#wow wonder why loving sasuke and all this is given so much importance

[sueske]

[rogueninja]

i notice a lot of dudebro fans like shikamaru is it because shikamaru is their ideal "alpha" character? hes tough and cool and there is also the fact of him being a misogynist and to the dudebros thats him putting down #useless annoying women or smth? like these fans always do they bring down sasuke but also they say things like "shikamaru was more there for naruto than sasuke! naruto obsessing over sasuke makes no sense! sasuke never showed any care for naruto!" idk i just wondering haha

i gotta be honest, the reason a bunch of people including "dudebro" fans like shikamaru is because he's a likeable character. in fact he is one of my favorite characters. obviously he is not for everyone and that's fine and there are plenty of reasons to dislike him, and his misogyny is very irksome. but it's important to remember that shikamaru is very obviously kishimoto's favorite character (i seem to remember that he's said so in interviews). out of all the non-team 7 konoha 12, he is given the most attention, especially in shippuden. he's well developed, and his intelligence and strategic approach make his fights some of the most engaging to watch. also his fight with hidan is simply one of the best moments in series in my opinion.

now, that said, to address what you said about people comparing him to sasuke. there is definitelyan element of that, and i think it again comes down to likeability. as i said, shikamaru is easy to like. he's smart, interesting, and easygoing. sasuke on the other hand is a bit less easy to like. i'm not saying that to dunk on sasuke. i think he's an amazing character. but shikamaru and sasuke have totally different backgrounds and very different arcs. shikamaru has had it pretty easy his entire life. he has a living family who loves him. we see him lose someone for the first time in shippuden, we identify with him and his quest for revenge, and it's just easy to root for him taking down the villain who killed his beloved mentor.

sasuke on the other hand has had an extremely rough life. his entire family was massacred by his own brother, and he has to deal with the trauma of that as well as the realization of the truth about his brother and his village. we watch a downward spiral of a person who went from refusing to kill opponents to attempting to kill his own teammates and destroy the village. like for me personally, when i thought sasuke had killed karin it was a lot for me to process and i really didn't know what to think. it can be hard to watch that much hatred in a person, and it can be hard to understand why naruto refuses to give up on him. literally every character gives up on sasuke except for naruto, and i think that's the point. and to be clear, this isn't a moral judgement on sasuke. my point is sasuke goes through a lot and is effectively an antagonist for a large portion of the series. liking sasuke takes more understanding and empathy, which is EXACTLY why naruto is basically the only one left who will still fight for sasuke because naruto is the king of empathy and understanding. therefore it's really easy to look at shikamaru doing cool things like backing up naruto and deciding to be naruto's advisor and be like "wow obviously naruto should care more about that guy" while sasuke is continually trying to push naruto and everyone away. but it's important to remember that sasuke was one of the first to ever acknoweldge naruto, wayyyy before shikamaru ever did, and sasuke and naruto's bond will always mean more to naruto than shikamaru and naruto's friendship. their friendship is still cool and fun, but it's just not the same.

all that said, i don't think you're completely off base. for some people, the alpha male sort of mentality probably means they identify more with someone like shikamaru. i will say one time i met this dude who said shikamaru was his favorite character. i mentioned (joked) how he is cool except the misogyny thing. this guy acted so confused and taken aback that i had said that, as if he didn't remember that part. selective hearing?who knows LOL.

[lavenderchedder]

Hiya! I’m sasuledelicatessen- well, I don’t know if you ship SNS but I want to know, if you do, what made you ship them? I want to know your version

Well, it's kind of long.

I've been following the Naruto franchise since 2007 and initially I was into the anime/manga for the action and the unique storyline that it presented, as well as the art-style (I’m a sucker for unique art-style). The concept of Naruto (the character) being the "underdog”, the introduction of ninjutsu and chakra and the integration of Japanese folklore into the story overall what made me sort of a Naruto addict, if you will.

Anyway...

I’ve always thought that the rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke were interesting at first in Part 1. When they “accidentally” kissed, at first I thought nothing of it and chalked it up to anime humor, not knowing the huge significance that scene brought (among others) years down the line in their relationship (and the progression of the storyline). Them challanging each other, the playful bickering, teasing each other, I initially chalked it up to the whole “boys will be boys” trope until watching the end episodes in the “Land of Waves” arc of Part I. The way Sasuke sacrificed himself for a boy (Naruto) he barely knew sparked something in their relationship that will change the dynamics of the relationship moving forward...

The reasons why I ship SNS has changed since 2007, although it still stands that the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke are among the strongest bonds in the entire story. Me being a crazed teenager that I was at the time, I initially shipped them because they looked ‘cute’ or ‘hot’ together. This is when I started looking into SasuNaru fanart and fanfiction around that time, because it was such a unique pairing. The Uchiha in general are some of the most beautifully drawn characters I’ve seen, thus far. No wonder it was mentioned that it was hard drawing Sasuke back then, I mean just look at him! And well, Naruto seemed to be the only person that he ever payed attention to in the manga, and actually smiled around (because it takes ALOT to get Sasuke to show any emotion). Their interactions during the Chunin arc, how Naruto showed deep concern for Sasuke during his lowest points (when Itachi attacked Sasuke, etc), how Naruto acted around Saskue sort of sparked new beginnings of a deeper bond than I realized. And it was the same with Sasuke, how he had shared his lunch with Naruto in their first meeting despite consequences, him somehow always to Naruto’s rescue.

VotE1 is what sealed the deal for me then when I noticed that the Sasuke x Naruto bond was deeper than just a friendship. The passion and heartache they had for each other, even as they were fighting was just too intense. Noone that I’ve seen in this story had that much feelings for each other than these two. And when it was over, and Sasuke had this look in his eyes when he saw Naruto unconscious on the ground, I just knew that there was love involved, even when I just looked at their relationship as ‘cute’ ship at the time. 

Watching Shippuden to its end, after years of being away from the Naruto fandom, I began to understand what Sasuke went through and how much pain and lonliness he was actually in. The UCM was no joke and it took away what was most important to Sasuke (his family) and destroyed his deep love and admiration for Itachi. At first, I didn’t understand his character, and wrote him of as ‘emo’, annoying and obssesed with his revenge because I truly thought he was ‘ungrateful’ for what he left behind in Konoha *chuckles.* And honestly, I thought Naruto’s obsession with Sasuke was no better and believed he should’ve given up on Sasuke. But then, as I began to truly understand both characters as a whole and their backgrounds, I noticed that they can’t truly live without each other. Naruto’s “I will consume all your hatred and die with you” was said with so much passion and love, it’s hard not to look at them as just “good friends,” although their interactions at this point was more volatile, I could see that Naruto’s admiration for Sasuke grew stronger. Naruto having a panic attack over Sasuke being executed, begging on his knees for forgiveness from the Raikage, Naruto constantly having thoughts of Sasuke’s well-being to the point of obsessiveness, it made me think “ Wow! Naruto must really be in love with Sasuke.” Especially when everyone else (even Sakura of all people) seemed to give up and consider Sasuke “irredeemable.” I was even surprised at some the things Naruto said in regards to Sasuke, thinking it was weird to think of a mere ‘friend’ like this. I always saw their relationship as more twisted, violent and beautiful. Some folks may say their bond was unhealthy and one-sided (on Naruto’s end), but I think in this universe, it seems that way due to the fact that Naruto and Sasuke were both fucked up, emotionally. 

During the war arc, when both are reunited, it’s like they were back to being their old selves. Them discovering that they are indeed soulmates (in the most literal sense because they are reincarnations Hagoromo’s sons) demonstrated that both Naruto and Sasuke’s bond transcends beyond friendship and even romance (although it’s fine to look at them as either one). They were like yin and yang, the sun and moon among the stars. In their final battle at VotE2, I looked at it as them getting out their repressed feelings they had for each, because they knew that they cared loved each other too much for them to ‘kill.’ It was at that point in the end of their fight Sasuke felt the most vulnerable, probably since he was child. Other than Itachi, Naruto is the only other person to truly make Sasuke at peace, and knowing that he was never truly alone, even though it seemed that the whole world was against him. Naruto never gave up on him, and knew him on a deeper level than even those that were considered close to them (Sakura, Kakashi, etc.). When Sasuke cried, it showed to me that he was most happy being with the one he loved.

When I heard that Sakura got paired with Sasuke way back, I was very disappointed, not only because it insulted Sakura’s character and eliminated most chances for her to grow as a female character, Sasuke is a type of character that was too complex to just ‘marry off.’ Naruto was more tolerable, even though he never really gave Hinata any deep thoughts other than a friend/comrade. I knew SNS wasn’t happening, no matter the obvious signs and it being the most developed relationship in the Naruto manga. And Kishimoto kept dropping hints all over the place, giving fans hope. A homosexual relationship, even implied, is something the Shonen audience isn’t ready for right now. I do believe Masashi Kishimoto intended to have at least an open ending with the manga because honestly, the so-called “canon” pairings were not well thought out and was rushed. Sasusaku is so unbelievable and poorly written, no wonder it’s not well received among alot of the fans. Sasuke’s character was pretty ruined after Gaiden, because it ruined the potentials for a beautiful relationship (SNS) for a sequel. And so much was left unresolved. It’s all...dissapointing. 

Woah! That was long. I hope that answers your question. Long story short, yes I do ship SNS to the nth degree!

[ariannjs]

KARIN | A SasuSaku FanFic (10/10)

(Karin - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9)

——–

Hey guys! It's been a whiiiiile! I'm so sorry that I'm just uploading this now. To be honest, this epilogue has been finished since last August but idk I felt quite afraid to post it that I totally forgot all about it@.@ Nonetheless, here it isss! Accck I'm shy! HAHA. But here's a late New Year and Valentine's Gift to you all, SS fam!

Thank you for journeying with me as I wrote my very first multi-chaptered SasuSaku fic! I am extremely grateful for all of your encouraging comments on this and all my other works. 2019 has been really difficult but I praise God because this writing journey became highly therapeutic for me that it led me to meeting more SS fans as well! So yeah, Arigatou Gozaimashita!

Alright, I won't hold you back for long, here's the Epilogue of "Karin"! Enjoy!xx

——– 

The only time that Sasuke Uchiha had felt incredibly nervous was back when his father was mentoring him on how to use Katon. Though many years had passed, he could still vividly remember that heart-pounding, stomach-twisting sensation of not knowing if he’d be able to produce an impressive result as his father’s eyes were fixated on him. 

And now, he could feel the same thing with what he was planning to do.

Although they didn’t really have the best father-son relationship, he knew that if Fugaku Uchiha was still alive, he’s the best person who could give him the most logical advice that he needed at the moment, considering that they were, in many ways, similar in terms of their personality. 

That’s why absurdly, he wished his father was here to tell him how to execute his plan in a step-by-step manner like how he passed on to him the Great Fireball Technique.

Sasuke wasn't the kind of person who finds asking questions necessary, a manifestation of the superiority that tended to be his facade even in his most vulnerable state. But if only he could, there were lots of questions that he would like to ask his Otou-san.

How exactly did father ask mother to marry him?

Did he feel as insanely apprehensive as I am right now?

Did mother actually say yes on father’s first attempt to ask?

How many chances does a man have anyway, just in case...just in case the woman says no?

These, and probably a lot more.

With thoughts all over the place, Sasuke fidgeted on the couch as he watched Sakura make funny faces at the giggling Suika on the floor of the Hozuki’s living room. 

She’s still so annoying, he couldn’t help but think. Doesn’t she have the slightest idea about how much he was falling in love with her all the more each day?

Observing Sakura with Suika has been one of his favorite past times ever since the redhead baby was born. It just showed him much of the pureness of her heart towards people, children in particular. And it only solidified his resolve that he has made the right decision – probably the best in his life so far – about spending the rest of his life with his female teammate in his genin squad.

He planned to ask her that special question today, when the opportunity arises. His brain has been trying its best to figure out how to do so ever since he came out of the hospital weeks ago. But being Sasuke Uchiha, there was no grand preparation and sappy romantic gestures despite the ridiculous suggestions of his best friend and the disgusting persuasion of his sensei for him to read his favorite book. All he knew was it was completely fixed in his mind that this woman was the one he wanted to marry.

And today was the day that he’s gonna make Sakura Haruno say yes to being an Uchiha.

So while they were waiting for the Hozuki couple to finish packing their belongings, he was on the alert for any open chance to bring up his question in the same way he has his guard up whenever a possible enemy is lingering around.

“Is something bothering you, Sasuke-kun?”

Tch. Why does she have to know him so well?

He tersely shook his head, eyes on Suika who was curiously staring at him with her tiny hand in her mouth.

“You know I’m always here to listen when you’re ready.” Sakura showed that breathtaking smile of hers that seemed to be reserved just for him. TCH! 

“Oh, you want to go to Uncle Sasuke? Okay! Okay! Stop bouncing!” She then giggled to the kid, leaned to carry her, and then placed her on Sasuke’s lap.

Suika stretched an arm out to reach for his face, and for a moment, it was effective in drawing his gaze away from Sakura. But the head medic moved closer to wipe the side of Suika's mouth with a bib as the baby babbled incoherent words.

For a second, Sasuke's mind went blank, bringing him to a different timeline wherein quite the same scene was happening as if he was in a genjutsu. It was breathtaking. His heart constricted with longing for the surreal image to become a reality, despite it being far-fetched. 

Years ago, he never imagined that he would have the chance of having a family of his own. And yes, even up to now, the idea was still something that his mind wrestled to accept as something that he deserved.

But then, his eyes met Sakura’s once more. And just like all the other times that he has met her gaze, something inside him changed and made him feel like it's just so easy to drop all his hesitations because of her – for her.

“Sakura...I–”

“Wow! I can’t believe it’s our last day.”

Their heads suddenly whipped towards the bedroom door as their redhead friend exited, followed by her husband who had just finished sealing their baggage in a scroll.

Half irked yet half relieved with the interruption, Sasuke sighed as he handed the baby to her frowning mother. It was a good thing that Sakura didn't realize he was about to tell her something important. 

Maybe later, then.

Suigetsu shrugged. "Some things really come to an end, Karin."

“That’s sadly true,” Sakura joined in the conversation, approaching the Hozuki matriarch to pass on the baby's bib. “But the good thing is that every time a season ends, a new one is about to begin.” She smiled at the woman who has become one of her closest friends. 

It was saddening to see their family leave, but she’s just so excited for them to finally reside in a place they could truly call their home. Besides, they deserved it after everything they've been through individually and as a family.

“It’s time to go.” Everyone turned to the Uchiha who was already standing by the door.

So with a toothy grin, Suigetsu placed an arm around his wife’s shoulders before saying, “Let’s go, Karin. I’m excited for you and Suika to see Hidden Mist.”

The walk towards the gates of Konoha seemed like a trip down memory lane. So when they finally reached that familiar arc that welcomes and sends off Konoha's villagers and visitors, Karin wasn't able to stop herself from handing over Suika to her husband and then throwing her arms as tight as she could around Sasuke.

"Karin. How many times should I tell you to get off me, especially because you're a married woman?"

The redhead chuckled at that, amused with how detached he still was – well, except for a certain pink-haired maiden. "My husband wouldn't mind though!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes but found himself glancing at the other woman with them, wondering if she would mind about the situation. However, he only caught her laughing cutely at the ordeal. He couldn't bring himself to scoff.

Pulling away for the Uchiha to be comfortable, Karin sheepishly said, "Thank you so much for everything, Sasuke. I'm so glad that you've found redemption for yourself. No doubt, you'll be able to help more people inside and outside this village. Like us. I will never forget this."

Karin realized that staying in Konoha was the happiest moment of her life so far. And she knew that despite her initial doubts about the idea, everything wouldn’t happen if her husband didn’t force her to join Sasuke in going to this place for her and their baby's safety. Yet she never expected that the decision would be life-changing for all of them.

Suigetsu agreed with a nod. “Sasuke, you've done so much for us. I owe my family’s life to you. I honestly can't thank you enough."

The former leader of Team Taka was stunned at the way his teammates expressed their gratitude to him. He never even thought that there's anything anyone should thank him for. If anything, it was them that he should've thanked for they've shown him a glimpse of what a transformed life and an assured future look like. But as usual, he was not exactly good with words. 

Remembering how they've witnessed the majority of his worst years yet they're still here to stand by him, Sasuke's eyes softened as he gave the couple a simple yet meaningful nod in response.

The pink-haired maiden beside him was smiling the entire time. Sakura didn't know all the details of Sasuke's journey with Taka, but to see him developing such strong bonds even outside of Team 7 was something that she considered a breakthrough. It gave her joy knowing that this scenario was an assurance to Sasuke that he won't ever be alone anymore.

"Before I forget, please bring these pills that would help in keeping you from the cold during your travels," Sakura then handed a small pouch to Karin. "This is helpful especially for Suika since this would be her first exposure to such cold weather."

If Karin was able to stop her tears from falling while talking to Sasuke, she wasn't able to contain it anymore while staring at the pouch given by Sakura. This woman has done so much in bringing out the best in her without her knowing. And so, she also enveloped her in an embrace that's so rare for Karin to give, well, except when it's for her husband and Sasuke.

“Sakura, you’ve saved my life not just once. And then you've shown me the kind of life I never imagined I could still have. Thank you for trusting me and for believing in my potential.” Karin sniffed while Sakura gave her a pat on the back, unable to stop a tear from falling as well. And then the redhead pulled away, instantly wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand with a big smile at her senpai. "I'm not usually like this but—ugh! It's because of the two of you!"

At her loud remark, Sasuke raised an eyebrow while Sakura ended up cackling with a hand on her stomach.

"Whew. At least it's not me this time." Suigetsu snickered too, rocking the baby in his arms that was awakened by the voice of her mother.

Karin almost landed a punch to her husband's liquefiable head, but thanks to Suika's sleepy murmur, she opted to avoid violence to carry the baby again. "Ssh. I'm sorry, kid. Mama's a little different today because of your godmother and godfather." She stuck a tongue out at the two and Sasuke could only snort as Sakura continued to laugh.

"Ha. Sorry, Karin could be crazy at times, or…" The Hozuki patriarch paused and pretended to contemplate. "...actually, most of the time."

"Hey! You're lucky I'm holding your daughter!"

"Kidding, guys. I love that woman nonetheless." 

Sakura and Sasuke didn't fail to see the tinge of maroon on the redhead's cheeks before she turned around to hide it. Uncomfortable with such things, the Uchiha scoffed at the sight of his old teammates. But then, he slightly jerked as something hit his side almost close to his ribs. 

When he shot a sharp glance at the woman beside him, Sakura was just smiling innocently at the Hozuki's. Yet this doctor might need to heal something later, courtesy of her pointed elbow.

Suigetsu noticed the interchange and smirked a little, having high hopes that one day, these two would finally end up like him and his wife. He then grinned. "But really, the two of you have made a difference in our lives. We'll surely remember this and even tell Suika one day. Sasuke, you better visit us in one of Orochimaru's hideouts. And then bring Sakura-san with you."

"As if I'd want to go back there."

Scrunching her nose, Sakura shivered at the prospect of being in the aforementioned place. 

Karin wasn't able to stifle her guffaw as she faced her friends again. "But we don't know, Sasuke, what if you'd eventually need to visit? And that would be nice! I want Suika to meet you both one day!"

"Tch. You'd really want your daughter to grow up in that dumpsite?"

"Oi! You kind of grew up there too!" Suigetsu teased.

Staring blankly, Sasuke fought the urge to burn the couple with his powerful eyes for the sake of their daughter. And then he said, "You better leave now. It's almost dusk."

"Fine then, yes, sir!"

"Take care of your family, Suigetsu."

"Always. And you, take care of Sakura-san!" There was a smirk on Suigetsu's lips as Sasuke remained silent at that. But he knew full well, Sasuke would cross time and dimensions and even give his life just to protect Sakura. This time, his strength would be used not for his own selfish agenda, but for the sake of the people he cared for. Just like what he did for Suigetsu and his family.

"Oh. This is real now, isn't it?"

Sakura reached out and gave Karin's hand a squeeze, looking down on Suika who was now awake after all the commotion with her parents and godparents. A giggle escaped her tiny lips upon seeing Sakura, making Sakura frown a bit as her green eyes met the baby's purple ones. "Yes, it's real now, Karin. But this ain't goodbye. See you soon." She smiled one last time before moving aside, waving a small goodbye as the Hozuki's finally exited the village hidden in the leaves.

Sasuke and Sakura silently remained on their posts as the two figures became smaller from afar.

Until Sakura murmured, "They're such a beautiful family, aren’t they?" Slowly, Sasuke tilted his head to gaze at her. And at that very moment, everything felt right. He took in her beauty as the setting sun made her face glow and the breathing wind made her cherry blossom hair sway in slow motion. It reminded him of those times in his redemption journey that he marvelled at the sight of Cherry Blossom trees because it made him feel like she was beside him, albeit far away.

Now that it became real, he thought of how wonderful it would be to have more peaceful moments like this with her. So as they stood in the place where he first broke her heart, he finally chose to drop all hesitations so he could do what he wanted to accomplish before the day ends, with high hopes that he could also give Sakura a new memory with him in this place. 

"Sakura. Do you...want to have something like that?" The Hozuki's were already out of sight but his first female teammate continued to stare at a distance. "A future family?" She smiled, clutching her hands to her chest as she thought of the only man she'd want to spend the rest of her life with. And then she said in a soft voice, “I've...I've always wanted to." "I want to have that too...with you."

With wide eyes, Sakura turned to Sasuke who was now looking at the path his friends walked on. There was no trace of humor on his face, only an expression that showed solace and expectancy. “S-sas—”

"But Sakura...it is clear as day that you deserve the best. And that’s...that’s not me." Sasuke’s gaze fell to the ground. "I'm not even exactly a good man, so I'm far from being the best for you. There were so many things that I've done that destroyed and hurt so many people, including you and the ones that you care for. So even though I'd...I'd really want a future with you, I don't think you deserve someone whose past is as wicked as mine."

"Sasuke-kun, all those is exactly what you've said – a part of the past. My love for you is not based on what you've done or what you would do. It's simply based on you, Sasuke-kun. Just you. Anything else doesn't matter, as long as...as long as I know that you deeply love me." She paused. "Do you love me?" There was a momentary pause as he looked up at her dazzling eyes. But it wasn’t because he was doubting his answer, for Sasuke has always been sure. 

For a second, he wanted to chuckle at the irony that Sakura Haruno could read words and situations, analyze lab tests and battle strategies, but she couldn’t read and analyze the feelings that Sasuke Uchiha has for her.

It was not her fault that he hadn’t made himself crystal clear yet though. 

So he thought of the best way to vividly convey his answer to her question and firmly address her uncertainties about her standing in his life all this time. 

He then settled in responding through the best and significant way he knows. Smiling a little, he gently tapped her forehead right below the diamond-shaped mark of her strength before saying, "You should know that by now.”

Just like the first time Sasuke did this, Sakura's eyes widened and her lips parted a little as her cheeks became painted with pink. The only difference now was that she stared back at him with recognition, eyes brimming with tears of none other than joy. To know that her love was reciprocated for such a long time already made her feel elated more than ever.

For so many times, she has almost given up in waiting. But it was true all along, being loved back by the man she has always loved was worth the long wait. She regrets nothing for even after everything, it all came down to this. Sasuke looked away as he remembered something. "That time you've been avoiding me because of Karin...it made me realize that I couldn’t stand a life without you." He muttered something like "Never again" and then faced her with his mismatched eyes focusing intently – lovingly – on her green ones. "If you’re willing to make things work together with me...Sakura, marry me." Sakura's tears finally fell upon hearing those last words that she thought she would never hear from this man. She didn't even have to contemplate on what she would answer for she immediately said, "I could never imagine loving and marrying anyone else, Sasuke-kun." 

And then she tapped his forehead in the same way he did with her, making Sasuke's eyes widen and his heart flutter in a way that he never felt before. His lips curved into a smile as he pulled her into a long embrace that surprised even him. But as Sakura melted in his arms as if she had always belonged there, he felt completely relieved that he got the answer he had prayed to receive from her. Maybe this was what Suigetsu had felt when Karin agreed to spend the rest of her life with him as well, he thought.

The satisfied smile on Sakura’s lips after they pulled away made Sasuke’s heart skip a beat. It still felt like he was dreaming, the fact that he was staring at his wife-to-be. “Let’s go home.”

“Yours or mine?”

Sasuke slowly grabbed her hand, after all, he has every right to do so now. “Ours. From now on, you have to be comfortable around the Uchiha compound. I’ll just walk you back to your place tonight.”

As the two of them walked hand in hand back to the village, two pairs of eyes continued to watch them from the nearby trees.

“Heh, Kakashi-sensei, this is a lot better than the last time the three of us were here with Karin, ‘ttebayo!” 

——–

August 2019 | AriannJS

——–

8 chapters. 8 characters. 8 months. It's a wrap! *cries in G#m* This fic is now saying sayonara! But hmm...who knows, I might actually get to finish a one-shot sequel for this. Well, we'll see. ;) Arigatou Gozaimashita, mina-san! I appreciate you all!

- A

[a-strange-inkling]

SASUSAKU MONTH DAY 2: Patterns

Rated T (for suggestive content and language)

Summary: Only in another life would Sakura ever hate Sasuke, and even then it’s debatable. Though in a different sky, the stars always follow the same pattern (RTN AU, First Chapter of Story that I’ve been working on) 

 Annoying

"You aren't mad at me, are you Sakura?" 

Ah. There they were. 

Uchiha Sasuke's infamous Puppy-Dog Eyes. 

Haruno Sakura held back a sneer as she turned her attention back to the romance novel she was currently indulging, not in the mood for any of her overly hormonal team mate's antics.  The sweet, childlike innocence in those round, onyx orbs of his was as sincere as a tray of fucking cheese. Sasuke knew better than anyone that she was mad at him. 

She was always mad at him. 

"Sa-ku-ra..." he cooed, trying again for her attention, speaking her name at a low and chilling octave, knowing she hated when he did that.

The Fourth Hokage's daughter only snorted at the sound of her name rolling seductively off his lips, before pivoting her entire body away from him, crossing her legs with a steely grace.  

Sasuke rolled his eyes, unable to repress the smirk that had been playing at the corner of his mouth. "Well, I must have really hit close to the mark this time, you're even pulling out your age-old Ice Queen persona." 

Sakura simply glared at the written text in front of her, refusing to get in yet another spat with the arrogant boy. However, the young Uchiha had not quite given up yet, he knew one particular trick that would get to the cold young woman.

"You know, no one has mastered the silent treatment quite like you, Sakura-chan."

"Don't call me that." Sakura hissed quickly, shooting him one of her nastiest looks. She never let him call her that.

Sasuke's smirk deepened. "Seems there is still some room for improvement though." 

"Look, there is a pair of breasts right over there, Sasuke!" she exclaimed with feigned excitement, pointing to a fairly pretty brunette who was making her way down the street. "Why don't you go bother them for a while?"  

Sasuke eyed the passing young woman thoughtfully, mildly interested, before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the spunky rosette. "Shouldn't do that, you might get jealous, then you'd be even madder at me." 

Sakura stood then, abruptly, closing her book with a resounding snap, as she put distance between herself and the young Uchiha. 

"Come on, Sakura!" he called after her, growing annoyed as the kunochi went to find another place to wait for the rest of their squad. She was secretly pleased that his voice had an agitated edge to it instead of the usual carefree ring that usually resounded from his mouth. "Are you going to be like this the whole mission?" 

Silently, with her unparalleled grace, the kunochi leapt up several branches of a nearby oaktree, before settling back down with her book.  It was all of nine seconds before Sasuke was perched behind her, peering over her shoulder. 

"...how's your latest 'Kiss Handsome Boy' book?" he asked coyly. 

"The hero is not handsome, he's deformed," Sakura replied with a roll of her eyes.  "What's compelling about him is how deeply he loves and how loyal he is... Something you wouldn't know anything about." 

"Deformed as in one side of his otherwise attractive face," Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Oh, is there a scar over one of his eyes? Or is he missing a limb?" 

Sakura looked skyward in agitation. 

"Heh." Sasuke smirked. "He's just missing a limb isn't he?" 

"Would you just leave me alone, please?" Sakura asked him with a sigh, shifting down the branch. 

"Oh, come on, aren't you going to tell me more about your hero?" the Uchiha asked smugly. "I bet he's all brooding and tortured with a tragic past, and I'm sure only you can save him." 

Sakura growled in agitation before closing the book once more and placing it in her back pouch before turning her jade orbs on the Uchiha playboy.

"Okay, Sasuke, you win," she said, crossing her arms. "You have my attention, now what the hell do you want?" 

"Hey," Sasuke put his hands up in surrender. "I'm just trying to find out why you're mad at me, Sakura-chan, it's not good for a team to go on a mission with unresolved issues." 

"I'm not mad at you, Sasuke." she said evenly. "I just genuinely can't stand you." 

"Aw." Sasuke chided, swinging his legs over the branch to let them swing. "We both know that's not true, we used to be friends once, you even used to call me Sasuke-kun, remember?" 

"I was just a stupid kid back then," she replied. "Now, would you leave me alone, it's bad enough I have to spend a whole week with you." 

The infamous playboy placed a hand over his heart. "Ah, you wound me, Sakura-chan... Don't you care at all about the importance of teamwork?" 

"Oh, are you going to lecture me about teamwork?" she asked him. "You, the one who abandoned the team to flirt with that busty nimrod last time?" 

"You're so high and mighty, you know that?" He scoffed. "Sorry that I like to enjoy myself once in a while and talk to people, unlike Menma who can barely form coherent words around women, and you, because you're too busy trying to keep up you're frigid bitch facade." 

"Wow, Sasuke." Sakura gave him a mocking grin. "And you wonder why I don't like you." 

"That's your problem, you don't like anyone," Sasuke explained matter-o-factly. "That's why you're so lonely all the time." 

She felt her breathing hitch and her whole body stiffen at the word. 

What did he just say?

Lonely...

"How would you know?" she asked lowly. "You don't know a damn thing about being alone."

"Sakura..." he began, realizing he had gone a little overboard.  She was just so harsh sometimes, he couldn't help it. "I didn't mean it like that, I just..." 

"You're so damn annoying! Acting like you actually know me!" she exclaimed, so angry she didn't know what to do with herself. "Why don't you just keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand!?"  She stood up and leapt down from the tree, unwilling to wait around with him a moment more. 

Luckily, Menma appeared, walking up the cobbled path, giving her a shy smile. "M-morning, Sakura-chan."

"Hello, Menma." she replied with a sigh of relief. "It's so good to see you." 

"It really is," Sasuke replied, jumping down from his perch. "I'll have a witness in case Sakura-chan tries to do me in." 

Menma sighed to himself. It seemed this would be another mission of tension between his two teammates.  "Hey, Sasuke... M-my mom made cookies for the journey if you guys want some," he told them, holding out a brown paper bag where his mother had drawn a lopsided smiley face.  It was an immature tactic to make peace, but it was effective more times than not. 

"Ah!" Sasuke exclaimed, helping himself. "Let me at 'em! Kushina-san's cookies are always the best!" 

"Sakura-chan?" Menma encouraged her to take one, trying not to blush. 

"No thanks, Menma." Sakura replied, putting up a hand.  "I'm on a cleanse, but they smell delicious." 

"A cleanse?" Menma asked. 

"Probably for the best." Sasuke nodded. "They’re too sweet to share with someone so bitter. Not to mention you've been growing a little thicker around the middle." 

Menma cringed in fear. Did Sasuke just call her fat? Did he dare? So much for his peace cookies. Maybe he should try dumplings next time.

A sort of dark shadow fell over Sakura's eyes as she shot a deadly glare up at her raven-haired teammate. 

Sasuke smirked in response. "Sorry, koishii, that doesn't work on me." 

Sakura had a talent for scaring off her many admirers with that dark look alone, however, that frightening attitude of hers had an opposite effect on Sasuke.

 He wasn't afraid, only amused. 

"Heh," she replied, startling him a bit and switching gears as an easy smile spread across her face, mirroring his own. That may not work on him, but she knew something that would. "On second thought, I would love a cookie."

She strode past him then, with a little extra swing of her hips, purposefully knocking her shoulder with his own as she did so, and took a large round cookie from the offered bag."Thanks, Menma-kun, you're so sweet!"

Surprising both her male teammates, the kunoichi leaned up and brushed her lips against Menma's cheek as a token of her appreciation, making the blonde turn seven different shades of red and Sasuke's smirk diminish a little. 

"Da...uh... N-no problem, Sakura-chan." the poor boy stuttered, his hands clenching around the cookie bag, lost somewhere between pure joy and mortification.  His mom was right.  Sweets were the way to a girl's heart! 

Sakura turned and smirked triumphantly at Sasuke, glad to see his own had melted into a displeased frown, as she took a slow enticing bite of the cookie.  "Mmm... you're right, Sasuke, these really are the best." 

"Hn." he hummed. "Careful you don't choke, Sakura."

"Good morning, students!" Kakashi greeted, interrupting the spat. 

"Ah, right on time as always, Sensei." Sasuke waved before shoving his hands in his pockets. "Where are we off to today?" 

...

"Tell me." 

"No, go away." 

"C'mon, just tell me what's bothering you." 

"No! Stop that! Get the hell away from me!" 

"Sakuraaaaa."

"Sasuke." 

"Look, I'll stop bugging you for the rest of the journey if you just tell me." 

"No!" 

"Please, Sakura," Kakashi begged from where he was leading the three teenagers. "For all our sakes, take him up on that offer." 

Menma nodded in agreement.  It was hard to focus on reading the map with those two bickering behind him. 

"I'm not giving in to his whining." the rosette replied angrily.  "...I'm going on ahead to scout." 

With that, she leapt away into the trees and disappeared from sight.  Sasuke moved to jump after her. 

"Sasuke, give her some space,"  Kakashi commanded.  

"Heh, she's not getting away that easily." was the ninja's careless and insubordinate reply.  

Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Sasuke knew Sakura. He had known her his whole life and she really wasn't the icy, badass bitch she made herself out to be.  She had been putting up with his normal bullshit for years with the usual scoff or roll of the eyes, whatever he had done most recently must have really upset her.  

And, truth be told, he wasn't all too happy with her either. 

"I can't really be sorry for something if I didn't even know what I did, you know?" he told her once he caught up with the angry kunoichi.  "Come on, I genuinely want to know what's wrong." 

"You, genuine?" she scoffed. 

"Okay, I don't deserve that," he told her. "We're not thirteen anymore, your lousy attitude is not going to send me into the corner feeling bad about what I did. I'm human, I make mistakes.  Not all of us can be perfect like you..." 

"You see, that's exactly what gets on my nerves." she turned on him then, her finger pointed right into his face. "You think everything is about you." 

"Well, isn't this about me?" he asked. "Isn't that why you haven't spoken to me for days, this morning, and that stunt with Menma you did to try and get me jealous." 

"Ha! Don't flatter yourself." 

"Well, you were." he laughed. "Unfortunately, I'm not the jealous type like you." 

That earned him a glare. "Whatever makes you feel better, Sasuke." 

"Look," he sighed. "Is this really going to be the whole mission? Can we just..." 

"Ino is not one of those girls!" she exclaimed. 

"What?" Sasuke asked, dumbfounded. 

"Ino," she remarked. "You know, my best friend? She's not like those girls you hang out with, the ones who enjoy flirting with you as much as you enjoy flirting with them.  She's shy, even more so than Menma, anytime a guy gives her any attention she takes it to heart. She took you flirting with her seriously." 

"Who are we even talking about?" he asked, confused. 

"INO!" Sakura exclaimed.  "She's been in every class with both of us since the Academy. Blonde haired, blue-green eyes, wears five layers of clothing." 

"Ohhhhh." Sasuke realized. "The stuttering girl... she's your friend still, huh?" 

"Kami." Sakura hissed, turning and jumping to another branch.  

"Look, Sakura, wait," Sasuke called after her. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean anything by it, it was Shikamaru's idea, it was all just a joke." 

"Just a joke?" Sakura asked him. "Hurting a girl's feelings and making her feel foolish for believing you were actually genuine is not a joke... do you know how hard it was for me to tell her what you're really like, that you didn't actually like her, you were just messing with her?" 

"Look, it was stupid," he sighed, jumping and landing beside her once more. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, you tell her that next time you see her," she quipped. "Maybe she'll forgive you." 

"Fine, mama bear, I will."  he sighed, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. "As usual, you're blowing this way out of proportion." 

She shoved his hand away and crossed her arms. "I told you what was bothering me, wasn't that the deal? Now stop bugging me for the rest of the trip." 

With that she jumped away again, not slowing down, leaving Sasuke to stare after her. 

Kami, that girl. She drove him absolutely crazy. 

... 

They set up camp and Team 7 had fallen into a not so easy silence.  Sasuke had been true to his word and let Sakura alone, but the tension from before was still sizzling in the air as they went about their tasks. It was all standard teenage shit for Kakashi, but Menma was always uncomfortable with any sort of discourse, especially between his only two friends, and found himself actually missing their bickering. This competitive silence was somehow worse. 

Once they all settled around the fire, Menma had calculated that no one had spoken for an hour and twenty-three minutes. While he was a quiet fellow, himself, this was just ridiculous. He turned to Kakashi with a pleading look. 

Do something, Sensei! 

But the silver-haired jonin was looking over their map, planning for the next morning, quite content with the silence, no matter how awkward it was. Menma turned to his right to see Sakura at the farthest end of the fire, her nose in her book, legs crossed and body pivoted away from them all.  To his left sat Sasuke, sharpening his kunai, a full pout on his face as he watched Sakura's back. Menma had never seen him so grumpy. Though bothering Sakura was his lifeblood, being cut off for even an hour seemed to have negative effects. 

Menma, knowing it was up to him to break the ice, squeezed his cookie bag in dread. He hated bringing attention to himself, but if it was for the good of his team, he would do it.  He glanced around before choosing the member of his squad he currently liked best to try to engage with.  While it was a wide known fact that Sasuke was his best friend, Sakura-chan was very pretty. 

Plus she had kissed him that morning, he still felt it burning beneath his skin.  

"How is your book, Sakura-chan?" he chirped, feeling blood rush to his cheeks. The sound of his soft, raspy voice was like a piano crashing from the sky on top of them all. He felt Sasuke's glare burning a hole in the back of his head and realized that he may have betrayed a rule of comradery between them that he had been unaware of. Apparently, if the Uchiha wasn't talking to Sakura, he wasn't allowed to talk to her either.

Forgive me, brother!

Sakura lowered her book and gave him a rare sweet smile over her shoulder. "It's a work of genius." she sighed dreamily. "The hero just proposed to his dying lover." 

"Oh, that's um... nice," Menma replied, though he wasn't sure if it was. He wasn't one for reading, and certainly couldn't manage a thick romance novel without dying from secondhand embarrassment, but Sakura never went on a mission without one. It was the funny riddle of her being for her teacher and teammates, that someone as cold and crass as the village Ice Queen read sappy paperbacks. 

Sasuke scoffed from behind, but Menma didn't even dare to face him. "There's one more cookie, if you want it, Sakura-chan." he offered, holding out the crumpled bag once more. If he was going to have to speak, he might as well try and get another kiss for his efforts. Sakura beamed and not only accepted his offer, but set aside her book before rising and coming to sit beside him. "Thanks, Menma." she beamed, making him turn a full shade of scarlet. "You are so thoughtful." 

That set the Uchiha off, he tossed his kunai aside and rose to his full height. "Why does she get the last cookie?" 

"I-I uh..."

"You don't have to explain yourself to him, Menma." Sakura told him firmly, placing a hand on his shoulder, making his soul leave his body a little. "Despite what he thinks, he's not the boss of you." 

"Oh, wow," Sasuke started to laugh, thoroughly pissed off now, but refusing to acknowledge her before she acknowledged him. "Real nice, Uzumaki, leaving me high and dry for a pretty face." 

"Sorry..." the blond began, feeling awful. 

"Don't apologize to him!" Sakura exclaimed. “Like he’s one to talk.” 

“Look, here’s a little free advice, Menma.” Sasuke went on regardless. “Cute as she is, she’s just going to chew you up and spit you out, there are a lot of way nicer girls around.” 

Menma felt Sakura’s hand squeeze his shoulder unintentionally and knew that comment had more than stung the kunoichi. He felt something foreign in his chest flare up all of sudden. 

“Sakura-chan is nice!” he told him, taking a tone with his friend he never had before. “She’s always nice to me!” 

“Only cause it serves a purpose.” Sasuke rolled his eyes, unsure how the kid could be so clueless. 

“Kami, you really are the most arrogant, hypocritical, egotistical, delusional fuck boy to ever grace the planet!” Sakura all but screamed at such an accusation. It was all she could do to not send a fist into his nose. 

“Ah, there she is!” Sasuke grinned triumphantly.  

Kakashi sighed, looking toward the heavens. It had been such a glorious hour and a half.  Perhaps he had summoned some sort of karma for foolishly hoping to finish his work before they both started back up again. 

“You’re such a horrid friend to him, do you know that?” she stood up and strode right up to the boy that loomed over her about a good seven inches. “You’re always telling him what to do and making him feel like he’s second best to you.”

“Yeah, well it’s better than you not even letting him speak up for himself.” he pointed out. “Stop trying to be everyone’s mother.” 

“Excuse me?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. 

“Look, if you’re so concerned about Menma and his feelings, then why don’t stop using him as fuel to get to me?” 

“Oh, get over yourself, Sasuke!” 

“That’s enough!” Kakashi intervened. He considered himself an even-tempered man, but he could only take so much of the ongoing saga of Sasuke and Sakura. Honestly, he’d come to wish they’d get it over with and just fuck or do each other in. The older they got the more their bickering and sexual tension was getting out of hand. “Both of you, go blow off some steam, Sakura go North, Sasuke go South, I don’t want to see either of you back here until you can both be amiable comrades to one another and stop pulling Menma into the middle of your immature spats.” 

“But, Sensei…” 

“Now, Sakura!” He commanded, pointing his finger, making her huff as she grabbed her bag and leaped off. 

“Whatever.” Sasuke shrugged, turning and taking her leave as well, leaving the silver hair ninja with his remaining student. He ruffled his blond hair tiredly. “What are we going to do with them, huh, Menma?” 

“Don’t know, Sensei.” he shrugged. “They really hate each other, don’t they?” 

Kakashi’s mouth formed a line. “If only it were that simple.” 

…

Sakura knew it was stupid to think that Sasuke would, for once, listen to Kakashi and actually put some distance between them, but she would have liked at least a second to herself. 

“You’re really something else, you know that?” he asked coming up behind her. 

“Didn’t you hear Sensei? You’re supposed to go South.” she shot back heatedly, storming off faster, knowing it was pointless. If there was one thing she’d admit that Sasuke had on her it was speed. He was soon walking alongside her. 

“Who cares what he says?” he huffed. “I’m not done with you yet.” 

“Yeah, well I’m done with you.” she retorted. 

“No, you don’t get to call me out on leading your friend on, when you’re doing the same thing to Menma, and then call me a hypocrite,” he told her. “That’s not how it works.” 

She stopped abruptly and turned to face him. “I’m not leading him on.” 

His face went deadpan at that, before taking on a persona that she assumed was herself. 

“Oh, Menma-kun, I’d love a cookie!” he gushed as high as his deep voice would let him go. “You’re so sweet! You’re so thoughtful! I’m not just using you to get under Sasuke’s skin at all!”

She turned and kept walking at that, enraged that he would make such an accusation, and even more so because he was not completely wrong either. 

“Ever thought about how that will make Menma feel?” he asked. “You know how he feels about you.” 

“What are you talking about?” she stopped and turned around. 

“He’s in love with you!” Sasuke exclaimed as if she were an idiot. 

Sakura felt something snap like a twig somewhere inside her. “No, he’s not.” 

“Yes, he is.” Sasuke nodded reassuringly. 

“No, he’s not.” 

“Yes he is!” he nearly yelled in exasperation “Most men are! Have you seen yourself?” 

“...Kami” she whispered slowly, wishing the earth would just swallow her up right then and there. She hadn’t realized that Menma had a crush on her, let alone loved her. How could someone who spent so much time with her be in love with her? That was insane. 

She thought of all the times she had sent him attention just to spur Sasuke and never felt so low. While it was not often and never harmless, it was flirty and could have easily made him feel that she was interested in something more than friendship. She was no better than the Uchiha, 

“Yeah, it’s true, so stop playing with his feelings.” 

As guilty as she felt, she couldn’t bring herself to admit defeat to him, not three times in one day. She’d make things right with Menma, but Sasuke didn’t have to know that. “Maybe I’m not playing.” she shrugged coyly, turning and continuing on her way. 

“...what?” Sasuke muttered in confusion. 

“Maybe I’m in love with him too,” she suggested with raised palms. “I mean…” 

Sasuke was suddenly in front of her, making her almost walk head first into his broad chest. “You’re not in love with Menma,” he stated as if it were the most basic fact of life, like the rising and the setting of the sun. 

“Why not?” she asked with a raised brow, genuinely asking herself as much as she was asking him. Why hadn’t she ever thought of Menma as something more? “He’s handsome, considerate, sensitive and always good to me, why wouldn’t I be in love with him?” 

“Because you’re in love with me,” Sasuke told her just as simply. “That’s why.” 

She stared up at him, lips parting wordlessly at such a claim. Where there was a snap before now felt like she had been struck by a bolt of lightning. To her surprise, as well as his, she began to laugh. She laughed so hard she bent over, hugging herself around her middle. Sasuke remained stoic, emitting only a small smile when anyone else would have been more than wounded. 

“I’m not in love with you, Sasuke.” she told him when she straightened up and caught her breath. Where had the clueless bastard got that idea? He was just watching her with a knowing, adoring look in his eye, his hands tucked snuggly in his pockets. She tilted her head up so that she was looking directly into his eyes. “I hate you.” 

Honestly, what planet had he been living on? 

Suddenly he took her face gently into his hands and made her still, all mirth and smugness abandoning her. She stared up at him in shock, eyes wide and sparkling in the darkness as he kept her there, not two inches from his face. Blood rushed to her face so fast that it felt as if she were burning alive from the inside. Why was everything so quiet all of a sudden?

“What was that, Sakura?” he asked with an easy smile, seeing everything he needed to see, rolling her name around the way he knew drove her crazy. “I didn’t quite hear you.” 

“I-I said,” she breathed out shakily, wondering what the hell was wrong with her voice. It sounded so soft and unsure. Like it was someone else’s entirely. 

He had caught her off guard with this play. Nothing in her body was working like it was supposed to. Damn it! Why did he have to be so fucking beautiful? And tall? And sexy? 

It wasn’t fair. 

But, it didn’t prove anything, she assured herself. He was Sasuke. Everyone was attracted to him one way or another. That’s the only effect he had. Attraction wasn’t love. She wasn’t in love with him. In fact, this only made her more angry at him. If she could feel her hands she would have sent a fist straight into his perfect jawline. 

She swallowed thickly. “I said, I hate…”

Kami, was he going to kiss her?

She stiffened as she felt his thumb brush along her cheekbones as he loomed over her all the closer, his hot breath spilling over her face. 

“What?” he hummed softly. “Go on, say it.”

She stared at his lips, contemplative for a moment of what it would be like to kiss someone, but quickly remembered just who she was dealing with and snapped her gaze back to his dark eyes, so close now she could count his lashes. 

“I hate you.” she whispered, her eyes darkening, it was hard to breathe at this angle he held her. But, she did it. She got it out. 

She won. 

He smiled then, looking so pleased that for a moment she wondered if she had said the wrong thing. The opposite thing. 

He leaned forward ever so slightly, hands slipping down to her neck, and she nearly jumped out of her skin, but his lips took an alternate route gently and brushed over the hollow of her cheek, the same place she had bestowed a kiss to Menma for his sweets. 

He pulled back and she watched him, flushed and frustrated by his brash action and by the burning in her face centering around the focal point where he had touched her.

“You too, Sakura-chan.” he told her with a wink before turning and going on his way, leaving her alone like she wanted.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Twenty-Nine: Watermelon ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto ] [ SasuHina, NaruSaku, pregnancy ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

Watermelon isn’t exactly something Sasuke’s really considered when it isn’t Summer. To him, it’s a mysterious fruit that only exists when the sun is shining and the temperature is enough to melt your shoes to the sidewalk if you don’t walk quickly enough. Otherwise, it’s like a cryptid: you swear you saw it once, but only when it wants you to.

But, he’s got a bit of a dilemma on his hands. You see, Sasuke is married. Newly so...sort of. It’s been about a year and a half. And Hinata - his wife, his darling, his missing piece - is about three months pregnant.

And she is craving watermelon.

...in the dead of Winter.

At first, he gives her a confused blink. “...how am I supposed to find watermelon now? It’s too cold.”

Sipping her tea, it’s Hinata turn to look befuddled. “...I’m...pretty sure there’s imports from further south. Where do you think all the other f-fruits come from, Sasuke?.”

He then proceeds to feel like a massive idiot. A faint hint of red tinges the tips of his ears. “Er...right. I’ll just…” He gestures. “I’ll run to the store, see if I can find some.”

“Thank you.”

“Anything else you’ve been craving lately? I’ll try to get a few things in case you change your mind.”

Her lips pout. “I haven’t been that bad, have I…?”

“Not really, but if I’m gonna go…”

She sighs. “...peanut butter. Cucumber. And...pretzels.”

“...all right then. Do we need anything else?”

“Check the list on the fridge. I’ve been t-trying to keep track.”

“Got it. Text me if you think of anything else, okay?”

“I will!”

Lifting from his seat, Sasuke takes a moment to press lips to the crown of her head, making a pitstop in the kitchen for the list before heading out to the car. Thankfully the list of necessities (even counting Hinata’s goodies) isn’t too long. Shouldn’t take him too much time to zip in, cross them all off, and then head home.

Simple, right?

Pulling into the parking lot, Sasuke double checks the list. Most is written in Hinata’s bubbly, tidy handwriting, with his own scratchy scrawl adding her little addendum for pregnancy snacks. Phone, wallet, and keys in his pockets, he leaves the vehicle behind and heads in.

It’s a bit busy, but thankfully not too crowded. A cart’s grabbed, wheeling it through all the proper aisles. By now, he’s more than familiar with the place’s layout. He’s been coming here since he was a kid with his mom, after all.

Last, he hits up the produce section.

The little sprinklers give the coolers a spritz, but that’s not where Sasuke’s headed. The little pre-packaged bits of melon are stupidly expensive compared to a whole one by the pound. Sure, it’s all a bit high given the season, but he can’t not get what Hinata wants. She’s currently in the middle of letting an entire new person take up residency in her middle. The least he can do is shell out a few extra bucks to help make that a bit more bearable.

Approaching the melons in question, he flicks eyes between them all. Some are long and thin, some are stout and plump. Is there...any difference? Tentatively, he picks up one of the rounder fruits, and...gives it a tap.

...he really doesn’t know what it’s supposed to sound like, though. He just knows everyone does that.

Sasuke gives his surroundings a furtive glance. Thankfully no one is watching him… This is the last thing he needs to get, and he doesn’t want any weird looks for his attempts to find a decent melon.

“Hey! Sasuke!”

...oh, great.

Pulling up alongside his friend’s cart, none other than Naruto gives a grin. “Bit out of season for that, huh?”

“...Hinata wants one,” the Uchiha explains a bit flatly.

“Ohhh...cravings, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Man, I know how that goes...Sakura’s been ordering me around to get her all sorts of stuff lately! It wouldn’t be so rough if she didn’t get so grumpy about it.”

Sasuke can’t help a small scoff. “Hormones making her temper even worse than usual?”

“Oh man, you have no idea!” After a pause to glance around as though fearing she’ll appear behind him, Naruto leans forward and whispers, “She went on a huge rant this morning cuz I left the toilet seat up! I’ve done that for ages, but all of a sudden it’s like I insulted her mother or something!”

The Uchiha’s nose wrinkles. “...you leave the toilet seat up?”

“I - what? Are you gonna scold me now, too?”

“...you ever try to sit on a toilet when the seat is up? Not fun. But still...yeah, the hormones can be a killer. I take it you’re on a mission to make up for it, now?”

“Ugh, yeah...that and restock on her current craving…” Reaching into his cart, Naruto pulls up a jar, looking disgusted. “Green olives. That’s so gross!”

“They’re not that bad.”

“Says you! Your favorite food is a vegetable, you can’t be trusted.”

“Technically, a tomato is a fruit.”

“Whatever!” The blond replaces the jar with a sigh. “Every time she eats some, her breath smells so rank! And if I tell her, she gets mad again! I even got her some breath mints, and she got all offended!”

“You just don’t know how to read people, Naruto. Especially women.”

“Hey man, I’m trying my best! I just can’t wait until she has this kid and goes back to normal...she might be grumpy most of the time, but nothing like this…!”

Sasuke sighs, giving his friend a sympathetic smile.

“What about you? Any disasters yet?”

“Well, she hasn’t gotten angry at anything.”

“Really?”

“No. But she cries at the drop of a hat. She stepped on a bug on the kitchen floor the other day and sobbed about it for like fifteen minutes.”

“Whoa…”

“I mean, Hina’s always been a softie. But it’s like Sakura’s temper: cranked up to eleven. Which hasn’t been so bad, but man...seems like every time I turn around she’s crying about something. She even sulked all day last Wednesday because I only said I loved her once before I left for work. And she was still mopey when I got home! Took me forever to get her to tell me why.”

At that, Naruto laughs out loud. “Wow, yeah...that’s pretty bad, dude. But I think I’d trade you any day of the week. Tears aren’t as bad as shouting and glaring…”

“Sorry, no exchanges on wives. I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got, tears and all. You got yourself into that temper trap.”

The Uzumaki sighs with a pout. “Yeah, yeah...I mean, don’t get me wrong, she’s great. Smart, and funny, and sassy! And don’t even get me started on the se-”

“Don’t go there, please.”

“I just wish she’d chill out sometimes. But then again...I think my volume gets on her nerves. Guess we’ve all got something that drives people crazy, huh?”

Sasuke blinks. In all honesty...not much comes to mind when he tries to come up with something Hinata does that bugs him. Now he wonders if she’d say the same about him…

“Anyway, uh...guess I’ll leave you to your melon picking, huh?”

“What? Oh...yeah.”

“Here...lemme see…” Taking the fruit, Naruto puts it to his ear and thumps. “...yup! That’s a good one!”

“...how can you tell?”

“I dunno, I just...know! Trust me, she’ll love it. Better get it back to her before she starts sobbin’, huh?” The blond gives a cheeky grin before waving. “Later!”

At a bit of a loss, Sasuke glances down to the watermelon before just...putting it in the cart. Naruto better be right about this…

One stint in the check out line later, and he’s loading up the bags to head for home. Everything’s been crossed off his list, and it’s only been about half an hour. Hopefully Hinata’s all right...and her craving hasn’t changed.

“Hinata?” he calls, juggling the bags and the door handle.

“Coming!” She quickly joins him, taking a bag or two and shutting the door. “That was quick!”

“Was it?”

“Mhm!”

“Oh...ran into Naruto at the store. Stopped and had a chat.”

“Oh, that was nice! Did he know anything interesting?”

“Eh, not really...he was on craving-food duty, too.”

She makes a sound of understanding. “Poor Sakura...she’s been having really bad leg c-cramps the last few days. It’s made her a bit, um...short-tempered, seems like. I was talking to her this morning.”

“...oh yeah?”

“Mhm.”

“...you doing okay?”

“Oh, yes! I’m fine.”

“...all right. Let me know if that changes, all right?”

“...Sasuke…?”

“Just want to be sure you’re comfortable.”

There’s a pause, and then tears well up in Hinata’s eyes, lip trembling. “Y...you’re so sweet…!”

Aw, jeez… “Look, uh...let’s get stuff put away, and I’ll cut open your watermelon.”

“Okay!” Immediately chipper again, Hinata beams, carrying said melon into the kitchen. “I’ve been looking forward to this a-all day!”

After a pause, Sasuke just snorts. So much fuss over one little melon...

                                                          .oOo.

     This is...super random xD I honestly was at a loss as to what to write for this one, so uh...this is very much out of thin air. idk how pregnancy cravings really work, so hopefully this isn't too unbelievable lol      Poor boys, running around keeping their ladies happy x3 But it'll all be worth it in the end, tears and tempers and all, haha!      Anyway, it's sups late and I've got stuff to do yet, so that's all from me! Thanks for reading~

[ohayohimawari]

Kakashi Asks-Answer

Q: (From @cyabae) Do you think that Kakashi had a gut feeling that Obito was still alive? It seemed to me that he couldn’t get over Obito’s “death” whilst he was able to process his grief over the loss of his other loved ones.

A: This is such a fantastic question. Thank you for presenting me with an opportunity to climb into this ninja’s quirky brain to pave over what I think is one of the biggest holes in canon!

Throughout Naruto’s story-before and after the time skip-Kishimoto doesn’t allow the fans of the series, or Kakashi, to forget Obito. Every time we see my favorite ninja dork at his regular hangout (the memorial stone), it’s like Kishi is telling us, ‘Hey! Pay attention to this!’ Canon provides more questions than answers to this, so I’m going to rely upon my knowledge and interpretation of Kakashi’s character, as well as my imagination to resolve it starting below the cut.

First of all, Kakashi is no idiot.

He knows that he’s talking to dead people that can’t answer him when he visits their graves. He understands that death is final, permanent, having learned that lesson the hard way at a young age. The way he processes grief differs with each loss, however.

We know that Kakashi made it a point to distance himself from his father’s legacy after Sakumo’s death. In the series, I can think of only one instance in which we see Kakashi visiting his father’s grave, and it seems to be out of obligation. Further, when that angry little Kaka-brat is standing at his father’s grave in the rain, he places a flower on Sakumo’s marker while saying he won’t grow up to be like him. Ouch.

When it comes to Sakumo’s death, I think Kakashi spends a lot of time avoiding it. First, because he’s angry, later because he feels guilty (see also: Kakashi’s Legendary Self-Loathing). As long as I’m drawing from my imagination to answer this, I like to think that Kakashi comes to Sakumo’s grave more often after they made peace over a campfire during their brief visit in the afterlife.

It isn’t long after Sakumo’s death that Kakashi loses the closest thing he has to a father figure when his sensei Minato dies. This is another grave that I can’t recall (off the top of my head) Kakashi visiting. I think there are more than a couple of reasons why this is. Because he was a Hokage, Minato’s grave is already well-tended, or perhaps his remains are inaccessible (unless you’re Orochimaru). Another reason is because Kakashi has something better than a grave marker to turn to: the Yondaime’s bust carved into the mountainside that dominates Konoha’s skyline. When Kakashi wonders what kind of guidance his late sensei would offer, he looks up at his likeness. Side note: is it just me, or does that seem to give him a sense of calm? That’s a big headcanon of mine.

There’s something else that Minato left behind, or I should say someone, and that would be the main hero of the whole series. I definitely think that, although Minato’s death is an ending to a part of Kakashi’s life, it opens the door for this knucklehead to reckon with the future during his grieving process. But I have another Kakashi Ask waiting in my inbox about baby Naruto so I’ll wait to go into this when I answer that question.

This brings me to what canon presents as the most traumatic experience Kakashi has had with loss. There are countless flashbacks to the death of Rin Nohara at Kakashi’s hand before we’re given the full explanation for it. I can think of only two times that we see Kakashi visiting Rin’s grave: when he’s tending to it during a break from guarding a pregnant Kushina, and again when Tenzō is spying on Kakashi in the ANBU Black Ops arc. Although we don’t see him visiting Rin often, it’s implied that he does go regularly to her grave. He washes her marker, brings fresh flowers to adorn it, and tells her of the happenings in the Hidden Leaf.

Personally, I think Kakashi goes to Rin’s grave out of a sense of duty and keeps his visits brief out of guilt and pain (just an opinion; please don’t @ me). He can’t escape the physical moment of Rin’s death. It haunts him, frequently. He relives it more than any other experience he’s had in his fictional, angst-filled life. It seems to me that he thinks of his visits to Rin as the least he can do, after his involvement in her death. It’s all that he can do to continue to keep his promise to Obito to look after her. I’m not saying that he doesn’t have fuzzy friendship feelings for Rin, but I can’t imagine those are feelings that he’s able to maintain easily after the circumstances surrounding her death. Truly, I wonder if those visits are out of wanting to atone for his part in her death or to appease the angry spirit that Rin appears as in Kakashi’s nightmares. Probably a little of both.

The grave that is Kakashi’s home away from home is the memorial stone. Out of all the names that are etched on it, there’s only one that keeps him coming back to it. Obito Uchiha.

The million-ryo question is, out of all of the deaths that Kakashi has experienced, why is Obito’s grave the one that he turns to and returns to? Canon doesn’t portray them as the best of friends while they were schoolmates and later, teammates, so…?

This was the first peer that Kakashi lost, and that had to have rocked his little ninja world. Obito sacrificed himself for Kakashi’s sake and that too must’ve been a great big wtf moment for my precious murder baby. Also, there’s the sheer suddenness of the unfortunate boulder incident in Kakashi’s literal blind spot. I mean, wow, those reasons alone could show why Obito’s death would be next to impossible for kid!Kakashi to process.

But kid!Kakashi becomes adult!Kakashi and he’s still hovering by the memorial stone every time he gets a chance. I know that I’ve presented this dork as a creature of habit, but in this case, there’s something more to it. Two somethings, specifically.

First (to be blunt): there’s no body.

Obito Uchiha is presumed dead and for a ninja who has firsthand experience with proven death, that blows the door wide open to the possibility of Kakashi’s teammate surviving that rude boulder.

During the Land Waves arc, we see Team Seven’s leader waking up unconvinced that Zabuza is really dead. This knucklehead has more brains than chakra, and he doesn’t leave things to chance.

So, to Kakashi, presumed dead is way more alive than dead.

This is why he doesn’t just relate the news of the village to Obito like he does when he visits other graves. He asks questions and unloads his conscience there because, in his mind, he might be communicating with someone that could answer him.

But wait! There’s more. The second something is (drumroll): the sharingan.

Sharingan literally means “copy wheel eye,” and it is described as an “eye that reflects the heart.”

Kishimoto seems to enjoy beating his characters with a trauma stick, so canon gives us many (so many) accounts of how tragedy affects the sharingan’s development. However, if it reflects the heart, there are plenty of positive emotions that could affect it that simply weren’t explored in the series.

Another thing that isn’t fully explained in canon is how Kakashi and Obito’s sharingan eyes are connected. We only know that they are connected because the mangekyō awoke at the same time in each of them (this is very important btw), and because of their shared tsukuyomi/ninja dumpster. This is great imagination and fan content fodder because the possibilities of their shared sharingan are near endless.

What follows is my headcanon.

Rather than having a gut feeling that Obito is still alive, I think Kakashi allows for the possibility that his teammate survived. That becomes a probability after he learns more about the sharingan from his subordinate, Itachi and student, Sasuke.

It would be years after Obito’s presumed death that Kakashi would learn that the mangekyō is awakened by witnessing the death of the person that the sharingan-bearer is closest to. As much as I adore Rin’s character, she is not the person that Kakashi feels closest to when he witnesses her death. I believe that Kakashi is closer to Gai, or even Minato when Rin dies.

As Kakashi learns more about the sharingan, the bigger his hunch becomes that Obito survived. I’m sure he’d question how the mangekyō could’ve awoken in the first place if the person that gave it to him was dead.

This borrowed eye is surgically attached to Kakashi’s optic nerve and not his heart. So, if the sharingan is still developing, the heart it was connected to must still be beating.

More speculation, but perhaps Obito can use all of the jutsus that Kakashi has copied. Maybe snippets of Obito’s emotions are processed as information in Kakashi’s brain. It would make sense to me in Narutoverse.

So why didn’t Kakashi tell anyone that he had reason to think that Obito might still be alive?

The experiences that would lead him to think that are subjective. Kakashi is tight-lipped even when someone wants to know his hobbies. I don’t think he’d tell anyone that a mistake was made with one of the etched names on the memorial stone until he had hard proof.

However it played out, or whatever your headcanons about these two may be, the moment they faced each other from opposite sides of the battlefield was heartbreaking.

I think that when Kakashi finally saw him again, he was less surprised that Obito was alive and more surprised that he had become an enemy. *Sob*

XOXO

P.S. I actually touched upon this headcanon in a drabble that I wrote for my latest Tumblr milestone:

The Impossible 

Summary: “No one is more surprised than Kakashi when he returns from apparent death. He confides his extraordinary experience and the new mystery that has come of it at his next visit to Konoha's memorial stone.”

Pairings: Gen, none

Rated: T, no warnings apply

[sun-summoning]

part i | part ii | part iii | part iv | part v | part vi

part vii: in which sasuke gains an ally

The next morning, Sasuke woke up in a sea of multiple unnecessary pillows. He hated beds like that. Like what was the point. Those tiny pillows were mostly annoying and not good enough for sleeping on or cuddling. 

He fought through the purple blanket he was swaddled in and when he turned to the side, he saw Naruto on the other end of the bed. He groaned, waking Naruto up. 

Naruto blinked, confused and disoriented and probably just as hungover. “Did we...have sex?”

“What?” Sure, Sasuke got a little too wasted the night before, but he had a pretty good memory of the events that led up to him falling asleep on the balcony among a stranger and his succulents. “No, you idiot!”

“Oh, thank god.”

They heard a snort and looked to the doorway, finding Ino leaning against the frame with a bowl of cereal in her hands. She spooned some into her mouth, regarding them groggily. “You guys are still here?”

“We’re leaving now.”

“Good.” Ino gave Sasuke a look full of distaste that was easy to miss through all the aching his head and arms and legs felt. “You’re an asshole, Sasuke.”

Sasuke shrugged and wondered if she had a point. “Okay?”

“Like how dare you--”

“Not that I disagree,” Naruto cut in, “but what did he do?”

“What did he do? Ha!” Ino put her bowl down so she could cross her arms to fully embrace the full on bitch look she was probably going for. “He got too drunk!”

“That’s a thing?”

“And then he made my friend take care of him all night!”

“Ooooooh!” Naruto crowed, waggling his eyebrows.

But Ino smacked his arm. “Not like that, you perv.” Ino rolled her eyes. “No, asshole over here got so drunk and passed out on my balcony so Sakura had to take care of you.”

Sasuke considered Ino’s words, ready to tell her that she was as delusional as she was shrill, but then realized that shit, wait, hold up. She was right. Sasuke got drunk. Sasuke got super drunk. So drunk that he couldn’t really walk anymore and that he got overly warm but his sweater was too much of a pain to remove so he just dealt with it and then he found some succulents and he promised them a good home but then he failed them and then he failed himself and then some girl came by and she gave him water and she was really nice and she had pink hair and--

“Wait.” It took Sasuke a little longer to process the information. “Your friend took care of me? Your friend...Sakura?”

“Yes.”

“Sakura.”

“Yes. Why?”

Sakura. Ino’s friend Sakura. Sasuke didn’t think Ino had many friends named Sakura. It was a wonder she had any friends at all, really, with how loud and obnoxious she was. But Sakura. Sakura.

Sasuke got too drunk and adopted some succulents and right when he was going to take them with him on his quest for true love or whatever, Tinder Girl found him instead of him finding her. Tinder Girl touched his cheek and gave him water and he fell asleep on her shoulder. 

Sasuke felt like he was going to faint, so it was a good thing he was still in the bed.

“Your drunk ass moved around all my plants -- one of which is missing, by the way!” Ino complained. Tired of standing, she sits down beside Naruto. “Then you fell asleep! You’re lucky she’s ridiculously strong because I would have left you outside overnight.”

Sasuke’s breath quickened as he recalled Tinder Girl declaring she could benchpress him. And calling him scrawny. Did she call him scrawny? He wasn’t scrawny. 

“She had to haul your ass here,” Ino continued, gesturing to the purple bed that Sasuke now realized was probably hers. Then she turned and glared at Naruto. “And then for whatever reason you came and joined him and I had to sleep on the couch!”

“Sorry?”

“You better be.”

Ino and Naruto ran through their usual banter as Sasuke tried to process everything. Tinder Girl was there. Tinder Girl was with him last night, talking to him and checking on him and then helping him find somewhere safe to sleep. Sasuke shook his head and when he looked to the side, he found the succulent that he’d chosen as his favourite on the night stand beside his phone and wallet. Even better, Tinder Girl had plugged his phone in to Ino’s charger.

Damn, this girl was perfect.

“I have to go,” Sasuke said, shooting up from the bed. He pocketed his things and gently picked up the succulent, manoeuvring it so Ino wouldn’t notice him plant-napping it.

“Where are you going?” Naruto asked.

“Tinder Girl. I need to find her.”

“Who the heck is Tinder Girl?” Ino shook her head. “And since when did you use Tinder?” Her voice takes a different tone, the way someone’s might when they’re obviously lying about something they already know. Sasuke would call her out but he has bigger problems to deal with.

“Wait. Where’s my other shoe?”

-

Soon after, the three of them went out for breakfast. Sasuke pointed out that Ino already had breakfast so Naruto clarified that while he and Sasuke were getting breakfast, Ino was getting second breakfast and that was okay too. Naruto and Ino sat beside each other and while Ino made a show of saying she wasn’t hungry whilst making sure Naruto was getting something she liked enough that she could steal from his plate, Sasuke kept busy by scrolling through people’s photos from last night and then watching some Snap stories.

“Why are you doing that?” Ino asked.

“Because maybe she’ll be in the background.”

“Who?”

“Tinder Girl.”

Sasuke hadn’t even looked at her through that entire exchange, so Ino turned to Naruto for an explanation.

“The love of his life,” Naruto said.

“Oh, yes, great.” Ino smiled primly. “So helpful. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“I was being sarcastic!”

“I found her!” Sasuke slapped the table in his excitement, getting the attention of the other people around him. He didn’t notice though, too busy holding his phone out for Naruto and Ino to see. 

“That’s...Sakura.”

“Yes.”

“Sakura Haruno.”

“Yes.”

“She’s my best friend.”

“Yes.” Sasuke looked like he swallowed something particularly sour. “I am aware.”

“I...I love her.”

“Wait.” Naruto frowned. “What kind of love?”

Ino smiled and winked at him. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, now I’m definitely going to worry about. Ino, I’m sorry, but if you stand in the way of my best friend finding the love of his life, I’m going to have to fight you.”

“Oh, relax. Tragically, she and I are both heterosexual.” Then she looked back at Sasuke, her serious face back on. “But you. What the fuck are you doing?”

“Yeah, Sasuke.” Naruto snickered. He obviously found amusement in Sasuke’s discomfort. “Tell Ino what you’re doing.”

Sasuke glared at Naruto and kicked him under the table for good measure, but then Ino yelped and Sasuke realized he kicked her instead. He figured he should apologize, but since it was just Ino, he decided not to bother wasting the breath. 

What was he doing? 

He was trying to use all the resources available to find the woman who eluded him. 

He was trying to find true love. 

He was...trying to win a bet to prove that he wasn’t a complete failure. Sure, those weren’t Itachi’s words, but Sasuke could hear subtext when it was there. In that moment, Sasuke almost laughed, because it hadn’t occurred to him in quite some time that his search was largely sparked by Itachi offering to pay his rent if he could do this because he didn’t think Sasuke could. So did that mean he wasn’t doing this for true love? Was he doing this for true spite? Was he doing all this to spite Itachi? 

Sasuke considered his actions so far -- freaking out Hinata (although to be fair she just lacked a spice), breaking in to Juugo’s house (but like seriously lock your door), whoring out Naruto (granted that was a failure) -- and decided that spite wouldn’t exactly be very surprising as a motivator. 

Or maybe he was just obsessive? 

His mother always said he had a one track mind, but not in the way Naruto did in his endless to chase anything with a skirt. No, he just...fixated. Not very frequently, but when he had a goal in mind, Sasuke stuck to it and did whatever he needed to accomplish it. Maybe he wasn’t trying to spite Itachi. Maybe he was trying to prove something to himself? So was that just selfish then? 

Honestly, did any of this even matter? 

During his moment of reflection, Naruto deigned to recap Ino on everything, starting with Sasuke accidentally swiping left for Sakura on Tinder and all the other wonderful things that happened after. 

“So you found Sakura on Tinder, huh...”

Naruto made sure to include every embarrassing fact, but Ino was too busy pursing her lips and looking down at her breakfast. Or, technically, her second breakfast.

“Why do you look like that?” Sasuke asked. He gestured to her with his cup of coffee. “All...constipated. Contemplative. Whatever.”

Ino took a bite out of her toast and gave him the finger. She looked like she wanted to tell him something important. She reminded him of that one asshole in every zombie movie who got infected but didn’t tell anyone and was thus putting everyone at risk. 

What was she hiding? Something pertaining to Tinder Girl, sure, but that was a given consider she was Tinder Girl’s best friend.

Then she smiled, the pull of her lips insincere. She shook her head. “Nothing,” she replied oh so sweetly. 

“Oh, come on,” Naruto whined. Apparently he’d seen the look of constipation on Ino’s face as well and decided that constipation wasn’t actually the case. “What are you hiding?”

“Nothing.”

“Ino!”

“Nothing!” Ino repeated. But then she winked and Naruto and whispered, “I’ll tell you later.”

Naruto grinned and nodded and Sasuke gawked at them. “Are you serious?”

“You bet I am.”

“I’m not here for your approval,” Sasuke told her. “And I’m not here for you to have your dumb jokes.”

Ino smirked. “Then what are you here for, Sasuke?”

“Well, I mean...breakfast.”

“Wow.”

“I’m going to find her,” Sasuke declared, “and then we’re going to go on a date. Or something.”

“Or something?”

“Yes, or something.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m not gross like the two of you.”

"Screw you!”

Before they could bicker further, other members of Team Sasuke seemed to arrive, and judging by the way Naruto was waving at Karin and Shikamaru at the door, he was probably the one who invited them. They crammed their way into the booth beside Sasuke as he shook his head at Naruto.

“Why do you keep inviting people to our discussions!”

“Because they liven things up.”

“How?”

“I’m sassy,” Karin piped up.

“And I’m...” Shikamaru paused to think of the right word. “I’m snarky.”

Sasuke huffed and pointed to the two across from him. “And I guess she’s Bitchy and he’s Dopey?”

“You’re being very rude for someone who always needs our help,” Karin pointed out.

“I don’t need your help!”

“Your first in-person glimpse at Tinder Girl was at my party.” She nodded at Ino. “And your second one was at hers. Which, by the way, we told you would work for drawing her out.”

“That wasn’t--she wasn’t--” Sasuke sighed, defeated, because fine, sure, he actually needed his friends throughout this entire process. “Whatever.”

“Why are you being so difficult?” Karin asked.

Something snide was on his tongue (specifically “Why are you being so difficult?”) but Sasuke stopped himself and sighed. Why was he being difficult? Was this self-sabotage? Was he afraid of actually meeting Tinder Girl or something?

He looked up and found everyone staring at him. “I don’t know,” he admitted. 

“Is it because you’re scared?” Naruto reached across the table and laid his hand over Sasuke’s. “It’s okay to be scared. It’s a good kind of scared--”

“Okay, no,” he said, yanking his hand away, “that wasn’t an invitation to talk about my feelings.”

“Then why don’t we do what we always seem to have to do for your sorry ass,” Shikamaru suggested, “and make a new plan.”

“Sure,” Sasuke agreed, just as Ino said the same thing. He couldn’t help but regard her with surprise. He’d honestly expected to have to fight her like she was the dragon guarding the castle Tinder Girl was locked up in. “Really?” 

She shrugged. “I mean this could be good. Sakura needs to get laid.”

Karin nodded. “I agree. Not in the sense that she’s a wound up bitch. More so like…she deserves it.”

“Wait, then why would we set her up with Sasuke?” Naruto asked, ignoring Sasuke’s stare of disbelief.

“What the fuck, Naruto.”

“He’d only disappoint her.”

“What the fuck, Naruto.”

“Because Sasuke is an asshole, but he’s good-looking,” Ino explained, also acting as if he wasn’t there. “That means she’ll give him a chance, but she might just end up dumping him. The point is, she’ll get something out of it.”

“What the fuck, Ino.”

Karin ignored Sasuke and raised an eyebrow at Ino. “You’re strangely okay with all of this. She’s your best friend and he’s...Sasuke.”

“What the fuck, Karin.”

“Eh, it’s not like Sasuke is some random loser,” Ino said. “He’s just a regular loser. And besides,” Ino continued. “We actually know him. He’s a jerk the majority of the time, but I know he’s not some serial killer.”

Naruto frowned. He squinted at Sasuke then turned to Ino. “You don’t actually know that though.”

Shikamaru tilted his head and examined Sasuke. “Nah, Sasuke isn’t the type to be a serial killer. Maybe a regular, one-time-only kind of killer, but I think after the first one he wouldn’t want to have to bother with a second. And then to maintain the pattern for a third would probably be too much.”

Sasuke didn’t even bothering asking what the fuck this time, settling for just glaring. 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Ino said. “Okay. So. The point of these little meetings. We’re supposed to help Sasuke find and woo his...Tinder Girl?”

“Yep.”

“Basically.”

“I’m just here for the drama.”

Ino nodded. “Fine. Clearly trying to meet her at parties doesn’t work because you drink too much, so I’m just going to settle for something simple and classic.”

“And what’s that?” Sasuke asked.

“A date, you fucking dolt.”

The simplicity of it all kept Sasuke quiet.

“She’s my best friend,” Ino explained. “I’ll tell her I’m setting her up with a guy I know. She might put up a fight because she doesn’t exactly trust my judgement--”

And for that, Sasuke liked Tinder Girl even more.

“--but I’ll find a way to convince her.”

“I...” Sasuke swallowed thickly. Being so close to reaching his goal made him nervous. “I like this plan.”

“We can go on a double date!” Naruto suggested.

“Or we can go on a triple date!” Karin added. She looked at Shikamaru and they agreed they’d go on a date together for the sake of watching Sasuke make an ass of himself in front of the girl he’d tried so hard to find. 

“No,” Ino said. 

She tried to smile at Sasuke, but it was just a weird twitch of her lips that made him wonder, for a split second, if she might be having an aneurysm or something. Then he realized she was aiming for kind. Or, if not kind, just not mean. She was aiming for not mean.

“It’ll be just Sasuke and Sakura.”

“I have to get ready,” Sasuke suddenly said. 

“For what?”

“For fate. Or something. I don’t know. Shut up.”

He tried to stand but was trapped in the booth and just ended up hitting his thighs. He pushed Karin and Shikamaru so he could get out. He began walking away from the table, ready to take on the day, ready to maybe do a bit of studying, ready to freak the fuck out.

Sasuke immediately sat back down at the booth, this time settling beside Ino and Naruto.

“Fuck,” he breathed, missing the way they all looked at him with both confusion and annoyance. “Wait.”

“Now what?”

“Shit.” 

“Communicate, Sasuke. No one has understood a thing you’ve said in the past two minutes.”

“What if she’s one of those girls who say they’re not like other girls?” Sasuke worried. He actually looked pale. Or well, paler than usual. “Or like, what if she self-identifies as quirky? What if she’s vegan and slips that into every conversation? What if--”

Ino rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the booth. “Get out of here, idiot!”

-

That night, Sasuke found himself on campus studying. This wasn’t too uncommon amongst students considering midterms were coming up. 

After breakfast, Sasuke received a text from Karin saying he owed her money because he left without paying for his stuff so she had to cover him. He waited and waited for Ino to update him, but figured that obviously she couldn’t tell Tinder Girl about him yet. Right? Of course not.

And what would Ino even say to her? 

“Hey, Sakura, remember that drunk mess you took care of last night? He wants to go on a date with you. Yeah, I know, he’s kind of a loser. Yeah, I know, he thinks he’s a succulent whisperer or something.”

He said he was going to get ready, but upon stepping out of the diner, he realized he had no idea what he was getting ready for, so he went home, showered, and went back to sleep. Upon waking up at four in the afternoon and ignoring Itachi’s disapproving stare, Sasuke had something to eat, grabbed his bag, and left to go study.

It wasn’t about the bet anymore. It was about succeeding in school, about not being a disappointment, about spiting Itachi. And, obviously, it was about love--

“Hey, would you mind if I sat here?”

Sasuke tried not to visibly cringe. Because midterms were coming up, all the tables were taken and it was totally normal that someone would want to share his table. He tried not to groan as well as he wondered if they might tried to make conversation. 

Then he actually looked up.

It was Tinder Girl.

Sasuke was, somehow, breathing normally. He nodded and he tried not to stare at her too obviously as she set her bag on one of the chairs and proceeded to pull out her laptop and some books. When she was settled, she looked at him. Really, truly looked at him. Then she paused.

“Oh, it’s you!” She smiled and Sasuke’s heart skipped a beat. “I see you’re feeling a lot better now.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah,” he replied smoothly. He looked away hoping to hide the blush on his cheeks. “I...yeah.”

She laughed a little. Fuck, she was so cute. “Well, I’m glad. You didn’t seem too well.”

“I drank too much.”

“Classy.”

“I try.”

“And did your succulents make it out okay?” She shrugged. “Or well, technically, Ino’s succulents.”

“What?”

“The succulents.”

“What?”

“Well, as I was tucking you in, you made me promise to bring back your best buddy succulent so you could bring it to a better home. I literally had to go back and forth twice because apparently I grabbed the wrong one the first time.”

Sasuke cringed and wondered if he could just die from embarrassment. 

“Although to be fair, Ino’s actually really great with plants and you probably should have just left the succulent there.” She chewed on her lower lip as she mulled over her thoughts. “Then again, succulents are pretty idiot-proof.”

Naturally, that shook Sasuke out of his stupor. “Are you saying I’m an idiot.”

Sakura laughed. “No, no, of course not. I don’t even know you.” Then she held out her hand. “I’m Sakura, by the way.”

Social propriety dictated he shake the hand being offered. Normally he would do so grudgingly, but this time he was eager. Were his hands sweaty? Shit, probably. But his fingers were resting on his keyboard and there was no way he could somehow discreetly wipe his clammy palms on his jeans before shaking her hand. And now he was taking too long. Crap.

Hoping he wasn’t repulsive, he shook her hand and introduced himself. “Sasuke.”

“It’s nice to meet you--”

“I have to go now.” 

He blurted out the words before actually processing them in his head. He had to go? Did he? Uh, no he didn’t. But he said the words so now he had to go. Sakura was staring at him, clearly confused by his behaviour, and so he decided that he definitely needed to go. 

Shit, was this that self-sabotage again? Was he scared? That “good kind of scared” Naruto was going on about? What did that even mean?

“Oh.” 

Sasuke was too busy shoving his textbooks and and laptop back into his bag to check if the disappointment he swore was in her voice was also on her face.

“Well, okay then.” He glanced up and she was smiling at him. “Good luck with your studying then!”

“Okay, bye.”

Sasuke grabbed his stuff and practically ran out of the room. When he was outside and walking home, it occurred to him that everything was going perfectly fine and then he just ran away. 

What the hell was wrong with him? What the hell was he even doing? Fuck, no wonder he couldn’t make any decisions without any help from his friends. 

Maybe Naruto’s double date idea wasn’t so dumb after all.

-

tbc

[ice-ice-taeyong]

Three Perspectives on Vampires

Okay, I wrote this as a prompt fill for @sumigakure ‘s Halloween Event and it took forever because writing just wasn’t happening but I finally finished! It’s about 1k words longer than expected, and this is the short version. Oops.

Title: Three Perspectives on Vampires

Word Count: 2034

Prompt: Normal Character Meets Supernatural Creature/Being

Summary: Naruto thinks something’s up with Sasuke and Sasuke thinks something might be up with Naruto and Sakura is sick of their shit. (Aka there’s really minimal spook and I meant for more but the  fluffy writing goblins weren’t having any of it)

Naruto/Sasuke, warnings for orphans and slightly dark themes, modern highschool!au, fluffy

Ao3

“Pssst.

Sakura” Naruto whispered across the library table, eyes fixed on a figure made of pale skin and dark hair and equally dark clothes. “Sasuke is here.” He says it like it’s a conspiracy. Sakura rolls her eyes and looks up from her textbooks.

“Yes. He is known for leaving the compound every once in a while. Like every day we have school and such.” She whispers back. It wasn’t all that strange for Naruto to point Sasuke’s appearance in random public places out. Sakura was sometimes convinced that the last Uchiha was a little odd but he lost his family, both immediate and extended when his brother suffered a psychotic break and killed them. Anyone would be a little messed up after that. So Sakura generally ignored Naruto’s ramblings. But it was October, and that meant Naruto was more persistent than ever.

“Sakura! It’s after dark! I’m telling you, Sasuke’s not human!” Sakura tried not to sigh too loudly. She had once been as enamored by Sasuke as Naruto is but then she learned better. They were acquaintances, could hold a conversation without it being too terribly awkward, and she had a few class with him. They were acquaintances and she was fine with that. Really, it wasn’t too bad, and she definitely didn’t like him anymore. But Naruto, Naruto was still so obsessed. Sometimes, she wondered if it was…. no. Naruto would tell her about something that important. Speaking of the devil, Naruto hissed again.

“Sakura, I’m not joking. He’s a little creepy, dont'cha think? Oh! He looked over at us. Do you think he’ll say something?” Naruto seemed a little distressed at the thought, straightening his garish jacket and running a hand through his messy blonde hair. Sakura was confused. She shook her head and after giving him a vaguely threatening gesture with her fist she returned to her studying. After all, the two idiots would eventually stop eyeing each other and either Sasuke would join them or he’d do what he came to the library to do and then leave without a word. Not her problem, no matter how much Sakura wished he’d do the former. They worked well as a group and he was so good at calculus and this homework was stumping her.

The next time Naruto saw Sasuke was at school the next day. He’d been, um, carefully observing Sasuke for the past few months. Naruto knew that this behavior could be categorized as stalking, but it wasn’t like he had any malicious intent. He just found Sasuke so very alluring. They sat next to each other in practically every class, oh why did teachers insist on alphabetizing the class? It was all their fault really, sitting next to Sasuke had alerted him to the fact that Sasuke was actually really nice. Not that you could tell from any amount of first (and second and third and fourth and fifth) glances, and pretty much all of Naruto’s attempts at friendship during elementary school hadn’t worked. In middle school, he tried a handful of times more before giving up. If Sasuke wanted to be all mysterious and brooding and hot and lonely then he could. Naruto didn’t care. (So maybe he did, just a little. And that was only because he also understood just how much it hurt to lose all the family you’ve ever known.)

But in high school he was given no choice but to communicate with Sasuke. And Naruto slowly found that as appealing as Sasuke was from a carefully maintained distance (on the Uchiha’s part in the beginning, but Naruto soon caught in and also stayed away) he was so much more interesting up close. Wow, that sounded really stalker-y. Naruto had been cold to Sasuke at first, the sting of his rejection to Naruto’s attempts at friendship time and time again had left their mark, but after a month of being in proximity, Naruto relented and asked to work with Sasuke on a project together. He’d been a little surprised to hear Sasuke mutter a quiet “sure” and jot down his number on a small red post-it. Naruto had sat in shock for minuted until the warning bell for his next class rang and he had to sprint to his next class, which just happened to be the single course he didn’t share with Sasuke. He hadn’t been able to focus.

But on the day after the library, Naruto was determined to get answers. Not only to whether or not Sasuke was something not human (come on, no human person could be that hauntingly pretty. It’s just not possible, okay?) but also to the question of would he like to go to the Halloween dance together? Because somewhere in between working on a project together for the first time at the library to the first time Sasuke let Naruto into the Uchiha compound to when Sasuke spent the night with Naruto in his small flat that his godfather Jiraiya pays for (because there had been someone killing loners for a stint in May and while both boys would loathe to admit it, they were both scared) to celebrating birthdays and holidays and good grades together or with a small group of friends; somewhere in between all of that, Naruto fell in love with Sasuke. It’s a thought that still scares Naruto a little, but there’s not much to do about feelings like that except to face them and act on them. And so he fiddled with his zipper and worked up the courage to cross the hall and enter first period.

Sasuke was having a hard time categorizing his emotions on Naruto. On one hand, he annoyed Sasuke. Always hanging around and clinging and stalking him to activities and the like. On the other (much larger) hand, Sasuke nearly preened under the attention. He didn’t truly like the attention, has always shied away from the eyes of others, but Sasuke did like Naruto’s attention. He knew the blonde boy had lost his family too, that all he had left were godparents he didn’t meet until junior high. Sasuke found he also didn’t hate having to put up with the idiot in their classes either. Naruto provided comedy to dull lessons and brightened up dreary days. If Sasuke was being truly honest with himself (something he hated doing because the realizations it would lead to were always scary and not fun) he had been harboring a crush on Naruto since he finally gave up on trying to befriend him. Sasuke has always chalked up the flutter he got in his stomach when Naruto popped into his line of sight as irritation but he soon discovered it was attraction. Really, the only reason he refused to act on his feelings was because it could endanger Naruto. Sasuke was a vampire, the last in the town after his brother suffered from a powerful Suggestion and killed their clan. People tend to hunt vampires and the thought of losing Naruto hurt too much to entertain the idea. But Naruto had been acting weird lately, asking strange questions and appearing at his regular hunting grounds and Sasuke was terrified the fool had figured it out. Supernatural families tended to flock to Konoha, Sakura was a dryad, whether she knew it or not, and Naruto had always smelled like fox so maybe he already knew. Sasuke shrugged to himself and looked around the mostly empty classroom. Strange, it was early, but Naruto usually showed up around now pleading to copy his homework for some class that he forgot existed. Sasuke checked his watch and then closed his eyes. It was getting close to when he needed to feed and he was tired. He rested for a few minutes before smelling Naruto approach and he opened his eyes slowly, careful to keep the eyes his family has hidden.

Apparently, he wasn’t careful enough because Sasuke watched Naruto’s eyes bug out of his head and his mouth drop open. Sasuke felt his stomach tighten and willed the red tint away.

Naruto blinked twice before grabbing Sasuke’s hand tightly and pulling him up out of his seat. “Talk. We need to…shit. I need to talk to you.” He stammered out, voice pitched high with nerves. Sasuke was confused but nodded his permission? Is that what Naruto wanted? Sasuke didn’t know why the blonde boy wasn’t running in the other direction but well, he wouldn’t complain. Naruto led them to a rarely-used side hallway along the side of the auditorium. Sasuke was surprised about the privacy, but again, he wouldn’t complain. Naruto finally dropped his wrist (had he not let go? Sasuke hadn’t noticed) and took a deep breath. The hallway was barely three feet across and with the boys leaning against opposite walls, there were only a few inches of space between them. Naruto dropped his head to rest against the wall and looked down the bridge of his nose at Sasuke. He didn’t speak though, and silence from Naruto was scary. He was always bubbling and loud, not speaking was worse than any harsh words. He must be disgusted, Sasuke thought. He opened his mouth and took a shallow breath before speaking.

“Naruto, I don’t want you to hate me. I know this town is pretty liberal, but what I am…. I just can’t lose you. I need you. As a friend.” He tagged the last part on hurriedly. They were talking about vampires, the emotions could be sorted out later. Naruto’s eyes went wider than before and pushed off the wall so he was looking straight at Sasuke.

“Sasuke…how could I hate you? I’m different too. And if anyone in Konoha says something to you about that then I’ll beat ‘em up!” He exclaimed, striking a “Nice Guy” pose. Sasuke let out a sigh of relief. Then he gave a small, grateful smirk.

“Thanks, idiot. It feels good to tell you I’m a vampire.” Naruto goes very pale all of a sudden. He doesn’t back away, to his credit, but he wasn’t expecting that.

“What?” Naruto said softly. “ I thought you were hinting you were gay.” Sasuke flushed and looked away, turning to leave.

“Oh, then, um, forget what I just said.” He took half a step before Naruto grabbed his wrist again (why were his hands so warm) and pulled him back. Sasuke felt his back brush the front of Naruto’s jacket and he stood board stiff.

“Dumbass. Are you? Gay, I mean? The vampire thing would actually explain a lot.” Naruto’s voice is warm against his neck and Sasuke likes the sound and feel. He shivers slightly and leans back, his hand finding Naruto’s and loosely linking their fingers. He grunts softly, not wanting to answer. Naruto makes a happy, sighing sound and drops his head onto Sasuke’s shoulder. “Can I tell you something?” Naruto whispers.

Sasuke hums, and attempts to turn and face Naruto, but Naruto keeps him facing away. Sasuke can’t blame him. It’s easier to say important things like this. “Of course, idiot. We’re friends or something, right?” Sasuke can feel Naruto’s grin and it makes his heart beat a little faster.

Naruto takes a breath and then blurts out. “I’m not all human either. Not sure exactly what but Jiraiya told me once. And I want to go to the Halloween dance with you.” Sasuke could feel Naruto’s tension and he turned around finally, looking Naruto in his eyes and smiling a little. He only really smiles with Naruto, Sasuke realizes. More thoughts to examine later. Right now he has things to say.

“I’d love to go with you. And I thought I smelled something on you. Guess that’s why you’re not flipping out?” Sasuke asks and Naruto nods, uncharacteristically shy. Sasuke grips both of Naruto’s hands and feels like he’s at home.

“I think I love you…” Naruto whispers, quiet and maybe even a touch desperate and Sasuke agrees. He hums softly and Sasuke feels like he could fly, and that’s all that matters right now. Well, that and how Naruto is leaning forward a little and Sasuke is too and they’ve already missed the beginning of first period, they can miss more.  

[stormears]

Naruto Meme

Nobody tagged me for this. I do what I want. 

-

F A V O R I T E

Female Character - Sakura Haruno.

Male Character - Kakashi, Gaara, Sasori or Madara. 

Team - Team Kakashi. Or New Team Kakashi, since that version doesn’t have Sasuke in it. 

Sensei - Kakashi

Hokage - Tobirama.

Kage - Tobirama! Gaara is a close second. 

Village - I guess Konoha since most of my favorites are from there and it has pleasant and predictable sunny spring weather 95% of the year. 

Akatsuki Member - Sasori has been my fave for years, but I also really love Kakuzu. I have a Kakuzu rubber strap thing on my keys. 

Episode/Chapter -  Shippuden episodes 25 and 26, these are the well-animated Sasori vs Sakura episodes that highlighted one of Sakura’s best accomplishments across the whole story. I also liked that two-minute sequence in 322 where Edo Tensei’d Madara decimates the Shinobi Army. There’s a two-second shot in it of a female soldier holding a cross to her face and praying before the fight begins, which I think is one of the absolute best visual reminders that people are terrified of Madara. It had a much stronger impact than the endless power gimmicks or characters’ repeated poorly scripted exclamations of “wow he/this technique is so powerful.” 

Fight Scene - Sakura vs Sasori! Or Kakashi vs Hidan and Kakuzu. 

Fanfiction -  I love so many fanfictions. I’ve been creepily attached to fanfictions since I was 12. If I had to pick a favorite I gueeeess I’d go with He Had No Fingers by Gleam. Kyuubi is a monstrous, conscious-less god whose influence eats away at child Naruto easily. He takes over Naruto and then Konoha and the world is next. Made me woozy reading it the first time, I’ll never forget. 

Story Arc - Rescue Gaara Arc, I guess, but I don’t enjoy whole arcs as much as I do small, separate moments or scenes or even just manga pages in the story. 

Filler - Aren’t the movies filler? I kind of enjoy the third movie where Lee, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi act as bodyguards for a fat, lazy prince, his son, and the son’s saber-toothed circus tiger. 

What is your…

OTP (explain why) - I’m a crackshipping freak who builds 30k+ long stories and worlds to support romantic scenes of my weird ships, don’t ask me this. 

NoTP (without being a dick, explain why) - I do not like like Sasuke or Karin, and seeing them romantically together is not any improvement to me. I think that Sasuke never went through emotional growth or recovery and only changed his loyalties near the end of the war because Kishimoto was desperate, overworked, and weakly reaching for finish line, and many characters and story events reflected that reality. I waited years’ worth of manga chapters and episodes for him to change and by the time he did, I was long past buying it. Karin was a screechy, annoying brat from Day 1 and never improved her attitude or personality, but I didn’t enjoy seeing her used as a meat shield by Danzo, either. In short, two bad characters don’t make a good pairing. 

Crackship/s - My worst and favorite offenses are probably SasoSaku, since 2007-ish and MadaSaku since 2010. 

BroTP - This is barely present in my writing, but, kinda, Ino and Sakura. Maybe Kakuzu and Konan. 

OT3 - I don’t know what this means besides 3 characters I want to see having an orgy or engaged in a polygamous relationship? I guess I could be coerced into reading/liking those but there’s none in particular that I like consistently or remember offhand.

Crossover ship - I don’t crossover ship. Not opposed to it, the examples I’ve seen talked about briefly on tumblr (mostly in anime confession blogs) are intriguing, but I don’t have a ship like this myself. 

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

Do you have any headcanons? All sorts of assorted things. Ino’s mom is a civilian. Itachi WISHES he was a civilian or could retire and live a peaceful domestic life. Shino likes art and would read art/art criticism magazines if Naruto-land has those, and could be friends with Sai. Kisame loves boardgames and is a good sportsman in any game or sport he plays. Sakura likes to read non-fiction/informational books more than novels. Tenten loves horses. Kiba is really close to his sister but doesn’t want people outside the family knowing that because he’s scared other guys will make fun of him. Civilian children stay in school till roughly age 16, compared to the Ninja Academy graduating age of 12. 

Are you happy with the ending? Would you have done things differently? I’m not happy with it, but I’m also not invested in it enough to really care. It was always the characters, not the story, that drew me into Naruto (maybe just the basic skeletons of the characters at that, skeletons I could build onto and “fix” in fanfiction). To “do things differently” I would fix a lot more than the ending, though if I could erase ONE thing from the ending it would be the sudden prevalence of modern-day technology like skyscrapers, laptops and handheld video games. 

How do you feel about the Next Generation? Shrug. Boruto and Himawari are cute and remind me of me and my big brother a bit. I kinda liked the first few weeks of the manga’s ending, when there was still confusion about whether to call him Boruto or “Bolt,” because I was rooting for Bolt.  

Say something about your favorite character. Sakura Haruno had huge expanses of room for improvement in her ninjutsu, tactics, and respect given to her by other characters and by viewers and all of this was squandered by an author who had many other, bigger problems to deal with and was probably indifferent to her at best. She is safer in the hands of fans, of artists and writers, who treat her better and create better content about her than her creator did. She has been adopted by several thousand loving moms and a few dads and will be well cared for. 

What would a child between your OTP look like? Going for my crackships here again. SaoSaku child has red hair, but Sakura’s face and her mom’s outspoken attitude and a talent for musical instruments. MadaSaku child, lord, I don’t know. I like to think the pink or at least reddish hair would prevail but all laws of the universe say Uchiha black hair always wins. The child would, at least, have the thickest and most gorgeous head of hair in town. 

Say something genuinely nice about your NoTP.  Some people out there really like it, and it and content about it makes them happy in the way that my favorite ships make me happy, and that’s good stuff. Glad for them. 

Say something negative about your OTP. They’re groundless nonsense pairings that I would be embarrassed to ever acknowledge outside my tiny internet circles and both the men involved in those two pairings are canonically horrible people who ought to be stabbed.

Is there any way you could be convinced to ship your NoTP? I would need a fanfic, 5k+ length minimum, but I could go up to 20k, allowing time and space for them to calm down and recover from their respective traumas and get over their respective dumb bitch attitudes, and then slowly build a friendship that becomes a romance, ideally with a storyline and theme and a writing style that I could get behind. Not to mention the time of day to read a doorstop novella like that. 

What makes you mad about the series? The War Arc’s need to make every important character as powerful as possible crushed any sense of threat or disbelief. The constant upping of the stakes was annoying and came off as desperate (though I strongly believe that behind it was an overworked zombie Kishimoto mindlessly trying to fill that week’s page quota and wondering if he would ever have an actual life again).

If you could see anything happen in the series, what would it be? The final arc is the Akatsuki invading Konoha with the intention of kinapping/killing Naruto, but the entire village has rallied and is prepared to fight. The story cuts between three or four fights between Akatsuki and Konoha ninja till all Akatsuki are defeated. Maybe reveal Madara as the secret leader of the Akatsuki and defeat him here, too. During the conflict, Naruto has proven himself for the final time, is adored by the village, crowned Hokage within a year or so, happy ending. Pairings left undetermined or hinted at vaguely. Fin. (Other possible ending at bottom of post)

What would you say to Kishimoto if given the chance? I’m so sorry for the hardship and stress you endured all these years, all that time away from your family. I still have to thank you for all the joy your story brought to me. It allowed me to get closer to my friends, make new friends, even start to tap into my own writing ability. You did all that for me without even knowing it. I’ll always be grateful to you! 

In your opinion…

Most attractive male? Sometimes I think it’s Madara, and sometimes I’ll see some screenshot of a poorly animated episode and think he looks awful and I’m embarrassed that ever liked him. Sasori has this unjustly beautiful face that I love but definitely a few shots in is episodes where he looks kinda...off. Kakashi’s pretty unarguably attractive, though, so he’s a safe bet for most attractive. 

Most attractive female? Lol depends on the fanartist, I’ve seen gorgeous art for almost all female characters. In the manga or anime, I don’t really find any of them attractive. 

Most overestimated? Plenty, especially given the war arc. Sasuke or Itachi? At least years ago when I actually followed forums and manga review blogs (not on tumblr) there seemed to be a consensus that Sasuke could do anything, by kicking up enough notches on his Susano’o, and later some said that for Itachi, and then Madara showed up and could rarely be actually overestimated, and then Kaguya was a literal god and, ugh...

Not appreciated enough? Tobirama! 

What is the greatest thing about Naruto? It’s brought me a lot of personal happiness.

The worst? How the quality of its writing drifted from “meh” to “ugh” over the years. 

The saddest moment? There’s a few pages in the manga that show Naruto slowly gaining more friends as he gets older while Gaara stays alone in a space of empty desert that gets wider and wider as he goes to his knees. A strong and painful reminder that while one person may be smiling and enjoying life, simultaneously another is being strangled by the crushing misery of their own life. I’m so glad for Gaara finally fixing himself and finding real happiness. He’s the character who went through the best development and most change in the story, bar none. 

The most defining? The Chuunin Exam Arc is what most people remember, in my experience. But to me the first opening song of Shippuden “defines” it in my mind. 

Rant about anything…

GO! I never once imagined that this could happen in canon/reality, but I think the greatest way to end the story would be for Naruto himself to have to kill Sasuke. This would hammer in a message to the story that I think it could really use: despite Naruto’s hopes and good intentions, despite all his hard work, he cannot save everyone. And it would give a real sense of consequence. I never once felt that the main cast was in danger from all the fireballs, summoning animals, 10-ton rocks that hit them in the fucking face and never left more than a light scratch or dust mark on their steroid Hercules bodies. Even in a war the likes of which Ninjaland has never seen, bringing more and more godlike charcters together whose powers could end thousands of people in seconds, Neji seems to be the only notable casualty (lol bye Neji) and for all the good guys to make it out of such a conflict alive and well is absolute horseshit and not worthwhile storytelling of a war. Somebody important has to lose a battle, or lose someone they love, or lose a limb, something! Let me believe that any of these fights matter! Let me really feel that this conflict, this battlefield is dangerous and people are scared for their lives and hurt but fighting anyway, let me see something besides this gross, hollow shonen movie poster of good guys overcoming bad just by virtue of being good guys with dumbshit magic powers that the author-god gave them for free. Let me take these characters and put them in the hands of some fanfic writers who could write better fights than these in their sleep. Let me read fanfic instead. 

[sun-summoning]

part i | part ii | part iii

-

sakura and sarada make their way to the dock, but five minutes into their walk, sarada gets fussy and demands sakura carry her. after alternating between nuzzling sakura’s neck and thrashing around, sakura hears the girl’s stomach grumble and can’t help but snort.

“don’t laugh at me!” sarada yells. “it’s not nice!”

“sorry, sorry!” sakura quickly soothes. she kisses sarada’s forehead without really thinking about. “you’re just super cute. and hilarious,”

“you’re still laughing, mama!”

sakura clenches her jaw as she works on smothering the rest of her amusement. when she’s quiet, sarada peers up at her shyly. “when i’m hungry,” sakura tells her, “naruto isn’t allowed to talk to me. usually he says something dumb and i snap at him in my hanger.”

“what’s hanger?”

“when you’re hungry and angry.”

“oh.”

“yup.” sakura winks at her and sarada grins back. “why don’t we get some dinner?” she suggests.

she should probably let naruto and sasuke know where she went so they don’t worry, but then she snorts again, not giving a single care for naruto and sasuke who abandoned her with what they though was a ghost demon child. screw them. they could worry.

not really wanting anyone to see them and ask questions about who this girl is, sakura buys them a tray of takoyaki. they stop for some drinks and dessert and then they eat by the lake in the uchiha district. they sit together on the dock, their feet dangling off the edge, and watch the sunset between bites.

sakura has to wipe sauce off of sarada’s cheeks on more than one occasion and has long given up on telling her not to wipe her hands on her pants. all the while, sarada regales her with stories of her parents. 

or, from how sarada words things, about sakura and sakura’s apparent husband.

“-one time papa and i made were going to make you breakfast because papa said you had a bad week.”

“aren’t you a little young to be cooking?”

“yeah, but if i don’t help then the food will be yucky and you would be sad. papa likes tomatoes and he always puts them in stuff but tomatoes are gross.”

sarada continues talking and sakura nearly chokes because you know who else likes tomatoes? 

sasuke. 

and who did sarada say her father was? 

also sasuke. 

“--and remember the resort papa took us to for our birthdays? can we go back there again mama now that he’s back from his mission? or--” sarada pauses and bites her lip. “when he gets better, i mean.”

sakura swallows thickly. “um. sure.” sarada seems to brighten up a fraction so sakura smiles at her. “yes, we definitely can.” and although she knows she shouldn’t, she adds, “i promise.”

“okay!”

sarada continues chatting, beginning most things with “mama, remember when--” and telling her silly stories about her own antics or those of her parents. she talks about sakura like she’s this incredible supermom and about her papa like he’s adores them both so much. she mentions little things about her papa that make sakura pause and consider that maybe sarada’s claim might be true. maybe sasuke could be her father. 

but then sakura looks at her reflection in the water and remembers she’s seventeen, just got back from a war, and definitely not the woman this little girl is talking about. she’s too young to have had a child, she knows she most certainly did not have a child, and, most importantly, sasuke doesn’t love her the way this girl’s father loves her mother.

-

when they return to sasuke’s house, there’s no trace of sakura or the girl. naruto freaks out, rushing through the house and opening every door while screaming sakura’s name and swearing revenge on the ghost demon child if she did anything to hurt sakura. 

“can you not?” sasuke asks.

naruto glares at him. “how can you say that? sakura-chan is missing!”

“or she’s just gone.”

“that’s even worse!”

sasuke counts to ten to keep his temper in check. “naruto, sakura’s shoes are gone and so is her bag. she probably just...went out.”

“hm.” kakashi crosses his arms. “sakura took the potential threat outside without any sort of back up. that’s...surprisingly irresponsible of her.”

sasuke rolls his eyes. “or just nice? the girl is a kid, not a monster. unless--” he eyes the scroll in kakashi’s hand. he still hasn’t explained what it is or why he needed to come back with them when he had more important things to do like assign missions or review the annual budget or read porn at his desk. “--there’s something you’d like to share?”

“yeah!” naruto adds oh so helpfully. “what the hell, sensei! you still haven’t said anything helpful.”

kakashi is saved from having to shamelessly bullshit his way out of an explanation when the front door opens again and they hear sakura talking and the little girl giggling. the two enter the kitchen and naruto grabs sakura. he sweeps her into a tight hug, spinning her around the room.

“ugh,” sasuke scoffs. “can you not?”

“fuck you!” naruto yells when he lets go of sakura.

“oooooh, you said a bad word.”

the little voice draws everyone’s attention to the girl. suddenly shy in the company of more people, she moves closer to sakura until she’s standing behind her legs. sakura bends down and murmurs some soothing words before picking the girl up. 

sakura’s quick affection makes sasuke a bit anxious. did they make a bad decision leaving her alone with the little girl? shit. of course they did! what were they thinking? they knew nothing about her and they just left sakura alone?! sasuke meets naruto’s eyes and knows he’s thinking the same thing. they left sakura with the ghost demon child and now she had sakura under her control and--

“i’m just going to give sarada a quick bath,” sakura tells them.

her mundane words snap sasuke out of his panic. “what?”

“sarada,” she repeats, gesturing to the girl with a turn of her head. “she’s a bit of a messy eater--”

“hey! mama’s being a meanie!”

“--so i’m just going to give her a quick bath.”

she goes upstairs to the bathroom where they first found the girl, leaving sasuke and naruto to wonder what was going on. they both turn to kakashi, only to find him almost hyperventilating.

“whoa, sensei!” naruto yells as he approaches the older man. “are you okay? you need to breathe.”

“i can’t.”

sasuke stands. “should i get sakura?”

“fuck!” kakashi makes a noise reminiscent of a dying animal crossed with laughter. “i’m going to die. i can’t. this is amazing.”

“what the hell are you talking about?” naruto asks.

kakashi shakes his head but again, sasuke’s gaze is drawn to the scroll he’s holding onto.

“you know who she is,” sasuke realizes. 

kakashi’s eyes crinkle as he grins. “that i do.”

-

sakura stays with sarada for a few minutes before understanding she’s smart enough to not let herself drown in the bath. she tells sarada she’s just going to get some clothes because, well, sakura didn’t think that far ahead, and when she’s standing in the doorway, she decides that sarada might be smart enough but accidents still happen, so she leaves behind a clone. 

she goes back down to the kitchen and glares at naruto and sasuke.

“hello, fuckboys.”

naruto pouts. “what’s that for?”

“um, for abandoning me earlier?”

“well you’re a jerk too! you left without even leaving a note. we were worried the ghost demon child got you!”

“she isn’t a ghost demon child, moron. and obviously you weren’t that worried,” sakura says, nodding to the cup of instant noodles naruto prepared in her absence, “considering you had time to cook.” 

“it’s called stress eating. can i live?”

“children!” kakashi calls, getting their attention. “can we focus? we have a strange child and a strange scroll to attend to?”

“right.”

“why don’t you summarize what you’ve learned so far, sakura.”

so she does: 

the girl upstairs is sarada. she’s four-years-old and think she’s from konoha and that sakura is her mother. she also thinks sasuke is her father but sakura keeps that fact to herself. sarada hasn’t done anything that might indicate she’s something evil or might have some bad intentions. she’s just kind of there. calling sakura her mother.

“are you?” kakashi asks.

naruto laughs and sasuke mutters, “really?”

“of course i’m not her mother!” sakura gestures to herself. she chooses naruto and turns to him. “naruto, look at these boobs and tell me i’ve had a baby.”

“i--” naruto looks into her eyes pointedly. “i don’t think i’m allowed to look at your boobs.”

sakura raises an eyebrow at him. “they’re my boobs and i told you to. why would you not be allowed?”

“well, it’s not okay to sexualize you like that. you’re my friend!”

“sexualize? ugh!” sakura crosses her arms, irritated. “i told you to look at them in the context of gauging whether or not they were dragged down by motherhood, not to--” she shakes her head. “you’re gross.”

“at least i own it!”

“that doesn’t make it better!”

sasuke, who had not been looking at sakura’s boobs, decides to end their pointless argument. “we get it. you didn’t have a baby, sakura.”

“thank you.”

“but,” kakashi says, “that doesn’t change the fact that she could still be your kid.”

“okay, you lost me.”

that’s when kakashi grins. or, at least, he probably does, judging by the way his eyes crinkling. damn that mask of his.  “have you kids ever considered time travel?” 

“i...what?”

“time travel,” kakashi repeats.

sakura nods. “no, yeah, i heard you.”

“then why’d you say ‘what’?”

“because apparently tsunade-sama, the greatest hokage this village has ever seen, was succeeded by a delusional idiot.”

“wow.”

sakura shakes her head as she laughs a little. “time travel? kakashi-sensei, that’s ridiculous!”

“well...” naruto, who seems to be considering the idea, frowns at her. “as someone who had a fox living in his stomach for his whole life, are you for real, girl who literally hopped between dimensions to save sasuke?”

shocked that he isn’t as baffled as she is, sakura looks to sasuke for a voice of reason. instead she finds him genuinely thinking over kakashi’s claim.

“sasuke-kun--”

“why are you letting her call you ‘mama’?” sasuke asks.

“what?” 

they all nod, actually curious, and sakura flushes. it’s not like she was encouraging it. she tried to make her stop but the truth is she just didn’t have the heart to. the little girl seemed to think she was someone else -- someone that she positively adored -- and it would have been cruel to stop her. sakura shrugs. 

“b--because i--” sakura huffs and glares at them. “i feel bad!”

“you feel bad.”

“yes!” sakura shrugs. “i just...i don’t have the heart to stop her. she’s just believes it so strongly and i’d feel bad saying no.” she chews her lip. “and she’s adorable.”

as if on cue, sarada begins calling for mama from upstairs.

sakura moves but stops herself to prove a point. sarada calls her again and sasuke raises an eyebrow at sakura, challenging her. 

“you gonna do something about that?” he asks.

“no!” sakura hisses instinctively. but then sakura calls her one more time and she falters. “okay, gotta go, bye!”

-

sakura comes back down soon after to ask sasuke for some old, small clothes that might fit sarada. then she smiles sheepishly and gestures to the drenched front of her own shirt and asks if maybe she can borrow something too. 

rolling his eyes, sasuke leaves naruto and kakashi and goes upstairs with sakura. he hands her some things from his adolescence that would probably be too big on sarada but fit decently enough on sakura.

he lingers in his room after she’s left and considers the entire situation.

who the hell is sarada? where did she come from? and why was she in his house? 

naruto’s “ghost demon child” theory is ridiculous but kakashi’s time travel one actually has some merit to it. sasuke considers the little girl that follows sakura around like her shadow and tries to place her. did she come from the past? is she a relative of his? but that can’t be. there’s no way she could mix sakura up for her real mother. there was no one in his clan that looked like sakura. assuming, of course, she even came from his clan. 

sasuke frowns because she had to be an uchiha. she had the features and she was in his home, walking around like it was hers.

so then did she come from the future?

the question causes sasuke to still. he swallows thickly and because he’s alone, he actually considers it. did the girl come from the future? if she did and sakura was her mother did that make him--

sasuke blushes at the thought. he looks around wildly as if he’s been caught doing something inappropriate. but if sakura was her mother and he was her father, why wasn’t she going around calling him “papa” as much as she was calling sakura “mama”?

it startles him how easily he accepts this possibility, but the truth is there’s no reason it should. a child with sakura? it’s not like there has been anyone else he cared about. and he highly doubts he’ll ever care about someone the way he cares about sakura. he hasn’t done anything to show his feelings, but surely at some point he had to have been able to do something. right?

“screw this.”

deciding that it would be best to just repress his feelings and his thoughts, sasuke exits his bedroom to return downstairs. he passes the bathroom where sakura and sarada are, and he peers in through the open door. 

there he finds sakura kneeling in front of sarada, drying the girl’s hair with a towel while sarada tells her a story including sweeping hand gestures and a lot of smiles on sakura’s end. they both look ridiculous in his clothes. sarada is swimming in his shirt and sakura’s just fits awkwardly. 

but what catches his eye is the uchiha crest on their backs. 

suddenly sakura is standing, looking his way and coming closer. she smiles that sheepish grin she uses when she has to ask him a small favour. “hey, sasuke-kun. sarada made a mess on the floor. could i get another towel--”

“shut up.” 

sakura’s eyes widen and sasuke feels a bit guilty. 

“just. i...” sasuke doesn’t say anything though, suddenly flustered and unsure. his heart is pounding so loudly he wonders if sakura can hear it and wonders what she might think of it. 

“you?” she prompts. 

she looks confused and sasuke tries not to look hurt. it would be ridiculous to look hurt much less feel hurt that what -- that sakura can’t read his mind and tell how much he wants to just be with her?

he doesn’t really get it. it’s not just about being with her -- not in the way that naruto is with a new girl every other week. no. sasuke just wants to be around her. sasuke wants to see all the incredible things she’s learnt how to do and is constantly learning how to do. he wants to hear about her ideas, her missions, her damn day. he wants to laugh at her culinary failures and marvel at her chemical successes. he wants to watch her be better and maybe learn a thing or two. he just wants to be by her side.

“nothing.”

he can see that he’s disappointed her almost as much as he’s disappointed himself. he shakes his head as he goes back to his room and gets her another towel. she’s still standing where he left her, a pensive look on her face, as he hands it to her.

“thanks,” she mumbles.

“it’s fine.”

sakura nods. “i think i’ll take sarada back to my apartment tonight.”

“sure.”

“that is, if that’s okay--”

“i don’t care.”

“o--okay.”

sakura pauses, as if she’s waiting for him to say something else, but then she goes back to sarada and finishes drying her off. 

when they’re done, they go back down to naruto and kakashi. sakura tells them about her plan to keep sarada with her for the night and kakashi looks disappointed but doesn’t stop her. naruto tells her to call him if sarada does anything suspicious like watch her when she’s sleeping, but sakura tells him to go away. 

“goodnight, sasuke-kun,” sakura finally says to him when he walks her to the door. she shifts sarada in her arms so she might better balance her bag. the girl yawns widely and closes her eyes.

sasuke opens the door for them. “bye.”

as they walk away, sarada waves at him lazily and he swears he hears her mumble, “goodnight, papa.”