven and sea from his face. He can barely see in the deluge…!

“Sasuke -!”

Squinting and turning to Kisame’s voice, Sasuke pales as a monster wave begins to tilt the ship, rearing up over them like a furious stallion.

He barely has time to take a breath before it hits him like a slap from a god. Turning and spinning as the water tries to pull him apart, he loses all sense of direction before being spat back up upon the surface.

Around him, several other crewmen attempt to grab on to anything nearby and floating. The ship slowly wobbles back the other way, swiftly drifting the other direction at the storm’s mercy.

With it goes any hope of being pulled back onto the deck. The ocean is too angry, too determined to see them drowned.

Managing to find a barrel, Sasuke clings to the bobbing lumber as lightning flashes and rain falls in sheets. Already his body is exhausted from its beating, and he knows it won’t be long until he can’t fight any longer. Curling his fingers as best he can into the ropes around his lifesaver, he holds on for dear life for as long as he’s able. But once his body gives up...it all goes black.

“...nn…”

Eyelids quivering, he rises into consciousness like a struggle against the tide. Where...what…?

Managing to open his eyes, Sasuke finds himself staring at...some kind of thatched roof…? But, he was on the ship, and...and…

...oh no…

Sitting up in a panic, he soon finds himself dizzy, collapsing back upon something soft. Bits and pieces of the morning before (or...whenever it was - how long was he out?) flicker through his mind, lingering exhaustion making the memories difficult to recall. But eventually he finds his feet, staggering out of what turns out to be a small hut.

Squinting against the sun, he finds himself not too far from a sandy beach peppered with stones. Stepping out, he stumbles far enough to get a better view of his surroundings. It looks like he’s one some kind of...island of some sort. What size he can’t know, or if there’s anyone else around.

...but someone had to build this hut.

Slowing panning his eyes, he stares as a figure approaches from one side of the shore. Somehow pale despite the sun, a curtain of dark hair hangs to her hips. Under an arm is a basket, and she comes up short as she spots him.

“Y...you’re awake!”

Feeling more caught in a fever dream than alive, Sasuke can’t manage a reply before his knees decide enough is enough. Crumpling, he sinks into the sand before his vision flickers and his body goes slack.

A gasp sounds from his unexpected companion. Racing over and setting aside her burden, she carefully takes his head in her lap. “...well...maybe you’re not quite r-ready to be on your feet,” she murmurs. With surprising strength, she drags him back inside, settling him atop the odd nest of fabric within that serves as a resting place. Next she fetches her basket, heavy with fruits. Ensuring he’s stable, she trades it for a net, walking back out into the sand and wading into the water.

For a moment she stands and stares before slipping beneath the surface. Just as she submerges, a flick of an amethyst tail sends water flipping into the air before she disappears.

                                                          .oOo.

     Oh golly it's late @~@      ...I wanna say I wrote something kinda like this before, but it's been so long and with SHM on top of it, I can't really recall what all I've done and when and for what, ahaha - forgive me if this sounds too familiar. I'm very tired and couldn't really think of anything else, RIP.      Anyway, I wanna say more but...too tired. I'm gonna go crash :'D Thanks for reading~

[ichigo-daifuku]

Beloved

SLBP Fanfiction [Read on AO3]

Sanada Yukimura/MC; Sanada Nobuyuki/MC

In a place called Shinano, she was beloved.

Explicit | Warning: Mildly Dubious Consent. If you have decided to proceed reading, please do so with caution. Thank you!

Word Count: ~5k

The steam that surged from the warm water clouded my vision as I sank in its depths. One ripple came after another with each step I took until I settled down and leaned against a giant rock placed on the side. The temperature was perfect. At the sudden onslaught of warmth that seeped through my skin and soothed my tired body, I rubbed my palms together and hugged myself. The relief was instantaneous; I felt my tense muscles loosen up and my nerves finally calm down.

Save for the occasional sound of water dripping from my skin, it was quiet. Not another soul was present around the area, the moon above and the bamboo trees that surrounded the onsen served as my only company. I let out a sigh and relished in this rare moment of tranquility that life has offered. The anxiety I felt moments ago seemed like an illusion. I was at ease, left to wallow in my thoughts as the swirls of steam formed abstract figures above the waters.

It seemed like it was only yesterday when I bid my family and our restaurant in Kyoto goodbye to go on an adventure in a far away place. But in reality, it has almost been a year since I began working for the Sanada clan in Shinano ‒ a good year.

Even before I met them, I had heard of them. Snippets of conversations from our customers in the restaurant kept me informed of the happenings in places beyond Kyoto. There were discussions focused on Sanada Masayuki, the clan’s current head, whose strength and brilliance in military strategy made the clan a formidable opponent in the battlefield. The reputation of the Sanada clan made everyone aware of the two sons in its bloodline. People who allegedly encountered him said that they never met a more warm-hearted and gentle soul than the elder Sanada brother, Nobuyuki, whose wisdom would leave the clan in capable hands as its intended heir. The younger brother, Yukimura was known to all as a valiant warrior. His faithful devotion to the Tiger of Kai, Takeda Shingen, was noted to be nothing like any relationship between a liege lord and a retainer fellow samurai had witnessed before. They spoke, some with reverence and others dislike, of the warriors of Sanada, who were unafraid of death, ready to cross the river to the underworld with the six coins embedded on their crest. Despite my knowledge of the ruthlessness in the realm of the samurai, I shivered at the thought.

At first, it was only the honor of working for a prominent samurai family that spurred me to do well in my job as a cook. But as time passed, it became more than that. Never in my life did I expect that a family of such high social standing would treat their workers in a way that almost felt like family. From the very first day, everyone in Ueda Castle had been welcoming and friendly, even the members of the Sanada family themselves. I was so grateful that I would regularly visit the nearby shrine to offer my gratitude to the gods who brought me to this wonderful place. Now, it felt like every victory of the Sanada was my victory, too; as if every warrior's wound was a mark that bled against my own skin.

But perhaps, my feelings on the matter were so strong because I had fallen in love, deeply, to a man of the Sanada.

I remembered that day ‒ that particular sunny morning in Ueda. It was not the spirited battlecries of training men that attracted my attention when I arrived to sit on the veranda by the garden, but rather the faint murmurs of two boys hidden by the bushes.

“Come on… You need to take the first step to becoming a real man!” Although I could not see him, I knew that voice belonged to the younger Sasuke. He was a charming kid, that one. I was sure he would get along well with Yahiko if they ever got to meet one day.

The other one was far taller than Sasuke. The thickets did nothing to cover his muscular frame as well as the bright color of his kimono. Lord Yukimura scratched the back of his head and frowned. After a few moments of silence, he blurted out, “Hey! What do you mean ‘first step’?”

Sasuke paid no heed to Lord Yukimura’s question and hummed in deep thought. “A-ha! Lord Yukimura, if you do this right, you’ll make the Sanada clan proud!”

“Really?” Lord Yukimura tilted his head sideways as he considered Sasuke’s words. His expression changed into a more determined one, voice full of conviction, “You’re right, Sasuke! For the Sanada clan!”

Lord Yukimura emerged from the bushes and unexpectedly, marched straight to the veranda. He stopped a few steps in front of me and I looked up at him, confused. In a stiff motion, he reached out the hand that was hidden behind his back and held towards my direction a bright blue gentian. Despite his obvious nervousness, he held the flower carefully, a handsome blush painted on his cheeks as he suddenly averted his eyes when mine met them. “For you.”

Our fingertips brushed when I received the flower with an equally nervous hand. Lord Yukimura’s blush seemed to be contagious. Still, I cleared my throat and managed to answer, “I love it. Thank you, Lord Yukimura.”

“Can you…?” He pointed to my head.

“Oh, um… of course, Milord,” I replied, a bit shy. I placed the gentian on my hair through the ribbon that secured its plaits. “There.”

“Ah… well… it… erm… suits… you.”

“Aw, maaaaan. Just when I thought you were being cool, Lord Yukimura!” Sasuke said from beside us.

“You…! You’re still here?” Lord Yukimura jumped slightly, flustered. I don't blame him. I myself didn't notice when Sasuke arrived!

Sasuke’s brows knit in confusion. “Huh? Where else would I be?”

“Come on. Time for training!” Lord Yukimura picked up Sasuke and deposited him on his shoulder. He walked a few steps and came to an abrupt stop. It seemed like he forgot something. I wondered what it was. 

Lord Yukimura turned around and raised his hand in a small wave. “Later!”

Oh. I smiled and waved back. “Yeah, later.”

Lord Yukimura and Sasuke went on their way while I sat there and fiddled with my fingers. The weight of the flower in my hair made me feel giddy. I swung my legs back and forth the ledge and touched my cheeks. I knew I was smiling like an idiot but I couldn't help it, I was just so happy. Footsteps against the wooden floor made me straighten up and turn to the direction where it came from.

“Good morning,”  Lord Nobuyuki greeted as he emerged from the corner.

“Good morning, Lord Nobuyuki.”

He proceeded to sit down on the veranda with me. Immediately, his eyes zeroed in on the flower that adorned my hair. “Oh, it’s a gentian.”

“Ah, yes.” I shifted my gaze self-consciously as I remembered what happened minutes ago. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes, very.” He smiled. “Stay still.” Lord Nobuyuki reached out to adjust the flower given by his brother on my hair, the back of his hand touching my neck. “There you go. Perfect.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s been quite some time since you came to us. How are you liking your stay in Ueda so far?”

“It is a beautiful place, Milord. Although I miss Kyoto, I can’t say I haven’t fallen in love with Shinano.”

“I am glad to hear that.” Lord Nobuyuki’s smile broadened. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up falling in love and marrying a man of Shinano, too.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. A spark of hope lit inside my heart. After all, the man I had fallen in love with, Sanada Yukimura, was a man of Shinano.

The bamboo trees rattled against each other as the wind blew. With it, the crickets hummed, loud but unobtrusive in the background. Was it midnight already? I couldn't be sure. Barely a sound came from the inside of the inn where our small camp rested for the night. After tonight’s stopover, we would be back on the road on the way to Mikawa, to Hamamatsu Castle. It was for the diplomatic negotiations between the Sanada and the Tokugawa. Eyes closed, I folded my hands together and prayed for a successful outcome. In the time that I spent with the Sanada, I continuously witnessed Lord Yukimura back and forth the battlefield. Every sendoff was filled with worry, every homecoming filled with relief and joy. I would have loved to run into his arms each time he left and came back, but I could only fight the urge to do so. I wasn't his woman. I didn't have that right.

A few weeks before the trip to Mikawa, I finished my chores and sat down under a tree in the garden. After my materials were placed neatly on the ground, I began to sew a pattern on a small cloth. With each prick of the needle through the silk, I whispered a prayer of hope that no sword nor arrow would harm Lord Yukimura in the battlefield. With every inch of the thread, I expressed my silent affection and wished for him to live a long, happy life. It was all I did until a shadow stood against the sunlight and loomed over my hunched form.

“Hm? What are you up to?” It was Lord Nobuyuki.

“Good afternoon, Milord. I’m making a protection charm.”

“For?”

“For Lord Yukimura.”

“May I see it?”

“Of course.”

Lord Nobuyuki’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he sat down on the grass with me. I handed him the half-finished charm I had been working on for the past hour. I was suddenly aware of how numb my fingers had become, but I paid it no mind. This was the only thing I could do in hopes of protecting Lord Yukimura. A little pain on my hands was nothing if it meant I could do something for his safety, no matter how silly a protection charm was.

Lord Nobuyuki traced the stitches of the embroidery between his thumb and index finger. “You’re very kind.”

“You are far kinder, Lord Nobuyuki,” I said, my words sincere. I tried to respond to his smile with one of my own, but I only managed to make an awkward curve of my lips as it trembled. My shoulders followed suit. I couldn’t help it. I burst into tears, worried for Lord Yukimura.

During breakfast that day, the clan’s discussion centered around the huge possibility of a war with the Tokugawa. I nearly dropped the bowl I was holding as Lord Yukimura stood up and volunteered himself to lead the frontlines. Of course, Lord Yukimura would. He wasn’t known as the hero who appeared once in a hundred years for nothing. Even that bravery, I loved about him… But at times like these, I wished he wasn’t always so ready to die. I cleared the rest of the dishes with shaky hands as I caught the wind of Lord Nobuyuki suggesting negotiations with the Tokugawa with Lord Masayuki.

Embarrassed by my sudden outburst, I moved to wipe my tears with my sleeve when Lord Nobuyuki reached out to me with a green handkerchief.

“N-No, I couldn’t possibly ‒ ”

At my refusal, Lord Nobuyuki himself wiped my tears. The fresh scent of his handkerchief made me cry even more. It smelled the same as Lord Yukimura.

Lord Nobuyuki did not ask a single question as I let the pent-up emotions out of my system. He continued to wipe my tears and pat my back every now and then. Truly, he is far kinder than I could ever be. Lord Yukimura was lucky to have him as a brother, and the Sanada to have him as its future liege lord. I remembered everything I heard about him long ago and knew that Lord Nobuyuki deserved every word of praise given to him multiplied tenfold.

When I calmed down, I kept my gaze on my lap, embarrassed for breaking down in front of Lord Nobuyuki. He must have thought I was a strange woman, mad even. Unbeknownst to him, my tears were for his brother, whom I was lucky to be even be considered a friend of. Every day was a struggle to bury the romantic sentiments I had for Lord Yukimura. It grew stronger by the second. I didn’t know what to do anymore.

At the sound of my name, I hesitantly shifted my attention to Lord Nobuyuki. I opened my mouth to apologize for my behavior, only to be met by a poke on my cheek. “Milord, what…?” I started to say, only for Lord Nobuyuki to poke my cheek again. Again. And again. What was he doing? Despite my sullen mood earlier, I couldn’t help but giggle at the silliness of it all.

“It worked.” He smiled, pleased with himself.

“What did?”

“The magic trick my mother taught me ‒ to make a someone smile.”

In the time I stayed with this clan, that was the only time I heard of the late Lady Sanada. I was always curious, but I respected the people of Ueda far too much and never dared to pry. One look at Lord Masayuki and I gathered that Lord Nobuyuki and Lord Yukimura had gotten their beautiful baby blue eyes from their mother. After that encounter with Lord Nobuyuki in the garden, I found what he said lingering in my mind. The magic trick. I didn’t understand what was magical about it. But it wasn’t long before I did.

I finished the protection charm. The little trinket was tucked safely underneath my pillow, hidden away from everyone else. Only one other person knew that I made one for Lord Yukimura.

As I was coming back from a walk one afternoon, I found him, my beloved, pacing back and forth by the gates ‒ waiting for me. Lord Yukimura greeted me as he always did but an unusual silence fell between us. He had a somber expression from his face, so different from his usual happy expression that I loved so much. “I was hoping to ask you to make me some sweets…”

When Lord Masayuki announced the plan for peace talks, Lord Yukimura’s facial expression darkened at the mention of the name of the Tokugawa’s liege lord. I gathered he was not exactly thrilled to go to Mikawa. Seeing Lord Yukimura upset like this made me lonely. I asked myself what I should do when a thought came to my head.

“Please don’t fret, Lord Yukimura.” I poked his cheek with my index finger. His lips part in mild shock at my gesture until he gave me a smile ‒ that same smile he showed me when he gave me the gentian. It seemed, even for a moment, he was relieved of his worries. It worked. The magic trick worked.

“Okay.”

“How about some donuts?”

His face lit up in childlike joy and I fell in love all over again. “Really?”

“Yes, I made some a while ago. Wait in the veranda, please. I’ll get them from the kitchens.”

I walked inside the castle with a spring in my steps; I made Lord Yukimura smile. That thought made me happy. I hummed as I prepared the donuts for Lord Yukimura. I hoped he would liked them, or at least I hoped they were something that would ease his worries. Tray in hand, I walked out the kitchen. I turned to a corner and bumped into someone coming from the other direction. The tray shook from my grasp, but it was steadied by the person I bumped into. His other hand flew to my arm to stabilize me from the sudden impact. I blinked as my sight registered the familiar green finery of Lord Nobuyuki.

“I am so sorry, Milord!”

“Are you all right?” Lord Nobuyuki peered into my face, worried.

“Y-Yes, I’m really sorry.”

“There, now. There’s no need to apologize.” He stepped back to give me some space. I steadied the tray once more and the action caught his sight. “Hm?”

“Oh, um, would you like a donut, Lord Nobuyuki?” I offered the tray to him. “Please take one, as a token of apology from me.”

“Ah, well, I always love your cooking,” Lord Nobuyuki took a single donut from the tray, “And if you insist like that, it is impossible for me to say no.”

“Thank you. I hope the donut is to your liking, then.”

Lord Nobuyuki and I passed each other as we parted ways to go to where we were headed before my clumsiness. To my surprise, he called my name just after a second. I turned around in curiosity to see a hopeful expression on Lord Nobuyuki’s face.

“Do you think you can make anmitsu next time? For me?”

That was the first time Lord Nobuyuki has asked for anything from me. “Of course. Anything for you, Milord.”

Lord Nobuyuki gave me one of those dimpled smiles. This time, I could smile back at him before I turned around completely and continued on my way to the veranda.

“I’m back.”

Lord Yukimura turned his head at the sound of my voice. He was an enchanting figure against the orange and red hues of the sunset. He flushed the moment I sat down next to him. As I handed him the tray, I wished it were always crimson blushes that would stain his cheeks, never the same fiery shade of blood on his armor.

The thought jolted me back to the present and strengthened my resolve for what I was to do on this night, why I was here in the first place. I emerged from the comforts of the warm water and rinsed my body from a nearby well. Dressed in the thin fabric of my sleeping robes, the protection charm that was once in my pocket now in my palm, I gathered all the courage I could muster and left the comforts of the onsen.

Tonight, I was going to confess my love for Lord Yukimura. Even if it was supposed to be the main issue, it was not our difference in social status that bothered me, but rather the question whether our feelings were mutual or not. If he felt the same way, then I would be more than happy to be with him. Just the thought of it was enough to make my heart pick up its pace. But if he felt otherwise… it would hurt me. Still, I would nurse my broken heart in the shadows and continue to support him like I always did.

Lord Yukimura and I were always in the company of other retainers, so I decided that tonight would be the right time. Upon our arrival, I overheard Lord Nobuyuki setting our room assignments with the innkeeper and asked him about it.

“Since most of the rooms are taken, some of us will have to stay in the upper floor, others in the lower floor.”

“What about me?”

“You’ll be staying in the lower floor.”

“What about the warriors like… Lord Yukimura?”

“In the upper floor.”

“I see.”

In the pitch black darkness, I tiptoed through the corridor with the stealth that would rival a kunoichi. When my nervous breaths threatened to turn into hyperventilation, I covered my nose and mouth with my palm. I dared not to bring a lantern. I couldn’t be found by anyone. To another person, I had no reason to be here, and at midnight… but I did have a reason, one that only Lord Yukimura needed to know.

At last, I arrived and slid open the shoji door of Lord Yukimura's room as silently as I could. The area was smaller than our place in Ueda, but was nevertheless well-kept and comfortable. With the knowledge of the identical placement of essentials in his room and mine, I treaded across slowly. The further I went, the closer the sound of steady breathing came. I became hesitant to continue my plan. There were more than a hundred reasons why I shouldn’t continue. Maybe Lord Yukimura didn't feel the same way. Maybe he would get mad at my audacity to barge in his room in the middle of the night. Maybe I would get thrown out of Ueda afterwards.

In my moment of distraction, I tripped and fell on something… No, it was a person’s body ‒ Lord Yukimura!

He grunted at the sudden impact and I panicked. My hands fell on his shoulders. I felt him stiffen in shock. “Oh, no! It’s just me! I’m so sorry, Milord! Are you all right?” I quickly straightened myself and sat down beside his beddings. “I ‒ I’m so sorry for barging in.” This was it. This was now or never. “I know it’s so sudden but please hear me out.”

The rustle of cloth told me that he had set his blanket aside and sat up properly as I rambled. “I have something to tell you ‒ something I’ve wanted to say for a long time.” My mouth suddenly felt a bit dry, I cleared my throat before I continued, “I… I’ve never met anyone who makes me feel the way you do. Each moment I spend with you is just… so precious. I appreciate everything you do for me. When you’re happy, I am happy. When you’re sad, I feel sad, too.” Emotional, I paused and tried to find the right words to say. “If you’ll allow me, I want to experience every laughter and tear with you ‒ the two of us together. There is no one but you in my life. I love you… and if you will have me, then I am yours.”

I touched his arm, and then his shoulders, until my fingers found the sharpness of his jaw. I leaned closer to press a kiss on his cheek, but instead his plush lips were what mine connected with. Surprised, I tried to pull back abruptly. His firm hand flew to the nape of my neck and held me in place. A startled cry escaped my lips at the action. My mind fell blank. I couldn't believe it.

Our first kiss was chaste. It was a firm touch of Lord Yukimura's lips on mine. I felt our warm breaths mix as we explored the taste of each other for the very first time. It was gentle, everything I imagined it would be and more. Each kiss that followed turned more passionate. There was not a hint of hesitation even as the sound of our mouths meeting in the otherwise silent room made my cheeks heat up. My lips parted and met his tongue halfway, the kisses from then on deeper than ever. It dawned to me that I was kissing him ‒ really kissing Lord Yukimura, the love of my life, and he was kissing me back. In that moment, I dared hope that my feelings were not one-sided. With every brush of our lips, I felt as if it was the both of us who were succumbing to the yearning that had been left unexpressed for so long ‒ not just me.

The protection charm in my hand fell somewhere on the floor, lost in the darkness as Lord Yukimura hoisted me onto his lap, his hands on the back of my thighs. I clutched his robes, accidentally loosening them in the action. Pressed close to him like this, I was enveloped in the fresh scent of him that I loved so much. His fingers grazed the back of my collar slowly, while the other hovered around my belt. Somehow, I knew what he asked for.

I broke away for a moment. “I… I’ll do it.”

His body fell back into the bedding while I worked on the knot that held my robes together. Together with the blanket, all my clothes and second thoughts was discarded on the side. Skin bared, I was suddenly aware of his intense desire as I settled myself back on his lap. I couldn’t help but cover myself up even if it was dark, which I felt was ridiculous since I had been the one to come to him. He knew it. He pulled my arms away from my chest and replaced them with his palms. He sucked in a breath as he met my bare skin, flushed not because of the bath, but out of the need for him. The warmth of his touch made my pulse quicken as he caressed my sensitive body, giving undivided attention to my breasts, to my abdomen, down to my thighs.

“I…” I began to say, only to be cut off by a moan I failed to stifle. He traced the skin on my inner thighs, not far off my most delicate area. “Please…” I begged, not even sure what I was begging for.

But he knew what I needed. Lightheaded, my breaths turned uneven as he tenderly caressed my slit. It was slow, odd at first, until his ministrations sent waves of pleasure all over my body. Instinctively, I found myself moving against him. I felt the need to do something ‒ anything ‒ to chase the strange feeling that loomed within me. He moved back and forth, around and all over. At some point, I started to feel unsteady. He bent his strong legs against my back so I could lean on him. I bit into the back of my hand to quiet myself as my body twitched reflexively, meeting my release.

I panted, mind still in the midst of the haze of pleasure as my trembling hands fumbled with his robes, struggling to untie it to quicken his pace in undressing. In the dark, the both of us could not see, we could only feel. I indulged in the contact of his bare skin and leaned down to kiss his sculpted body, up to his chest, where I heard the quick pace of his pure heart, alive and beating. Somehow, I had imagined Lord Yukimura's fingers to be more calloused, his skin rougher, his body more scarred. But as I reached his waiting lips and drowned in his kisses again, I realized something.

My fantasy didn't do him justice.

I leaned back and shifted my shaky legs in position, eager to reciprocate to the gratification he had given me. His hands on my waist, he guided me as I eased myself down his hard length. Slowly, until my slick heat accomodated him to the hilt. In all sense of the word, I was one with him. For better or for worse, there was no way my relationship with Lord Yukimura could be the same after this night. He let out a strangled groan at the way I took him. I winced at the slight pain and feeling of fullness I'd never experienced before and paused to regain my breathing. I knew of the hushed conversations of women in the castle about life's sensual pleasures. To hear about it was one thing, but to experience it was another.

I rose and fell on his lap in fractions and moved in the same, steady pace until I started to feel the pleasure gradually overcome any initial discomfort I felt. The pace of our movements picked up and his hips began to meet mine with every thrust, each slap of our skin distinct in the quiet. The beddings turned askew while the floor creaked slightly in our desperation to be closer than we were before. Once again, I felt the sweet sensation of pleasure rising up in my abdomen. I arched my back and this time, I was unable to stifle my scream in ecstasy. Still in pure bliss, I felt him pulse within me. My body would remember him as I took all of him and everything he had to give. He was the one I loved, after all. Nothing could ever change that.

Still one and the same, he shifted to a sitting position and embraced me. His arms caged me in their protection and I dared hope I was his beloved, as he is mine. He buried his face on my shoulder and showered light kisses along the collarbone. His hair tickled my cheek and I brought my hand up to run my fingers through it.

His hair...

Two voices were audible from the corridor. They grew closer by the second, perfectly clear through the thin wooden walls of the room. Although the two attempted to be hushed, their familiarity made their conversation seem louder to my ears. One of was all calm, in contrast to the other who sounded anxious as he voiced out his worries to the former.

“I told you it’s nothing to concern yourself with, little lord.”

“But she’s not in her room…”

“Who knows? Maybe she’s still in the women’s baths. Would you like to check?”

“W-W-Women’s baths? N-No… Why would you even suggest that…?” The flustered, distraught voice paused before he spoke again, “But I – I heard something here… I thought I heard her voice…”

The other man sighed. “You must have been dreaming, dear.”

“Y-Yeah… Maybe I was…”

I shivered, on the verge of putting everything all together.

Footsteps grew nearer with every second. The shadows came first, until the light from the lantern brought by the two people who walked along the corridor passed through the shoji door and illuminated the room. The moment was short, but it was enough.

His hand darted out to tuck a stray lock of hair from my face behind my ear. I found myself caught in his affectionate gaze, entranced by his dimpled smile. The hand that rested on the small of my back reached up to cup my face and the pad of his thumb brushed along my cheek. He spoke the words I longed to hear that night, his voice that deep, beautiful, and gentle lilt that has brought me comfort many times before.

“I love you, too,”  Lord Nobuyuki said, reverent and satisfied, “I love you so, so much.”

( ಠ ͜ʖಠ)

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ANYWAY! During the Hearts Awakened & Enthralled Event Story, Nobuyuki joked that perhaps MC "should marry a man of Shinano". Although this fic was not set in that ES, it got me thinking of how the phrase could refer to either Sanada brother.

The story might have been a bit odd, or even far-fetched at some points, so thank you for humoring me. I hope you enjoyed it, no matter what interpretation you ended up with. Thanks for reading! xx

Tagging @pseudofaux because this was the WIP in the Plot Question Tag Game! 💓

Ichigo Daifuku's Masterlist

[ladykissingfish]

A Date with an Angel // Part Five // Nagato

Nagato

Konan took another bite of her pie, her eyes closing in bliss. “I can’t believe that YOU made this,” she said, smiling at him. “A huge step from the guy who tried to make scrambled eggs on a slat grill.” Nagato blushes and looks down, shaking his head. “One time. I did that ONE time but you and Yahiko never let me live it down, huh?” It was the next day, and Nagato had taken time away from work in order to have his turn to entertain Konan. He had woken at at the crack of dawn to prepare some of Konan’s favorite dishes (sesame chicken and noodles, tomato salad, apple pie), and he invited her to drive with him into the countryside for a picnic. The field he chose was absolutely beautiful; surrounded by wild sunflowers with a small lake burbling nearby. He was pleased that Konan was enjoying his rare attempt at cooking. Looking at her lovely face brings up a memory, and he says, quietly, “Do you remember the day we met?” Konan smiles and nods; she did indeed. At 10 years old, Nagato had recently lost his parents and had come, scruffy-haired and wide-eyed, to a new school close to the home of the couple who was fostering him. Yahiko seemed to sense how lonely and sad he was, and he befriended him immediately. “Yahiko was pulling you by the arm to our lunch table. Me and him always sat alone in the corner. He brought you over and he was doing so much talking that I had to tell him to shut up so you could tell me your name. You said, very serious, ‘I’m Nagato Uzumaki, I’m 10, my blood type is A, I’m a Virgo. It’s nice to meet you.’” Nagato grinned and nodded. “Yes. And before you could introduce YOURSELF, Yahiko put his arm around you and said, ‘This is Konan. I don’t know her blood type or anything like that, but I DO know that she’s the prettiest girl in the world and one day she’s gonna be my wife, so no funny stuff, okay?’” Konan burst out laughing. “Ugh; that idiot. I punched him, didn’t I?” Nagato nods. “You did. You actually sent him flying back into the wall. But Yahiko just picked himself up and said ‘She’s so cool, isn’t she?’ Thats when I knew I was with the right people.” Konan chuckles and cuts herself another slice of pie. She’s about to offer him another piece when he says, quite suddenly, “I had a crush on you back then, you know.” Konan looks at him, surprised. “You did??” “Mm. Like Yahiko, I also thought you were the prettiest girl in the whole world. By the time we got to high school, I was sitting there and doodling Konan Uzumaki in my notebook.” “Why didn’t you ever ask me out, then?” Nagato smiles as if the answer should be obvious. “Yahiko. Because ... if I thought you were pretty, HE thought you were the sun itself. He was head over heels for you, Konan. How could I compare with that?” Konan is quiet for a long while, thinking ... and feeling embarrassed. Yahiko, Nagato ... what in the world was wrong with those two? How could they have felt so strongly for someone like her, just some average woman, a nobody? What was so damn special about her that she had men as magnificent as Yahiko had been, as wonderful as Nagato still was, be in love with her? She felt horribly undeserving, and she finds the courage to tell Nagato something she hadn’t told anybody. “You know ... when — when Yahi died, he and I were trying for a baby.” “You were?” “Yes. We’d been trying to conceive for months, but nothing happened. Finally we both went to the doctor to get checked out and — well — my body is inhospitable to a child. Can’t have them. I was so upset because I knew how bad Yahi wanted kids, and here I was useless, couldn’t give them to him. But ... you know what he said?” Nagato shook his head. “He said we were going to go to the orphanage, and adopt every single child we could. He said it didn’t matter whether they came from our bodies or not, that all the love we had was going to be spent on them.” Nagato smiled and nodded. “Sounds like Yahiko, alright. You know you and him ... you guys were my only family, all those years. I don’t think I would have survived, if it wasn’t for you two. In a way ... you were kinda

like MY parents.” Konan opens her mouth to comment on that, when, quite suddenly, and without being aware that it was going to happen — she bursts into tears. Nagato is alarmed; he’s never seen Konan cry before, not even when they held hands at Yahiko’s funeral. Guilt floods his chest; should he have just kept his mouth shut about Yahiko? Was the pain still too heavy for her to bear? He cautiously scoots closer and puts a timid hand on her back, which she responds to by throwing both arms around him, sobbing against his neck. He holds her and tries to offer words of comfort ... but he finds that he’s now crying as well. They both sit there in the sunshine, hugging with tears streaming from their eyes. Eventually they’re able to stop, pull back and look at each other. They feel ... good. Both had been holding in their emotions for so long, and it was a relief to finally release them, to mourn the missing member of their trio. They dry each other’s eyes, and then Konan says, softly, “I don’t think I’ll ever stop missing Yahiko. I don’t think you will, either. But ... you know he’d want us to be happy, and move on from him. Me and you, we’re family. And those sweet men back at the house ... they’re our family, too.” “God help us,” Nagato jokes, setting them both to laughing. They begin quietly cleaning up their area, packing up their leftovers. The drive home is mostly quiet as well, each lost in their own thoughts. Nagato pulls into the driveway, but before he can open his door Konan is leaning across the seats and hugging him again. “Thank you, for today, and for this whole week.” “What do you mean?” “I ... heard the talk you had with the others.” Nagato shakes his head, embarrassed. “I never meant for you to —” “I know you didn’t. But ... I’m so touched that you even noticed how bad I was feeling, and shocked that everyone made such an effort for me. You are, without a doubt, the sweetest, kindest man alive. I love you, Nagato.” He smiles and kisses her cheek, gently. “Ditto, beautiful. Ditto.” They walk into the house; to their surprise, everyone is home for once, sitting around the dining room table and playing cards. “What are you playing?” “Poker,” Kakuzu answers, “And I’m cleaning these poor fools out.” Konan looks at Nagato, they grin at each other, then the two pull up two chairs to the table. “Your luck’s about to change, Kakuzu,” Konan says with a grin. “Deal us in.”

[laceymorganwrites]

Cold food

Word Count: 1,950

Pairing: Obito x Reader

Warnings: blowjob

You were the mom of the Akatsuki. First you were just the mom friend, the accomplice that took care of the household of the hideout and such, not a full fledged member. But time passed and you were becoming a more important role, you organized everything. You made sure everything went smoothly and were really reliable. You helped with the paperwork and managing, sometimes you were assigned on missions because of your medical knowledge. You were paid generously and loved your job, you never belonged anywhere in your life, you didn´t have a family or a village, so you settled in this hideout. When Nagato, Konan and Yahiko first discovered the hideout you convinced them to let you stay, in exchange for you working for their organization. Now the Akatsuki grew and you made it your home, so to speak. Not only did you work for them now, you cared for and about all the members. If anybody was to do them any harm, you would bestow your wrath upon them. Nagato was the leader of the organization, he was grateful for your help and some days he would order you to go out and have fun. Konan was always nice to you, you had very much in common and talked a lot, you helped her with the hurting after losing Yahiko. Kakuzu was like your secretary, he did a good job managing the money and you would always give him new bounties. His partner Hidan was a pain to clean after and he never behaved, it pissed you off but you got used to him. Deidara and Sasori crept you out with their explosions and puppets, but deep down they were nice guys, you hoped. You couldn´t wrap your head around Kisame, he was nice to you but you knew of the things he had done in the past. You kept your distance. Itachi always made you smile, you knew all about his past and the gentle soul he was. He was kind and a good friend. And then there was Tobi, the newest member. He was...something. You didn´t know if his childish behavior was real or not, it was so exaggerated that you wondered if it was an act sometimes, but he seemed so caught up into it that it had to be real. It confused you, but as far as you were concerned he was nice. At least he was overly nice to you. He seemed to be comfortable around you.

Today was one of those days that you were alone in the base, everyone else was on a mission and you just waited for their return. You had already cleaned everything and did the paperwork Pain assigned you to. Bored you walked through the hideout looking for other things you could do. You stopped at the living room, grabbed your book and read a bit. After a while you heard footsteps and laid your book aside, getting up to greet whoever came back. “(Y/N)-chan!” Tobi threw himself at you, trapping you in a hug. You chuckled slightly, hugging him back. “Welcome back, Tobi” you warmly said. Tobi didn´t let go of you for a while, he just kept holding you tightly and resting his chin on your shoulder. You rubbed your hands down his back gently. “Are you hungry?” you asked him. He nodded and let go of you. You gave him a warm smile. “Let´s see what I can make you, hm? Come on” you took his hand and led him to the kitchen. You opened the fridge, looking for something you could cook up, but then it hit you: you could just make some Inarizushi. “You can sit down, Tobi. I´ll make some Inarizushi” you told him, gesturing to the table. He did as you bid. “That´s Tobi´s favorite!” he cheered and you laughed. “I´m glad” you smiled as you prepared the rice. As the rice cooked you sat down on the counter, keeping an eye on it. “So, how was your mission?” you asked. “Deidara-senpai was mean to Tobi!” he whined, you chuckled. Deidara was always annoyed at Tobi. “Rude” you commented. “Does Tobi annoy (Y/N)-chan?” he whispered. You jumped down the counter. “Of course not!” you reassured him, hugging him from behind and resting your head in the crook of his neck. “I really like you, Tobi. You´re so nice. Don´t let Deidara get to you” you mumbled. You put the cooked rice into a bowl and prepared the Aburaage. “Tobi really likes (Y/N)-chan too...” he whispered, but you still heard it. You finished the Inarizushi and placed it on a plate, putting it before Tobi. “There you go. Enjoy! If you need anything, just call me”  you let him know, about to leave the kitchen. “Wait” he held you back, you stopped in motion as you heard his deep voice. “Can you stay? Please?” he asked you, he suddenly seemed vulnerable. “But...your mask...” you didn´t want to make him uncomfortable. “I trust you” he simply said. You closed the kitchen door and sat down in front of Tobi, grabbing a plate for yourself. You frowned. “Is everything alright, Tobi?” you started getting concerned. “Your voice changed...” you noticed. “Oh, this is my real voice. I don´t see why I should hide it from you. There is no need hiding when I´m with you” You tilted your head, smiling and grabbing his hand and slightly squeezing it. “(Y/N)?” Tobi called you. “Yes?” you asked. “I´ll take off my mask now...” he said, you found yourself holding your breath as his hand pulled the mask off his face. Your head rested in your hand, you bit your lip and couldn´t help but stare at Tobi, you were in awe. He looked down, afraid of meeting your eyes. He was so scared of your reaction, he was so ugly…

“God, you´re handsome...” you whispered dreamily, you were still in a trance of his beauty. Tobi slowly opened his eyes, not believing such words leaving your mouth. He caught you still staring at him with a dreamy smile on your face and looked away. “Y-you think so?” he mumbled, ripping you out of your trance. “I think you´re incredibly handsome, Tobi. I mean it.” you told him, blushing at your honesty. “My real name is Obito...” he told you. You smiled. It took him a while to get used to your stares and smiles, you were the first person he ever showed himself like this. But he felt so save with you, you always made him feel so calm, as if he could tell and show you anything, as if you´d protect him from the darkness. You two slowly started eating. “It was really good, you can cook really well...” Obito told you after you finished. You blushed slightly at him smiling at you. “Ah, it´s nothing” you laughed, doing the dishes. He put on his mask again and you two went back to your daily life. In the course over the next months, you grew closer. Every time you were alone at the hideout you got to know each other a bit better, whenever Obito was out on missions he would send you letters and sometimes come back bearing gifts for you. You always had a soft spot for Tobi, but now that he revealed himself to you as Obito, things were different. He grew too close to you and you were afraid you have fallen in love with him. Obito has told you everything about his past, about Rin. He still loved her, you knew it. You couldn´t be so selfish and let your emotions overtake you, you were not allowed to love him, you weren´t her. Sometimes you wished he never pulled off that mask. Today was one of those days you were especially sad about not being able to show Obito your love. You two were alone in the hideout again and just went to sleep. The only problem was that you were unable to, your thoughts raced through your head, mocking you for falling for him. A quiet knock on your door disturbed your thoughts. “(Y/N)?” Obito called for you, he sounded worried. You got out of bed and opened the door to find Obito looking distressed and scared. “What´s wrong?” you asked, letting him in. “I had a nightmare...can I stay with you tonight?” he asked and your heart hurt. “Of course you can” you reassured him. You two went to bed facing each other. Obito seemed to instantly calm down. “(Y/N)? Promise to never leave me?” he asked, grabbing your shoulder and holding onto you. “You know I´m always here for you, Obito” you told him, locking your arms behind his neck. “No, I mean: be mine” he tried again. Your heart raced, this couldn´t be happening. You subconsciously nodded. Obito smiled at you. Your hand gently caressed his cheek and you kissed his scars. Obito wasn´t used to this kind of affection and pulled you closer with him, his strong arm resting on your waist. He played with your hair for a while until he kissed your cheek like you did his. As he pulled away, you connected your lips with his, softly stealing his first kiss. He slowly started kissing back, caressing your back, you pressed your body closer to him and dug your fingers in his hair. As you slightly started tugging at it, Obito softly moaned, you took this opportunity to slip your tongue in his mouth, which made him moan even more. Your hand wandered to his cheek again, where you held him in place as you shared a passionate kiss that turned into a make out rather quickly. You noticed something hardening against your thigh and smirked as you started grinding against Obito´s member slightly while still kissing him. The friction was too much for him and he suddenly pulled away. He was panting and blushing, you smiled at him, stroking his cheek gently. Obito looked down at his erection and blushed heavily as he noticed that it squeezed against your thigh. “I´m sorry” he apologized. You chuckled slightly. “It´s okay. You want me to take care of it?” you offered, smirking. He felt a rush of arousal going through his body and nodded. You softly peppered kissed over his neck, watching him squirm underneath you. He yelped when you traced your fingers over his still clothed dick, you repeated the motion and applied more pressure to your kisses, not leaving hickeys. Obito whined and ground into your palm. You made Obito lie down on his back and your hands wandered up and down his bare chest. He was moaning already, watching what you´d do next. You hooked your fingers inside the band of his sweatpants and pulled them down. You trailed kisses all over his chest, waist and dick. He was breathing heavily. You started to lick up and down his base before circling the tip, Obito was quivering. He closed his eyes and put one hand over his face to hide his blush and moans. He shot his hips upward when you took all of him in your mouth and started sucking. “(Y/N)...st-stop...this is too much...” he pleaded and you stopped the sucking and took him out of your mouth. “Obito...can I make you cum?” you husked into his ear. He nodded, biting his lip as you started pumping his length. Obito bucked his hips into your movement and soon he came whining all over your hand. He was panting and felt weak in the legs as you cleaned your hand and any other excess of his cum. You pulled him close to your chest and you two fell asleep.