#Anyway I think Karin would hate Sai so bad. I want to put them in a jar together and shake it

[lacyramen]

Hmm Karin being treated like an object at a young age -> Hypersexuality VS Sai being treated like an object at a young age -> Asexuality

[bleachluna]

Letters

Ended up skipping day 2 of @hitsukarinweek as I had no ideas for it but here’s my fic for day 3! Also on AO3

Dear Toshiro,

Can you please explain to me how the hell Soul Society managed to copy mobile phones from humans, and even put hollow tracking technology in them, but didn't make them able to send stuff across realms? I know you explained that SS phones in soul society can only contact those in soul society, and when they're here in the human world they can only contact those here, but I only realised how ridiculously stupid that is until after you left. What if there's an emergency and you need to contact someone across realms for whatever reason? Surely you need to get this fixed, I cannot believe if I want to talk to you I'm stuck writing letters like it's the 1800s. I'm even writing more formally than I expected, apparently letter writing brings it out of me and I absolutely hate it. You've gotta fix it. Not to mention I'm not a fan of leaving letters for Urahara to pass on for me, I'm not totally convinced he won't read them.

Anyway, it's been a couple of months since I saw you last. That's probably a good thing, that a captain hasn't been needed here, but I'll admit I wonder about you sometimes, I hope everything is ok on your end! I don't know what it was about turning sixteen but all of a sudden all of this stuff about trying to figure out careers is on me constantly. Yuzu figured out years ago that she wanted to go into healthcare, she took to it way back when we were kids. She was originally planning to go into nursing but her grades have improved a lot recently, she might be a doctor instead, but she's also thinking about midwifery. So there's stuff she's gotta figure out for sure, but at least she knows what area she wants to go into? I don't even have that. I mean how do you figure out what to do with the rest of your life when you're sixteen? I haven't even figured myself out yet. How did you decide to become a shinigami?

Other than that though things are ok. School is a little stressful because grades suddenly feel so much more important, but the work's manageable at least. Hollow level seems to be stable at the minute too which is great, one less thing to worry about! And Urahara improved his reiatsu blocking bracelet thing, I've had this one for almost four months and it hasn't broken so even less chance of getting eaten! Always a plus. But anyway, I hope things are good on your end as well, and that you aren't buried up to your ears in paperwork. Let me know if you ever have any plans to pop up in the human world!

Best Wishes,

Karin

P.S. - I sent this on the 22nd of June, let me know when this gets to you/when you send yours, I wanna know what sort of delivery time we're looking at here.

- - - - -

Dear Karin,

I don't even remotely have the skills or know-how to fix something like that, that's what the Research & Development Team is for. I agree it's a little daft that our mobile phones can't send things across realms, but I'm sure said team knows this and is likely working on it, as you said, it would be unfortunate in an emergency situation. Plus I know Urahara can be a little eccentric, but do you really think he'd read the letters? I'm sure it's fine.

It is a good thing I've not been needed, the last thing Karakura needs is more trouble and destruction. Have they managed to rebuild that major bridge you were talking about yet? Everything is alright here, or at least in my division anyway. I've been kept busy recently, a set of students graduated from the academy last month so I've had 18 new recruits to introduce to squad 10. As for the careers stuff, I honestly assumed from the work you did here and there for the clinic that you were interested in healthcare as well, I take it that's not actually the case then? Do you at least have rough ideas of the sort of thing you'd want to go into? I'm not sure I'll be much help in that respect, I can't wrap my head around half of the jobs that seem to exist in the human world. In some ways I had it easier, the choice was out of my hands. My reiatsu was getting stronger and Hyorinmaru came to me before I even knew what was happening, I needed to go to the academy to make sure my reiatsu didn't become dangerous, therefore I became a shinigami. I never had to wonder what to do with myself in terms of employment.

I'm glad to hear things are going well with you, I'm certainly glad to hear you don't have to worry as much about the bracelet breaking. Is your reiatsu still increasing? If it's stabilising that might be part of why this new bracelet is managing better. I know you're not particularly interested in getting involved with shinigami stuff, which frankly I agree with, but if your reiatsu is still increasing I do think it's worth training you to hide it properly. I am unfortunately always at least a little buried in paperwork, particularly recently with the new recruits, but it's manageable. I don't think I'll be in the human world soon, but I will let you know if I plan to.

Best Wishes,

Toshiro

P.S. - I got your letter on the 2nd of July, I should be handing this letter over to be sent on the 4th, schedule permitting.

- - - - -

Dear Toshiro,

Well I hope you make sure that the research team are working on it, because this really is ridiculous. And you're kidding right? I trust Urahara about as far as I can throw him, which is probably all of three feet.

The bridge is still being rebuilt, but I think they're in the last stages now thank god. All the diversions needed really messed with the traffic, maybe I can finally stop leaving the house half an hour earlier just to get to my soccer club. It's supposed to be twenty minutes max by bus and it's been taking easily twice that. Let me know if you find out which shinigami it was that released their zanpakuto on that bridge, I have some choice words for them.

An entire class of students graduated and you only got 18 newbies at the tenth? Was it a small class or is that the normal kind of numbers you see? I assumed there's like, thousands and thousands of shinigami, is there less than I thought? Is that why I only ever see you and Rukia besides the dude who's currently stationed here? And I don't know about going into healthcare, that's my whole problem! I don't know what I want. Healthcare is fine but I don't feel like it's my life purpose to go into it either so yeah, I don't know. Healthcare would be alright, sports would be cool maybe? But I don't think there's a whole lot of sports careers outside of professional (which is definitely not happening) or teaching, and I'm not convinced I'm the teacher type. I just don't seem to have this strong urge to go in a particular direction like Yuzu does. But wow, I didn't know that, you basically HAD to train to be a shinigami? I didn't know that was a thing that could happen, that your reiatsu can go that far on its own. That kind of sucks though doesn't it? That you had no choice? I hope you enjoy being a shinigami at least.

To be honest I think my reiatsu probably is still going up. I don't think it's as quick as it was before, it's settled a little bit, probably because there hasn't been much danger around recently, but I do think it's still inching up. Is that a huge issue? Obviously it became a huge issue with you so now I'm kinda nervous. I'm not gonna get kidnapped into the shinigami am I? I can train to hide my reiatsu without actually becoming a shinigami right? Frankly I trust you more on this than Urahara. And you better let me know in advance if you can, Yuzu says she wants to make you those dumplings you liked again.

Best Wishes,

Karin

P.S. - I got excited at first thinking that sending these took less than two weeks, that didn't seem that bad considering we're sending them via Urahara whenever someone comes through realms, but then your letter took almost a month to come, it arrived on the 27th :( I'm handing this letter over on the 28th.

- - - - -

Dear Karin,

The Research & Development Team is not under my command, they belong to the twelfth, I cannot make sure that they're working on it, but I shall ask at the next opportunity I get. I think you're selling yourself short, I'm sure you could get at least five feet, but I do see your point, I can't say I fully trust him either, not on an individual basis anyway. I trust him to want the best for everybody, and to work towards that, but I don't think he pays attention to what that means for the individuals in the situation. More of a 'the end justifies the means' sort of person from what I've heard. And I'm afraid I have no idea who it was who damaged the bridge, but given they were fighting a powerful hollow at the time I imagine it was the correct course of action. Better on the bridge than in the middle of town.

I get the impression there is less shinigami than you think. Most squads have just over two hundred or so members, so 18 new recruits is actually a pretty good year. As for why you only really see me or Vice-Captain Kuchiki, it's a combination of needing a strong enough shinigami to deal with the sort of problems that crop up in Karakura, while also needing said shinigami to have a vague clue on how to navigate the human world. Vice-Captain Kuchiki presumably has rather extensive knowledge having lived in the human world for months, and I've been known to visit for years so they know I'm alright with being there as well. I think it's alright to not have an idea of a 'life's purpose' when you're in your second year of high school. Maybe just pick something for now as a sort of in-between while you continue working out what it is you want? Sometimes a job is just a job after all. You could always try a career in sports and see how it goes if it interests you now, and switch later on? I'm sure you'll figure something out. I'll admit I was definitely reluctant to train as a shinigami at first, it was never something I wanted originally, so it was hard to deal with to begin with I suppose, but I don't mind it these days. It's stressful, but at least I'm doing something where I'm trying to keep people safe, that suits me well enough.

Unfortunately yes, in my case my reiatsu continuously going up was an issue, but I don't think it's as serious with you. Firstly, you've not got a zanpakuto knocking on your subconscious as far as I know (the telltale giveaway is weird dreams where someone/something is trying to talk to you and tell you it's name, in case you were worried about that), and the people around you aren't vulnerable. You're unlikely to cause issues with your reiatsu because everyone around you has some degree of spiritual power already. As for the other questions, I certainly hope you won't be kidnapped into the shinigami, and I don't think your brother or even Urahara would let that happen, but it's possible you'll get Soul Society's attention if it keeps going unchecked. Of course with Urahara keeping on eye on it and keeping the reiatsu blocking bracelet on you, I'd argue that it's largely taken care of and shouldn't get other shinigami on you. There isn't much shinigami training you can do without becoming a shinigami, but you can learn to withdraw and hide your reiatsu even as a human so don't worry about that. I would say to ask your brother but he's never been very good at controlling his, Urahara is your other option, or possibly Vice-Captain Kuchiki if she's around. Or if those don't work out and your reiatsu gets to a point where you're truly worried about it let me know, I'll train you in it myself if it comes to it. Also, I appreciate the thought but your sister doesn't need to go to trouble like that for me.

Best Wishes,

Toshiro

P.S. - I got your letter on the 17th of August. I think it's safe to say they take anywhere from over a week to just under a month to arrive each time.

- - - - -

Dear Toshiro,

Let me know what the research team says! If they say they're not working on it please heavily suggest that they do, and if they say they are working on it, please ask how long they think it'll take them. Just think how much easier communicating would be if we could just call each other. The end justifies the means is EXACTLY Urahara's vibe, which is exactly why I don't really trust him. So yeah, it wouldn't even remotely surprise me if he's been reading these the entire time, better to assume the worst and be pleasantly surprised than the other way around. I suppose you have a point about the bridge being a better location than in the middle of a bunch of people, I'll put up with inconvenient travel times over unnecessary death.

Only a little over two hundred per squad? There is less than I thought! That's way less than your average university over here, that's crazy! 18 newbies is good in that case, your squad must be pretty popular. And no wonder I only really ever see you or Rukia, you guys clearly need to work on getting more people up to the speed with the human world or you're gonna end up over-worked! I guess I could just go for sports now and switch later? I don't know, you kinda get it into your head that you've gotta figure out what you want and stick to it, but I guess there's nothing actually stopping me from changing paths later. Once school goes back in I'm gonna get a meeting and talk to the careers lady, see what she says. I'm glad you're alright with being a shinigami now, hopefully it isn't stressful too much of the time.

Well, I'll take your word for it, you know more than me on this but I'm still kinda wary. You're right that there's no zanpakto trying to get my attention so far at least so that's something. If I do get kidnapped by the shinigami I'm trusting you to break me back out, but yeah that is kind of the whole point of the bracelet, that it blocks off my reiatsu from others so hollows can't find me so easily (and shinigami apparently, yeesh) so hopefully this won't actually be an issue. I don't really want to ask Urahara to train me but I will if I have to I guess. Asking Rukia's a good idea though! I'll ask whenever she next pops up, she seems like she'd be good at that sort of thing, maybe that'll solve this whole situation. Or you know, you, if you happen to come sooner, whoever comes to the human world next I guess! I'd feel better knowing that I myself could do the thing the bracelet's doing. Although I do have a question, how do you do it in your sleep? Or is it not possible and you're just vulnerable a third of the time? That seems unfortunate. Also you're kidding right? Cooking is the primary way my sister shows her care and affection, if she wants to cook for you there's no stopping her so you can at least give us notice so we can get ingredients and stuff.

Best Wishes,

Karin

- - - - -

Dear Karin,

I will let you know what the research team says as soon as it actually comes up. I can see your point, I suppose it is better to plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised otherwise. Good to see you have your priorities in order, is the bridge finally finished though?

I remember being surprised by the size of your high school, I assume universities are even bigger? Must be an administrative nightmare to keep track of all those students, I feel like I can have a hard enough time with the 226 members I have. Squad 10 was surprisingly popular this year, the only other squads who had numbers like that were the sixth and the eleventh, both of which always have high numbers. We did have 'human world' classes at the academy at one point, but they ended up being scrapped a decade or so ago, any information learned was rendered almost completely obsolete within a few years, meaning the stuff the students learned was more or less useless by the time they were actually getting stationed in the human world. These days we just give a brief information pack about the human world before they leave, currently being updated semi-regularly by Vice-Captain Kuchiki. Meeting with a staff member whose job it is to deal with career pathways certainly sounds like a good idea, I hope it goes well if it hasn't already taken place.

Once again, I certainly hope Soul Society would try such a thing, it would be incredibly stupid considering I don't think your brother, who damn near took on the whole of Soul Society and pretty much came out on top, would ever let you get kidnapped in the first place. And I'm fairly sure me, a captain, breaking out someone Soul Society captured is probably considered treason of some kind, but I can promise I'll be in your corner one way or another. Not to mention, I don't think most shinigami would be prepared for you anyway, most are too used to sword combat, I don't think the average shinigami would handle your hand to hand very well. I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about. As for hiding your reiatsu in your sleep, generally speaking you just practice it enough that it becomes second nature, most shinigami do it subconsciously after a while, including in sleep, although nightmares and the like can interfere a little bit. Your sister has met me what, three times? She feels strongly enough to cook for me? It really is unnecessary although I'm sure the thought is kind. I did say I'd give you notice if I came to the human world though, our sensors are showing an increase in hollow activity in Karakura recently. We're currently just monitoring, we're holding off for now as it might be temporary, but if it gets worse I'm coming to monitor the situation properly and to make sure no incidents happen with the hollow increase. Judging from the current rate, if it keeps going as is I'll probably be there in two weeks or so. With any luck this letter will arrive before I do but if not, I'll make sure to meet up with you somewhere.

Best Wishes,

Toshiro

- - - - -

Dear Toshiro,

Your letter got here super quick, less than a week after I sent mine! Looks like there's increased shinigami activity to match the hollow activity, which boy, you're not kidding that its increased. My reiatsu's jumped up again and I couldn't tell you if it was a response to all the hollows around, or that the hollows arrived because of me. I really hope it's the former. Hopefully you'll be here soon! I think I could do with the training sooner rather than later and if I'm being honest I'd feel safer. But anyway, in response to your letter:

The bridge is actually finished! Just in time for the increased hollows to fuck it up again I'm sure! Most universities are like 10,000 to 30,000 easy, and I think some are bigger than that? So yeah, only two hundred or so shinigami per squad is insane to me. I'm pretty sure the universities have whole administrative teams just for the purpose, does your squad have an admin person at all or is it just you? When I first found out about the shinigami I didn't think I'd sit here wondering about the bureaucracy of it all but here I am. Oh wow I would've loved to sit in one of those human world classes, would've been hilarious I bet. At least you give newly stationed people something, I imagine the culture shock must be a bit much, I'm sure Rukia's information is very accurate given how much time she's spent here. And the careers meeting is actually in two days, I kinda nervous about it to be honest, but hopefully it'll be helpful.

Well I suppose when you put it that way Soul Society kidnapping me would very much be poking the bear huh? I'm extremely saddened to hear that you wouldn't commit treason for me though, what kind of friendship is this??? But I suppose I'll take comfort in you being 'in my corner one way or another', whatever that means. Does it mean in the event of soul society kidnapping me and forcing me to be a shinigami you'd immediately put me in your squad? That's the vibe I'm getting. But that's good to know about the hand to hand combat and the reiatsu withdrawing while still asleep, I'll bear those both in mind. As for your potential visit, given hollows seem to be popping up left right and centre I'm assuming you're probably coming in a week or so, I'll look out for your arrival! I get the impression this letter isn't going to get to you before you arrive in the human world but just in case it does I'll let you know, Yuzu added the dumpling ingredients onto her shopping list. That means you've gotta be at our house for at least one dinner! Consider it repayment for the training I'm gonna demand from you.

Hope you get here safe,

Karin

[lori-hime]

I haven't written much about what I've been up to lately, so here's some word salad updates~ 🥗

NijiGaku Anime

So I started watching the new LL. I hadn't been keeping up with SIFAS' story, but I did read some of it when it first came out. I gotta say, I'm really enjoying all of the changes they decided to make for the anime version of the story, to both the characters and story. It's starting to feel like something coherent. The story in the game was ok, but the main thing that interested me was the interactions with Muse and Aqours, overshadowing the actual "plot" and even Nijigasaki themselves. But the anime really made me interested and excited about the story and characters again. I would be a little annoyed about the personality and dynamic changes, but honestly, I'm used to it by now. LL always ends up doing this sort of thing, and the personalities only seem to become solidified after the anime airs.

A little disappointed in Kasumi's change in some vague ways I don't really feel like describing, but honestly it balances out because Ayumu is fantastic now (previously one of my least cared for of the group.) Yu's personality is surprisingly super gay fun and I'm really excited for her and Ayumu's dynamic in particular. They're so cute. Seriously feel like I'm gonna ship them hard.

I also really like Rina's initial personality in this. Not only is she bad at expressing emotions through her face, but she also seems bad at expressing them through words too. I feel like this is gonna be much more interesting than her already being cutesy and genki like in the promo stuff and SIFAS.

When Karin was first shown, I had mixed feelings. At first I was like oh god I'm gay and she's beautiful. But the whole sexuality flaunting thing kind of put me off for several reasons I don't really wanna get into explaining. I really didn't know how to feel. I started liking her a little more during SIFAS, when she competed against Muse in DDR and lost... started feeling like I was getting a glimpse of her real personality without the whole sexy idol persona. Although not much has happened in the anime with her yet, she's giving me Nozomi vibes and I love it. I actually think if I had gone into this without previous knowledge of the characters, I'd be betting she'd become my fave for sure.

My list has gone from Kasumi > Rina > Kanata / Emma > Karin > Ai > Setsuna > Ayumu > Shizuku to Yuu > Ayumu > Kasumi / Karin > Rina > Kanata / Emma > Ai > Setsuna > Shizuku

Still biased a bit towards characters that have shown up more in the first two eps, so it'll undoubtedly change. But It's really interesting how much the characters I already felt I had good placements for changed so much.

Edit for episode 3, because I didn't post this fast enough. Student council speedrun was fantastic. Yu continues to be incredibly gay. I wonder how this episode will affect the ships people will gravitate towards. LL has always been a fairly monoship fandom, heavily gravitating towards specific pairs. Of course that's largely the fault of canon itself, often pushing and developing single ships. Well, I suppose we saw a big change with Aqours, though, especially with season two. But even then, the ships tended to stay at least between girls of the same year (aside from my rarepair, shout-out to YohaRiko.) Now, I wonder. From the very beginning, before Yu even had a name, it felt like they were really pushing the shippy stuff @ the viewer. I wonder if that’s still gonna be the angle. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it yet. I really want to see more YuAyu rather than YuSetsu, but I can't really be mad at more gay content unless they try to make it a DEEP story and then fail to resolve it but haha they'd NEVER do that, I'm sure!!

As for the others... I'm guessing they're gonna push RinAi, KarinEmma, YuuKasu, and maybe YuuShizu? My original guesses were that AiKarin would be a thing, evoking NozoEli v3. But I guess that'd be too predictable a third time. KarinEmma sounds like it could be cute and sweet, RinAi feels like it has adorable potential, and YuKasu vs. YuAyu sounds like it could have some good comedic rival-y potential, given they don't make Kasumi super serious about it and make it really angsty. Not that a cute idol show would ever do such a thing haha!!!!!

Higurashi Gou

Also started Higurashi. I doubt many people know this, but I used to be a major Higurashi fan before I got into Touhou. It was my main "fandom" I guess, even though there wasn't really that much of a fandom to interact with comparatively. Anyway, despite that, I didn't think I'd get into this remake super hard... but I'm really loving it so far. The art style is really pretty and eye candy, and it turns out it's a direct continuation of the story rather than a remake. Very excited to see where it's going, and also to see a lot of my baby Rena again.

An interesting difference to me as I'm rewatching are my feelings for Keiichi. While I don't hate him, over the years I've really grown tired of the generic male leads (especially in harem anime) like him. Of course, he's definitely not AS generic as they come, or maybe perhaps that's just my bias from when I used to really like him. The me back then found him unique enough to stand beside the girls. Nowadays, I definitely can't say the same. At least he doesn't grate on my nerves as much as most other harem anime protags do, however. I feel like despite lacking the quirks that make the girls so likeable and unique, he still has something going for him... perhaps the fact he's framed as inherently different from everyone else, because he comes from the city, and the way he acts a bit more realistically to the scary things that are happening. Although those things are obviously explained away later, at least for now I still accept him for what he is, old bias or not.

Genshin Impact

Been playing Genshin Impact religiously and loved every second of it. Though I've caught up with the main story content, so sadly it's slowed down. I'd never heard of this game before it came out, so I was absolutely wowed that such a game was f2p. I've heard a lot of people criticizing it because they added gacha in at the last minute, and I definitely understand being annoyed through the pov of someone who was anticipating it. But part of me is still really thankful that the game is free at all. I suppose that full but paid 60 dollar game would still be a better experience, but because of my non-existent budget situation, I may not have ended up playing it at all.

Aside from the arguably shitty monetization practices, however, the game is fantastic. It really is as similar to BoTW as people have mentioned, and I really appreciate that. BoTW, from a gameplay standpoint, is absolutely my favorite game. It's exactly what I want from any given game. So I really appreciated this. The story and characters of Genshin are also really interesting. I really like Qiqi, Venti, Fischl, and Xingqiu, among others. I spent a while rerolling for Qiqi or Venti 5*s, and eventually got an account with Qiqi. Venti on the other hand I've been trying to roll for but sadly haven't gotten. I have 1 roll left before the banner ends, so hopefully.. My friends whaled him for me. I swear I tried to stop them! I owe them my soul...

HoloLive, Pikamee & Vtubing

I briefly started getting into HoloLive a little while ago. After the Aloe stuff, I started worrying a bit about how the company handles these situations as well as the girls' freedoms and how much of their donation money they actually get.. (I made a post about it a while back.) After a while my worries died down a bit, but then came back full force with the Coco and Haachama situation. After that and one too many uncomfortable sexual jokes, I decided to just distance myself from HL. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed their personalities, but it was making me feel uncomfortable more often than not.

I told myself it’s fine, I’ve got Pikamee if I ever feel like watching vtubers again. And then like a week later... Well, it’s not really something I wanna talk about here, but she made some posts on twitter that made me too uncomfortable to continue watching her either.

On a much lighter note... A friend of mine showed us how to use prprlive and facerig to use the Touhou CB Live2D models, and Asa and I played around with Mokou, Kaguya, and Lyrica’s. It was quite fun, and I do look forward to using the Kaguya one for private streams on one of my servers. I’ve actually always wanted to try out vtubing stuff myself, but not really publicly. Of course, the costs for getting a model drawn and made specifically for me are too much for something I’m not really committing to, so this is perfect. I’m excited~

Touhou Cannonball & Kagura Thoughts

It’s been a long time since I talked about Touhou CB on my blog, and I’m pretty sure I left things on a pretty bad note. Mainly dissatisfied with Mokou’s portrayal for pretty shallow reasons on my part, despite they game having just started and having a lot of room to grow. And grow it did. While I quit pretty early in because of that, Asa decided to take over my account. She realized that it was pretty easy to upgrade any given character you had to a 5* without having to rely much on the gacha. She ended up playing a lot with the goal of upgrading everyone we had. I came back to it around July and actually had a lot of fun with it. The cast had gotten much bigger and we really enjoyed playing on multiplayer. It wasn't the best game ever from a gameplay standpoint, but it definitely had it's charm. The announcement of its death, although unsurprising, came at the worst time. Asa and I actually cried a little when we saw the announcement, ngl. The game had such good, wholesome, Touhouy vibes to it. Nonetheless, we made the most out of the last month or so after the announcement. We played a LOT of multiplayer and had a lot of really cute and good interactions with other players. Near the end, we realized that Lyrica was the only character from the normal banner we were missing, so we grinded like crazy (mostly Asa) to try to get her... we ended up getting a number of 5*s but none Lyrica... she eluded us to the very end. It was quite sad, but how hard we worked for it still felt satisfying somehow. We were able to max out our multiplayer level and complete a ton of goals we wouldn’t have otherwise.

So after this bittersweet experience with Touhou gacha, and all the scummy things I've been hearing about Lost Word, I've been thinking like... I'm done with Touhou gacha, at least for now. Don't wanna hear anything else about it for a good while. And then the 25th anniversary hits and they announce Kagura. Ugh. Please, give me a break. Needless to say, I'm gonna have to give it a try. Touhou is my life, I love rhythm games, I love Touhou music, and I love character collecting games. And I've been waiting for something to replace SIF gameplay in my heart for a long time. I'd banked my hopes on SIFAS but it's really barely a rhythm game so.... at least now that I've gone through CB's death and seen how cruddy LW is, I'll have lower standards and not get my hopes up too high.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my rambles and have a good day~

[leoriowithaknife]

That’s just proof that kishi didn’t deserve to write Naruto! Sasuke would never do anything to hurt team taka! It was an OOC moment...

yes, it was especially misogynistic of him (kishimoto) to write sasuke as very loyal and even compassionate towards suigetsu and jugo, but not karin.

sasuke’s two most ooc moments were 

when he almost killed karin

when he got married to sakura

i get the feeling that kishimoto just kinda hated sasuke and wanted to write naruto as a savior-type. like he wanted to make sasuke as ‘bad’ as possible. except for the fact that..?? sasuke was right? 

the leaf village didn’t deserve unconditional forgiveness. and for most of his life, they weren’t making any moves to help him (or naruto) to make their lives easier. as literal fucking orphans. but they still expected him (and naruto!!) to blindly defend them?? nah. 

if i were gonna script-doctor naruto, i would’ve:

let naruto and sasuke have a moment where sasuke’s like “how can you forgive them, for everything they’ve done?! if not to me, then to you? i would’ve expected you, of all people, to share in my rage.” and naruto says, “i do feel rage. and i haven’t forgiven them. but i think, if they realized the errors of their ways, they might actually make it up to us. with reparations. putting us in positions of power so that we can stop something like this from happening again. no more cops, no more military, no more grooming kids into fighting wars.. we could make that happen.” and THAT’s how naruto convinces sasuke to join him. and also professes his love to him, of course. 

naruto also telling sasuke that he would understand if sasuke never forgave konohagakure. because they haven’t given him a reason to trust the village as a whole. 

made it so that karin is wounded by danzo instead of sasuke. she’s still almost killed, still healed by sakura, but?! this time, sasuke is actually torn about whether he should stay and help her (if he can help her) and risk being captured by kakashi in his weakened state.. or if he should flee and leave karin behind.. grappling with his thoughts, wondering whether he’d be able to save her himself, anyway, because it’s not like any of the others in taka can perform medical ninjutsu.. wondering what’d be best for her. this way, sasuke could’ve shown that he does care just as much about karin as he does for the others on team taka. missed fucking opportunity, if you ask me.

among other things. 

[sailorzakuro]

Com-Myu-nity Survey

Been working on this with Takaa and now I get to answer the questions! I’ll tag @kosmosinusa and @vampiru-chan! Also anyone feel free to do this anyway XD.

1. What is your hobby?

Well mostly YouTube and social media, so technically this is my hobby XD.

2. What is your special skill?

I guess audio editing?? Atm I’m making a Nogizaka46 karaoke but I had to shorten it first so I guess that’s a skill? XD.

3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths: I don’t like complimenting myself omg I guess I don’t let things get to me?? Like ‘nasty comments with Zakuro’ that started on my first hate comment and we all know how I just laughed at that XD.

Weaknesses: I have SERIOUS anger issues. Like, when I say I have impulsive anger people think I’m just playing it up, no honestly I am known to throw things, break things, slam things, do not let me hold anything expensive when I’m frustrated cos it will break. I get it from my Dad but I legit think I’m worse than him XD. Oh also fyi I’ve done this before if I’m being harsh to you about seemingly nothing PLEASE TELL ME cos I don’t know I’m doing it oops.

4. What is your favoUrite coloUr?

Turquoise, teal, anything in the bluey-greeny spectrum really and black. Also red (anger YEET).

5. What is your favoUrite animal?

PENGUINS THEY’RE SO FUCKING ADORABLE I LOVE THEM.

6. Which food are you into lately?

I’m unhealthy as fuck, chocolate cake XD.

7. What is the thing you never lose to from anyone?

Sass war?

8. What is your most treasured item?

I would be typical and say my Myu merch, but it’s my Yoshi cuddly I got from Camelot Theme Park about 10 years ago. I truly am a Baby Spice at heart XD.

9. What is your cooking specialty?

I do boss ass scrambled eggs. And I’m also great at roast potatoes, I can get them crispy but not hard but soft on the inside. I roast them in a small cake tin it works AMAZINGLY.

10. What is the thing you want the most at the moment?

NOGIMYU 2019 VISUALS. And a girlfriend XD. It doesn’t look good for me that I put that second does it?

11. What is the thing you are most scared of?

I’m pretty tough ngl, but if there’s a spider in my vicinity I will kindly ask someone to dispose of it. Thanks Dad ;).

12. What is the thing you were happy about this year?

I guess NogiMyu 2019 announcement?? Finishing college?

13. What is the thing you were sad about this year?

ALL THE NOGIZAKA46 GRADUATIONS SERIOUSLY MISA KARIN AND REIKA WHAT IS GOING ON.

14. What is the thing you regretted this year?

Aforementioned anger issues that keep upsetting people I need to sort that out.

15. What is the thing you were angry about this year?

LET’S NOT GO THERE I’ll just say Tories again? XD. But that’s the same every year XD.

16. What is the job that gave you a sense of fulfilment this year?

Omg I’m technically unemployed atm cos I finished college a couple of months ago XD. So none?

17. What has changed about you since you entered com-myu-nity?

I’m a nicer person XD. In high school when I started YouTube I was HORRIBLE and I didn’t even know I was XD.

18. Which character would you play in Sera Myu?

I’d love to do Neptune but fuck knows I’d be bad at that so maybe Venus?? OO OR MAYBE MISTRESS 9.

19. If you were to form a collab now, who would it be with?

Omg it’d be so cool to do a cover of all the Make Up Kumikyoku songs with my NogiMyu friends XD.

20. What do you love about Sera Myu nowadays?

After 2017 I really like how they’re trying different things rather than sticking to conventional normal cast musicals. Like NogiMyu is so experimental and has a Nogi cast, the Super Live is a dance show, I hope Kaguya-hime no Koibito will be similar to this pattern XD.

21. Which cast member catches your attention the most at the moment?

Well it’s ALWAYS Nao, but y’all know how much I’m loving Hinachima atm.

22. Which cast member would you want as your significant other?

NAOOOOOOOOO or Hinachima XD.

23. If you were to marry a cast member, who would it be?

Obvs Nao AGAIN.

24. If you would go to a deserted island, which cast member would you like to go with you?

I might be able to survive on my own so emotional support would be great XD. So... Hinachima XD.

25. If you would be born again, which cast member would you want to be?

Yuuka Asami or Ayumi Murata.

26. Which Sera Myu production would you want to be a part of?

I would have loved to have been in any Bandai musical cos it looked SO fun T_T.

27. If you would create your own kingdom, what kind of country would you want it to be?

NOT RUN BY TORIES everyone has human rights (common sense?) and Sera Myu, 9Muses and Nogizaka46 will be easily available in all hmv shops.

28. What is an interesting book or manga you read recently?

I was reading The Price of Salt before my exams started (thanks to my English teacher recommending it to me AHA) so I need to get back into reading that.

29. What is an interesting movie you watched recently?

DESCENDANTS 3 IT WAS SO GOOD.

30. What is your favoUrite Sera Myu song at the moment?

It’s always been Everlasting Moonlight, but I also love the Make Up Kumikyoku songs. OH and Watashi-tachi Sailor Guardians.

31. What is your favoUrite Sera Myu song choreography at the moment?

I still love the 2003 Everlasting Moonlight choreo.

32. What is your favoUrite Sera Myu costume at the moment?

I really love Rei’s costume from NogiMyu when they’re at that club.

33. What is your favoUrite Myu at the moment?

NOW AND FOREVER LAST DRACUL JOKYOKU.

34. What is your favoUrite Myu cast?

I’d actually say Kaguya Shima Densetsu Kaiteiban. All my favourite outers in one <3.

35. Is there something you say a lot recently?

"Do you mind” or “can you not”... all to inanimate objects.

36. What would you do if you could plan a Fan Kansha?

OMG I’D LOVE A NOGIMYU FAN KANSHA WHERE THEY SING EACH OTHER’S KUMIKYOKU SONG. Imagine Hinachima doing Mars’ XD.

37. What do you hope to see Sera Myu doing in the future?

Just more accessible stuff XD. Super Live is an atrocity in terms of recordings and releases so... release your stuff please XD.

38. What kind of person do you want to be in 5 years?

I really wanna get into stand up and I know I need to get myself out there so in 5 years hopefully that won’t just be a dream XD. FUCK THAT WAS CHEESY.

39. What has been a memorable concert or event this year?

Of this year Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Musical, but of a year from today Nightwish in December 2018 XD.

40. What do you want to do in your private life this year?

Pass my driving test XD. Still learning theory but I am determined to do it this year XD.

41. What kind of job would you like to do in the future?

STAND UP COMEDIAN legit if I can get on just one panel show my life goal will be complete.

42. Do you have a hairstyle you would like to try in the future?

I keep meaning to dye my hair purple temporarily cos I have the dye but I just seem to never get round to it XD.

43. What Sera Myu merchandise would you love to have?

Hinachima card.

44. Where would you want Sera Myu to come to?

If I could just get a CINEMA SCREENING of a Myu in the UK I’d count it as a win.

45. If you could have a holiday with any cast member, what do you want to do?

For some reason I wanna say Ayumi Murata cos I feel like she’d be so fun to be with XD.

46. Please say something to your favourite cast member.

Omg this is gonna get cheesy but Nao I love you I miss you keep being you do what you need I just want you to be happy XD.

[avenger-hawk]

Hi there. Really like your blog💕 hope you are doing fine. I wanted to ask you a question. What if somehow ( I have no idea on earth how) Sasuke would find out the truth before he fought Itachi- how will things turn out to be?

Hey thank you~ 

If somehow Sasuke found out the truth before he fought Itachi he would confront him, first of all. He’d want to hear the truth from him. Itachi convinced him that he was a villain who had never loved him, who had only pretended to be a gentle brother and so on, and all this, as well as the idea that he wasn’t even worth killing, is so ingrained in him that he would hardly believe someone else’s version at first. Like when Obito told him the truth and he couldn’t believe because Itachi had told him something else, and he even told Obito…cause Sasuke believed Itachi, in good and in bad.

Anyway, if the truth was presented in a convincing way he would yell and fight it in the beginning simply because he’d believe Itachi’s version cause it came from Itachi’s mouth. But he would remember how much Itachi had loved him even though he later was told that it was fake. And he never forgot how happy he was with his big brother, and he would believe the truth. And he would absolutely want to reach Itachi, first of all to ask him. Because Sasuke in canon always asked about the massacre. He’s very careful when taking in information, and very attentive and thoughtful before coming up with his own opinion on facts.

But facts aside, he would not be calm and cold on the outside like he had been before the fight. On the contrary he’d be visibly upset, unable to manage his emotions even though he would try. He would be kind of similar to when they met at the inn, nervous, angry and desperate. His life purpose, his very self, would be shaken and destabilized. He would be torn between the anger and ‘hate’ he felt for his brother and nostalgia, and yearning, and regret for the time they lost. He would express all this by yelling at Itachi, asking him to speak, to say it, to pay attention to him…

Itachi would not expect this. He would expect canon Sasuke ready to fight, not a desperate broken (again) Sasuke wanting to talk, to listen, to know. Knowing too much already. He would deny at first, trying to keep the mask he took the night of the massacre, but Sasuke would not believe him anymore and he’d have to admit everything, and it would be heartbreaking for both…imagine Sasuke hearing the truth from his brother, for real, and imagine Itachi’s mask breaking, no longer able to keep the act. He would not justify himself, he would take all the blame and he’d want Sasuke to hate him anyway, to kill him anyway. But Sasuke would not do such thing, he would only see the brother he had always loved in front of him, he would only know that his brother had done everything to keep him alive. I do think he’d yell at him and ask him questions about certain aspects, but I also think that by the end of the confession he would only see the pain his brother had been put through, for him. 

I think that he’d break down then, not in an ‘emo’ way but he’d be paralyzed by this realization, or silent tears would stream from his eyes. Itachi would hug him then and keep him safe in his arms, to which he would cling.

Then…he would want revenge against Danzo and everyone who made Itachi suffer. And Itachi would have to keep him calm, to convince him not to, because it would be dangerous for him, because he spent all his life to keep him safe after all. There was a fic where Sasuke got to know the truth and convinced Itachi to have revenge on Konoha, I didn’t like it for a lot of reasons but speaking of this scenario I don’t think it’s IC that Itachi would accept such thing. Sasuke would want them to pay for what they did to Itachi but with Itachi alive he would not let him. He would think that Sasuke would risk his life for nothing and would do EVERYTHING in his power, to keep him away from that purpose. 

(Tbh the only ‘avenger Itachi’ scenario I can think of as IC would be knowing that they harmed Sasuke. Like post ending Sasuke in jail, or similar things. And, before some blogs I blocked who should not see this, and/or their friends make posts about how OOC this would be, let me remind you guys that this is my opinion on my blog, unlike those tho think they know the only one truth while everyone else is wrong. Also, let me remind you that Itachi threatened Danzo to spill Konoha’s secrets if they harmed Sasuke. So this is where I take my opinion from)

So I think Itachi would decide to keep Sasuke safe from dangers, meaning Obito and Akatsuki trying to get their hands on him/manipulate him, and from Danzo/Konoha elders and everyone Sasuke would want to attack, not because of them, but because Sasuke would risk his life if he attacked them.

Another problem would be Itachi’s illness though…Sasuke would not be ready to lose his newlyfound brother to it. He would be devastated knowing that he’s ill. And he would be even more devastated knowing that Itachi wanted him to ‘kill’ him when he was slowly dying. Sasuke would have a new goal then. Healing Itachi. He would try to Karin’s chakra, with Juugo’s. And if it didn’t work he’d seek Kabuto and try through Orochimaru’s forbidden arts, or through Obito and Akatsuki. 

He’d stop at nothing and he’d give EVERYTHING, even himself, for Itachi to stay alive.

[fiction-queen-blog]

(Naruto) Hogwarts AU

Genre:Magical, supernatural, comedy, action Main-pairing: Narusasu Read previous chapters on: Fanfiction.net or AO3 Note:  There will be less/slower updates in January

Chapter 19  Uchiha Residence

 Sasuke Uchiha shot up when he woke up from a nightmare. He was panting slightly while sweat had piled up on his forehead. He looked around the dark room, the digital clock said it was five thirty  in the morning. The nightlight next to the bed got turned on and Obito sat up.

“Nightmare?” He asked, putting a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder. He nodded before wrapping his arms around Obito and hugging him tightly. It was like Obito was a shield keeping any harm from happening to Sasuke.

“It’s alright...You’re safe,” Obito reassured Sasuke, he gently stroked his back to calm him down. “You want to talk about it?”

“It was Haku…” Sasuke admitted the brutal images of his death popped in his head again. “And Itachi…” He added, seeing the disturbing images of how his brother standing over him with his wand pointed at him, casting one of the three unforgivable curses, the cruciatus curse.

It had been five months since the attack in Hogsmeade, the battle where Haku lost his life and Sasuke ended in a coma for three months. Once he woke up...It seemed like a completely different world...a much darker one. He had tried his best to not let it bother him, but getting over the traumatic event was harder than he had imagined. After two weeks and a mental breakdown at school, he had made arrangements with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry so he could try finishing his third year out of the comfort of his home. He can still remember it all so clearly. He never knew he could ever mis his friend so much and above all, Naruto.

He hadn’t heard anything from Naruto since he had stormed out on him. A part of him regretted it and wished he could have just reasoned with him. However, he was too proud to even consider sending Naruto an apology. Suigetsu and Karin wrote him weekly, telling him about their time at Hogwarts; most letters were about gossips and who jinxed whom. Sasuke, unfortunately,  hadn’t responded to any of their letters. Every Time he tried...He wasn’t sure what to write to them. How the trauma was still haunting him, or how he woke up every night from a nightmare and was too afraid to even sleep alone?  It was always too depressing and he figured it was better to not send any letters than let them know how weak and miserable he was.

“I can’t sleep…” Sasuke sighed opening his eyes again.

Obito made a confirming sound. He sat up and looked at the digital clock.

“I suppose I had to wake up soon anyway,” he said, pulling the blankets off. He stood up, stretching himself out as he yawned.

That was another thing Sasuke felt bad about; he had been keeping Obito up too, and he had an important job to get too, being a detective and all. Obito never seemed to complain to, having wasted all his vacation and sick days to stay with Sasuke. Even if it did bother him, he did a great job hiding it.

Obito had taken a quick shower and was now walking around the house, wearing his pyjama bottoms and a towel around his shoulders. He headed downstairs but he suddenly froze when he saw the lights of the kitchen on while a bunch of sounds were coming from it.  It took a short moment to let his guard back down, he headed to the kitchen and raised a questionable eyebrow when he saw Kakashi in a light pink apron with picture of a bulldog on the front.

“Good morning, hubby!” Kakashi said cheerfully. A few plates were levitating behind him and he was holding a coffee mug that said   ‘#1 detective’.

“How the heck did you get inside my house?” Obito asked. Of course, he knew the answer to it. Kakashi could use the flew network and ‘teleport’  inside the house any time he felt like it. It was a major invasion of privacy, but Obito got used to it in the three months the wizards visited randomly to check on him. It was hard on  Obito to see Sasuke in critical condition with so much uncertainty for his life…It felt like he was losing Rin all over again. Only difference was that Rin battled cancer while Sasuke got fatally wounded by his biological brother that massacred his entire family. Oh, and they were wizards.

“What?!” Kakashi looked offended. It woke Obito up from his thoughts. Kakashi let go of the mug that then levitated  in the air, he put his hands on his hips. “You know, Obito!  When somebody makes you breakfast a simply ‘thank you’ would suffice. None of this ‘how the fuck did you get inside my house’ stuff!” he scolded.

Obito rolled his eyes and just grabbed the coffee mug that was flooding towards him.

“It’s too early to shoot you,” he joked, running his hand down his wet hair before taking a sip of the coffee. He looked surprised, the coffee wasn’t bad at all. He sat down on the small dining table adjacent from the kitchen.

“So why are you here? Message from that wizarding school?” He asked after putting the mug down.

“I’m just checking up,” Kakashi said, leaning on the counter as all the magic did the work of preparing breakfast for him. “How is he doing?”

Obito looked over his shoulder at the door to make sure Sasuke was still upstairs.

“Not so good,” Obito answered. “I think he might have PTSD, but it is too early to tell.”

“And then they wonder why the ministry obliviated him the first time Itachi Uchiha murdered a bunch of people  in front of him… Can we just imagine how he would be if he remembered the massacre?”

“Can’t they obliviate him now?” Obito suggested. “He seems miserable.”

“I think he should remember.” Kakashi said, sounding very seriously all of the sudden. “Knowing what his brother is capable of is the only way how he can stay aware of him. It might actually help him become a stronger wizard.”

“Isn’t that the job of the wizarding police?  Catching criminal. It is not the job of a thirteen-years old?” Obito shook his head. “You magic folks maybe wanna get your shit together.”

“You muggles have no clue what we are dealing with-”

“We?” Obito quickly caught on to that, “you are back in the wizarding police force?” He asked.

“Wow...You are good at what you do,” Kakashi smirked, straightening his back. “Well, we genuinely believe the muggle world is safe of dark wizards. However, The Ministry has send me to keep an eye out.”

“And you took it? A bodyguarding job?” Obito asked, surprised. “Seems below you.”

“I figured I know the kid and I am a teacher...Might as well help him with school” Kakashi said. “Spend time with his single foster dad.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Yeah right,” Obito smirked slightly. “You know, going through all that trouble and going back in the force…Kinda makes me think...You care about Sasuke, don’t you?” Obito picked up his coffee mug again but kept his eyes glued at Kakashi as he eyes him from the corner of his eyes.

“Well, I be damned Obito.” Kakashi pretended to be offended again, “I am good teacher and I love all my students equally: Sasuke, Karin and….” He looked at his hand, “Sugateyou”

“Totally” Obito laughed. “I think it’s cute.” A small smile spread across Obito’s face when he looked away.  

The conversation couldn’t have died out at a better moment. Right when there was a few seconds of silence, Sasuke walked inside the living room and saw Obito sitting at the dining table. He looked a little confused; it was odd that there were sounds coming from the kitchen while Obito, the only other inhabitant of the house, was not even in the kitchen. Obito indicated to the kitchen. Sasuke slowly walked towards it and he was about to scream by the sight of Kakashi. Not out of fear...Out of frustration. He felt a pancake fly inside his mouth and he quickly shut up.

“Goody, you’re awake!” Kakashi said teasingly.

Sasuke swallowed loudly before pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi.

“What are you doing here?!”

“Both of you have no manners.” Kakashi crossed his arms and looked from Obito to Sasuke.

“Why are you wearing an apron while you magic does all the work?” Obito asked. “It is not like your clothes get dirty.”

“Why don’t you have a shirt on?” Kakashi argued, “one might say you knew I was coming.”

“One might say you are intruding!” Sasuke interrupted them, but he got a glass of orange juice pushed in his hands before he was being blasted off; he landed on one of the chairs. The orange juice still in the glass, unspilled. He looked across the table to Obito.

“Yeah...I stopped caring,” Obito admitted when he saw the boy give him a very annoyed look.

“So, I didn’t know what type of breakfast you guys usually have so I made a bit of everything!” Kakashi said, sitting down on the table as everything flew towards them. There was a plate of bacon, one with eggs, there was a pile of pancakes and some homemade waffles.

“We usually have cereal…” Obito said.

“No…No..” Sasuke shot Obito a look, “This is what we have every breakfast. We always have a feast for dinner too. You know, if you want to make tonight’s dinner too.”

Obito chuckled and shook his head, before a certain realisation popped in his head.

“Say, you know you’re a wizard for three years now and you never bothered using magic to make dinner?” Obito indicated to the kitchen.

“We’re not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts.” Sasuke protested, feeling like an incompetent wizard for not knowing any of the spells Kakashi used to make this meal.

“Tell that to that teacher that fell through the window because you made the glass disappear.” Obito commented.

Sasuke poked his fork in his food and didn’t speak for a moment. He didn’t have to protest on.

“So, what are you doing here?”  he looked at Kakashi, “and who gave you that horrible apron?”

“Well, I bought this at a muggle gift shop. As for your first question, I figures you could use some help with your subjects.”

“But I thought you quit being an teacher? Didn’t you hate kids?” Sasuke asked, leaning back in his chair as he took a sip form the orange juice. He was balancing the chair on it’s bag legs before feeling a force push it back on all fours. No doubt that was Kakashi. He shot him a glare. It wasn’t fair Kakashi was allowed to use magic while he wasn’t.

“Wait...We didn’t have orange juice in the fridge.” Obito remembered, looking down at Sasuke’s glass.

“I know. I made this from fresh oranges.” Kakashi turned to Sasuke and put up his fingers, “Your vitamins are important.”

“But we didn’t have oranges either,” Obito whispered.

“Always asking questions, aren’t you?” Kakashi folded his arms. “I still haven’t gotten that ‘thank you’.”

“In his defence, that is like 80% of his job,” Sasuke mentioned

“That is how we actually catch the bad guys.” Obito said with a smirk on his face.

“Oooohh burn!” Sasuke said giving Obito a high five.

“Yeah you go live in that ignorant muggle world. Where everybody can catch a bad guy when they own one of those metal-ball-shooting thingies.”

“And nobody is stopping you from changing your sticks to metal-ball-shooting thing.” Obito got up from the breakfast table.

“Wouldn’t that be bad if every wizard and witch carried a gun?” Sasuke asked. Obito stood still. Sasuke had made a good point.

“Go be witty in your essays.” He said indicating to the pile of books.

“Ugh...Fine…” Sasuke leaned his head on his hand, looking already bored. He looked at Obito leaving the living room and heard him climb up the stairs. He was getting ready for work.

“It’s like Tobirama purposely picked all the boring subjects.” He sighed deeply, “ I guess it doesn’t matter, I am not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts anyway.”

Kakashi gave the young boy a small, not-so-innocent, grin. The devil was written all over it.

“You don’t know, do you?” He asked with a smug expression, leaning in slightly.

“I don’t know what?” Sasuke asked.

“Do you have any idea how The Ministry knows when a minor uses magic?” Kakashi asked. Sasuke shook his head. He had never wondered, he just thought they knew.

“They have a charm on every wizard or witch that’s a minor. The charm disappears on the day of their 17th birthday.”

“Yeah... I heard the Hyuuga’ are allowed to use magic within the Hyuuga district. Unfair.”

“The Uchiha’ never got that charm casted around them.” Kakashi interrupted him.

Sasuke dropped his fork on the table. He suddenly remembered Naruto’s words about how some wizarding families thought they were above the law and got privileges such as using magic outside of  school. He figured since the Uchiha’ were dead and not a threat to The Ministry, the Uchiha’ no longer fall under that category, but perhaps...He was wrong.

“It’s because of the Sharingan.” Kakashi explained, “it is controlled by strong emotions and gets detected by the charm. That is how The Ministry got a lot of false alarms, too many actually. So, that is why they never put the charm on an Uchiha again.”

“I could have used magic outside of school this entire time?!” Sasuke looked surprised.

“Yes, but I should probably mention how the Uchihas were a very honourable and proud clan. They obeyed the laws despite this.” Kakashi added. He got up and took his apron off before it vanished into thin air.  The dishes flew off to the kitchen and were cleaning themselves under the sink.

“So, what subject you wanna do first?” Kakashi asked as the books flew towards the table. Sasuke sighed at the sight of them.

“I guess History of Magic…” Sasuke sighed, the book opened on the correct page. “I really do not care about the Goblin Wars.”

“Alright,” Obito walked downstairs, he ruffled up Sasuke hair before placing a kiss on his cheek. “I am off to work.” Obito said. Sasuke just quickly nodded.

“Don’t forget your lunch,” A lunchbox flew out of the kitchen to Obito. It was pink and had little pictured of dogs covering it. Obito grabbed it from the air and examined it. He looked up and saw Kakashi suddenly standing in front of him, leaning his head in, waiting for some form of light affection. Obito seemed doubtful at first, but gave in; he placed a quick kiss on Kakashi’s cheek.

“Have a nice day, hubby!” Kakashi said waving at Obito who walked, rather fast, out of the house. Kakashi looked back at Sasuke, who didn’t look impressed.

“Pathetic…” He said he felt a force, bending his neck back down to the book.

“You keep reading about those Goblin Wars.” Kakashi said.

 A few hours had passed as Sasuke finally closed his book and stared at the TV. Kakashi had been very fascinated by most of the muggle stuff. He managed to almost cause the microwave to explode and to break the stereo. He was now on the couch going through the channels of the TV.

“Hey, go back.” Sasuke said, getting up from the table and walking up to the couch. Kakashi looked at the remote and it soon became clear to Sasuke that Kakashi was actually just pressing random buttons. Sasuke walked to the TV and manually went back to the news channel. There was a wanting picture of a rather ugly looking man.  He was an elderly short man with odd proportioned; his shoulders were very broad and his arms overlong. His eyes were almost black as for his hair was grey and long, covering his dirty looking face.

They were saying he had escaped from an asylum and was highly dangerous. The police requested all citizens to not approach the man and call the authorities as soon as possible.

“I know that man,” Kakashi said. “He is in Azakaban.”

“The wizarding prison?” Sasuke asked, “what is he doing on the muggle news if he is a wizard?”

“He somehow managed to escape. Chances are he is planning on sticking around in the muggle world since the chances of getting recognised are slimmer. Much like you have been put in the muggle world so the chances of your brother, snatchers and dark wizards finding you became very small.”

Sasuke looked back at the TV before looking at Kakashi.

“You’re comparing me with ugly over there?” He asked, indicating to the screen.

“It’s like you are family,” Kakashi joked, indicating to the mugshot on the TV.

The phone rang and Kakashi jumped to his feet; his wand was pointed at the general direction of the ringing sound.

“That’s the phone!” Sasuke said, trying to hide the phone behind him so Kakashi wouldn’t throw a spell at it and break that too.

“What’s a phone?” Kakashi asked, not lowering his wand.

“It’s…It’s…None of your business,” Sasuke said annoyed.

“Make it stop.” Kakashi demanded, as if the unknown noise scared him. He covered his ears with his hands and sat back down on the couch.

“No, I am not picking it up.” Sasuke could see Kakashi’s grip tighten around his wand and he eventually gave in. He picked up the horn.

“Uchiha residence…” As soon as he spoke he had dropped the phone on to the floor. His eyes were widened and it seemed he had gotten a mini-heart attack from the screaming female voice on the other side of the line. Even Kakashi could hear it all the way across the room.

“HALLO! THIS IS KARIN UZUMAKI!! I AM CALLING TO TALK TO SASUKE!! SASUKE UCHIHA!!”

Sasuke slowly picked the phone back up. He could hear Minato’s voice on the  end of the line, telling Karin that she didn’t have to scream. Karin asked him how else Sasuke was supposed to hear her. Minato tried to explain the concept of a telephone, but Karin kept interrupting him with questions that were rather ridiculous. Sasuke started to chuckle, causing the other end of the line to quiet down.

“Sasuke??” Karin asked, she wasn’t screaming anymore.

“Yes, it is me…It’s me.” Sasuke said and turned to Kakashi. “It’s Karin. I gave her the phone number. I figured she could get a phone through her uncle. ” He said with a smile on his face. He still found the situation funny.

“Couldn’t she use the fireplace like normal sorcerer?” Kakashi finally hid his wand in his cloak.

“I guess it is a good thing I didn’t tell her about Skype,” Sasuke said, he put the phone against his ear.

“Who’s Skype? You got a dog named Skype!? Where?” Kakashi asked. Sasuke shook his former teacher off by rolling his eyes.

“Do you hear barking?” Sasuke hissed,  “Idiot”.

“Sasuke, can you hear me through this thing?” Karin asked. She sounded worried. “Suigetsu and I haven’t heard from you at all this past month…”

“Yeah…I am sorry about that,” Sasuke said, walking out of the living room and into the backyard. It appeared Kakashi had found the volume up button on the remote but couldn’t figure out where the volume down button was. Sasuke closed the door behind him and kicked the football that was lying on the grass.  It was sunny outside; the sky was bright blue with some many clouds.

“It’s alright, Sasuke. Suigetu and I both get it. We were just very worried.” Her voice sounded by far the kindest it had ever been. It made Sasuke feel guilty.

“So, you figured out how a phone works,” he tried to change the subject. He knew the Easter break had come and Karin and Suigetsu were both back home now.

“Well, I asked uncle Minato about it. Turns out he had it lying in one of the boxes in the attic. Together with a machine he called a CD-player and ten seasons of a show called F.R.I.E.N.D.S, apparently it was something very big in the muggle world.”

“That is true,” Sasuke said even he had seen all ten season several times with Obito.  

Karin’s call couldn’t have come at any better moment. For the first time, Sasuke had something to talk about. How Kakashi intruded the house and wore a pink dog apron. Karin managed to slip some information about Naruto when she started the talk about how her holiday has been. Apparently Jiraiya had been Naruto’s godfather which he was very much unaware of until his father had told him a few days back when Jiraiya came to visit. This information was somehow never mentioned to Naruto before; not even his parents had told him this. The reason for it was that neither Kushina or Minato had ever given it a second thought since the day they declared Jiraiya his Godfather. Now Naruto had been training under the former auror and was taking his role as a Jinchuriki more serious. Sasuke asked what they were exactly doing in these training, but Karin didn’t seem to know any details.

“Speaking of the demon’s vessel,” Karin suddenly interrupted her story mid-way. Sasuke’s heart made a jump hearing Naruto’s voice in the background; “What are you holding?” he had asked with a slight annoyance in his voice.

“It’s a telephone,” Sasuke could hear Karin’s voice fade slightly away, “You wanna say hello to Sasuke?”  she asked. In short she very poorly explained the concept of a phone, but she somehow made it sound like she had invented it.

“I don’t believe you,” Naruto said, “What’ll happened? I hold it and it turns in a poisonous scorpion, dattebayo?”

“Then don’t have the audacity of greeting the person who saved you from capture, idiot.” Karin said. Sasuke could hear a slight arguing between them, but couldn’t make much out of it. Somehow Karin’s words felt lwrong and hit the Uchiha in the wrong way. It made him sound like he protected Naruto from being captured to spare the wizarding world from the claws of the Kyuubi. However, the reason he let the tunnel collapse and fought the Akatsuki was because the thought of them injuring Naruto hurt him more than the cruciatus curse could ever inflict.

It was when Karin placed the phone near her face again when he was able to hear her clearly again.

“Where have you been, anyway? Going out with your Godfather?” Karin asked in a teasing voice.

“What?  Are you jealous I have the coolest Godfather in the world?” Naruto’s loud voice was probably shouting across the room.

“I’m Karin’s Godfather…” Minato said in a soft voice.

“Sorry dad, but you’re are kinda lame.” Naruto apologised in a not so apologetic way. “Compared to Pervy-Sage.”

“What do you even do with him? Drool over the girls neither of you can ever get?” Karin sounded like a stone cold bitch for a second. A unfamiliar emotion takes over Sasuke. Jealousy? Hatred? It was almost a mixture of all negative emotions.

“I should probably hang up,” Sasuke said, and as soon as he had spoke he could hear Naruto yelp.

“That sounded like Sasuke! Karin did you shrink Sasuke and put him into that plastic purple thing!” Naruto shouted.

“No, Naruto, that is not how telephones works.” Minato said. He started explaining the concept of a telephone to Naruto now, unlike Karin,he didn’t interrupted him all, but he didn’t seem to get it either.

“Do you have me on speaker, Karin?” Sasuke asked, still capable of hearing Minato talk in the background.

“What’s that?” Karin asked. Sasuke decided not to bother to explain it, but he did have to be a bit more careful talking to Karin, knowing Naruto and Minato could both hear him.

“Never mind,” he said.

Karin continued to talk on about her Easter break and how Suigetsu was going to Egypt during the break. Sasuke stopped listening to her for a while ago. He just made the occasional confirming sound; that was until she mentioned The Quidditch World Cup. That took Sasuke by surprise. He had forgotten all about that. Naruto had promised Suigetsu and him tickets for helping out to free all the animals he had hoarded inside The Room of Requirement. It was the same day they had shared their first kiss on top of the mountains when they freed the Hippogriff. Sasuke was taken back to that moment, everything seemed so perfect. If anybody would have told him his life was about to take a full twist, he wouldn’t have even believed it.

The idea of staying with the Uzumakis and go with them to The World Cup would had sounded like the ultimate dream. Not only would he for the first time since he could remember be surrounded with wizards and witches in a village dedicated to the magical worlds, he would have been with Naruto, enjoying the sport they both liked to play. But, that wasn’t the case anymore. Naruto and him weren’t together and even when their time together was short, it was enough to make Sasuke feel extremely awkward just by the idea of being around Naruto or his family.

“Uhm…I don’t know, Karin…” Sasuke said, causing her stop talking immediately.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Her voice sounded strict and loud, like she was scolding him for even considering to not attend. “It is The Quidditch World Cup. You and Suigetsu were talking non-stop about it for weeks!”

“Well…” How was Sasuke going to tell Karin he felt awkward being around Naruto after they broke up. He only knew the one excuse he had used for several years to get out of any events that included his peers.

“I am not allowed to go…From Obito.” He said.

“Why?!” Karin raised her voice, “Have you told him it is a once in the life time opportunity! Don’t these muggles understand! Here’s what you do. You take your wand and you Imp-“

She got interrupted by Minato for a moment. It seems he lectured her on her manners towards Sasuke’s legal guardian. He made very clear that just because he has no magic doesn’t mean his authority  is any less. Sasuke appreciated his intervention, he didn’t feel like getting in an argument with Karin.

“Can’t you talk to him, uncle? Convince him to let Sasuke come?” Karin asked with such a kind innocent voice. It like she wasn’t being a bitch three second ago.  Sasuke could only assume it was an act to get Minato’s sympathy. “He has been through so much and this could really make him very happy-“

“it is quite alright, actually!” Sasuke was quick to interrupt her. “Besides…Once Obito has set his mind to something there is no arguing with him.”

That was a complete lie. Obito was very fair in that particular area. He always allowed Sasuke to plead his case. He often plead his own and convinced Sasuke why some rough decisions had to be made from time to time.

“But…You were so excited to go….” She whispered.

“Well….I’m not such a big fan of quidditch anymore. I haven’t played in a while and it seems dull now anyway. I guess it was really the hype of flying that got me interested.” He lied convincingly.

He could hear the end of the line go quiet. He felt the need to change subjects.

“But you know…You could come to the muggle world anytime you like? There is not much…Well…There are some things…”  Sasuke admitted thinking of Disney Land. There were a ton of movies he should let Karin watch, he was sure she would enjoy them.

“I am not allowed visit the muggle world.” She sighed.

“Why? Isn’t it a life time opportunity?” Sasuke used her words against her. She gave a small chuckle, but it sounded forced.

Sasuke could hear the volume of the TV get louder which made it sound like there was a house party inside the living room.

“I got to go, Karin. Kakashi is wrecking the house.” Sasuke said, turning the phone off before walking back inside. He grabbed the remote and muted the sound.

“There is literally only two buttons you have to press!” Sasuke said turning the sound down before indicating the buttons clearly on the remote. “That’s all you are allowed to press.” He handed the remote back at Kakashi who had an expression of a kicked puppy. It made him feel bad and he sighed deeply.

“Wanna watch the ultimate muggle show?” Sasuke asked Kakashi, who nodded.

Sasuke sat down next to Kakashi and pressed the ‘Netflix’ button on the centre of the remote. He started the first episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and put the remote on the table before leaning on the arm of the couch. This must have bee the fourth time he re-watches this. He can’t remember exactly when, but somewhere between the fourth or fifth episode he had drifted off the sleep.

When Obito got home he was met with the sight of the two wizards sleeping on opposite sides of the couch, while the TV was still running the old show. He smiled kindly towards them before wrapping a blanket around Sasuke and kissing his head. He wrapped another blanket around Kakashi and hesitated for a second. He ended up bending down and kissing Kakashi on the cheek. He backed off quickly when he heard Kakashi move slightly. Obito sighed relieved when his eyes remained closed and he headed to the kitchen, unaware of Kakashi secretly opening his eyes and following him till he was out of sight.

[sabsfanfiction]

Stay

Disclaimer: If I own Bleach? I will use it to clean my entire house.

Pairing: IchiRuki

Bleach setting: The Rukia Lieutenant’s hairstyle with her Bankai (Wow, what a wonderful way to describe the whole concept)

Originally, this should be the plot of my previous fanfic “Steamy Summer Day” But I was too excited to write a smexy story, so I ended up posting the first fanfic instead of this! But Anyway, this is totally different. I promise!

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A seventeen-year-old, orange-haired substitute shinigami was counting every second in every minute to surpass the days of time on a not-so-early morning. It was still nine in the morning, doing nothing on his bed but laying down. While the freeloader was too confident in making herself at home as if she was the owner of the house.

It was Golden Week in Spring, everyone is going to be celebrating Bon Festival in honor of welcoming their dead ancestors to revisit their ancestral homes. In Ichigo’s perspective, he had been rejoicing that kind of celebration for at least 2 years already. Since he considered Rukia as his ancestor-due to the fact that she is a hundred times older than him, and she is technically dead!

Spring is such a beautiful season, flowers and trees blooming over the bright and shiny sky, animals stirring from hibernation, and a perfect humid weather to go to Shrines and other places. Some people have not yet embraced the season. Spring can also be very dangerous for people who have allergies and might have caught sickness from the humid sensitivity spreading throughout the air.

But for Ichigo, it was the weather he asked for. And Golden Week just started. His whole family was in Hokkaido to visit their grandparents, Ichigo was left in charge to watch over the house for them because one thing’s for sure, he would never put up his trust to this Shinigami-freeloader to guard his house, knowing that she is too clumsy for her own good.

Averting his eyes at her, as he sat up. Looking up at the time of his alarm clock, it was still 9:45. “It’s Golden Week, right?” Asked Ichigo to his friend who was doing “her homework” on his study table. She wasn’t even doing anything, she just stays here, eats, shows off her crappy artistic skills, and lectures him non-stop for being forgetful to bring Kon when there are hollows coming to appear everywhere. Too bad, Kon couldn’t be seen anywhere too, he was probably at Urahara’s or he was girl-hunting somewhere that Ichigo less care about it. Let alone, the perverted plushie to enjoy his Golden Week,

“IT’S DONE!”

Okay, did she just ignored him? “Oi! It’s Golden Week, shouldn’t you be taking a break for a while? And just go to Soul Society already and rest!”

“Well, I know it is Golden Week, and no way in hell, I am taking a break! Don’t you know how much trouble you had caused me? When hollows are looming around, and you would expect me to take my ass a break? And go back to Soul Society?” 

“Geez, Rukia, you have no right to look out for my ass forever, you know. I am strong, and Ishida and the others are here as well!” Nagged Ichigo.

Rukia was about to blow another fuse but decided to ignore him. Lifting her frame up, scaring Ichigo a little bit, as if he was expecting a punch or a kick from her. Fortunately, he did not get any from it, he was relieved. One thing he disliked about her was her punch even though she had a small fist such Ichigo would think Rukia might be thinking that everyone is going to be intimidated by her small fingers.

Stupid midget!

“Ichigo.”

“W-What? Want a fight?!”

“Huh--what the hell is wrong with you? Anyway, I thought you were going to escort Inoue today for tonight’s barbeque party at Ishida’s place?”

With that, Ichigo just froze on his butt. He was just counting a while ago to finally get his ass out from his bed, but a certain midget was here that he needed to watch if ever she does something stupid in his room--again. A worth mentioning but such an ill to hear, Rukia drew chappies inside his closet. He didn’t have time to clean it, and there is only one person who can actually fit perfectly inside his closet and that is HER! Due to her lazy ass, she wouldn’t even clean it.

“Shit! Why didn’t you remind me!” Standing up from his bed to get his keys and phone.

“Fool, I just did!”

Sighing determinedly, before he walks out from his room. “Rukia, I swear to God! Don’t leave the house without my consent! And don’t do anything stupid! I’m REALLY counting on you!” He was still concerned, knowing Rukia’s attitude-of-doesn’t know how to obey.

“Ohhh~ First of all, you terribly wanted me to go back in Soul Society, and second of all, you swore to me not to leave the house? Ichigo, which is it? Make up your mind, at least~” First things first, she is goddamned annoying, and two, she knows how to use that mouth---that Kuchiki Rukia mouth.

“Alright! You Miss-midget-purpled-eyed-icey monster! First of all, if you leave the house, this isn’t even your house, show some decency and respect. And Second of all, you can go back to Soul Society as much as you wanted, and I told you, you do not have to look out for my ass forever!” Huffed Ichigo, like he was a bull.

Icey monster? The petite shinigami sighed in an exasperated way, it may be fun dealing with his temper, but sometimes he gets on her nerves at the best of times. “Anyway, I’m also going out.”

“What--why?”

“Ichigo, I already told you my consent, did I?” She turned her head, giving him a look rather cold.

What the hell is she making that cold look for!? Oh, he wished that he could destroy that mask on her face.

“Besides, if you really--” She stopped right there.

“If I really what?!”

Rukia ignored rather professionally. “You’re late with your date~”

“Shit! and it is not a date!” Ichigo hissed, running downstairs from the second floor. He still needed to meet up with Orihime because she was the one collecting the money funded by their friends, and Ichigo volunteered to accompany her to buy all the meats and drinks for the party since he knew it is going to be very heavy to carry all the plastics. They have invited a lot of friends, even from his friends in Soul Society and will be going to be celebrated at Ishida’s place.

Thought, he thought to himself for why he was a little bit brute in front of Rukia. Though, she was really annoying back there. And what the hell was she going to say next back there? If I really what? 

Stupid midget!

Rukia was walking in the park, instead of cursing about his attitude. She was trying to figure out what was his problem and TRYING TO understand his temper. It must be his hair that caused radiation and absorbs the heat in his head. That must be it. 

As much hypothesis she makes, they were all stupid.

Suddenly, her soul phone signals in low light-- the hollow came towards her, but she swiftly dodges its attempts.

SHIT! I forgot chappy.

She chanted Hadō #31. Shakkahō to shoot all the numerous hollows showing up in sight at the park. If only she had brought Chappy with her, she was too reckless for forgetting something important. Which made her a total hypocrite for keeping on lecturing Ichigo nonstop and she was there sinking in all the words she said to Ichigo.

Damn, I feel awful. 

It was the perfect moment of time that someone from the Soul Society came to help her clean up the mess around. With only just a swift of its Shikai to wipe out all these hollows. At least, she didn’t get herself injured. Is it really okay to say, “at least”?

“Kuchiki! Are you hurt?”

“I’m sorry, Hitsugaya-taichou, I forgot to bring my soul pill.”

He sheathed his sword at this back. “You should never do such reckless things again? Are we clear?”

“Y-Yes, sorry.” She even managed to say that.

“What are you doing here, all by yourself?” Asked Toshiro, walking up inch closer to her.

“Well--” Wait, what was she doing here? She told Ichigo that she is going out as well, but what was her purpose of walking around like a complete human in disguise Shinigami. She remembered now! Walking around the park and kill off some hollows were her reasons, but she forgot Chappy. And It is not worth explaining to the Captain.

“Kill off some hollows--” She couldn’t help it.

He sighed lowly. “I could see that, and you forgot your soul pill.”

“Yeah--sorry again, Hitsugaya-taichou, but what are you doing here? Karin is in Hokkaido---”

“I did not ask to see Kurosaki here, but I am expecting to see you.”

So, it’s not Karin? “Oh, yes-- You guys were invited to the barbeque party?”

He just sighed, she kept on blabbering as he scooped up her frame like a bride, as he uses Shunpo to go to Ichigo’s place. “Enough talking already, you were the one who kept our gigai’s right?” 

“Hey, put me down! I can walk by myself!” As much as she hated being carried around, she would dare everyone to put her down!

“Just pipe down, we’re almost there.” His calm expression never fades. 

Captain Hitsugaya was right, using Shunpo was easier than walking. They arrived in seconds at the roof by Ichigo’s window as Toshiro puts Rukia down carefully and they went into Ichigo’s room by the window whom Ichigo carelessly unlocked it. 

“Just relax a little bit, Hitsugaya-taichou, your gigai will be prepared in a few minutes.”

What do you mean few minutes? I don’t have time for this! As much he wanted to scream, but he wouldn’t. He doesn’t have time to scream either. And why the hell is she opening the closet? Don’t tell me--

He was just standing there, watching her standing up on a chair on her tippy toes to grab something on the highest shelf. He couldn’t help but he managed to laugh lightly. She will fall, I bet that.

“Eh? Is there something funny Hitsugaya-taichou?” Asked Rukia without looking at him wondering what amusement he found in this boring, dirty room.

Keeping his cool and monotonous expression. “Don’t mind, where the hell did you hide our gigai--

“Found it---”

 “And there is nothing in there, get down here, you might---Kuchiki.” Seeing her holding a small cube when she wobbled and loses her balance on her toes, running up to her before she lands on the floor and a puff of pink smoke spluttered over the room.

Not a few moments ago, Ichigo bid farewell to Orihime in front of Ishida’s house. Arriving to put all meat on their sticks to fry it by the evening and cool all the drinks in the fridge. It was already twelve and his stomach was grumbling, he thought of grabbing a lunch but it seemed Rukia needed one as well. He was about to call her phone when he was headlock by this dubious red head friend.

“GET OFF ME RENJI!” Roared Ichigo.

“Hey~ Calm down, we came in peace. By the way, we came to see you and Rukia to get our gigai.” Grinned Renji.

“Kurosaki, have you seen Taichou around?” Asked Matsumoto.

“Let’s go already! Where is Rukia-chan?” Ikkaku looked around, even behind Ichigo as if she was hiding behind him.

“I also forgot my mirror at your house, it has been decades since I left it in there,” Yumichika muttered.

Ichigo still had his temper. “WHAT IS ALL OF THIS?! Rukia? Keeping all your gigai’s? I never heard it from her? And the hell! I never saw that Captain Midget! Rukia must be somewhere else, she said she had errands to do, and THAT WAS YOUR UGLY MIRROR?! FROM THIS WHOLE TIME? THAT WAS YOURS? I’m sorry, but Yuzu threw it away for me.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN UGLY MIRROR?! THE ONLY UGLY HERE IS YOU!” Flamed Yumichika.

“Eh! You didn’t see Taichou, why!?”

“What do you mean? You don’t know where she is!” Ikkaku’s face was so close to him.

“Of course, fool! Urahara told us, he didn’t keep our gigai but Rukia have them.” A dry look from Renji.

“ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! JUST FOLLOW ME!” Rubbing his temples to subside his frustrations and all the shoutings, “I think Rukia will be there from now, when she’s hungry, I usually leave some snacks in her closet, so she’ll be there.”

Ichigo, did you seriously think that Rukia is like a bunny? They just thought mindlessly while following Ichigo towards his house.

Stupid midget! I hope you’re not doing anything stupid again!

Meanwhile, the puff of smoke cleared the area, as they coughed in unison. And not in Rukia’s wildest dreams to be pinned down against the floor. Not that she keeps on dreaming about someone who will do it for her. She just put a blank look on his face, as if she was clearly not affected how close they were. With a flustered Captain of the Tenth Division: Toshiro Hitsugaya usually gets embarrassed to be called a hentai or sexually harassing his subordinate. 

Everything was an accident. He didn’t mean any of this but surprised to see how unaffected the younger Kuchiki was. Byakuya must have held her to wear that kind of emotion no matter what. He

When they felt five spiritual pressure raising to the room, they must have felt two spiritual pressure inside the room and came to see the position wherein Toshiro pinning Rukia against the floor. Toshiro didn’t know, but his heart just leaped out.

“EHH!!! TAICHOU WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! SEXUALLY HARASSING CAPTAIN KUCHIKI’S LITTLE SISTER!?” Matsumoto squealed.

“I did not know that Captain can be a little aggressive, be careful Rukia-chan.” Smirked Ikkaku.

“What a disturbing sight~ Captain Kuchiki will come after you, taicho. Goodluck..”

“THAT’S NOT IT! THIS IS JUST A FUCKING ACCIDENT!” A flustered white-haired Captain whose face challenged the color of Renji’s hair color. As he moved away from Rukia, still on the floor, but keeping up a surprised look on his face.

“R-Rukia! Are you okay, did he do something stupid to you?! Oi Shorty! What the hell just happened!” Renji glared venomously, protecting Rukia in his arms.

“I-I told y-you. N-Nothing really happened, s-say something, K-Kuchiki!”

Sighing in annoyance. “He’s right, it was just an accident. And what do you mean by happened?” She vaguely asked, pushing Renji’s face away from her.

She’s still so dense. They thought.

“THAT WAS NOT THE RIGHT REACTION YOU GOT THERE STUPID!” Finally, Ichigo spoke through his lungs, pointing an accusing finger towards Rukia.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN! IF IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! IT IS AN ACCIDENT! WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL! AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT YOU WANT ME TO REACT HUH, SMART GUY!”

“Y-Y-Y-You---”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN Y-Y-Y-You?!” The way she imitated was too darn amusing.

“YOU COULD’VE PUNCH OR KICK HIM! LIKE FOR SELF-DEFENSE! WHAT IF ANOTHER GUY WOULD DO IT TO YOU!? AND SAYING THINGS LIKE, IT IS JUST AN ACCIDENT IS JUST WRONG!”

Both of them completely lost it, they have forgotten that they weren’t alone in the room.

“FIRST OF ALL, OF COURSE, I WOULD KICK OR PUNCH SOMEONE FOR DOING AN ATTEMPTED ACTION! SECOND OF ALL, HITSUGAYA-TAICHOU SAVED ME FROM FALLING OFF FROM THE FLOOR THAT WAS WHY WE ENDED UP IN SUCH A DELUSIONAL POSITION! THIRD OF ALL, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! AND FOURTH OF ALL, YOU’RE COMPLETELY ACTING LIKE AN ASSHOLE TODAY! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! YOU’VE BEEN LIKE THAT SINCE MORNING, I AM SICK OF IT!”

“IF YOU ARE REALLY SO SICK OF IT? WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE THIS HOUSE THIS INSTANT! AND JUST GO TO SOUL SOCIETY WHERE YOU REALLY BELONG! I AM ALSO SICK OF YOU LECTURING ME AROUND AS IF I AM A TOOL OF YOUR FRUSTRATIONS! AND YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU’RE SO GODDAMN ANNOYING THAT YOU NEVER LEARNED HOW TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! AND STOP IT ALREADY! YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER, ALWAYS LOOKING OUT FOR ME AND ALL!”

The room became silent, neither of the Shinigami’s wanted to interfere, they just wanted their gigai’s back but they ended up seeing a real verbal fight of a lifetime between two star-crossed idiots. 

Ichigo paused. As he realized something was off. Then, he saw Rukia’s expression, he felt a pang in his heart of the words he said to her.

“R-Rukia-- that’s not---”

“Save it!” roared Rukia, as she walked up to the others and gave them the cube. Without saying a word to them,

“W-Wait--” Ichigo just followed her all the way to the door, grabbing her by the arm.

Rukia sighed, as she looked at him with a forceful smile. “I guess that I should go back to Soul Society if that’s what you really want?”

“N-No-- I mean-- That’s--”

“Bye...”

And with that as soon as Rukia left Ichigo’s room. The room gave an uneasy and awkward air that none of them ever dared to speak a word. Just like the other Shinigami’s did not know whether or not they should probably escape from this kind of tension, while Ichigo was frozen in his feet.

I guess that I should go back to Soul Society if that’s what you really want?

“I-Ichigo?” asked Renji, clearing up his throat.

“WHAT?! IF SHE WANTS TO GO, THEN LET HER BE!” huffed Ichigo as he left them inside his room. He was just getting hungry a while ago, but circumstances always come in the wrong way.

Ugh! I cannot believe my legs on where it would take me? 

Rukia was sitting on the staircase by the lake, where Ichigo found her and took her out on an ice skating session with their other friends at school. She just loved the peaceful and comforting oxygen that she needed some of it to breathe and suppress all of her frustrations. 

Just by thinking about the most awaited verbal fight with Ichigo was extremely infuriating. Just who the hell did he think he was? Such an ungrateful brat!

She stood up, not knowing why her feet was controlling her--- of going back? No way in hell.

I guess that I should go back to Soul Society if that’s what you really want?

It kept on repeating in his mind of what Rukia said to him. Alright, he admitted it. It was his fault, he crossed the line, and he shouldn’t have said anything to make things worst.

Now that Rukia was mad at him and she wanted to go back to Soul Society---

Was a bad idea.

He really didn’t want to let her go... Though, he wanted her to stay. Even without her presence, the speed of the world will keep on revolving, but when he is with Rukia he just feels the ascertainment of not letting her go.

She changed his world, his destiny, and she was everything who was the one who changed his whole life. Even saved his family. He owes her one. And he was lucky enough to have someone to protect that he would give in return.

It was all Rukia’s doing, sacrificed her life to break all the laws in Seireitei just to save him because Rukia’s sense of justice is different than anybody else in his world. 

She’s one weird Shinigami, indeed.

Rukia and Ichigo saw each other at the very same place by the lake. 

“Awe, you ran all the way over here to beg for forgiveness?” Rukia even joked about it, and she never fails to be on his nerves.

“Yeah... Got a problem with that!” sighed Ichigo, as he looked at her as if he was a child begging for penance. “I’m sorry, the truth is. Why I was mad at you because you kept on talking about Byakuya and I felt that you wanted to go back in Soul Society---and...”

“And?”

“Please stay.”

The petite shinigami just smiled. “Idiot! You scared me, and you knew that I am not obliged to be stationed in the living world to the extent of time, but---”

“I guess I’ll stay here longer.” She smiled at him.

“Friends?” Ichigo asked for her hand.

She just looked at him then to his hand, extending towards her. “No...best friends.” She took it.

They just laughed at each other, as they let go.

“Let’s go have some lunch,” Ichigo said as they started walking up to their favorite fast food stall.

“Your treat, okay?”

“S-Sure---Wait no way in hell!”

“HUH, IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR A LUNCH WITH ME. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAY ITS YOUR TREAT!”

“HUH?! NO WAY I AM PAYING FOR YOUR FOOD, MIDGET!”

“ASSHOLE! YOU HAVE NO CLASS AT ALL! YOU SHOULD BE MORE LIKE BYAKUYA-NIISAMA.”

“DON’T JUST COMPARE ME WITH THAT ARROGANT BASTARD, BITCH!”

And another round of argument of two idiotic friends that disturbed every neighborhood they passed by has started all over and over again.

THE END.

Author’s Note: Long Live, IchiRuki! Bow

[bleachluna]

Roleswap

A fic for day 1 of @hitsukarinweek! Also on AO3

 Karin sat down next to Toshiro on the sofa, watching as he carefully brushed through their daughter's hair, skilfully and quickly parting the left half into separate sections for braiding. “I can't believe you can do this so much better than me.”

Toshiro didn't look up, currently focused on creating a french plait without pulling on Natsumi's head too much. “You've never really been one for delicate tasks.”

Karin huffed but watched attentively as her husband slowly braided down the back of Natsumi's head. “I guess but still, I'm the mom, I'm supposed to be the one doing this stuff.”

“No that's ok mom!”

Karin's mouth dropped theatrically in response and she leaned forward to poke Natsumi on the nose, “Cheeky.”

Toshiro made sure to tightly hold the half-done braid as Natsumi turned round to grin at her mother, before gently directing her head back to where it was, finishing the braid and tying it off. “Does it actually bother you?”

Karin shrugged. “I mean...a little? I don't know, when you picture having a daughter you think of this sort of stuff right? Dressing her up all cute,” she leaned over to briefly squish Natsumi's cheeks, “doing her hair, that sort of thing but it turns out I suck at it.”

Natsumi turned round quickly, immediately undoing the work Toshiro had done with creating sections in the right half of her hair. “You're good at dressing me up! The clothes you pick are cool! I wanna dress up like you when I grow up.”

Karin lightly slapped Toshiro's leg at his muttered “I hope not” and smiled at her daughter. “Thank you. At least I've got half of it down!”

Natsumi earnestly nodded back at her and turned round so Toshiro could finish her hair.

He carefully recreated the sections in the right half and started pulling it into a second plait. “Practice on your own hair?”

“Honestly I think that would be even worse, at least I can actually see what I'm doing on Natsumi. Unless I set up an elaborate mirror situation. I have no idea how some girls do that honestly, all these complicated hairstyles on themselves.”

A small laugh escaped out of Toshiro. “Maybe they do have an elaborate mirror situation. Well evidently I can always do your hair for you if you want.”

“Oh I know you can, given you cheated being able to do Natsumi's by practising for ages on me, but letting you do it all up for me feels like I'm giving in. I really should be able to do it myself.”

“We can't be good at everything mom. Definitely not right away!”

Karin immediately deflated at the words her daughter had parroted from her, having repeatedly used them whenever Natsumi got frustrated at not being able to do something. Her pride versus being a good example wasn't much of a toss up. “You're right. “ She sighed, “maybe I'm just not meant to be very good at hair. At least I'm good at other stuff huh?”

Natsumi nodded, unintentionally making Toshiro have to redo the part he was on. “Yeah! You're good at clothes, you can do make up super quick! Um...you always make sure I do my school work, even when I don't wanna.”

Karin snorted in response. “You're happy about that?”

Natsumi sighed, coming out more for show than a genuine sigh, copying the actions of adults around her without really understanding yet. “Kinda. I hate it, but it makes me smarter so yeah.”

Both parents let out a laugh at that, Karin gently correcting her. “It makes you more knowledgeable, you're already smart.”

Natsumi's face scrunched up in confusion. “What's the difference?”

“Smart is more...generally speaking people are born with being smart, then as they live life they get more knowledge, and the innate smartness and the knowledge sort of work together. You know how I say your little brother is always experimenting?”

“Uh huh, you said that the other day when he was putting the little bouncy balls though the stair gate upstairs.”

“Yeah, did you remember how closely he was watching the balls when he put them through? My guess is that he was trying to figure out why they fell down, or why they bounced maybe.”

Second french plait now done and tied, Natsumi turned round, facing them. “Falling is gravity! I don't know how they bounce though.”

Toshiro smiled at her enthusiasm. “I think it's the material they're made out of, different types bounce in different amounts. The makers were deliberately looking for a material that bounced well.”

“Oh.”

Karin nodded. “My point is, you can tell he's smart because he's already trying to figure it all out. It's smart to try something out to see what'll happen, that's pretty much what science is, they just make sure to do it carefully. He's a little young for the concept of gravity right now, but pushing the balls through the stair gate taught him the knowledge that things fall down the stairs.

Natsumi gasped loudly. “And he's scared round the stairs now! He learned!”

Karin laughed. “Yeah, he doesn't like going near them without me or your dad now. He used his smartness to experiment, he gained the knowledge that the balls fall down the stairs, and using the two together he probably figured out he could fall down the stairs too.”

“Wow...He can't even talk yet.”

“He babbles,” Toshiro defended, “he understands a lot that's said to him, he'll get there soon.”

“Smartness and knowledge work together so you can figure out the world. Smart is good, but you need the knowledge to back it up and help boost it.”

“Did I experiment when I was a baby?”

Toshiro raised an eyebrow at her. “Last week you poured half a bottle of bubble bath into the bath to see if you could get, and I quote, thousands and thousands of bubbles. You still experiment.”

“But...experimenting isn't bad right?”

He winced at the complicated question. “It is important to try things out, but you still need to get our permission first. Trying out how many bubbles half a bottle gets you isn't really bad as such, but inconvenient when you try it out in the evening when we're trying to get your brother washed and in bed.”

Karin rolled her eyes at how Toshiro put it. “Inconvenient is certainly one word for it. Besides kid, a lot of people have already done these experiments, we might already know the answer without you trying it out.”

Natsumi pouted. “That's no fun.”

Karin put on a stern expression. “Some of them can also be dangerous if you're not careful. Wanting to learn stuff is good, but you need to run them by us first.”

“Okaaaay.”

Karin nodded to her in acknowledgement and then laughed to herself. “You know between you doing her hair all the time and me being the stricter parent maybe we should swap names.”

Toshiro looked at her, confused. “Hm?”

She grinned at him. “You be mom and I'll be dad.”

Natsumi giggled and shook her head. “That's silly!”

Karin smiled down at her. “Ah you've gotta be silly sometimes. But anyway! Now that your hair's all done, you ready to go get changed for dinner?”

Natsumi cocked her head to the side. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“Are you gonna let dad do your hair?”

Karin laughed a little awkwardly. “I was just gonna redo the ponytail.”

Natsumi stood up, leaning against Karin's legs and holding her hands as she looked at her. “But if you let dad do it we can match!”

Lost for words, Karin looked over to Toshiro who shrugged in response, she sighed as she shrugged too. “Oh alright then.” She scooted off the sofa to sit in front of Toshiro, Natsumi taking her seat. “Maybe just the one plait instead of two though?”

“Nooooo do two! So we match properly!”

Toshiro smiled in response, leaning down to tease Karin. “The lady has spoken.”

Karin's mouth dropped open as she turned round to look at the two of them. “Do I not count as the lady of the house?”

Toshiro gently pulled out her hair tie as he spoke. “I thought you were dad and I was mom?”

She rotated her head back round so he could work on her hair properly. “Hm, I really tripped myself over there huh.”

“Yep, two plaits it is.” He brushed out her hair and parted it in half. “I'm sure you'll look lovely.”

Karin let herself relax as Toshiro started braiding the left side of her head. “Natsumi go get changed while your dad does my hair ok?”

Natsumi sprung up from the sofa and sped towards the stairs, running up them quickly, making Karin sigh. “I would tell her off for running but maybe it's better she uses her energy up now.”

“And you think running up one flight of stairs will do that? She's excited, she's got even more energy than usual.”

Karin rolled her eyes with a smile. “I don't know why she's so excited, she sees everyone all the time.”

Toshiro talked a little slower as he focused on braiding, “yeah, but it's not often that it's the whole family all at once. It's gonna be a nightmare getting her to bed tonight.”

“Part of me's hoping she'll tire herself out but that's probably naïve.”

“Probably. We'll have to tag team it.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

[muma-paduriilor-blog]

It all starts with the change of kushina’s death. To try to save her life she is escorted to the Uzumaki village, where she would give birth and there they are attacked. The village is in ruin, kushina is dead and her child is lost.

Minato had gotten there as quickly as possible and there he fought the rampaging nine tail and attacker. He is hurt, and after sealing the fox into his son, the only possible vessel for the nine tails as their chakra was too large for anybody without the genes to hide it

So Minato dies also, and old man sarutobi gets there and doesn’t know what to do

He knew from Itachi that something was going on.

And the attack exemplified there were traitors in the mids of hidden leaf and  more importantly inside the anbu and inside the kage council.

So he calls the only person possible to help him.

He calls Jiraiya, Naruto’s godfather, and tells him to hide Naruto from everybody

As far as anyone knows, all the namikaze family died and the nine tails is lost

The thing is, in this situation after seeing the state of Tsunade and everything else Orochimaru decides to act quicker gets into anbu to try to get closer to the secrets of the hidden leaf.

And he stumbles over the Danzo’s little experiments with the hashirama cells

He knows he needs to spill this

But thinking this is his one chance to power and immortality he waits until he can get his hands on those experiments first

But danzo gets wind of this and pins everything on orochimaru

Which makes ororchimaru a criminal and he needs to run and hide

At this point tsunade becomes is mia and emotionally broken so she will be out of the story for a while

Ororchimaru manages to get to jirayia

And trough some wonders jirayia listens to him and tries to get sarutobi to see danzo is corrupt

There is some animosity as jirayia had not taken the role of kage

Which led to mint becoming it, dying

And sarutobi and jiraya both believe if jiraya had stayed and helped the deaths could have been avoided

They do agreee they need to be careful

Danzo is not the only bad guy and they need to see how far the corruption runs and just where from danzo got all those bad secret super dangerous jutus

Meanwhile itchy and shinsui get into anbu

And shit hits the fan when shinsui gets hurt

So itachi hides shinsui and tries to heal him

Then danzo asks for the death of the uchiha

And then they go to see danzo and there they fight him

shinsui is badly hurt and is almost surely dyeing

At the same time, Izumi finds about the plan and goes to the kage and jirayia for help change itachi and shisui’s mind

Thinking that shisui died itachi kills danzo

Everyone thinks that itachi is a murder  

Izumi stays in the village and using some genjutsu she manages to postpone the uchiha riots

Meanwhile shisui was helped miraculously by Shizune who was traveling inside the village

Jiraya helped itachi and shisui find her after the Danzo incident

So shisui doesn’t die YET ? MAYBE ?

I mean I have to paths here: shisui dies and kisame replaces him in the relationship role/ shinsui lives/ both kisame and shisui become part of itachi’s life

For now what is important is that they use itachi’s “crime” to arrest all the people plotting the assassination of the kage

And  that ostracises the uchihas

Not only that but both sasuke and fukagu are traitors

So he  really starts to hate the village

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY

Naruto is being raised by the sanins

You see, after escaping to one of the other smaller hidden villages orochimaru tries one more thing to obtain immortality trough the sage mode

He goes to the snake cave and actually fights his way and is almost killed by the venom

Jirayia actually finds this and runs to help orochimaru’s ass

After that, jirayia actually says he will take half the poison greatly hurting him to save orochimaru’s sorry ass

After all this time emotions hit orochimaru like a bitch and gets, in his late twenties, the whole empathy and bond thing

That starts anew the relationship between the tree seeing

Orochimaru writes to tsunade about his life

And tsunade stops feeling so alone

Returns to the village to push for reforms and becomes a very hard working and proactive politician greatly loved by the people and one of the most important factors to combat the corruption inside konoha

Meanwhile orochimaru settles down

And only sometimes experiments on himself

But now he only has the goal of making the largest library of jutus ever and documenting unique forms of jutus

So all the people would still be there only not addicts

The first cases to take in for healing are Izumi itachi and shisui

And he’s like: ”the fuck, when did I become a foster house for the uchihas”

But it work cause they look after each other and so on \

And because jirayia has to leave some times

And orochimaru is the only senin that has a “home” he ends up babysitting quite a bit

And naruto ends up calling calling jiraya dada and and orochimaru “mama” cause he has pretty and soft hair

The uchihas and eventually kabuto become “brothers”

Kabuto goes and studies under tsunade, wishing to finally change the system that done him dirty

Becoming one of the best medic nin in the while- specialising in genetic

Karin is beyond herself to finally see another uzumaki

After their village was destroyed there was a massacre

Having happened during a war the uzumakis had been hunted by lesser ninjas for their secrets sealing techniques and high chakra supply

She had been born in captivity and had barely escaped

Anyways, naruto grows up very different

Highly uprooted due to most of his time spent on the road

After itachi goes to join the akatsuki to obtain inside intel, orochimaru’s lair is quite lonely and till the Toka team arrives

and he never spent as much time with tsunade as by this time she was filled with paperwork and in line for the next hokage

So she couldn’t leave the village

Anyway all this changes when he turns ten

Jirayia sends him to school in the hidden leaf

There he lives supervised by tsunade and get to know each other better

The thing is that in school he does pretty sucky

At first everyone is super excited about him

There are never many new students

And he had such a close relationship with tsunade and the hokage

But his chakra is so unstable that he cannot do jutus correctly

And he is too impatient to use taijutsu and genjutsu

Combine that with his annoying happy go lucky attitude and be quickly becomes the class buffoon

He end iruka get to become good good friends

The events of the first episode still happen

And for the next few episodes too

Only sasuke gives a much scarier aura, since he very much hates the village

Naruto recognizes sasuke as Itachi’s lil bro and seeing how the village hates the uchias and the state of sasuke kind of make him…think, feel stuff

And they just don’t get along

They hate each other

Here I want naruto to know about the attack of the nine tails and they are sealed In him

So when irk tells him about how his parents had died

He again is said

Some talk and everyone agrees they can trust iruka and he is told the truth

Iruka gets over his pain

And their relationship is stronger

Naruto also finds out about how the bijuus are treated and seen

After the attack of the first and nine tails they became outcasts

anyway

Going back to team saven

Sakura is still there and this time she plays a quite different role

She, her fallout with ino happened because shikamaru didn’t stop his communication with sasuke

Both were pretty laid out with chill personalities

And shikamaru liked that he didn’t need to put effort in that relationship

But most people hated sasuke

Sakura was very social savvy and as soon as ino started spending more time with sasuke she was quick to fight

She was also jealous

Ever since they had started their ninja training ino had began training as a part of inoshikacho

And subsequently left sakura on her own which pushed sakura to become a ninja and be better than ino

In their teamwork test there is a lot less protest than in the original

Sasuke and naruto have more of actual animosity than a rivalry

And they are pretty much ready to fail

But after sakura is cornered and put under a genjutsu

Well they help her get out and together make a plan that still fails

But they do earn their respect and finally get on to their first mission

And for the next couple chapter things go their way.

The zabuza  arc is the same

With some changes in the character interactions

Naruto and sasuke  end up paired together and learn to trust each other

They talk about how they both feel left out inside the village and bond over their lonelyness

This is the first time sakura feels a sense of overwhelming

She becomes aware of her teammates’ situation and after the mission she vows to become stronger

next arc!!!!!

The chunin exam

Here is where things divert

So sakura actually gets the highest score in the exam and takes both minato and itchi’s records

Shikamaru could have gotten it <and would have actually gotten a higher mark but due to laziness he only did enough to pass>

Also, during the zabuza arc naruto had used the fox chakra

The zetsus found him as such and this is where the akatsuki came into play

Itachi hears of this plan to get naruto and heads out for the hidden village as he cannot find jiraya

Meanwhile orochimaru is at the the second part of the chunin exam to protect team seven from the sand nin

They run into ino’s team who was attacked by the gaara’s team

Things go bad when they are attacked and after using the fox chakra, naruto passes out

But the sand team leaves them

Hinata’s team also arrives after kiba smells blood and nejii’s team watches from afar

Due to each team having both scrolls they end up in  standstill of sorts, a strange peace agreement

This is the first time all the leaf genin interact fully and get to know each other

One the fight dulls down sasuke and sakura find naruto passed out and  ororchimaru nearby

This fear has sasuke awaken the sharingan in full form but before they can get to blows naruto stops sasuke

“hey orochimaru-sensei ….”yada yada

Naruto says that he is not allowed to say anything and orochimaru leaves saying that he needs to be careful of the sand nin gaara

Orochimaru leaves and naruto tells them not to worry

The kage knows about all this

So they leave it be for now

This is where sasuke get into a bad mindset

He is used to being the best: no amount of isolation could ever diminish his accomplishments

Yet in the last situation, naruto protected them against foe again

They make it out the forest and into the other round

This is where I leave it for now

[spockina]

before we start: i kinda wanna die a little bit because i had already typed this whole thing when tumblr suddenly crash and i honestly hate the universe a little right now

on with things: a few days ago i made a post asking if bob people wanted to read these 2 sad speirton scenes i wrote for a fic that is never gonna happen so now i’ll tag the ppl who liked/replied sorry if u didnt want to be tagged? and everything else is under the cut. thanks for ur time

@littleblairwitch @gay-golden-trickster @jovialcollectorengineersworld @pervyprincess84 @mysteriouslydelightfulchaos @merlehs @frankzthearrowhead @sgt-gonorrhea

here we go

anyways. it’s literally 2 scenes, aroun 1.5k~ words and the notes are as follow:

“Speirton. Major character death. AU modern day. 

Ron and Grant (and other peeps I’ll think about) are spies for the USA. They live in the UK, working on various mission, when Ron gets assigned the “Tea Mission”. He has to find all evidence of Carwood Lipton (who is also an American living in London; he’s a professor) being a traitor and the leader of a gang who’s passing USA confidential information to the Brits. He decides to befriend Carwood upon realizing how nice and friendly he is, but ends up falling in love… Never forgetting his mission, though. They get into a relationship, move in together, things are fine and dany for three years, Thing is: Carwood is guilty of his charges. So Ron gets Grant to kill Carwood for him. The scene should go something like this:”

now: what is the mission? what are the infos? what is going on? i dont know. i dont even know why i had this idea because im not capable to write this in any way shape or form, but i did have the idea and now im crying in the club whenever i think about it. heres the aforementioned scene

“Grant? I need a favor,” Speirs says, slowly blowing off the smoke from his latest drag.

“Shoot,” is all he gets for a reply. It pisses him off a little bit. They smoke in silence for a few minutes, until Ron starts again.

“No, this is serious. I need a favor, and I need a secret.” He says truthfully, forgetting the nonchalance he was going for. It won’t work right now.

Grant eyes him carefully, before saying, “What is it?”

“I want you to kill Carwood for me.” He’s quiet as he says it, but there’s no trace of doubt.

Grant pretends he’s coughing to cover his startle, but Ron knows he’s more surprised than he’d ever admit. After a few minutes, all he comes up with is,

“Are you sure?”

To which Ron replies a simple, “Yes.”

There’s silence, and Ron thinks about threatening the person who is, possibly, the only friend he has, but then Grant speaks again.

“Guts and glory, eh?” He pauses. “You’re the real deal, Ron.” And then, after just a heartbeat: “I promise I’ll make it painless.” (or: I promise he won’t feel no pain.)

Ron’s breath suddenly gets caught in his throat, so he just throws what’s left of his cigarette on the ground, stomping on it as he nods, and he knows Grant understands.

They’ll do tactics later. He needs to be with Carwood right now.

“Where are you going?” Grant asks, but it’s just so that they don’t part without any words between them.

“Home,” he replies, and bless Grant, who doesn’t say anything elese.

Yeah. He’s going home.

 in my head, grant would never do that if he were in ron’s shoes, which kind of makes him respect ron some more? its fucked up man idk

anyways we move on to what i titled “””ACTUAL CARWOOD DYING SCENE””” (im not even joking. the word document of this scene starts like this) so theres the spoiler u need, here goes nothing i guess

This is a normal day. Just another day in the life, where they had slow, beautiful sex in the morning, and then breakfast together. Carwood went to teach, and Ron went for a run in the morning. This is everyday, but Ron is running late with dinner, which he hates. It’s everyday, but he can’t concentrate.

He hears Carwood’s car as it gets into the driveway, and finds he can’t control the little bit of shaking his hands are doing. He needs to be calm for this. He stops the practiced motion of the knife in his hand, puts the tomato he was using on the cutting board and washes his hands, drying them with the dishtowel on his shoulder as he moves to the fridge. He gets a beer, opening it with his teeth, downing half of it in one swig.

When Carwood comes through the kitchen door, he finds Ron leaning on the kitchen counter, shirtless, beer in hand. The light from the outside halos Carwood’s face where he’s standing on the threshold, tiny smile playing on his lips, and Ron thinks he isn’t ready.

Too bad it’s already done.

(It isn’t, really, not until later, but Ron can already taste the bitter copper inside his mouth, and damn if that isn’t already done.)

Carwood’s eyes are droopy and he looks a little tired. Ron maybe wants to cry, but he smiles instead, opening his arms in invitation, and saying the inevitable “come here” just for the sake of it. Carwood falls into place neatly in Ron’s arms, and stays, which is a surprise.

“What’s wrong, love?” Ron asks, voice small to match Carwood’s silence.

“I don’t know.” Sigh. “Just a feeling.”

Ron feels like the air being punched out of him, and chokes; a coughing fit. Carwood pulls back, then, looking alarmed, and Ron just waves his hand. A few seconds later he manages: “just saliva in the wrong hole, I think,” and when that makes Carwood laughs, Ron is washed with warm relief.

After a few minutes, Ron kisses Carwood’s temple, hand on the back of his neck, holding him close for just a little. Then he drops his hands, disentangling himself from Carwood and moving to the stove.

“Go shower and change. I think dinner will be ready by the time you’re back.”

Carwood just nods and leaves, until all Ron hears are the shower running and Carwood trying to sing. He shakes his head with a fond smile, and then focuses on one of the very few things known to slow him down: he cooks.

It’s almost as if nothing’s wrong. Carwood is changing, he can hear the distant ruffling of clothing, he’s cooking, the TV is on somewhere in the house, the food smells amazing… It feels nice; a cool evening of staying in with his husband on a quiet Friday night, enjoying his theoretical last day of leave when there’s a sharp whistle outside.

Grant.

He’d be lying if he said he forgot what today was about, but for a moment he allowed himself to just be in this moment of quiet cooking in his kitchen.

Grant just made himself known and, in the process, shattered Ron’s illusion.

That’s the only affirmative sign. They won’t talk to each other; everything was planned to the minute. But Grant whistled, and he’s here, and it’s happened.

(Again, only later. But the beer didn’t wash away the horrible taste in Ron’s mouth, and how is he going to kiss Carwood like this?)

He’s setting the table when Carwood shows up again, looking considerably better.

“Cigarette before we eat?” He invites, and Ron nods once he’s done with the table. He will never in a million years say it out loud, but he loves the domesticity.

They step outside the kitchen door, looking out at their backyard. Carwood lights the cigarettes, and Ron can only think of the swimming pool they got for the children they will never have, and the tree Mrs. Lipton planted that they won’t see grow. He thinks of the many celebrations held in that same backyard; his colleagues turned into something close to friends, Carwood’s men that were actual friends, their families, who came together as though they were meant to be.

“Ron?”

He looks to his side in surprise. “Yeah?”

“Are you even listening?” Carwood asks, but he’s laughing, so Ron laughs as well. Tries to.

“Sorry, babe, no, I was lost in thought,” he says.

“What about?”

“You,” he replies honestly.

Carwood smiles shyly, and it still takes his breath away. He wonders what’s going to be of him once this all ends. He’ll learn soon enough.

The smile is shy, but Carwood barks out, “you sap,” and it makes Ron laugh, which he’s thankful for. He puts the butt of his cigarette in the ashtray, and pecks Carwood’s lips.

“Let’s eat,” he says, already walking back inside.

They sit, making their plates, and start eating and talking. Carwood tells Ron about his day; the difficult students, how he hates teaching first semesters who think they’re still in high school, and, in turn, how he loves watching his students who are now on their last semester, and how crazy it is to have accompanied their growth.

Carwood is a good man, and it burns Ron.

Carwood is one hell of an amazing man. A beautiful, caring, loving, giving man, who only wants the best for the people around him, and who has the best intentions at heart. Who’s going to die, tonight, because he thought what he was doing was right. Is right. He still thinks it’s right. And he’s going to die by the hands of Ron, his husband, who made him a promise of loving and protecting him. The same promise he made first to his Mother Land, though.

He’s going to die by the hands of Ron, and Ron… He might as well be already dead.

It has always been his Nation first, everything else second.

He’s going to do this.

Carwood’s mistake was getting into this mess being a Civil. He’s intelligent – a genius, really – and quick, but not from the Military. Grant is good, but Carwood should have heard the tiny misstep Grant took – would have heard if he were from the Military. He isn’t, though, and the bullet stops him mid-sentence, talking about Karin, a student Ron knows.

It’s quick and silent, as it hits Carwood and stops in his forehead, getting lodged there, exactly between the eyes. But, more importantly, it’s painless, just as Grant promised, and Carwood falls forward on the table, head where his plate was just minutes ago – he had the habit of pushing it forward once he was done, but taking his time before getting up.

Ron gets up from his place, feeling numb. There’s no reason to go into shock or hysteria, but he knows he’s on the brink. He touches Carwood’s lifeless face, closes his open eyes, kisses his temple. He’s not a praying man, but he prays that his love finds a path. A good one. He touches Carwood’s lips one last time.

He calls the police.

there u go. thank you for ur time. let me know what u think, i just want that sweet sweet judgment

[zephfair]

Day 21 HS AU Grimmichi

Yes, I know I’m posting a couple days out of order. I do what I want.

Day 21: High School AU

This is a continuation of the Childhood Friends AU fic. It also ends with a very NSFW scene so I’m cutting that off here and posting it on AO3, if smut is your thing.

“Hey Berry,” a loud male voice called out. “You look sweet!”

Ichigo froze in the hallway of the high school, memories tumbling back and making his heart race with remembered anxiety.

That voice. It sounded nothing like a sixth-grader. It was low and rather nice and knowing, somehow.

But the tone, the teasing, the emphasis on stringing out the word Beeerryyyy for maximum embarrassment. That was all “Grimmjow?”

Ichigo whipped around and looked for the Grimmjow he remembered, the skinny, gangly sixth-grader who’d moved away years before.

He certainly didn’t remember the tall, broad-shouldered guy leaning against the wall and smirking down at him. This dude had baby blue hair slicked back and somehow managed to make the high school uniform look as dangerous as leather and studs. “Grimmjow?!” Ichigo asked again.

“Lookin’ good, Berry,” Grimmjow pushed off the wall and sauntered over to him.

There was a murmur among the students pushing through the hall, and Ichigo clearly heard Keigo asking, “What’s a Grimmjow?”

“What are you doing here?” Ichigo asked, staring up into the bright blue eyes he remembered although now they looked harder.

Grimmjow made a show of looking around him. “Well, it’s a high school, and I’m a senior so...”

“You transferred in?”

“Yep,” he said, popping the last letter in an obnoxious way Ichigo immediately hated. “I thought I might have some fun my last year in school.”

“I can’t believe it,” Ichigo blurted, still staring into Grimmjow’s eyes. “All these years, not a word. And now you just show up out of the blue and go right back to being a dick.”

“It’s a gift,” Grimmjow said and brushed his shoulder with his as he passed. “See you around, sweet Berry.”

Ichigo gnashed his teeth, but he let him have the final word. His friends were staring open-mouthed. “Was that really Grimmjow? From elementary school?” Orihime asked.

“Apparently.”

“He was your best friend. He’d go to your house every day to play with your cat.”

“Our cat,” Ichigo automatically corrected and then swore. “I can’t believe out of all the schools in the country he had to come back to ours.”

“He looks like trouble,” Keigo said in a voice that was both anxious and admiring. Ichigo had to admit he was right. But he knew that Grimmjow more than looked like trouble—he was the very definition of it.

“We’ll just stay away from him. This is our junior year, and we’re going to enjoy it,” Ichigo said firmly. “And we don’t need to get messed up with Grimmjow.”

Despite his warning, Ichigo was looking for the bright blue head at lunch. His friends often went up to the roof or found a shady place in the courtyard when the weather was good, but Ichigo kept an eye out to see if Grimmjow would seek him out.

Of course he was relieved when he didn’t, of course, but he slumped down beside Chad and felt vaguely disappointed anyway.

Then he had to walk right into the path of Grimmjow and some old acquaintances. Ulquiorra and Nnoitra had both gone to their elementary school, and although Orihime had apparently stayed civil with the quiet, short one, Ichigo had just blithely ignored their existence.

They along with Szayelaporro had a reputation around the high school for finding and using certain pharmaceuticals and other things to alleviate the stress of life.

Grimmjow looked the tough bruiser bouncer who would take care of business by busting heads and kicking ass.

Ichigo couldn’t help but notice the massive amount of muscle Grimmjow had put on in all the right places, and it made his stomach knot with a different kind of anxiety. Grimmjow was looking him up and down too.

But he didn’t say anything as they passed each other, just smirked down at him. Ichigo’s stomach did a flip.

It lasted until after school when he was roped into helping clean up the classroom by Uryu who apparently was already trying to score brownie points. “I heard that your old best friend transferred in for his senior year,” Uryu said.

Ichigo sighed. “Grimmjow’s back. But it’s not like we’re still friends. I haven’t seen him since we were kids.”

Uryu pushed up his glasses and gave Ichigo the superior look he wore when he was doling out life advice. “Just remember that. It appears he has already taken up with some of the less savory elements of our school.”

“Last week you called me a less savory element,” Ichigo reminded him but Uryu only sniffed.

“I was talking about your and Chad’s propensity for unnecessary violence.”

“You know that we never pick fights. But we do defend ourselves and our friends.”

Uryu waved it off. “I’m not saying that you don’t think you have justification for your actions, but I am warning you to watch yourself around Grimmjow. If he is as troubled as he was as a child and now he chooses the same bad crowd—”

“You don’t know anything about Grimmjow and his ‘troubles’ as a child,” Ichigo said stiffly. “So stuff it. And he’s only been here one day. Who cares if he’s catching up with his old friends? Give him some time to settle in and find new friends.”

“Oh yes, because I’m sure he’s a straight-A student and all the honors clubs will be fighting over him.”

“You can be such an asshole sometimes,” Ichigo told him and slammed the last few chairs back in a temper. “I’m leaving. Next time, pick one of your friends to help you clean.”

“Ichigo—” he ignored Uryu’s tired protest and stormed out of the room, shrugging on his jacket as he went.

Of course Grimmjow was waiting right outside the school gates and fell into step with him. “You not in any clubs either?”

“I’m in the shut-the-hell-up club mostly.”

Grimmjow barked a laugh. “Me too.”

They walked in silence for a while until Ichigo realized “Where are we going?”

“Home.”

“You and your mom living in your old neighborhood?”

“My mom is living down south with her newest boyfriend,” Grimmjow shrugged. “I have an apartment in the building next to where I used to live.”

“No way. Huh.” Ichigo was dying to ask more questions, but if Grimmjow was anything like he used to be, he wouldn’t answer them anyway. “You wanna come over to my house?”

“You still in the same place? Your parents still together?”

“Yes and yes,” Ichigo sighed. “They’re just the same as always.”

“Your dad still do that weird thing with the straws up his nose when you go out for dinner?”

“Yes,” Ichigo groaned. “He still lives to embarrass us, but mostly it just humiliates my sisters now. Karin refuses to be seen in public with him.”

“Your sisters. I almost forgot about them. I guess they’re...bigger now.”

“Yeah. Yuzu’s a sweet kid. Karin’s kind of a pain in the ass, total smartass.”

“Guess she doesn’t take after her brother then.”

“Hey!” When Ichigo bumped Grimmjow he moved just about as far as he’d done when they were kids. “Dammit, you’re still bigger than me.”

“I’ll always be looking down on you, Berry,” Grimmjow smirked and bumped him back.

“Saw you with some of your old buddies today at lunch,” Ichigo couldn’t look at him while he tried a hand at being a responsible, maturing adult. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but they have a certain...reputation around the school.”

“Really.”

“Yeah. Everybody knows they cut school, drink, smoke, although,” Ichigo eyed the pack of cigarettes that Grimmjow had taken out of his backpack, “that might not be a problem for you.”

“Sounds like my kinda guys,” Grimmjow agreed, shaking out a cigarette before offering the pack to Ichigo who held up a hand.

“Just...be careful,” Ichigo tried again. “Some of the teachers and administrators are cool but a couple are real hardasses. I don’t want to see you get in trouble right away.”

“Such a sweet Berry,” Grimmjow teased, blowing his smoke away from Ichigo who pointedly fanned the air anyway.

“Just watch yourself.”

“Why don’t you keep a close eye on me instead?”

“You’re a big boy. Man up,” Ichigo said and indicated the turn to his house. “You coming in?”

Grimmjow stopped and took another drag of his cigarette. “Not today. Later.”

“See ya,” Ichigo waved and finished his walk, all the time aware of the heat of eyes on his back.

His mother looked up from the stove and smiled when he called out that he was home.

“You’re never going to believe who just transferred into our school,” he began.

*******

Grimmjow just happened to be outside the school fence smoking in the morning when Ichigo arrived, his old pals surrounding him. He waved a hand and Ichigo nodded in his direction.

Then a group of tough-looking thugs that Ichigo was all too familiar with swaggered in the other direction—straight for Ichigo. He really wished that Chad had been running late that morning too.

The leader of the group stopped right in Ichigo’s face. “We still owe you for that little incident down by the river.”

Ichigo made a show of rolling his eyes. “You mean the smackdown Chad and I handed to you and your friends for harassing those girls?”

“It wasn’t a smackdown. You cheated!”

Ichigo wiped the spittle off his cheek with disgust. “Yeah, two of us took on six of you and won fair and square. That’s pretty much the definition of a smackdown. Or would you prefer beat down? Or massacre?”

“You little prick, think you’re so smart.”

Ichigo grabbed his wrist and twisted right as his fist came towards Ichigo’s face. He kept twisting until the guy went to his knees. The guy’s friends rushed forward then practically squealed to a stop. Ichigo didn’t know why until he felt the heavy arm drape itself over his shoulders.

“What do you assholes think you’re doing?” Grimmjow asked the group.

“He’s beating on our boss. Again,” one finally spoke up.

“Again?” Grimmjow scoffed and kicked out, booting the leader right in the ribs. He howled but didn’t go down since Ichigo was still holding his arm. “Sounds like you pussies need a new boss. One who’s tougher and smarter. You should know better than to mess with him,” he jerked his head toward Ichigo. “Or me,” he grinned and it showed most of his teeth.

The gang was already backing up, and when Ichigo let go of the leader’s arm with a huff, he scurried backwards quickly.

“You haven’t heard the last of me, Kurosaki,” the leader spat out. “I don’t care whose cock you’re suck— oof” He shut up quickly when Grimmjow stepped forward and kicked him in the jaw.

Then he hunched down toward the groaning leader. “You’d better learn how to talk to your superiors or you’ve got a whole world of hurt coming.” He stood up and said to the gang, “Take him to the nurse and tell her how he fell on his face.”

He turned back to Ichigo and ignored them as they carried-dragged the moaning senior away. “They ruined my smoke.”

“You ruined that guy’s day,” Ichigo said.

“Ask me if I care.”

“I could have handled him. I’ve done it before.”

“I know. I hear you have quite the reputation now as a punk and a fighter, you and your big friend,” Grimmjow brushed past him and said low in his ear, “I can’t wait to try you.”

“Let’s go now,” Ichigo said, his blood still boiling from the encounter.

“Some things are worth waiting for, to do right,” Grimmjow said. “Did you learn anything from me? You were such a whiny, crying, mama’s boy. Can’t wait to see you in action.”

“After school,” Ichigo promised and Grimmjow smiled.

Only he wasn’t waiting outside or by the gate when Ichigo got there. Figuring he knew when he’d been blown off, Ichigo started home by himself.

Then Grimmjow stepped out of a convenience store right in front of him, holding two sodas in one hand and a bag in the other. He pressed one of the sodas into Ichigo’s chest. “Here.”

Ichigo looked at the can in amusement. “I haven’t drunk one of these in forever.”

“Me either.” Grimmjow cracked his open and drank then sputtered. “Did it always taste like shit?”

“Probably,” Ichigo tried his and coughed. “We obviously didn’t have good taste as kids.”

“Speak for yourself,” Grimmjow said and offered him the bag. It was full of candy and snacks.

Ichigo laughed. “If I told you that would ruin my dinner, would you laugh at me?”

“Definitely.”

But Ichigo pulled a chocolate bar from the bag anyway. “I thought we were going to rumble.”

“Plenty of time for that.”

They started walking as they made a dent in the bag of snacks. Ichigo realized they were headed in the direction of home so he offered again, “You wanna come to my house? I told my parents you were back, and they’re anxious to see you again.”

Grimmjow looked like he straightened his slouch for a moment. “I guess so. Only to say hi to your mom. She was cool.”

“I take after her.”

“She was the only cool one in your entire family.”

“Liar.”

“Your dad,” Grimmjow reminded him and Ichigo grimaced.

“You have a point there.”

When they got to Ichigo’s home, Ichigo watched Grimmjow steel himself before stepping inside. He needn’t have bothered because the house was controlled chaos, as usual. Yuzu and Karin zeroed in on them as soon as they entered.

“Ichigo, have you seen my cleats? They were here at the door this morning.”

“Ichigo, do you still have the report you did on Australia? I picked it for my research project too. Who’s your friend?”

“Is that candy? You gonna share?”

Then his mother stuck her head out of the kitchen. “Girls, let them get inside at least. And I hope that is not candy because dinner will be ready in an hour.” She walked towards them wiping her hands on a tea towel and smiled broadly. “Grimmjow! You grew up so handsome!”

She hugged him, and Ichigo was struck by how Grimmjow towered over her compared to the last hug they shared. His mother must have thought so too because she laughed and reached up to pat his head. “And you grew up so tall too!”

“You haven’t aged a day, Mrs. Kurosaki,” Grimmjow told her and she smiled smugly at her children.

“See kids, now that’s what we call good manners. This is why Grimmjow will get a special dessert tonight.”

At the general outcry, she laughed and pulled Grimmjow by the hand. “Come in and tell us where you’ve been all these years.”

Grimmjow actually looked flustered by all the attention and as much as Ichigo would have liked to see him suffer, he decided to take pity on him. “Actually, Mom, I think someone else wants to see Grimmjow.”

“Oh. Right. Well, don’t keep him all to yourself, Ichigo. And be ready for dinner.”

“Sure, Mom.” Ichigo led the way to his room and set his bookbag down on his desk. Grimmjow was looking around the room.

“It looks like I remember it,” he said.

Ichigo snorted. “Are you saying I have the taste of a fifth-grader?”

“Nah, it just looks like you.”

Ichigo glanced around at the posters on the walls and the general detritus of a teenage boy’s bedroom. “Messy?”

Grimmjow laughed and flopped down on the bed, making himself at home.

Ichigo leaned down beside the bed then looked beneath it. “I thought so. Will you come out? I have a surprise for you.”

“Who the hell are you talking to?” Grimmjow rolled onto his side to watch Ichigo.

Ichigo sat up holding a very large cat. Its black ears were folded back and it gazed at him suspiciously. Much like he had years before, Ichigo dropped it on Grimmjow who let out an oof when the weight hit him in the stomach.

“Pantera?” Grimmjow wheezed. “He’s a fat fuck.”

Pantera gave him a withering look and moved onto the bed to begin grooming himself.

“He’s not fat. He’s fluffy,” Ichigo said.

“Why was he hiding under the bed?” Grimmjow held his fingers up to Pantera who turned his nose away and made a show of ignoring him as only a cat could.

“My sisters have whined for years about getting a kitten so my parents finally gave in. Pantera can’t stand Kon.”

Grimmjow had been carding his fingers through the long fur of Pantera’s tail, but when Ichigo said the hated name, Pantera flipped his tail out of reach and turned to pounce on Grimmjow’s hand.

“Son of a—” Grimmjow yelled when the claws came out.

“I think he remembers you,” Ichigo said dryly.

Grimmjow rolled over so he could bring both hands up to play-fight the cat. Pantera was on his back and trying valiantly to kill at least one of Grimmjow’s hands.

“Speak of the devil,” Ichigo said, looking at the doorway.

Grimmjow leaned his head up to see a half-grown ginger cat, fluffy as fuck, wearing a pink frilly collar around its neck sneak into the room.

Kon went straight to Ichigo sitting on the floor and curled up on his lap. He kneaded at Ichigo’s pants and purred.

“How cozy. He likes you,” Grimmjow told him.

“Yeah. But Pantera is still my best cat.” Ichigo looked with dismay at the kitten using him as a bed.

“I don’t think you get to choose,” Grimmjow said. Then he went back to playing with Pantera who had declared a truce with Grimmjow’s hands as long as they worked magic on all his favorite scratching spots. He even favored Grimmjow with a quick grooming of his wrist which Grimmjow solemnly thanked him for.

Ichigo dumped Kon off his lap and stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom. Don’t trash my room while I’m gone.”

“I know you’re talking to that cat and not me.”

“I’ll trust Pantera to keep an eye on you.”

When Ichigo returned, it didn’t look like Pantera had listened either. Kon was up on the bed, fluffed to his maximum floof, doing the funny arch-backed strut around Grimmjow’s hands. Every few seconds, Grimmjow would quickly poke him and Kon would arch more and strut back the other way.

Pantera looked on from the pillow by Grimmjow’s head where he was sitting in loaf formation and rubbing against Grimmjow’s cheek which he occasionally licked.

“Quit seducing my cat,” Ichigo said.

“You jealous?” Grimmjow rolled over and blinked like a huge cat himself. “‘Cause I can seduce you instead.”

Ichigo blustered something but was saved when Kon, frustrated from losing Grimmjow’s attention, jumped right onto his face. Grimmjow’s shout was muffled but Pantera let out a scream and batted at Kon who only hunkered down more making Grimmjow shout again.

Ichigo burst out laughing and had to hold his sides. Grimmjow finally dislodged Kon by sitting up but that made him fall into Grimmjow’s lap which made Grimmjow swear until Kon got all his feet under him and ran, bouncing onto the floor and zooming past Ichigo to escape the room.

Pantera rubbed against Grimmjow and made concerned noises while Ichigo tried to stop laughing and breathe. Grimmjow was glaring at him which only made him laugh harder. “You’re an asshole,” Grimmjow told him.

“I wish I’d recorded that,” Ichigo had to wipe tears from his eyes.

“Now I remember why I hate you.”

His mother’s call echoed up the stairs, “If you two boys are done rough-housing get your butts down here for dinner!”

Ichigo learned that one thing about Grimmjow hadn’t changed—he still ate like a horse. Only this time he was old enough to regularly compliment Mrs. Kurosaki’s cooking and grin at her when she pretended to be embarrassed.

“Doesn’t it bother you that he’s flirting with your wife right in front of you?” Ichigo stage-whispered to his father while his mother loaded Grimmjow’s plate again and giggled at one of his jokes.

“She’s a very attractive woman; it’s no surprise that other men lust over her.” Ichigo and Karin gagged at Isshin’s response.

“Oh, darling, you have nothing to worry about,” Masaki dropped a kiss on Isshin’s cheek which made all three of her children shudder. “I’m not in the market for a younger model. Yet.”

“Ah, my dearest, you tease me because you love me!” Isshin grabbed her face and lavished kisses all over it to the loud protests of her family. Grimmjow just sat and ate, looking very amused by the whole situation.

“I know I don’t have to remind you boys to do your homework,” Masaki said once they had helped clear the table. “But if you get done early, I have more cake as a reward.”

“Geez, Mom. Are you trying to make us fat?”

“Neither one of you have to worry about that. Now, quit distracting your sisters. I can’t believe the teachers give so much work this early in the year.”

Ichigo led the way back upstairs but he sat on the bed before Grimmjow could sprawl out again. Kon had disappeared but Pantera was still asleep on Ichigo’s pillow.

“Do you have any homework?”

Grimmjow shrugged then yawned, stretching his hands up almost to the ceiling. Ichigo saw a glimpse of skin as his shirt pulled free from his pants and when he turned, he saw a hint of ink. “Do you have a tattoo?”

Grimmjow looked surprised then involuntarily felt his back. “Yeah. You wanna see.”

Ichigo leaned forward and Grimmjow turned sideways and lifted his shirt. It was a stylized numeral 6 in crisp black ink. “What’s it mean?”

“It was my rank in the … in a club I was in.”

Ichigo pretended like he didn’t hear the slip up. “You got anymore?”

Grimmjow’s smirk was slow. “Yeah. But I don’t know if you’re ready to see it.”

Ichigo tried to give him a glare but he could feel his cheeks turning red. “I actually do have work to do so if you wanna stay, stop distracting me.”

“Sure thing,” Grimmjow strolled around the room while Ichigo went to his desk and began pulling out his books. Grimmjow found his shelf of manga and made himself comfortable on the bed again, sharing the pillow with Pantera.

He said suddenly, “Remember when we’d do our homework at your table and your dad would pretend he didn’t know how to do the math problems.”

“I don’t think it was a joke. He sucks at math,” Ichigo said dryly. “Mom does all the banking and accounting for the clinic. He stopped helping me in elementary school.”

Grimmjow laughed lowly. “They would always take me home at night. It’s like they didn’t trust me to walk alone.”

“It wasn’t that they didn’t trust you. They worried about you. A lot.”

“Crazy,” Grimmjow said.

Ichigo went to work and when he looked over the next time, Grimmjow was asleep, curled on his side, Pantera nestled against his chest purring gently.

Ichigo debated for only a second before snapping pictures of the scene. Then he reached over Pantera and shook Grimmjow awake. “It’s getting late. You want a ride home?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Grimmjow yawned widely, looking uncannily similar to Pantera when he did the same thing. “Thank your mom for dinner for me.”

“I will.” Ichigo trailed him back through the house as he recovered his backpack, jacket and finally his shoes at the door. “You’re welcome here any time, you know.”

Grimmjow looked at him sharply. “I’ll be sure not to wear out my welcome. But I wanted to ask you, the guys are throwing a party Saturday night to celebrate the new school year. You wanna come?”

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. “I’ve never gone to one of their parties because they can get a little...rowdy.”

“They’re the best kind,” Grimmjow grinned. “Come on, Ichigo. Meet me at Szayelaporro’s Friday night.”

“Okay, fine, one party.” Ichigo gave in just to see Grimmjow’s grin widen.

*******

As soon as Ichigo walked into the party, he knew he’d made a mistake. There was no masking the smoke and the smell, and no one was trying to hide the multitude of liquor bottles on every horizontal surface. It seemed like it was already in full-swing since even the people dancing to the loud music were moving slowly and bonelessly.

Ichigo saw Ulquiorra and made a path toward him. “Where’s Grimmjow?” he demanded.

Ulquiorra looked at him with eyes dilated wide. “He wills where he wants.”

“That’s nice, thanks a fucking lot for nothing.” Ichigo glared around the dimly lit apartment again. Still no sight of a tall blue-haired form that should have stood out. He pushed his way through the people down the hall. Grimmjow was crowded into a corner leaning over a girl.

Ichigo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, suddenly even more furious. “Grimmjow, what the fuck!”

Grimmjow grinned at him and leaned so close that Ichigo could clearly see that his pupils were blown huge too. When he said Ichigo’s name, Ichigo could smell the overpowering odor of alcohol.

“Come on, Grimmjow. We’re getting out of here.” Ichigo dug in his heels preparing for a fight, but Grimmjow just slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him even closer.

“Wait, where are you going?” the girl pawed at Grimmjow’s chest, but he brushed off her hands without even looking.

“Come on,” Ichigo got him turned down the hallway and started forward. As long as he let Grimmjow hold onto him, he moved willingly through the crowd. Ichigo got another glimpse of Ulquiorra who still stood motionless in the kitchen watching them leave.

Once out of the apartment, Ichigo took a deep breath of fresh air and studied Grimmjow closer. He had definitely taken something, and drank something, and there were bright lipstick stains all over his face and neck.

“I’m taking you home,” he announced and Grimmjow leaned down to breath heavily into his ear.

“I can’t wait. Take me home.”

Ichigo shivered but at least Grimmjow was moving. Ichigo tried to ignore the hand sliding off his shoulder, down to his waist, to rest on his ass. He got Grimmjow to the right neighborhood and Grimmjow was able to stumble to the right apartment and even help him with the keys.

The tiny one-room apartment was a mess, but Ichigo pointed him at the futon and he went down in a rush. The only problem was he was still holding onto Ichigo who went down on top of him.

Grimmjow squirmed under him, and Ichigo held himself still until Grimmjow apparently had him arranged where he wanted: lying on top, his head cushioned on Grimmjow’s chest, Grimmjow’s legs to either side of his. It wasn’t remotely comfortable and worse, it was terribly intimate.

Ichigo started peeling himself off and ignored Grimmjow’s grumbles. “You are such a dumbass,” Ichigo told him when he could finally stand up.

Grimmjow just lounged on the mussed futon and grinned up at him. “Get back down here.”

“No,” Ichigo walked a few steps to the opposite wall and pulled out his phone. “Dad, yeah, it’s me. Hey, Grimmjow is all kinds of messed up from that party he was at. Yes, I know the recovery position. Yes, I’ll give him water. No, I didn’t take any shit, I was only there long enough to get him out. I might have to stay over to make sure he’s okay. Yeah, all right, thanks, Dad.”

Grimmjow was still grinning up at him. Ichigo nudged him with his foot but he easily evaded Grimmjow grabbing at him. “I’ll have to stay to make sure you don’t wake up dead.”

Grimmjow laughed and stretched. “Why don’t you come down here and keep me company?”

“Why don’t I make you some coffee? Or tea?” Ichigo went to the kitchenette and started rummaging. “Jeez, Grimmjow, how do you live like this? You got nothing here.”

“I don’t need much.”

Ichigo rooted in the fridge and found nothing but energy drinks. He finally emptied a bottle, rinsed it and filled it with water that he took back and offered Grimmjow. He sat up and drank thirstily.

“So do you do this kind of shit often?”

“Sometimes,” Grimmjow wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “At my last school I did whatever the hell I wanted to. Go party, bring home a girl, have fun for a night. My mom was never home so no one cared.”

“Then why’d you come back here?”

Grimmjow slumped back down to the futon. “Because no matter what I did, I couldn’t forget this fucking little kid who rescued a bunch of cats for me.”

“You damn softie,” Ichigo said and sat down on the floor beside the futon.

Grimmjow rolled so he could look at Ichigo. “It’s always been you.”

Then he lunged over and tried to catch Ichigo’s head. Ichigo pulled away and Grimmjow ended up halfway on top of him. He moved his head far enough to kiss Ichigo’s chin and tried for his mouth before Ichigo was able to get a hand on his face and another on his shoulder and push him away.

“What the hell was that for?”

“I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I moved back to town.”

Ichigo pulled away and got to his feet. “You need to sleep this off.”

“Stay with me,” Grimmjow reached up for him but Ichigo forced himself to back away and sit down on the opposite side of the room. He leaned against the wall and sighed.

“We’ll talk about it in the morning if you still feel this way.”

“It’s been six damn years, of course I still feel this way.”

Ichigo squeezed his eyes closed. “Grimm, just go to sleep.”

Grimmjow grumbled for a while and drank the rest of the water but he finally did fall asleep. Ichigo sat and watched him for a long while. Grimmjow was laying on his side and seemed to be breathing easily. Ichigo refilled the bottle with water and set it beside him. Then he pulled the crumpled sheet over him and left.

********

Ichigo didn’t get much sleep that night, replaying Grimmjow’s drunken conversation over and over. He wondered how much was the alcohol and drugs talking. And if Grimmjow would even remember the whole thing. Ichigo didn’t want to be the first one to bring it up, but he also didn’t want to leave Grimmjow miserable and alone.

The tossing and turning made him sleep in, and he grudgingly evaded his dad’s usual attempt at grievous bodily harm before finally getting out of bed.

He was poking listlessly at a late lunch when the doorbell rang. His mom answered it, and Ichigo heard her say, “Wow, you look terrible. Do you want something to eat?”

Grimmjow’s rough voice declined and then he appeared beside Ichigo. Masaki looked from one to the other before she said, “We’re getting ready to go to Karin’s soccer game. We won’t be home until after dinner, so if you want something, order pizza.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Ichigo yawned and she stuck her tongue out at him. Then she patted Grimmjow on the cheek and started rounding up the rest of the family.

Ichigo chewed methodically until he finished his meal. Grimmjow just sat beside him silently.

Masaki popped back into the kitchen. “I almost forgot again! I wanted to give this to you the other night. Grimmjow, this is for you.” She handed him a soft package wrapped in tissue paper.

Grimmjow slid his thumb under the tape and pulled the paper open. Then he stared. Ichigo looked over his shoulder and stared too.

It was the small, fuzzy blanket with the tiger on it that Grimmjow had given to the mother cat when he found her and her kittens.

For the first time since Grimmjow returned, Ichigo see could the lonely, scared little sixth-grader that made his life hell and then became his best friend in his expression as he slowly ran his hand over the blanket.

“I had to disinfect it I don’t know how many times to get the cat smell out,” Masaki was saying, “but I wanted to save it for you. It seemed special.”

“Yeah,” Grimmjow said roughly. “Thanks.”

“We’re leaving now. Have fun. And no smoking in the house, please.”

“See you later, Mom.”

Ichigo never took his eyes off Grimmjow who was still staring down at the blanket.

“You okay?” Ichigo finally asked when he got up to take his plate to the sink.

“I’m fine. You gonna lecture me about last night?”

“No, no lecture. It’s your life and you can do what you want with it.” Ichigo poured himself a glass of water. “I just think you’re being a dumbass.”

“Noted.”

Ichigo finally turned to face Grimmjow. “You wanna go up to my room?”

“Sure.”

Ichigo didn’t know what to say to him, didn’t know if he should even raise the issue. Grimmjow probably didn’t remember it anyway, so why bring it up?

“Hey, buddy, look who’s here,” Ichigo said to Pantera who sat on his bed and meowed a greeting. He jumped off and ran to Grimmjow, twining around his ankles. “He remembers you.”

“I couldn’t stop thinking of him either,” Grimmjow sat heavily on his bed then picked up Pantera and put him in his lap. “You two were all I could remember.”

Ichigo’s stomach clenched. “Yeah? What do you remember about last night?”

Grimmjow looked him right in the eyes. “Everything. You told me we’d talk about it later, if I still felt the same, and I do. I always have. Ever since you were just a snot-nosed little brat who cried over everything.”

“Geez, Grimmjow.” Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t wanna waste any more time,” Grimmjow said roughly. “I never told you I had a huge crush on you when we were kids. It’s why I was such an asshole to you. Only then you made me be your friend and then I had to leave and,” his voice trailed off as he looked down at Pantera. “Then I couldn’t stop thinking about you and wondering how you were and what you were doing. I got the crazy idea to move back here and find you before you went away to college.”

He looked back up at Ichigo fiercely. “As soon as I saw you, all those old feelings came back and I realized I still had a crush on you. Only now, you’re even better, and I had to go and ruin it last night.”

Ichigo couldn’t move, could only stare at him in shock. He tried to say something but wasn’t even sure how to begin. Finally he croaked, “You didn’t ruin anything last night.”

Grimmjow laughed bitterly. “You saw me at my worst. I can get like that sometimes, when things are too much to handle.”

“You’ve had a lot to handle in life,” Ichigo said. “I’m not into that. But it’s your choice.”

“Given a choice, I would pick you every fucking time.”

Ichigo couldn’t look away from the sincerity of Grimmjow’s eyes. He said slowly, “I thought about you too, after you left. I missed you so bad. Since you came back, I think about you all the time. Just not in the same way. I mean, I think about you in different ways now than when I was little.”

“What kind of ways?” Grimmjow’s voice deepened. “Sexy ways?”

Ichigo was sure that the hot blush creeping across his cheeks was answer enough but Grimmjow didn’t say anything. “Yeah,” Ichigo finally admitted.

“You ever have a boyfriend, Ichigo?” Grimmjow asked as he set Pantera on the bed and stood up.

“No,” Ichigo had to tip his head up to follow Grimmjow’s eyes when he stepped in close.

“You got one now.” Grimmjow cupped the side of his face in his long fingers and ran his thumb over Ichigo’s bottom lip. Then he followed it with his mouth.

Ichigo felt the warmth and firmness of his lips and instinctively leaned closer. His hands came up without any instruction and held on to Grimmjow’s upper arms. Grimmjow’s other hand went around his lower back and pulled him ever closer as Grimmjow’s tongue teased at the seam of his lips.

“Open your mouth, Ichigo,” he whispered, the words tickling Ichigo’s lips until he obeyed. The kiss deepened and Ichigo held on as they breathed in each other and Grimmjow thoroughly learned the shape of his lips.

“You okay with this?” Grimmjow asked, pulling back just far enough so that he could look at Ichigo’s face. Ichigo felt like he should have been embarrassed at how out of breath and panting he was, but all he could think was more, more, more.

He tipped his face up and kissed Grimmjow, moving a little too fast and pinching Grimmjow’s upper lip between their teeth. But when he would have pulled back, mortified, Grimmjow just growled and flicked his tongue out, delving into Ichigo’s mouth and teasing his own tongue into playing.

Ichigo finally understood what all the fuss was about kissing as he followed Grimmjow’s lead and soon caught on to the rhythm and movement he seemed to like. Just when he’d chanced to suck on Grimmjow’s tongue, Grimmjow moaned and pulled back.

“Sorry,” Ichigo said but Grimmjow just rested his forehead against Ichigo’s for a moment.

“What’re you sorry about?” he panted.

“I thought I did something wrong.”

Grimmjow huffed out a laugh and kissed Ichigo’s forehead. “You’re doing everything right,” he assured. “I just don’t wanna take this any further than you want it to go.”

“I want you,” Ichigo said, and until he said it out loud, he didn’t realize how incredibly true it was. He finally admitted to himself that he wanted Grimmjow in every way, not just as friends or buddies.

He ran his hands from Grimmjow’s arms slowly across his chest and then down. He felt Grimmjow suck in a breath and the hard muscles under his curious hands tightened even more. Then he moved them around Grimmjow’s lower back and up, pulling Grimmjow closer.

“Ichigo,” Grimmjow moaned and nuzzled into his ear, kissing his way down his neck. Ichigo tilted his head so he could have better access. He felt Grimmjow’s hand move slowly up his back, taking the hem of his T-shirt with it. Grimmjow asked, “Can I?”

Ichigo nodded and Grimmjow stepped back long enough to peel Ichigo’s shirt off with a little help. Then he fell on his collarbones with kisses and nips that made Ichigo squeal an embarrassing noise. Grimmjow chuckled as he bit gently into the strong muscle at the top of Ichigo’s shoulders and that made Ichigo moan. One of his questing hands came up to Ichigo’s chest, smoothing over his pec and finding his nipple. The unexpected thrill that thumbing over it caused Ichigo to buck his hips involuntarily.

“You’re so responsive,” Grimmjow whispered into his ear then licked the whorl of it. “You get me so hard.”

“Me too,” Ichigo said, even though he knew there was no way Grimmjow could have missed the hard bulge that was rubbing against his hip bone.

“Can I go down on you?” Grimmjow asked him, still whispering as though the intimacy would offend the quiet stillness of Ichigo’s room.

***For the rest of this NSFW scene, go here to AO3.

[vesperlionheart]

The Barn 4

[part1][part2][part3][here][Part5]

Sakura made dinner for three, hating how she knew in her bones that she would only need three servings. Tayuya’s seed of worry was sprouting in Sakura’s mind. She started to fixate about the reasons Kakuzu didn’t return her calls.

Her phone was on the counter, dark and silent. No missed called, no unread text messages.

‘Wrong, wrong, wrong.’

“Were you in danger?”

Sakura blinked and looked up, realizing for the first time that Konan was speaking to her. Sakura’s thoughts had drifted again.

“I’m sorry. What were you saying?” Sakura asked.

Kona smiled apologetically. “No, it was sudden. I meant about earlier, with the other girl that came here. She was wild with magic all through her, but that didn’t change when you showed up. I didn’t think that meant danger but when I thought about it later...it’s not normal for shinobi or your sort of people to be flaring their chakra-I mean magic, like that. It’s wasteful.”

“It’s Tayuya. That’s her MO, what she’s known for. She’s all wild all the time. You can’t get the drop on her, and she’s the sort of person you want on your side. For better or for worse, she’s...always dangerous, all the time.”

Sakura grinned out of the side of her mouth, not realizing she was even doing it until she caught the reflection of her face in the water glass. She let the expression fall away. Old memories always felt fonder the further she grew from them.

Memories weren't much different than scars.

“It didn’t sound like there was much use for being dangerous in this strange new world,” Gaara said, licking his lips. The chances that he was thinking about that drink were high.

“Not for me, no, I’m not really immersed in that world. The rest of the coven, the family, they do the dangerous stuff. I don’t know exactly what, because we weren't that tight, but it made Tayuya look good.” Sakura shrugged. “I guess I didn’t have enough faith to blindly pledge my services like she did.”

“What is the dangerous stuff?” Gaara asked.

Sakura waved her hand dismissively. “No idea. Maybe they’re beheading dirty politicians in the Ukraine or dealing with forces over the veil. For all I know they’re playing board games with the devil on Wednesdays. What was the sort of dangerous stuff you did when you guys were shinobi in your old world?”

“Fighting, killing people, escorting clients through dangerous territories. It was full blown war at the end,” Konan answered.

“You didn’t look like you were dressed for war when you first were summoned,” said Sakura.

“You can thank whoever it was that tethered our spirits to the wood of this place. When our souls were bound we were influenced by the era of this place. That was over a hundred years ago. You’ve not seen us in our traditional garb.”

Sakura whistled low. “I didn’t know this place was that old.”

Konan grinned. “We were built into it.”

“And it was over one hundred and twenty years ago,” Gaara added. When Konan narrowed her eyes at him quizzically he just pointed to a book left on the end table with the title, Local Providence History.

“I didn't know you read,” Konan whispered.

Gaara made a face. “You thought I was illiterate?”

“I...just didn’t know you read. There wasn’t a lot of reading material in the mad genjutsu warping word.”

“How did you think I ran a country if I couldn’t read?” Gaara glared at Konan but then whipped his face around to Sakura and his expression went from agitated to desperate. “I can read, I’m not illiterate. I read lots of things.”

“I believe you,” Sakura said, failing to not see his desperate face as cute. He was too easily adorable.

“Are there many like her?” Konan asked. “Crazy like a wildfire and ready to go?”

“Tay is a hurricane, she’s a wind witch like a lot of the main family members. Karin is a blood witch, and I’m a bone witch. Some of the Uzumaki women are dual witches, possessing more than one speciality, but the dominate trait is almost always wind.”

Sakura rolled her eyes, remembering how that classification brought with it a sense of superiority she missed out on. She wasn’t of ‘pure’ stock, they told her.

“Shinobi specialize in different areas of study, and we have natures to our chakra, but it’s funny that we don't limit ourselves to one trait,” said Konan. “I think you would have done well as a shinobi.”

“I’m barely a witch,” Sakura scoffed. “I’m not a part of that lifestyle, remember?”

“You’re not like the other girl, but that doesn’t mean you're not dangerous,” Gaara said.

Sakura felt weight settled into her when Gaara looked across the table at her. She felt like he could suddenly see right through her. She had been turned transparent for him to see the parts that she had ignored or pretended to never have in the first place. She hadn’t touched magic in six years but it had touched her, like it or not. He knew that. He saw that.

Sakura lowered her eyes and reached for the glass of water, sipping more to give herself something to do and less to actually drink. She couldn’t meet his eyes in that moment. Sakura didn’t want to be dangerous.

“It doesn’t seem like the others are coming back tonight. Were you expecting them later?” Konan asked.

She stood up to collect their plates and take them to the kitchen sink. Sakura rose to follow her and help. Gaara picked up what was left of the food and carried it over to the stove. There was a little of the Sheppard’s Pie left that Sakura helped him put away in a plastic tub.

“I was expecting a call from him, actually.” Sakura slipped the lids over the Tupperware and then placed the plastic in the fridge. “He should have contacted me by now but none of my calls or texts have been answered. I’m not worried, because I’m sure those guys can take care of themselves, but I don’t like this feeling.”

“Do you have classes to teach tomorrow?” Konan asked.

Gaara grumbled, sending an annoyed look over to Konan. “They can take care of themselves. She doesn’t need to do anything for them.”

Konan waved a hand in his direction to shush him before turning to Sakura and waiting for an answer.

Sakura nodded. “I do have classes in the morning, but they’re early. I’ll be done by mid day. I don’t think I have meetings either, just office hours.”

“You have to be there for the whole time?”

Sakura felt a grumble in her heart. “I don’t need to be there exactly. I can say there is a family issue I need to see to and leave if I don’t have any appointments on the books with students. It doesn’t look good, but…”

She had never sacrificed any of her work or school life for witchery work. It didn’t set well with her that one lifestyle crossed over to her main lifestyle. She was worried about being professional at the university, not the number of black cats that crossed her path.

“You don't need to do anything for them. No one can force Madara to do anything he doesn’t want to and the others will be just as fine. What’s the worse that can happen when they’re here, where it’s super safe all the time?”

Gaara didn’t mean for his words to make her worry, but that’s all they did for the rest of the night and into the next day.

Sakura left Gaara behind, not having the heart to wake him and take him with her before the sun was up. After her first class a few students from her lecture yesterday peeked in to see if Sakura was with the new TA hopeful and were disappointed when Sakura said that today was ‘the love boat's day off.’ The gaggle of girls were all a tizzy on their way out.

Before long it was lunch time and she was in her last lecture. When that ended she checked her emails from her phone one last time and saw that there were no outstanding meetings planned by any of her students or the rest of the faculty.

She took the free time to make her copies and prepare the materials for the next day’s lesson. She planned a pop quiz but then scrapped that when she realized she hadn’t finished covering the chapter. With the new textbook update the old chapters were all split and she had to wait twice as long to give a test that was also twice as long.

Sakura paused in her cubicle to check her calls. Just like her messages, there were none from Kakuzu.

She made the copies anyway and saved them for later. With her things put together Sakura grabbed her bag and the untouched drink off her desk and headed for the parking lot.

When she got home Gaara was there, almost simmering until she offered him the frappuccino. He melted like a cat for the apology/bribe. Konan looked up from the book she was reading and frowned when she saw Sakura’s expression.

“What’s the matter?” Konan asked.

Sakura hated what she had to say, wishing she didn’t have to even as the words started to spill from her mouth. “Those boys aren’t coming back unless I go get them myself.”

“Kakuzu told you this?” Konan asked, standing and looking worried.

“No, he didn’t tell me anything, and that’s how I know it’s bad. I’m going to change and then I’m heading back out. Is there a way you could be discreet and mobil?”

Konan took a stew forward and unfolded into a hundred pure white papers that flapped noisily onto themselves and then folded up again and again until she was an origami flower pretty enough to wear as a hair decoration.

Sakura nodded to Gaara. “And you?”

He narrowed his eyes at Sakura, still sucking up cold drink through the lime green straw. “I’m not hiding.”

“It’s not hiding, I just don’t want them to see you and try to keep you behind too.”

“I’m not leaving your side and I’m not staying behind. They can’t make me, so I’m not hiding,” he answered in a matter of fact tone. He didn’t sound like he would entertain any dissuasion.

“You don’t know the Uzumaki.”

Gaara shrugged. “They don’t know me.”

Sakura set her mouth into a line and nodded, inwardly willing herself to stay neutral and not let her expression slip to show anything.

“Fine. I won’t let them take you if you don’t want to. I’m not as strong as the Uzumaki main house members, but I’ll be strong enough. Just wait for me to change.”

Sakura cleaned up and peeled off the pencil skirt and nude stockings. She had a long sleeved dress as black as pitch with a deep cut in the front. It stopped around her knees in heavy folds that lifted when she twirled. Sakura stepped into pointed black heels that made her feel ten feet tall and sounded her approach like a warning on the right type of floors.

Sakura almost left the bathroom after that, but paused to look herself over again. She redid her eyes and lips with the darker colors and blew a kiss to her reflection. She looked like a witch again and that was half the power struggle.  

Sakura slipped a small woven purse over her shoulder and checked to make sure her chalk and totems were all in place.

When she lifted the paper flower that was Konan to clip into her hair the outside of the paper turned back and curled to match the rest of Sakura’s image.

“Are they far, this Uzumaki family?” Gaara asked.

Sakura reached for a stick of chalk encased in a mother of pearl handle. She blew on the end and then tapped the hardwood before bending down to draw a long, intricate seal in a counterclockwise pattern with perfect lines and unforgiving edges. In the center of the seal she drew an eye open sideways.

“Stand with me in the center, Gaara,” she said while holding out her hand for him to take.

He reached for her but skipped her hand to just take her arm and wrap it around his own. He pressed close to her side and she felt the warmth of him.

Arm in arm, Sakura refocused her attention and pushed her magic into the seal. It wasn’t the neatest of all her work, but when it hummed under her, her bones sang happy and she knew she had done a good enough job.

There was a pull downward and Sakura felt the pressure before her magic buffered both her and Gaara and then the snap that tore the world into a new shade of white made her jump. The world bled back into color and slipped slowly into focus.

Gaara leaned on her and she held him steady until the spinning stopped.

“Where are we?”

Sakura opened her eyes and looked up. All around them was white gray marble veined with black and blue. The stood on a dias that was burned with a seal of its own.

Sakura stepped down and tugged Gaara with her before heading to the seamless door that responded with just a touch. “The is the receiving hall. Come on, the real manor is a little further down.”

Outside the door there was a path made out of tan gravel and white crushed shells. It was shaded by slouching trees with branches as wide as they were long. It was a fair walk before the path curved towards a white colored house with marble columns and a cascade of history in every step.

Sakura led Gaara up the front stairs and didn’t bother knocking. The door opened as they approached and a footman stood to the side, eyeing them as they walked in.

“Where is Kakuzu?” Sakura asked, stepping over the threshold.

“He is occupied at this moment with the young masters. If you would like to wait in the parlor Dame Sakura, I shall let him know you’ve arrived.”

Sakura felt her lip curl at the title. “There’s no need for that. He’s expecting me.”

It was a lie. Kakuzu probably thought she was cowering at the house, ignoring the issues like she had for all of six years. She had never been much of a witch, and dressing up in dark colors didn’t change it.

All her life she had been second class, never good enough, a castaway afterthought of a girl. She had never tried to be anything else, so why would anyone expect her to waltz into the home of the largest and arguably most powerful coven on the East Coast looking like she belonged?

“There’s a lot of shinobi here,” whispered Gaara, drawing close to her side.

“You mean witches.”

“No, shinobi. Witches, yeah, but there are more than just Madara and Kisame and Zabuza here. I can feel their chakra. Shinobi aren’t the best when it comes to masking their powers unless they are a sensor type.”

“You recognize anyone?” Sakura asked, keeping her voice low as she turned down a new hallway and led Gaara towards the offices where Kakuzu should be. She remembered the way from when she came in last week to represent her claim in the late Mito will.

Gaara yanked on her arm and Sakura stopped. Gaara pointed off to the opposition hall. “Down there. I can sense Madara.”

“The others?” Sakura echoed.

“Maybe, but Madara is the easiest to notice.”

Sakura stood where she stopped, looking down the hallway to where Kakuzu’s office was. It was only a few doors down. Nothing about it stood out. There was no magic running around the exterior like other doors in the same hallway. No peering eyes either.

Sakura turned on her heel and headed in the direction Gaara pointed out. “Let’s go,” she said, threading her arm into his once more.

The doors seemed to warp and stretch. Sakura felt the webbing of an illusion even as Gaara muttered something about ‘genjutsu’ in her ear. It was easy enough to step through and ignore without much bothering. Lesser mortals would have been caught right away. Sakura wasn’t one of those anymore.

Gaara stopped at a door and Sakura bit back a groan before pushing open the first door.  The Uzumaki library was the envy of all bookworm girls, as long and tall as the ones in the city, and just as stocked. Several fireplaces warmed the corners and in front of one of those fires, a beautiful redhead sat nursing a short glass burning with liquid amber.

Karin looked up and the fire reflected in her glass, making it look like she nursed the burning flames in her palms. Her eyes, once half lidded and drowsy, flashed wide with brilliant color as a smile stretched wider and mad across her ruby lips.

She stood and turned, the silk of her dress sliding down over her hips like hands, leaving little to the imagination. Karin was just as stunning as Sakura remembered. The redhead had perfect nails and diamonds on her fingers, sparkling like a piece of art. It hurt to look at her.

“Sakura!”  

Up on the higher levels Madara leaned far over the railings. He gripped the metal once and then heaved himself up and over, falling through the air for two stories before touching down in front of her in a low crouch that disturbed nothing in the air. He sprang up and reached for her hand but as he moved a gold chain materialized and yanked him back towards Karin. He snarled.

“You bitch, if I had my chakra-”

“But you don’t,” Karin drawled. She raised her fist, wrapped over and over with layers of gold chakra binds. “Stupid, old fashioned fool. You’re a mess waiting to happen. Did you bring the other ones to me, cousin?”

Gaara growled, standing closer to Sakura even as Madara’s eyes flashed. Something kept the red out of his irises.

“I was afraid of something like this. Where is Kakuzu and the others, Karin?” Sakura asked, fixing her posture into one of casual defiance. This was the game between them.

“Auntie said we needed to help you out. You’re in over your head, dearest cous,” Karin cooed, her voice sluggish.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, noticing the red bite marks on the underside of Karin’s one arm. They were out in the open like she wasn’t even trying to hide them anymore.

“What did they do to you?” Sakura breathed, heart hammering fast in her throat. Those were fresh bites and old bites both.

“I’m getting by, cous,” Karin chuckled, closing her eyes and letting her head roll to one side. Her hair fell off her neck and several more bites showed up along the pale of her neck. Her posture was one step away from lethargic.

Sakura felt anger in the roots of her teeth. She wanted to tear apart something with her jaws, soaked heavy in magic. Karin was one of them! How could they? She was a contender for the next matriarch or patriarch of their coven.

“Who?” Sakura managed to ground out.

Karin’s eyes flashed with anger. “Don’t growl at me like you care. You’re not a part of this anymore. You should go now, before auntie comes looking. You know how she is when it comes to her babies and Naruto and Menma will be here soon.”

“Why? Did you call them?” Sakura huffed.

“Don’t need to. There are eyes in half these walls, you know. You walked right into it, cous. You can’t get much stupider than that.”  Karin clicked her tongue on her teeth and shook her head. “I thought you were smarter than that, little miss PHD, or was it PTSD, I can’t remember.”

Karin set her scotch glass down and wiggled her fingers in Sakura’s direction. Magic simmered in the air between them and Sakura drew up her own magic to meet it. There was the sound of cracking when their magics met and Karin grinned.

“Let Madara go, now.” Sakura’s voice left no room for argument. “He’s going back with me, along with the others.”

“Oh?” Karin cooed, her lips forming a perfect O. “Are we really going to get into it here, of all places? Really, Sakura. I thought you had more class than that.”

“Let go of the chains.” Sakura glared at the way Madara strained with the shackles around his neck and wrists.

“Or what?” Karin shook the chains and drew Madara closer, forcing him backwards onto his heels. “You going to actually duel me here?”

“Let him go.” Sakura pushed Gaara behind her.

Karin looked hungry. She wrapped the chains around her fist once more before yanking sharply and jerking him back off his feet and over the back of the couch. Something snapped, splintering into stalks of shredded wood upon impact. Madara crashed down with a groan while Karin stepped forward, climbing up the cushions and over the back of the couch in her heels and skirts, never caring for gravity. Behind her the chains snaked up and pinned Madara down to the floor, freeing her hands for more nefarious and dangerous magic. Red magic crackled around her.

“Last warning, let him go.”

Karin raised her hands. “Make me.”

Sakura surged.

[sasuita]

would you mind sharing your thoughts on sasuke and his interactions with team taka compared to with team 7?

Right, so. I’ll put the TL;DR at the top, because my post will basically amount to this: Team 7 is bad for Sasuke. Taka is good for Sasuke. 

I also can’t promise this post is like...organized lol. 

I get why people obsess over Team 7. It’s the team Sasuke was originally in, sometimes they function to do some cool shit, and the fandom (and 3/4 of the team’s members) have an obsession with keeping the original team together. ...Even if they barely function. No, I’m not counting Yamato or Sai* for this post.

The team is grossly overhyped, to the point people try to claim it functions better than the other teams presented in the manga. Yet no one stops to realize that the other teams never had a member bail on them and have never had major issues with getting along and producing teamwork. Team 7 is rife with problems from the very beginning. For one, prior to the team’s creation, Sakura is Naruto’s bully. And Naruto frequently harasses Sasuke. Sakura is also obsessed with Sasuke, a love that is, by Kishimoto himself, described as selfish. And wew, throughout this 700 chapter run this love continues to be just that, selfish. 

It’s Sasuke that originally introduces teamwork to the team. Sasuke forfeits his lunch to Naruto first, Sasuke prepares himself for Kakashi to come down on them. Sakura is aghast, why would he disobey!? Turns out Sasuke’s kindness passed them the test. But even after that, their teamwork is basically non-existent. Prior to the Land of Waves mission, Naruto is absolutely obsessed with the idea that Sasuke is out to make him look stupid or weak, when Naruto is the one absolutely fucking up every D-rank they go on. Even Sakura is preferable here, she’s actually working with Sasuke like a platoon should. Sasuke is more than willing to work with Naruto if Naruto could let his freak complex go for five minutes to do something as an actual squad.

Now-- this post isn’t to claim Sasuke doesn’t care for Team 7; specifically Naruto, and Sakura. He does, and I won’t claim otherwise. It’s just in Sasuke’s nature, he can’t help it, he isn’t a hateful/spiteful person by nature, and feelings like that he has to actively work to maintain. So despite both of these people being unhealthy for Sasuke, he grew to care for them anyways. This is highlighted when he’s willing to sacrifice his life to save Naruto from Haku. His body moved on its own-- his instinct to protect people is just that strong. And again during the fight with Gaara. He expresses he doesn’t want to lose people close to him again, and he is willing to use his  body to break Naruto’s fall. 

It’s possible to care deeply for people who are bad for you. This kind of stuff happens all the time. 

When Sasuke leaves, the worst traits of T7 come to play. This unending, absolute obsession with bringing Sasuke back and completing the team. To complete the “nostalgia.” Sakura sings her own number when one of her selling points to Sasuke is how it would make her feel. And again in 693 this argument is presented;

“If we’re together again, I’m sure we could go back to those days...” What days? Genin days? Days that were apparently hunky-dory for you. Not a single thought to how those days were for Sasuke. It’s ALL about the nostalgia factor and how she felt during that time in childhood. It’s all about bringing him back to complete a set. 

Naruto is his own set of problems. He feels dangerously entitled to bringing Sasuke back. He sure gets pissed off about Orochimaru claiming Sasuke is his, for a person who also considers Sasuke his. How about Sasuke doesn’t belong to anyone? Nah, that’s not something Naruto is going to consider. Everything is about bringing Sasuke back. He’s willing to break bones and beat him to a pulp and drag him back. What a nice friendship. 

Naruto consistently claims Sasuke as a friend; “because i’m YOUR friend”, lording that over Sasuke, he’s decided apparently and Sasuke has no say in it. And in fact, the only times Sasuke says it back is when he’s about to kill him. Naruto seriously fucked up the definition of the word friend for Sasuke, there’s a scary reason why Sasuke won’t call anyone else that specific term. 

It’s worth mentioning in both Sakura’s novel and Sasuke’s novel, Sakura decides the proper way to get Sasuke into a relationship with her is by chasing him and continually confessing until he’s too exhausted to say no. His no is irrelevant anyways, she won’t listen.

I probably missed some stuff, but now I want to talk about Taka.

The first big difference in Taka vs T7 is that Sasuke chose Taka. He personally chose these people himself, and not even on a whim. He’d  planned these specific people for a very long time. Sasuke has a level of agency here, in that he chose who to surround himself with, as opposed to people being selected for him. Taka has issues in the beginning, sure, but no member feels dangerously entitled to his feelings or time. 

“but Karin!”

Karin’s attracted to him, and would rather have him alone, sure. But Karin knows when to back off from Sasuke, and doesn’t spent her time wailing to him about how her feelings matter over his. She doesn’t ignore his agency in a dangerous manner. 

Taka starts off rocky, with Suigetsu warning Sasuke about Karin, and then both of them warning Sasuke about Juugo. But once the team is together they know how to communicate and work together. They have scrolls to warn each other something has happened, as shown when Sasuke fights Deidara and has to summon Manda to survive. They take care of Sasuke when he is healing, and then  effectively lead the Leaf village shinobi astray as Sasuke moves to get Itachi’s location. They also stay together during that fight, and quickly come back to Sasuke’s side after Itachi is killed.

Sasuke originally said his goal was to kill Itachi; that being the team’s only reason to stay together. Yet....Taka remains a group even after Itachi is dead. They still want to remain by Sasuke’s side, and help him in his endeavors.

Taka all have something in common-- people used or otherwise abandoned by the system, and taken advantage of. Karin was orphaned when she alone could detect her village’s oncoming massacre, Suigetsu was kidnapped to be tortured/experimented on by Orochimaru, Juugo could literally not find help for his condition anywhere else and turned to Orochimaru. We all know Sasuke’s story too. And of course, by the look of the post-ending material, literally no one wanted anything to do with Taka’s members, forcing them all to go back to Orochimaru. 

The main takeaway from this is that Taka’s members don’t feel as if their own desires supercede Sasuke’s in such a manner that it’s harmful to Sasuke. They are a cohesive unit, where as T7 only works in pairs, IE, Naruto/Sasuke will occasionally fight well as a duo, Sakura/Naruto fight well as a duo. Instead of wanting and demanding something from Sasuke, Taka stands up for him and helps him. Suigetsu thinks VERY highly of Sasuke, telling the prisoners he’s freeing in Orochimaru’s lair that Sasuke is here to bring justice and peace to the ninja world. Juugo wants nothing more than to stay by his side and support him, and Karin, while attracted to him, is more than happy to step down and let Sasuke fall in love with someone else, because him being able to be happy is more important. (This isn’t me saying I like SS or he’s happy in SS, just Karin’s logic.)

*I consider Sai a part of T7, purely because Sai actually wants to be in it, and he cares for both Naruto and Sakura’s well being. Too bad Naruto and Sakura could give less of a shit about that, because dragging Sasuke back into a team he doesn’t want to be in is more important. Again....nostalgia factor.

[darisu-chan]

The Setting Sun

Prompt: Angst Daily Themes: Rain, Ghost, Breathe

Summary: After many years, Rukia goes to Karakura Town to visit Ichigo one last time.

You can also read it here.

They are close. So close that he can hear her breathing gently, he can feel the warmth radiating from her, and her reiatsu enveloping him in a soft cocoon, his own responding in recognition. It is familiar. It is like being at home. And her fingers are also close to his, but he doesn’t dare cross the line and touch them. He knows they are soft and calloused at the same time, as well as cold as ice. Still, he doesn’t dare. He can’t.

“Rukia?” He calls to her. She turns her dove eyes to him.

“Yes?”

“Do you remember when you told me that when I was ready to talk, that I could come to you and tell you everything?” He sees the memories flashing across her indigo eyes, just as they are flashing in his own mind. A graveyard, trees, imminent danger, a fifteen year old boy, a Shinigami in a gigai, and a promise. It feels like it happened a lifetime away. In some ways, it has been a lifetime since then.

“Yes, I remember, Ichigo.” She answers simply, trying to recover from the daze she was trapped in thanks to the memories.

“I’m ready now.” The man says softly.

Rukia’s lips part as if she were to say something, and then she shakes her head. “I’m here. I’m listening.”

“My mother she was… well, there’s only one way to put it: she was like the sun, and my whole family ─dad, Yuzu, Karin, and me─ revolved around her. I loved her more than anything in this world. Whenever I cried or felt bad, I just had to look at her to feel happy again. I think it was the same for my sisters.” He pauses to take a breath, and Rukia scoots closer, to hear him better.

“Go on.” She says smiling.

“When I was a kid, my parents told me the meaning of my name, ‘he who protects’, and since then I decided I wanted to protect people, my sisters, when they were born, my dad, and my mom. I wanted to show my mom I could protect her, that I could be her strength.” He laughs at his childhood memories. There were of a time when he had been carefree and truly happy. He cherishes them now, almost with reverence.

“But… things didn’t stay the same.” He sobers up instantly. “When I was eight, I was walking home with my mother on a rainy day. At that time, I couldn’t really distinguish humans from spirits, so I fell for Grand Fisher’s lure, which I’m sure you know about.”

Rukia nods. “Yes, I heard he used a lure to attract spirits and humans.”

“The lure took the form of a girl, jumping into the river. I thought it was a real person, and I hurried to rescue her. My mom shouted at me, telling me to come back, but I didn’t listen. Then, something hit me and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was resting on the grass… and my mother was on top of me… I called to her, but she didn’t answer… she was gone.”

“Ichigo.” Rukia whispers, and raises her hand to reach his own. But she stops midway, and brings her hand to rest on her lap. Ichigo wishes she had put it on top of his hand instead.

“For the longest time I thought her death had been my fault. I felt extremely guilty that, because of my actions, I had ripped my family apart. My dad was left without his precious wife. Yuzu and Karin were left without a mother to raise them. If only I hadn’t run, if I had listened to my mother, then she would be alive. Other times, I thought it’d be best if I had been the one who had died. Don’t get me wrong, my family never made me feel as if it had been my fault, and they would surely be angry if they heard me say something like this. But, deep down, I had that seed of self-hatred inside of me. Hating myself for being powerless and defenseless when I should’ve saved my mother. And then I got involved with the Shinigami world, and found out that a Hollow had killed my mother. Grand Fisher. It hadn’t been an accident.

“Do you remember when you pointed out I might have attracted the Hollow with my high reiatsu?” He asks, and Rukia shakes her head.

“Don’t remind me. I was tactless. I was a fool. I shouldn’t have implied that you caused her death. It was awful of me.”

Then, Ichigo shakes his own head. “You didn’t mean to. You tried to make sense of a situation in a way any Shinigami would. You were trying to help me. And then I thought that if a Hollow had been after me from the beginning, my mother, a simple human, wouldn’t have been able to protect herself anyway. One of us would’ve died that day.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “That day at the cemetery, my dad told me that my mother had died protecting me. But as it turns out, it was much more complicated than I had thought, for she in fact fought Grand Fisher to save me.”

This surprises Rukia. “What?”

“Maybe you’ve heard already… maybe not. But I might was well tell you this now too. My mother was a Quincy.”

Rukia blinks. “I… I heard something along those lines.” She admits. “I was surprised at first, but then… not so much.”

Ichigo laughs. “I was just as surprised when my father told me. Who would’ve thought that a Shinigami and a Quincy would fall in love and get married? But it happened. As it turns out, when dad was still a captain, which I know you know, he came here to investigate a weird Hollow, which happened to be an experiment by Aizen, like most everything that has happened in Soul Society.” He says ironically, and Rukia chuckles. “Anyway, he came here, found the Hollow, and fought it. My dumb father was getting bested during the fight, and almost lost, when a girl appeared out of nowhere, and fought the Hollow. That girl was my mother, a teenager back then. She was of a pure blood line of Quincies, and was living with Ishida’s family, no less. The Hollow hurt her, though, and my mom fell ill. Urahara-san came to the rescue and said that the only way to save her was for my father to tether his life to hers, becoming a human, the opposite of a Hollow. That’s how I got my Hollow powers… from my mom, I mean.”

Rukia listens and doesn’t say anything, just getting closer to him, for Ichigo’s voice started getting softer. “She died because of Ywach.” He says suddenly.

The Shinigami gasps. “What?”

“He stole her powers, and she couldn’t protect herself. That’s why she died fighting against Grand Fisher.” Then, he starts coughing.

Rukia reaches him and rubs his back. “Maybe we should stop this conversation. It’s making you ill.”

Ichigo shakes his head. “No, I need to tell you… If I don’t tell you now, I might never be able to.”

Rukia sighs at his stubbornness. He hasn’t changed. In some ways, he is still the same fifteen year old boy she met many years ago. “Then, proceed.”

“I guess that what I mean to say is ever since her death, I felt powerless, as if I couldn’t do anything. And then, you came along and showed me this new world, and gave me the power to protect. So, thank you, Rukia.”

She shakes her head. “No, there’s no need to thank me. You always had power within you, you just didn’t know it then. All I did was release it.”

“I don’t think so. Without you, I might have never developed them.”

“It might have been better.” Rukia says bitterly. “You wouldn’t have had to be in so many battles. You wouldn’t have lost your powers.”

Ichigo breathes shakily. He cannot imagine a world where he never met her. The thought is unbearable. With shaky hands, he takes hers into his, feeling the smooth skin under his thumbs. “Never say that again, Rukia!” He says passionately. “My life got better when I met you. I wasn’t powerless anymore, and I found someone who could understand…” He decides to keep going and spill his heart. It’s his last chance. “Those seventeen months without seeing you or hearing from you were hell. You have no idea how happy you made me when you came back.”

Rukia starts tearing up. “Oh, Ichigo.” She squeezes his hands, giving him strength.

“And then… and then we both got separated again, right?” He says, remembering the end of the war, Ywach, the Quincies, and the Soul Society in ruins. “We made some tough decisions.”

The Shinigami bites her lips. “It had to be done.”

“Duty won against the heart. But it’s always like that, isn’t it?” He says, not bitterly nor remorseful, just stating a fact.

“That’s the life of a Shinigami.” Rukia agrees, and starts pulling her hands away when Ichigo grabs her more fiercely this time.

“I’ve missed you, you know. I’ve missed fighting Hollows with you, going to school with you, bickering with you, even your ugly drawings…”

“Hey! My drawings aren’t ugly!” Rukia bites back immediately, falling back into their old dynamic.

“That’s what I mean.” Ichigo smiles. “You gave meaning to my life in ways I can’t describe. But I had to let you go, and let you live your life. And I’ve lived mine. I can’t say there haven’t been regrets, or that I have been happy the entire time. I can’t say I stopped missing you or thinking about you every day these past decades. But I’ve tried, because I knew you wouldn’t want be to be sad.”

“No, not at all.”

Ichigo entwines their fingers. “Do you regret it?”

“There are things I’d change. Other memories, I’d keep the same.” She states, and Ichigo smiles. He knows what she means.

“I’m glad I could at least see you one last time.” He says. It’s getting hard to breathe. “I had a feeling I’d see you today.”

Rukia smiles, caressing his knuckles. “I too had a feeling today was a good day to visit.”

It starts raining, and the sound lulls Ichigo. He can barely keep his eyes open. All he wants to do is sleep, but fears Rukia will disappear from his sight, leaving behind a specter, like it has happened before.

“I’m tired.” He whispers. The rain starts falling harder outside.

“I know.” Rukia says sadly, still touching his hands.

“Is it alright if I sleep for a bit?” He rasps out, his eyes already closing.

“Yes.” She says, hardly keeping her tears at bay.

Ichigo closes his eyes, the last thing he sees is her face, smiling at him. It doesn’t matter if it’s been already sixty years since the first time they met, she’s still as breathtakingly beautiful as ever. Her skin hasn’t been touched by time, whereas he has lost all of his youth, ending up frail and wrinkly. His hair is gone now, as all of his body muscle. And he’s so damn tired all of the time. Now, more than ever. He closes his eyes, smiling, the image of Rukia on his mind.

The old man in front of her falls asleep, his chest rising and falling with difficulty. He isn’t breathing correctly. Each breath seems to be his last. Rukia cries openly now. There’s something she can’t will herself to ignore anymore. Kurosaki Ichigo is dying. This seems to be his last day on Earth. It hurts to see him in pain. It hurts to see the boy she saved, the one who saved her, in this state. He looks so weak. A far cry from the hero that’s edged on Rukia’s brain. The man who destroyed the Sokyoku to save her.

Rukia continues holding his hands, her thumbs softly moving against his skin. It’s rough and wrinkled, but warm. It’s Ichigo’s. She waits until Ichigo hardly breathes anymore. A machine connected to his heart starts beating. Doctors and nurses surround Ichigo, never once realizing that there’s a Shinigami in the room. They try saving him, they bark orders at each other, but Rukia knows it’s too late. Today is the day, and she came because she couldn’t miss it.

Ichigo’s heart stops, and Rukia’s own seems to stop too, as she waits for the inevitable to happen. The old man in the hospital bed isn’t breathing, but the spirit in front of her is. He is different to the dead man. He is strong, tall, and his aura exudes youth. His hair is orange again, and his warm brown eyes look directly at hers.

“Rukia.” He whispers, and she bursts out crying. Her Ichigo is back.

“Let’s go home.” She says, her hand reaching his. He takes it.

The two Shinigami leave the hospital room together, disappearing from view.

Outside, the rain stops.

[fiercyy]

Till Death Chapter 1/?

Co-authored by @holyfuckabear

This fic began as a bitchfest between me and B. It morphed into an actual story, with plot, characters and world building. Go figure. With only mild disrespect to Kubo’s vision, we present a reimagining of Bleach.

@ichirukimonth for the prompt Agent of the Shinigami + Soul Society Arc: Chapter/Episode Tag

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Ichigo Kurosaki has become a superhero overnight. This entails a lot more oversight than he was lead to believe there would be. Is this his life now? Being stalked by some tiny woman, hellbent on bossing him around?

(For the record: yes.)

 A canon rewrite fic.

AO3

Spring is supposed to be a time for new beginnings. Plants peak out of the earth, cherry blossoms fall, a new school year begins and it rains every other goddamn day.

Seventeen-year-old Ichigo Kurosaki hates the rain. It makes his skin itch and his hands clammy. The worst days of his life are tied to drenched shoulders and tears mixing with rainwater. When it rains, more than one kind of ghost comes out to roam. And ghosts have a way of finding Ichigo.

Ichigo is about to learn a little more about the world. From here on out, everything changes. But for today, he feels...

Amazing. It’s the only word to describe it. There is a rhythm to fighting that Rukia cannot replicate in melody. She hums as she attacks. Her legs step to an unheard beat as she flies to and fro, perplexing the dumb creature. It roars and her heart does an internal aria.

Rukia has always been meant to do this. Most days she thinks it’s the only thing she does well. Hollow, merely a whisper in the wind now, she turns to the frightened spirit crouching by the mailbox and thinks, well, maybe not the only thing.

She is not a nurturing woman by nature, but she does what she can to soothe him. Rukia likes the feeling of heavy hands on her head, fingers ruffling her hair, memories of a bygone age. So, she does this for the child-spirit. He seems to take comfort before she releases him to the next life. She hopes that he will not be hungry. She wishes him weakness. Rukia looks up and around her when it’s done. The humans mill around, none the wiser for having narrowly escaped a soul-sucking death. For a moment, she thinks she makes eye-contact with a bearded man in a white coat and quickly realizes that she imagined it. His eyes skip over her and he continues his stroll down the street She has been in Karakura for a week. It isn’t loneliness per se but she feels distinctly invisible. Her voice has started to hoarse from disuse. That’s why she started singing to herself as she fights. No one can hear her anyway, who would mind?

“Ichigo.”

Ichigo squints as he stares into the sun. “What are you looking at?” asks Tatsuki, around a mouthful of kebab. He blinks to adjust his eyes and shakes his head, trying to shake off the strange feeling of being watched. “Nothing.” There was no black butterfly on the horizon. There was no one atop the telephone pole. He’s just tired. That’s what he tells himself.

Ichigo tells himself a lot of things. Especially these days.

That is to say, it looks like he’s talking to himself. Like. All the time.

What he’s really doing is chatting with the weird old cat lady spirit who refuses to leave until the last of her cats are adopted from the pound. Despite the fact that they ate her corpse. He knows this detail because she tells him every time he passes the shelter.

Sometimes it’s not Mrs. Hojou, but Mina, who is creepily keeping her eye on her ex, who moved on too quickly for her tastes.

More often than not it’s Mr. Agano. Ichigo doesn’t know what his deal is but he seems lonely and spends every Tuesday following him around. He learns very quickly to schedule things that require concentration on any other day.

Ichigo works his life around the drifting strangers who can’t seem to leave him alone.

This is how he notices that something is amiss.

He spends next Tuesday alone.

Raito, the teenaged boy who lives beside the river is gone too.

The ghosts of Karakura Town have slowly begun to disappear.

It takes him weeks to realize why.

Someone is singing. It’s a song that’s been playing on every radio lately and god is he sick of it. Whoever it is, she’s basically screaming it between grunts.

Ichigo rounds the corner and sees her. And it.

Holy shit.

A fucking monster the size of a city block is snapping its jaws at the ghost who he brings flowers to. The white of its mask is stark against the clear blue sky. Its black leathery body moves with speed that belies its size.

Between Ichigo and the beast is a girl.

She leaps out of the way just in time to avoid the monster’s fist come down and leave a crater in the ground. She does a backflip over it, draws her sword and HOLY SHIT DID SHE JUST FUCKING FLY?

Wait. Stop. Rewind.

This is the moment that Ichigo Kurosaki’s life changes forever.

Rukia Kuchiki is 4”10, pale as seafoam and as deadly as anything he’s ever seen. And she is singing about love and bunnies at the top of her freaking lungs.

This is fate, but he doesn’t know that yet.

With a slice of her katana (?!?!?) the thing is neutralized. She is still singing.

Ichigo is mildly aware that he is gaping. He looks around to see if anyone’s around, if anyone else is staring. There are, but none of them have so much as fliched. Well, he supposes that he’s used to seeing things at this point.

It is in this moment that Rukia looks up and the tune ends. Her brows furrow as if squinting into the distance. Their eyes meet and Ichigo remains frozen in place. She opens her mouth as if to say something but a roar cuts through the air.

And then she’s gone, as if blurring out of existence.

Huh.

That. was. weird.

Ichigo arrives home to a kick in the face. Literally.

“Where the hell have you been?!” His father demands, putting him in a headlock.

“I ran into some ghosts okay? What the hell was I supposed to do?!”

“Oh, so it’s the ghosts’ faults huh? I bet it’s a ghost’s fault that your room is a mess, huh?”

While they shout each other down, the two girls at the table sigh simultaneously. Karin, the younger one, spoons more rice into her bowl and pretends she can’t hear them. Karin pretends that she can’t hear a lot of things.

“You’ve got another one Ichigo,” she mutters.

“Huh?” an older gentleman appears over Ichigo’s shoulder. “When the hell did you get here?” He tries to wave him away. He’s done with spirits for the day, thank you very much.

“I wish I could see spirits,” sighs Yuzu, “I mean, I can feel them sometimes but-”

Karin is kind of glad she cant. “I’m not even sure they exist.”

“How can that be? Can’t you see them too?”

“I’m in permanent denial. Just because I can see them, doesn’t mean I believe in them.”

Here’s the thing about breaking and entering. It doesn’t count unless someone sees you.

And no one in Karakura Town can see her.

Rukia has developed a kind of selective hearing. She moves through the world of the living while ignoring the living. In the beginning, she’d look up if it sounded like someone was talking to her, but no one ever was. Slowly it got easier to tune it all out.

It’s been peaceful. The 13th division is so loud. And it’s a different kind of quiet than the Kuchiki mansion.

So when she walks through the wall and lands in the middle of a bedroom that smells like dirty socks and cologne, the last thing she expects is to literally have her ass kicked.

“How strange. You look normal, but you must be defective in some way,” she remarks while examining him like a specimen on a slab in Squad 12.

“I’ll show you defective!”

Rukia tries, she really does. Humans are very strange and this one is not very receptive to simple explanations. Are they all slow, or is it just this one?

And then he touches her hair and ohhhhh was that a mistake.

“Bakudo #1, SAI!”

“What the hell did you do to me?!”

“Don’t struggle, it’ll make it worse. I might appear young to you but I have lived nearly 10 of your lifetimes. I would kill you on the spot if it weren’t against my orders,” a lie, but on some level she thought it might be fun to rattle this one. “Now shut up, you little brat.”

It’s only after she brings the hilt of her sword down on the wayward spirit that she realizes she’d scared the human. She feels bad for a moment but presses on.

“Now, for why I’m here. I’ll explain using small words.”

And maybe some informative drawings.

So you know those days, that change your whole life?

Ichigo Kurosaki is having one of those days; a terrible one.

His hands are free from the kidou but he’s still helpless. Yuzu is unconscious in the house somewhere, Karin is unmoving in his arms and this tiny woman who sings bad pop songs while she fights is dodging around the grappling fists of what she calls a hollow.

The hollow had said that it wanted his soul. It was looking for him, all this time. He brought flowers to a ghost and that made her a target. This thing has been following him all this time, but why?

The same reason it took Karin but not Yuzu; they can see it. Something deep inside them calls out to these creatures. Like a dinner bell.

The hollow grazes the shinigami’s side just as she gets what looks like a critical hit. She skids across the street as she falls.

Intellectually, Ichigo has seen what she can do. She might as well leap tall buildings in a single bound. But she’s so small, and every instinct he has tells him that makes her someone he should be protecting.

Ichigo glances around for a weapon. To his right there’s a folding chair from the clinic. He picks it up and darts over to the beast. Maybe he can distract it, maybe he can help.

He knows he can’t, but maybe if it takes him it’ll leave his sisters alone. “HEY!” he shouts, “You want me? Come and get me!”

The hollow obliges.

So does Rukia, although, less happily.

She disappears from behind the creature and reappears in front of him, just in time for the monster’s jaws to clamp around her and her sword, instead of him.

“You idiot!” she shouts in pain.

He feels blood on his face. He doesn’t know why he’s thinking about this, but it’s surprisingly warm. He didn’t think a goddess would bleed.

With a surge of strength, the girl shoves the hollow back. It has a large crack down the center of its bone white face. She clutches at her wound and crawls to lean against the crumbling wall of the clinic.

“Oh I am going to kill you when this is over,” she promises with a wet laugh.

“Go ahead and try,” he jokes. He’s trying to stop the bleeding but his hands aren’t big enough.

The hollow looms.

Her sword clatters to the floor beside her. Ichigo dives to pick it up. His right-hand wraps around the grip. It’s surprisingly cold. It chills him to his bones. He tries to lift it up to defend them from the advancing monster but it’s too heavy. He physically cannot budge it and the more he tries, the colder the sword becomes; until it burns.

“Ichigo, do you want to save your family?”

As she says his name, he realizes that he doesn’t know hers.

“Shinigami-”

“Rukia, my name is Rukia,” she sighs and looks at the hollow, still trying to recover. “Will you do whatever it takes?”

“I’d do anything.”

“Then you’re going to have to trust me. I’m sorry.”

And then.

And then.

The pain radiates out from his chest, into every nerve ending. But it’s the sweet kind of pain that builds to a crescendo and releases with a breath.

Black robes swirl around him. In his hands is a sword.

Somehow he knows exactly what to do.

In the morning he wonders if he dreamed the whole thing.

But then she appears in homeroom.

His classmates’ chatter turns into a faint buzzing in his ears as he looks down at her. Her voice is saccharine, she bats impossibly thick eyelashes. With her slight form and girlish voice, she looks harmless, introducing herself to the boys using outdated and formal Japanese.

The illusion is shattered by a glance at the palm she’s held out to him. Smeared already, black ink spells out:

‘Make a scene and you’re dead :)’

Charming.

His lips form around the word, “You.”

Her smile is sinister.

Notes:

Here is a list of some changes you can expect from this reboot:

Rewriting the rules of the universe so they’re consistent and make sense.

Ichiruki

Ichigo’s family backstory is different

Aging up the characters a little, they’re now 17 at the beginning of the series.

The gang’s dynamics are going to change and include Tatsuki

Speaking of Tatsuki, the characters who really should have had some spotlight are going to get some.

We’re culling the cast of thousands so it’s manageable.

Stakes

By this we mean rising action, realistic powerups, and escalation that does not get out of control.

Rukia gets the goddamn arc she deserves.

Reducing the length of and amount of fight sequences.

Soul Society is basically completely different, don’t worry Ichigo will be the layman and Rukia, your exposition fairy. JUST LIKE CANON!

REAL SORRY IF YOU LIKE KON SUCKERS