#and his daughter trying to be supportive the way Mikoto told her to

[ridiasfangirlings]

How do you think the strain-created MikoRei purple king daughter will fare in the events after season 1 when Reisi kills Mikoto? What would she be like in Missing Kings, Return of Kings, and afterwards?

After season one happens I guess we can congratulate her on finally being a full-fledged member of the K cast now that she has her own tragic backstory :D I imagine Munakata would be very direct and honest with her, that Mikoto’s dead and that Munakata was the one who killed him. Munakata maybe expects the child to be angry with him and he’s prepared for that but she just nods and hugs him, and says before Mikoto left her with Munakata he said ‘whatever happens, don’t hate that guy, okay? You’ll make him cry. I need you to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Munakata is somewhat miffed that even when he’s dead Mikoto is still mocking him but he supposes he should show some appreciation, that Mikoto was thinking of their kid’s future even if he paid no care to his own. I think Awashima would be even more worried about Munakata’s mental state though, because it seems like he’s made perfect peace with what he had to do and all that but is he really just trying to show a face to everyone else because he doesn’t want his kid to be upset. And maybe Munakata does actually let it slip once or twice but only in front of the kid, like he’s putting her to bed and she asks about Mikoto and Munakata starts muttering about how that stubborn man wouldn’t let Munakata handle things before realizing the girl is staring at him and he just gives her a pleasant smile as if everything is fine. 

I think Munakata would be trying to keep the girl mostly out of the line of fire during MK and even ROK, like leaving her with Yoshino or some other S4 rank and file to keep an eye on. The girl is feeling a little lonely and wants to help her dad but Munakata keeps assuring her that everything is fine and he’s just very busy with his job. The girl asks about his Sword and Munakata expresses a moment of surprise before remembering that she’s also a King too after all, and he tells her that he hopes nothing bad will happen (not quite lying maybe, because Munakata isn’t the type to lie, but rather stepping carefully around the truth). Imagine while Munakata’s at Mihashira one day too the girl ends up sitting with Fushimi and asking him if he’s worried about her dad, Fushimi clicks his tongue and says he isn’t worried at all but also tells her to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t do anything stupid. She says that ‘Papa Mikoto’ told her the same thing and Fushimi grimaces like well for once he said something worthwhile. 

When the alliance forms Shiro mentions to Munakata that he heard there’s another King in S4 and wonders if she will be part of the alliance too, Munakata says there is no need to bring her into it. Assuming the girl is even younger than Anna here I think Munakata wouldn’t want to bring her into a dangerous situation and the other Kings would likely agree. But then imagine when Munakata gets fired before he leaves S4 he tells the girl to stay with Awashima. When Awashima decides to go after Munakata with the alphabet squad the girl grabs her skirt and says she wants to come too, Awashima tries to get her to stay and she stubbornly says that her dad told her to stay with Awashima. Awashima decides to allow her to come along and imagine when the squad all show up to save Munakata she even uses some of her power. Oh or maybe she’s become a King but they’ve never really known what her power is, it isn’t until Munakata’s Sword begins to crumble that she runs to him and starts to glow purple. Her power creates like a ‘force field’ that keeps Munakata’s Sword intact and he realizes she’s bought them time to destroy the Slate, her power like even healing some of the cracks so Munakata can fight fully without fear. When Munakata briefly sees Mikoto’s image as Anna uses her power he thinks it’s just his mind playing tricks on him and then he hears the girl say ‘I kept an eye on him, just like I promised’ and Munakata chuckles quietly, thinking perhaps Suoh left more of himself behind than Munakata thought.

[king-of-better]

Number.00: C: Embryo -ORANGESITE-

0

70% of Earth's surface is ocean. The shadow of what looks like a whale glides through the water, but much too quick. This is Betterman Aqua, and can sense something happening across space, the beginning of a battle he will engage in, 11 years in the future, against the Conqueror King.

1

Gutsy Galaxy Guard, plus the J-Ark crew, find themselves in a world of radiance, with no discernible time or space. Hyuma cannot comprehend, and Taiga is confused they have not emerged in the solar system, Liger is trying to understand the radiance. They are gathered on Kushinada's bridge, and J, his body injured requests Tomoro explain, it starts trying to make inferences, but feels the energy forcibly repairing J-Ark, which also spreads to J-Ark, and looking to the exterior it is clear the Brave Robos and Genesic are experiencing the same terrible restorations. Gai is also experiencing this, an hears Mikoto, the Semi-Evoluder still in the Manage Machine, also experience the restoration, able to speak to him again. Even GekiRyuJin's self destruct unit, and the Gun Machines which had been reduced to scraps have been restored, and Goldymarg, who had been reduced to his AI block and hardwired into the Goldion Crusher, is restored as his normal sense. Hyoryu and Enryu remember the sensation from the time this energy filled them before, but Entoji and Kazuo find the energy from THE POWER filling them all is too much, Swan confirming this energy is thousands of times more potent. Stallion sees Liger make a face he's never seen before, as he realises what this place is. The Orange Site, effectively a theoretical universal embryo, the result of the previous universe collapsing that would expand into the new one, so they seem to be off by about 15 billion years, THE POWER is effectively the energy of this place leaving out through dimensional tears into the future. Renais just about gets it, Liger briefly shows how glad he is to see his daughter restored, but as he starts explaining that the energy is probably even more potent than detected, what they've measured is the limit of Kushinada's instruments, he realises the data that allowed him to discern this was sent by something else out there, which reveals itself as a voice of his brother.

2

Liger calls out for Leo, before realising the voice is more like coming straight to his brain, not via speech or the Limpid Channel. The others can also hear this, Gai being told Kizuna is also there. Leo apologises to his son and brother for the fate that had brought them there, as soon Oath Over Omega will escape from the Orange Site into the future. THE POWER is potent enough in the universe as it is, if Oath Over Omega pours out it will quickly destroy the universe, and this will happen soon. Leo sends further data, showing a slight tear opening by artificial means, seemingly the work of Palus Abel, and the Brave's using Galeoria Road have wound up here on the way home. Gai understands his parents grief, but hopes to use their presence to save the universe. Mikoto, now able to move, gets out of the Manage Machine, so she can greet Leo again, and Kizuna for the first time, and promises that they will all support Gai in his battle, and receives Kizuna's blessing. Renais can sense the warmth and see the figures of her aunt and uncle, J smiles at her own presence.

3

Swan confirms the location of the Dimensional Tear, and Taiga declared GGG's primary mission is to prevent the Triple Zero escaping the Orange Site. The Brave's are all united in determination, despite the fact they have had no time to rest. 

Swan reports 700 seconds to the burst, but Kazuo confirms the GS-Rides and Jewel Generator only need 590 seconds to link. Leo and Kizuna had recommended using them all to push back against Triple Zero. Volfogg privately asks Entoji if he believes it will work,he responds in the positive. Volfogg, Hyoryu, Enryu, GekiRyuJin, Koryu, Anryu, Mic, Goldy, J, Tomoro, Renais and Gai unite their power.

4 

It is unfortunate for humanity that the dimension tear happens to be at Jupiter, but it is a blessing that the Braves happen to be at the Orange Site. The Braves together resists Triple Zero with all their might, but Gai quietly realises that if the onslaught is unending, they will eventually lose, so they need to make their next move. He hesitated to say anything, but Mikoto encourages him, and with everyone else confirming they feel the same way, he decides to uses Galeoria Road to attempt to close the tear, like the Pliers could do. Liger confirms it is theoretically possible, though it is unfortunate that, for the sake of Triple Zero not leaking out with them, they have to do it without exiting themselves. But Gai resolves that their lives are worth the price. When Leo and Kizuna apologise Liger rejects it, while recalling that where they connect to the future might change as the curvature of the Orange Site changed in response to their energies. The tear must initially connect to sometime before 1990, where Jupiros-1 collected THE POWER and brought it back to earth, but as the curvature changes, they can no longer determine when they would return to, will it be before they were exiled from earth, or after. Liger is determined to stay fit will protect the 27 children he has still on earth (one, Renais, is of course with him)

5

J-Ark can Joe move on it's own, so King J-Der goes to join the Brave Robos in resisting Triple Zero, even if he has no particular need to protect the blue planet, he wants to protect Arma. Seeing J's will, Renais grants him her own power, King J-Der again enshrined in a silver glow. Gai briefly considers he could just go through, but refuses to risk Mamoru, or anyone else, and prepares the Galeoria Road. 

Then the Brave Robos suddenly start restraining him, and all wrapped in an orange glow. He tries to reach Kushinada, but is informed by his parents that everyone has succumbed to Triple Zero. It has no will of its own, merely a process of death and rebirth, and yet there are civilisations that defy this cycle. Leo suspects Triple Zero had some influence on the Z-Master, as the Primevals may well have passed through the Orange Site to reach their universe. The Heart Primevals's claims of universal truth matched that Gai had come to understand.

With the Braves under Triple Zero, the energy is no longer restrained, and starts flowing out of the tear. From King J-Der, still resisting, J and Renais encourage Gai not to give up. Genesic GaoGaiGar throws off his allies even as the orange glow engulfs King J-Der, and engages Hyper Mode, and pours more power into the Galeoria Road, now shining gold. As he focuses everything on closing the gap, he  can feel Genesic GaoGaiGar being overtaken, and hears the voice of he Somnium Lamia, which had spoken to him in the Trinary Star System, call out to the Evoluder that it is time to transcend life. 

6

In August 2010 earth faced the unprecedented disaster that was the Invisible Burst, not knowing the source was a mere trickle of Triple Zero coming through a dimensional tear. Thanks to the Braves trapped in the Orange Site, humanity received a reprieve of 6 years. 

Gai is awoken by his parents, in a place between the Orange Site and the universe, they let him know Galeon saved him from also being corrupted. He sees his partner, now wrapped in orange flames, and it is clear the Genesic Aura must be derived from Triple Zero, as Genesic is now more powerful, the most suitable vessel for Triple Zero, the best Acolyte of the Conqueror King. Leo and Kizuna inform Gai that Triple Zero is attempting to reopen the tear he closed. Gai is assured his chance to stop it will soon come. He feels lost, as all his allies have already fallen to Triple Zero, but he is reminded that that isn't true. 

In 2016, the Conqueror King finally opens the gate, and Gai managesri escape, and sees the familiar sight of PhantomGao, and knows the moment he hoped for has come

[scenariosofkonoha]

Sorry to bother but whenever you get this can I have headcanons what it’s like being the younger sister of itachi and sasuke and how they all get along? Thanks :)

We’re going to pretend that the massacre didn’t happen bc I already wrote enough sad stuff last night. 

The 3rd child of Mikoto and Fugaku was 100% a surprise and it was a surprise that they didn’t realize was going to bring about a type of chaos into their home that they never thought possible. They should have stopped having children after Itachi, because these kids just got wilder and wilder. Sasuke was already more of a handful than Itachi ever was, and dear lord, their daughter was just an agent of pure chaos and adding her in with Itachi and Sasuke, their lives were never going to have a dull moment

Things Mikoto signed up for: Not this.

At first, Fugaku wasn’t too sure about having a daughter. Could he treat her and train her as he had Itachi? Would she be able to be on the same level as the boys? How were the others in the clan going to treat her? He didn’t know how to feel at first, but after she was born, he had a favorite child.

100% a Daddy’s girl. Fugaku treats her differently than the boys. He doesn’t necessarily give her slack, she’s still upheld to the same exemplary standards he holds Itachi and Sasuke to, but he’s kinder with her, which is a lot for Fugaku. 

She and Sasuke have such a love-hate relationship. They were only about a year and a half apart, so they were always close growing up, but sometimes their personalities clashed. They were either thick as thieves or they were mortal enemies- there was no in-between and this could change daily. It became more stable as they grew older, but you never really knew. They always cared for each other, but this would be shown in various ways through their childhoods. 

She broke Sasuke’s nose when they were kids because he insulted her, saying since she was a girl that she’d never be as good as him or Itachi. This just struck a nerve with her and bam ten seconds later Sasuke was pushed into a tree with blood running down his face.

Fugaku’s favoritism comes into play here, because he let her off the hook, saying Sasuke deserved it.

Mikoto would try to stand up for Sasuke when Fugaku would do things unfairly like this. 

Awoke her Sharingan pretty young, because one day she and Sasuke were out in the training field just to pick something up for Fugaku, and something went wrong and Sasuke ended up stepping on a trigger string and got pretty badly injured. She thought she was going to lose him because she couldn’t help him, and that’s how the bby Uchiha awoke her Sharingan.

Cried out for Itachi, knowing that he spent a lot of time out here and because she didn’t know what else to do. By some miracle, he and Shisui had been out there, and that’s probably the key reason Sasuke survived.

Man, that was a harsh scene for him and Shisui to come to. Neither of them were really used to seeing the little ones in such pain. 

Speaking of Itachi, for as much shit she gives Sasuke, she loves Itachi. So good for him. Itachi doesn’t treat her badly like Sasuke does at times, and add in that there’s a good 6 year gap between the two, it’s more of a functional sibling relationship. Lil Sis Uchiha feeds off of Sasuke’s hotheadedness a lot, so when she’s around Itachi, she’s calmer.  

Itachi is probably the most supportive figure in the household for her, and so that let her be more open with him than anyone else. 

Whenever she ends up crying, whether it be because she got hurt, something that got taken away for her, whatever, she always goes to Itachi. He’s the only one she’ll ever cry in front of. This started pretty early on too, because she saw Fugaku yell at Sasuke once for crying and this kind of scarred her?  This definitely carried into adulthood.

When she was a young jonin, her teammate who she had been with ever since they were genin was killed on a mission, and it was hard on her. Outside of the clan, they were the closest companion she had, and she felt like she had been the reason for their death. During the funeral everyone was looking to her to see tears, but she remained stoic, just looking at the grass the entire time

When it was all over, Itachi took her back to her apartment and the second they closed that front door, she broke down- full panic attack.  Everything just came out, because God forbid anyone besides him see her tears; he is the only one who wouldn’t attack her for showing sorrow. 

BWHAHA, on a happy note, she PUSHED  for him and Shisui to be together when they were older. Itachi was always kind of shy about this, but she would be so point-blank about it.

“I saw Shisui today in the Mission Assignment Sector. He’s cute in his new uniform, you know?”

“Is he?” Itachi asks absentmindedly.

“Yeah, definitely one of the better suitors in the clan. Dad would happy…”,  

“Not to burst your bubble, but you know he sees you like a sister, right?”

“Oh, I know, and that’s why I’m letting you have him.” 

“… Lil Sis Uchiha-”

“It’s okay Itachi, I got you. I already told him you wanted to go for a walk tonight with him to talk.” 

“Lil Sis Uchiha-”

“I love you too! I’m going home now, but tell me how it goes tonight!”

[sagara-megumi]

SasuSaku Month 2019 - Day 2: Patterns || [Fanfic] Family Ties - Chapter 1

Hello! Here’s my contribution to the SasuSakuMonth this year. It’s going to be a multi-chaptered story this time too (the last time I participated I wrote one too). I won't be using all the prompts since I'm going to be taking this opportunity to finish a story I started a long, long time ago.

However, before you start reading, you have to know that this story has a PROLOGUE and some NOTES that I strongly advise you to read before starting this chapter. In that prologue, Sasuke and Sakura are only mentioned so that's why, after asking the mods for advice, I left it out of the Month.

So, here's the link to it: Family Ties: Prologue (there are a few notes there that are important for the story).

.

Title: Family Ties: Chapter 1

Rating: T/PG-13

Words: 2475

Notes: There's not much to say here this time :) The following chapter will have a few comments related to some things stated in this one that I don't want to spoil beforehand XD

English isn’t my first language so if you spot any mistakes, please tell me. I hope that you enjoy it, and thank you for the notes in the Prologue ^^

.

CHAPTER 1

Akihiko contemplated pensively his image reflected in the coffee that filled his cup, while his mind replayed once and again Mikoto's words, her serious and sincere look, the slight trembling of her hands, as she told him her secret, something extremely fantastic that seemed conceived by the most twisted imagination. He put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes, which palpitated slightly from the tension and lack of sleep.

'The truth is that ... I haven't been sincere with you when I told you about me... It's true that I'm forty-one years old, that I work as a shop assistant in a department store, and that I'm divorced... But I'm not from the south of Japan... In fact, I belong to an old and extended family established here in Tokyo ... '

She had stopped for a moment, biting her lower lip as if unsure of how to continue, and the first thought that had crossed his mind was that she was referring to the yakuza. He had seen her swallow with difficulty, pressing the sheet against her chest, and take a deep breath, before continuing.

'We... are vampires...' she had looked at him in the eye, without hesitation, and he had felt a painful knot in his stomach, his heart suddenly empty, knowing that she was telling the truth. 'My ex-husband, my children ... and I ...'

“Are you okay, dad?”

He suddenly raised his head as his daughter put a plate with a few pieces of toast on the table. Already dressed in her school uniform, a dark grey checkered pleated skirt, a white shirt and a dark blue striped tie, and her hair tied in a high ponytail, Sakura was scrutinizing him with those intense green eyes inherited from her mother, showing clear concern. He sighed and shook his head with a small smile.

“It's nothing. I'm just a little tired.”

She smiled as she sat down in front of him and picked up a piece. She bit it and then took a sip of tea.

“And?” Akihiko looked at her somewhat confused for a moment, while spreading jam on his bread. “How did it go last night?”

“Well...” he had already thought about what to say in case that she addressed the subject. “I preferred to leave it for another time. Mikoto-san was somewhat distracted and she seemed tired. I didn't think it was a good occasion to bring up something so important.”

Sakura pressed her lips clearly disappointed. When she had come down, she had been expecting good news, but as soon as she had seen her father sitting at the table, thoughtful, she had known something had gone wrong. For a moment, she had feared that the answer to his proposal had been negative, but she had dismissed the idea immediately. She knew his character perfectly and that he had been meditating that decision until he was sure of everything, so much that she herself had had to give him a little push, openly asking whether she was going to have a new mother.

She half-closed her eyelids and swallowed. It was not something she was comfortable with yet. Although she had been orphaned since she was eight years old, the memories she had with her were strongly engraved in her mind, and she knew that it would take her a while to get used to seeing another woman standing and walking where she and her mum had laughed and played together, in the kitchen where she had taught her to prepare his father's favourite dishes or in the place she had occupied at the table and which had remained empty until then. But she understood that he should go on with his life, which had taken long to rebuild, after being completely dedicated to her upbringing and to supply an absence that, despite his efforts, Sakura had felt. And if he had found a good woman to be happy with, she would give him all her support.

“Okay, then” she smiled and leant forward, resting her arms on the table. “When are you going on another date?”

“Ah ... We aren't sure” he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and Sakura pursed her lips slightly, having the impression that something was wrong with him. “Mikoto-san is going to be very busy in the department store, being Christmas so close, you know, and we have to make all the end-of-year reports in the office. Probably, I'll have to work overtime... I was going to tell you that I'll be late many days...”

“Dad” the girl frowned and looked at him questioningly “You didn't have a fight, did you?”

Akihiko felt a small knot in his stomach. It was not a fight, but something that changed things between Mikoto and him entirely, and about which he had to think carefully because now, it was not only a matter of love. However, his daughter was sometimes too intuitive, another trait inherited from his first wife.

“Don't worry, it's nothing like that. And now let's hurry or neither of us will arrive on time.”

Sakura gave a little cry when she saw the clock on the kitchen wall, and tried to finish her toast in two bites, drinking gulps of tea to try to swallow it as quickly as possible.

“I resemble Naruto more and more each day...” she muttered as she picked up her plates and left them in the sink.

His father laughed softly and took the last sip of his coffee before following her.

“If you don't get to the station in time, tell me and I'll drive you to school.

“Don't worry, dad, I'm fine. Go upstairs to shave.”

Akihiko patted her gently on the shoulder and went to the stairs while pulling his tie out of his shirt pocket, and the young woman began to wash the dishes quickly.

'There's no way I can miss that train!'

.

The train reached the platform one minute after Sakura arrived. She had walked to her usual place, carefully calculated so she would be near where the door of the third carriage would be when it stopped altogether. Like every day, she came in after three salary men, a lawyer who was always talking on her phone right behind her, and she turned to the left, feeling delighted when she saw that her usual seat was empty. As she approached it, she tried to change her expression to a neutral one; she occupied the space and took a studied, distracted look to the side and then to the front, and had to fight the smile that was struggling to draw on her lips. There he was, as always, with his headphones on, his right leg crossed over his left one and his satchel on them, his arms crossed and the bored expression that seemed permanently engraved on his features. And diligently, Sakura pulled a novel out of her school bag and opened it by the bookmarked page, keeping her eyes on the words.

She had been following that routine for almost seven months, since one day she had woken up early and had decided, while sitting at the kitchen table, that she was bored waiting there for the usual time. She had taken a train fifteen minutes earlier than the usual one and occupied one of the free seats before raising her head and finding two impenetrable dark eyes studying her. Sakura had never seen irises like those, so black that the pupil could not be distinguished from them. They had only set on her for a second before turning towards the window behind him but at that moment, she had felt that they had borne into her and read all her thoughts. She had not been able to avoid a hot blush and, embarrassed, she had retrieved the book that she was finishing from her satchel and tried to concentrate all her attention on it. However, it had been impossible. Several times, she had thought he was watching her, but when she had secretly looked up over the pages, he was lost in his own thoughts. Without knowing very well why, telling herself over and over that she only wanted to see what it was that she had felt the first day, she had started to take that train. After the summer holidays, during which he had invaded her mind on numerous occasions, she had realised that she liked someone she knew nothing about, not even his name. She called herself stupid and immature, but the next day she walked to the station, got on the same train and sat on the ‘her’ seat.

Every day, her best friend Ino had tried to convince he to confess, or at least to talk to him, but she had flatly refused. From what she had been able to see, he was not very sociable, and she was not willing to make a fool of herself in a crowded car just to receive a boring or an irritated gaze, and then being ignored, as it happened once to a girl who had tried to approach him by pretending to lose her balance. It had been the last time she had seen her there. She only had three more months to enjoy his company, and she did not intend to waste them.

She noticed that curiously, more people than usual boarded the train at each stop, and soon all the seats were occupied, and briefly, she wondered why. It was not a special holiday anywhere, nor did she know that there was a festival in the districts through which that line passed. She remembered what her father had said about his girlfriend, and she supposed that some people were probably doing their Christmas shopping ahead. She stole a quick glance in front of her. The boy was busy with the buttons of his smartphone, some strands of hair, as black as his eyes, falling over his features, and she swallowed hard before lowering her eyes and counting to three before turning the page. She could not pretend to be a convincing reader if she did not do it seriously.

'It should be forbidden to be so handsome.'

She could not help but feel like an idiot once again, but sometimes, she could not control her own thoughts.

'And also being a stupid fan at seventeen...'

The train slowed down once again and entered a new station. Two more stops and she would have to say goodbye to her platonic love until the next day.

An old woman stood near her, holding on to a stanchion, and after a quick glance to see if someone gave her their seat, Sakura sighed inwardly and closed her book. She would have to bid him farewell before that day.

“Sit here, please” she said as she got up, kindness showing on her face.

“Oh, no, don't worry...”

“I insist” her smile widened. “Anyway, I'm getting off soon.”

The woman smiled then and sat down while Sakura stretched to reach one of the grab handles that hung from the roof of the carriage, with her back to the young man, happy because the strict regulations of her high school did not allow wearing skirts above the knee, reason why she did not have to worry about the possibility of ending up showing her not-really-fashionable underwear with red polka dots to the people around her.

“Thank you.”

The girl shook her head with an affable expression and then, lifted her head to look through the window at the buildings that passed quickly before her eyes.

Suddenly, a slight tingle ran down her spine and the thin hair at the back of her neck stood on end, feeling someone staring at her from behind, and she breathed slowly, knowing exactly who was there. She closed her eyelids for a second and again, filled her lungs with air. It was most likely her imagination playing tricks on her because not once had he bothered to look up in her direction during the time she had boarded the train after that first moment she remembered so clearly, and she was sure that he was not going to do it at that instant.

Her stop was announced through the loudspeaker and she headed for the door while she felt her smartphone vibrate in the pocket of her uniform coat. It was Ino. For a moment, the fleeting thought of letting it ring or hang up crossed her mind, but then, she would have to hear her complaints at school. Moreover, she did not use to call her at that time, knowing they would see each other in a few minutes, so it could be important. She picked it up and pressed the device to her ear.

“Hello?”

<Did you see him today?>

She rolled her eyes. She should have imagined her reason for calling. Overcoming the powerful temptation of ending the call, she clenched her jaw before answering.

“... Yes...”

<And was he still so handsome?>

“Ino, please...”

“Oh, come on, tell me the details, and that at least he's noticed that you were looking at him.>

The uncomfortable sensation of being watched had disappeared but it had been replaced by one much worse, the possibility of the conversation being heard by him. After all, Ino did not have the softest voice in Japan.

“Eh, now I can't speak” she said in a lower tone.

<Don't tell me you're with him!>

“Yes...” the speed was much slower and the people gathered around her, as the train entered the big platform of the station. “I can't hear you well, the train is stopping. I'll see you in a few minutes and we'll talk, okay?”

<Spoilsp->

She ended the call feeling a slightly perverse satisfaction for cutting her friend off. She put her phone in her pocket again and a small smile drew across her lips.

Ino and she had the strangest relationship ever. They had been going to school together since they were little and their families had been acquainted for a long time. They shared secrets and trusted the other blindly. However, they also argued almost every day, using the names that they had thrown at each other in one of their first fights. They were rivals and best friends, and they hated and loved each other with the same intensity.

The doors opened and without even casting a sidelong glance over her shoulder to see him one last time, as she had forced herself to do since the beginning, she got off the train, not realising that for a few seconds, dark pupils, with a slight reddish glow glinting in them, followed her steps.

TO BE CONTINUED

[sakumosowainthirst]

I’m running on 4 hours of sleep and coffee; let’s make a controversial post! Today’s topic: Fates/Awakening ships I hate!  :D

Preface: I’m not hating on anyone who ships these.  I’m also not saying you can’t/shouldn’t ship these.  I’m merely voicing why I dislike them, because I usually keep it all to myself and just feel like screaming into the void today.  So all of this is just my opinion, and you don’t have to take it seriously, okay? C:  Also, I don’t want to have to type “to me” after every opinion, so just take it as implied.

Now then, let’s begin.

Lonliss/Lon’qu-Lissa

Easily my biggest dislike on the list.  I will never, ever, ever understand why this is Owain’s most popular parentage.  Their supports weren’t all that great, and they are just so different from each other in ways that I think they would just clash.  I’ve seen people who ship it say, “He would be so supportive of Owain’s banter!  He would encourage his playfulness!”  And all I can think is, “Are we thinking of the same Lon’qu?  The one who’s stoic, doesn’t talk much, is very serious and grumpy?  That Lon’qu?”  He’s the token tsundere, sure, but I really don’t see him accepting Owain; I actually see the opposite.  I feel like Lissa and Owain’s upbeat personalities would grate on his nerves, to the point he’d find them both unbearably embarrassing.  Lissa and Lon’qu also just have MUCH BETTER ships/supports with other characters, and tbh, they both deserve better.  Lissa and Owain deserve someone who gels with their sunshine energy, and Lon’qu deserves a more reserved partner.  Of all Owain’s dad ships, Lonliss is the only one I truly cannot, “see,” and no explanation has made me able to, “see,” it as they both are in canon, and probably never will, tbh.  Every other Lissa ship, I can find some sort of merit, even if I don’t ship it, but when I look at Lonliss, there is just none.  No chemistry, no commonality, no anything that makes them a good couple.  Not in canon, anyway.  I’ve heard a ton of headcanons for it (I’m an Owain stan and this is quite literally his most popular dad, it’s very common), and fanon is fine and dandy, but when it bends canon too much, it just doesn’t sit well with me, and Lon’qu being any sort of okay with Lissa and Owain just bends canon too much, to me.  They’re too hyper, he’s too reserved.  As a final thought, I’m admittedly not a fan of any ship that takes Lissa and Owain away from Ylisstol, and Lon’qu (along with Donnel) does.  Their ending states they live in Ferox, and I just don’t like that.  I like Owain growing up alongside Lucina.  Also, Cynthia and probably Morgan would be in Ylisstol, and Owain canon has the Justice Cabal with them in his youth, so that’s kind of contradictory if he’s born and raised in Ferox.  (I also personally headcanon both Lissa and Owain hating the cold, tbh.  Odin has a line about hating the cold in Anna’s DLC in Fates, and I think Lissa mentions hating snow at some point, too, though I could be wrong.)

Owainigo/Laslodin/Owain-Brady

Grouping these together because I’m equally meh on both.  I can definitely see them, but I don’t like them.  Owain and Inigo do become bros, but I kind of feel like they would still squabble like petty children like their Awakening supports.  It’s more in a brotherly way, though; they start off teasing each other and end up in a slap-hands fight.  I like them as a friendship, just not a romantic ship.

Owain/Brady I have more trouble seeing because their only commonality is their mothers, and their supports make them seem like casual friends at best.  I feel like their mothers is a big part of why they’re shipped, tbh, which is just kind of :T for me.  I can see them if I squint, but it’s not a ship I care for.

The saddest thing is, look up anything spicy for Owain, you’re going to find one of these two in it.  Either these two or...

Odiniles/Leodin/Leotrio Threesome

Oh boy, here we go, SakuMo disliking another popular pairing(s).  Odin and Niles canonically bicker.  Like, they are nasty to each other.  Odin says as much in their A rank.  He says they should try to get along more, but I’m not really sure how well that would turn out.  To be honest, the only thing they really have in common is their loyalty to Leo.  Lacking that, they’re two wildly different people.  I’m not saying that different people can’t work as a couple--it happens all the time--but if you lack at least some common ground, it makes it really hard for a relationship to work.  Devotion to your master isn’t really much common ground.  Given their canon history, dramatically different personalities, and lack of common interests, I just don’t see them being compatible.  Every Odiniles fic I’ve ever read had Niles uncharacteristically understanding of Odin, to the point it didn’t even feel like Niles at all/he was very OOC.  One again, fanon is fine--you do you!--but bending canon too much and/or in ways that don’t make sense to the character is just not my scene.

Leodin is one that I can kind of see, definitely more than Odiniles, which in no way works in my head, but I’m just not a fan of it, generally.  My dislike isn’t as strong as with Odiniles, but it’s still there.  And I’ll just say that I am not into poly, don’t like OT3s, threesomes, etc., so that should sum up my feelings on the Leotrio as an OT3.

Odilise, Lazura, Selbaki, a.k.a. “The Oedipus Complex Ships”

Don’t make the Trio marry their moms, fam.  Odilise is the most egregious one, tbh, because Elise is so much like Lissa and it’s so, so creepy to ship her with Odin.  Never mind that canon Elise is supposed to be like...14-15 (I reject this canon and substitute my own hc of 18, but I digress), and though we don’t know how long the Trio is in Nohr before the start of Fates, we can assume anywhere from six months to a year or two considering they are well-established as retainers, so Odin is probably in his early 20s, at youngest maybe 20-21.  (Granted, using the canon ages makes a lot of ships suspect, especially with the younger characters, but I digress.)  I get that Elise is a good stat mom for Ophelia and gives the “canon” hair, but the ship itself is just problematic on a lot of fronts.  She’s basically his mom, their supports are playful but it def feels brotherly-sisterly (granted most of Elise’s supports do) and throws in the romance literally out of left field in the S rank, and they just look kind of suspect together, fam.  I have unfortunately in my travels across the internet for Owain content seen Odin/Elise porn, and the fact it makes me uncomfortable in a, “this looks really illegal,” way speaks volumes.  And again, yes, I know the same would be true for other ships with Elise, and it’s why there are few I actually like with her.  But Odin/Elise just in particular bothers me because like Lonliss, I see it the most, and it’s made me irrationally bitter toward it.  This one and Lonliss are my two, “hair-trigger rage,” ships.  I see either, I get really annoyed.  I don’t voice this, mind--I keep on scrolling and ignore the content--but it does make me grumpy, lol.  They’re the two I can honestly say I hate instead of just saying I dislike.

Selbaki is a bit lesser, but it basically makes Severa her own grandma, don’t do that. xD  Severa already has a complex with trying to be perfect like her mom, so making her feel the same not only for her husband but also her daughter is just cruel to her.  Give Severa a break, y’all.

Lazura is the least similar, admittedly, but it’s still in the same vein.  Performer marrying a performer.  Of the three, I can tolerate it the most, but it’s still not great for me.

Corrin/Any sibling, including Azura

Look, I get it.  Corrin is, by technicality, not blood-related to any of them, with the exception of Azura, who is their blood-related cousin.  H O W E V E R, just because they find out that they aren’t blood-related to the Nohr siblings doesn’t mean the familial bonds just go POOF.  The Nohr siblings would definitely not be like, “I guess we can bang Corrin now.”  If this were the case, adopted families would never “truly” bond because they aren’t related by blood.  Corrin growing up in Nohr means that they would most likely always see the Nohr siblings as family, and vice-versa.

Hoshido, on the other hand, is a bit trickier.  While it’s true they aren’t blood-related, I want to say Ryoma is the only one who knows?  Like, I think he’s the only one who brings it up in the S Support?  But lacking that, Corrin and the rest of the Hoshido siblings do think they’re blood-related.  Hidden Truths states that Corrin never learned the truth about their real father, nor that Lilith is their sister.  All 3 routes play out with the assumption that Sumeragi was Corrin’s father, and if it’s stated otherwise, it’s maybe only in the beginning as a throwaway line during the Mikoto section.  You could make a plausible argument that the Trio could tell Corrin the truth, since all 3 of them have heart-rank lines where they reveal their real names and that they’re from another world, but that’s leading into possible canon rather than actual canon (and is also why I hc it).  But for all intents and purposes, Corrin thinks they are blood-siblings with the Hoshido fam, so that would make them less likely to pursue them romantically.  And even if they knew, they still all all each other brother/sister.

Azurrin is the trickiest.  It’s only in Revelation that the connection between Arete, Azura’s mother, and Mikoto, Corrin’s mother, is made, afaicr, so in Birthright and Conquest, Corrin technically wouldn’t know they are cousins.  However, Azura would.  Azura always knew everything, because her mother told her about Valla and taught her the traditional song and such.  She most likely knew Mikoto was her aunt.  Even on the off chance she didn’t know, it would still be an awkward down the line thing when they find out they’re cousins.  I know Japan is more lenient on the whole cousin-marriage thing, but...don’t have Shigure and Kana coming out looking like the Habsburgs, please, I beg you, lol.

My rule of thumb: if two characters refer to each other as, “brother,” or, “sister,” at any point, don’t let them fuck.  xD

Kana/Any Romantic/Sexual Ship

Kana is a child.  Stop it.  Stop it right now.  They are a baby.  I’VE SEEN FICS, I KNOW IT EXISTS, YOU SICK FUCKS.  Even aged up feels a little awkward, but I can be a little bit more lenient on that.  I just never will.  Kana is asexual and aromantic in my eyes, lol.

That’s all I can really think of right now; coffee is wearing off, I need a nap, lol.  Once again, please don’t be offended if I dislike a ship you like!  We are all different!  I just wanted to throw this out there on the off chance I do requests again and someone wants one of these written, because I would respectfully decline.  I don’t mean these to be hateful, just sort of venting into the ether in a mildly-exhausted stupor.

Also, you can try to counter me on some of these, but tbh, a few of them, I am stubbornly never going to change my mind, so we’d just go round and round in a circular argument if you tried.  xD  I like what I like and don’t like what I don’t, lol.  I’m not typically a multi-shipper, either, so you’d probably be hard-pressed to get me to shift at all, lol.  I mean that in the most loving way possible, too.

[teddystrap]

[神なる君と] Osananajimi Duo - Narumi

This game is like a time capsule from back in the pre-2012 days, before the do-S trend took hold and every playable guy became an abusive asshole. Our heroine has a feisty personality and witty comebacks, and the whole story is packed with funny moments - which just goes to show, Otomate can put out quality stuff... when they want to.

Incidentally I also really love the Shinto theme and the familiarity of rural small-town Japan, which actually makes me a bit nostalgic for the time I spent there.

[Synopsis] 17-year-old Kamiki Sakuya is helping out at her friend’s shrine, when suddenly some strange dude in wasou cosplay appeared under a *magical tree* and started babbling something about a 1000-year promise. When she came to, she had been made the Goddess of the shrine, to replace the current God - the aforementioned strange dude, Mikoto - for a short while until the hoshimatsuri (lit. ‘start festival’), an annual tradition of the town. The main routes take place within this time frame.

*

-Sakaki Narumi-

Narumi is Sakuya’s classmate, childhood best friend, and heir to the Kunihoshi Shrine. From a young age, he has able to see supernatural things, which made everyone think he's a freak and caused his parents to abandon him. His grandfather, the shrine owner, took him in and raised him as his successor. For a while he was bullied by the kids at school due to his abilities, and thus he developed a lone-wolf, withdrawn, thorny personality. Sakuya was the only person who genuinely accepted him unconditionally, and he pretty much fell in love with her at first sight.

Narumi's route basically runs on two ideas:

1. The social position difference, between him (religious minister/'servant') and Sakuya (Goddess). This idea was leveraged in one of his ema minigames, and in the beginning he sort of uses this as a cover up for the real reason they're forbidden to date:

2. It turns out, there’s a 1000-year curse that runs in his family:

1000 years ago, the Sakaki family were well-to-do religious ministers, and the town was protected under a shield by the gods. The family had a daughter, who fell in love with a demon. She let the demon into the town, and he ended up causing great destruction. As punishment, the gods stripped her family of their title and assets, placed a curse on her, and used her as bait to kill the demon.

Despite all this, however, she refused to lift her curse by renouncing her love for the demon and erasing all their shared memories. A certain god (ahem *Mikoto*) took pity on her and erased all her memories anyway #forherowngood, and she spent her last days roaming the land as an amnesiac, trying to reclaim something important that she couldn’t remember.

This curse forbids anyone in the Sakaki family from falling in love with a God or a demon. If they do, they will be gradually deprived of their five senses, until they finally become entirely cut off from the outside world. And for 1000 years everybody has abided by this rule... until Narumi. After Sakuya realised her feelings for him, she tried to confess to him, but got cockblocked left and right by Yakumo (who was probably used by Fate to stop her). Then she wrote him a love letter with hilarious spelling errors, and after he read it, he told her he felt the same way, but they could never be together. ;_;

‘Please be my weirdo.’

Narumi actually thought (mistakenly) that the curse will hurt her, but when Mikoto clarified that it will only affect him, he was immediately like, "LET'S FALL IN LOVE." XD ...It didn't take long for symptoms of the curse to manifest in him. He looked for ways to overcome it, and came to the hypothesis that the hoshimatsuri may be a test of the strength of their #lovebond vs #damnedcurse.

Near the end of the hoshimatsuri he was almost completely senile. So then Sakuya, who had been plotting her own #evilmasterplan all this time, couldn't take it anymore. She took him under the *magical tree* and planned to break their bond right there and then. But then Narumi was like STOP, WOMAN. At which point you have a choice whether to (a) accept his opinion or (b) ignore him because at this rate he's gonna turn into Ronald Reagan.

It sounds almost like she wants to challenge him to a bare-knuckle fistfight under this tree.

a. Good End: Well it turns out Sakuya didn't have to make this choice. While she's hesitating, Narumi kisses her to shut her mouth, and their love successfully overcomes the curse. One year later, Sakuya is being inducted into their shrine as a minister. They plan to go to religious university together to get their religious certification (can you tell I don't really know much about this lol),... and Narumi suddenly drops down one knee and asks for her hand.ヾ(｡>﹏<｡)ﾉﾞ✧*

b. Tragic End: Through a blizzard of... uhh... white light, Sakuya thanks him for the good times, before their memories are erased. A year later, she visits the shrine and sees him there doing chores. They don't recognise each other at all, but she suddenly gets a momentary flashback of their time together, and starts crying without knowing why. They part ways after exchanging some pleasantries. - This must be one of Otomate's favourite motifs, because it's a sad ending but still makes you feel warm and fuzzy, knowing that they are better off than the actual curse ending.

I feel this way about Life sometimes.

[Thoughts] Ugh, I cried so many times throughout the overall story/this route that I lost count (TдT). There's too many events to mention here, but the curse and its aftermath obvsly caused some kind of time warp, which transported Yorihito Jr. to the future to be mentored by Yorihito Sr. (the mascot statue of the shrine, who was actually modelled after Jr.'s likeness).

Also it's almost certain that Mikoto made Sakuya a Goddess to protect her and/or other people from something related to the curse, and it's just a matter of the rest of the routes enlightening us as to the links between the main characters and the past - who is a descendant of whom, and so on.

I like Narumi as a character, but the route felt like it dragged on needlessly, when he was trying to hide first the details about the curse and then his symptoms from Sakuya. Those things are pretty obvious to us (the player), so I couldn't help feeling a bit emotionally constipated impatient with him at times.

He does have his surprisingly candid moments, too, though. Like when Fuu-san teased them about being on a date and he just smoothly rolled with it (maybe because he thought at that time that they will never be together). And after he read Sakuya's letter, he told her he's always loved her, but they can't be together and he wouldn't tell her why. I can see why Sakuya got frustrated and went into WHYWHYWHYWHY mode after that. Guess it shows that, despite his usual maturity and poise, he's still only 17 and doesn't have the ability to manage both his own feelings and someone else's at the same time.

(On that count I think Yakumo actually manages things in a more adult way, even though he can appear rather mentally deficient at times.)

I wanna have ‘secret muscle training’ session with Yakumo-nii-san... if you get my meaning ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I also love the way that Narumi and Sakuya support each other. She comforts him after he failed at making takoyaki, and in turn he consoles and encourages her about the future goals form. They really feel like equals, it's not all one-sided 'big-brotherly duties' like her relationship with Yakumo. (I can't help talking about Yakumo here because I just love him (ノ｡・﹏・｡)ノ❤. But anyway, he'll get my special attention in a later post.) 

One sweet discovery here is that Yuzuru(-senpai) might be a secret romantic. Just as Mikoto was about to repeat what he did 1000 years ago on Narumi and Sakuya, Yuzuru jumps in and is all like: STAHP, shouldn't you let these two choose for themselves? Aww. Assholes with a heart of gold are my favourite assholes in the world. (^o^)丿

[ariannjs]

COFFEE SHOP | A SasuSaku FanFic (2/2)

For Day 12 (Gravitation) of SasuSaku Month 2019☕

Rating: K+

Summary: Sakura chuckled and enveloped Sasuke in an embrace. "In the end, it's still you and me." "Hn. And it all started in this place."

-----

(Coffee Shop - Part 1/2)

-----

"So that's how you met mama?" There was an adorable twinkle in the eyes of the raven-haired girl in front of Sasuke.

Moments earlier, little Sarada complained about the tons of assignments she took home from the academy. It's not that she couldn't manage to finish them, it's just that she found the repetitive equations too boring to spend much time with. So, she ended up pestering her dad to tell her any story that he or Sakura liked so much.

Sasuke's lips twitched upwards as he gave his daughter a nod to answer her question.

Sarada leaned towards him on the table that used to be his haven while waiting for his mom to finish her café managing job when he was younger. "That's so cool! Did you marry mom the next day?"

Sasuke released a chuckle. "I wish. But it doesn't work that way, Sarada. There were lots of highs and lows, and we needed to grow up before that."

His daughter blinked twice while she parsed the information she received, her interest not dying down a bit. "Oh. Then..." She pouted, with a hand on her chin as she stared at a distance – a pose that reminded Sasuke of Sakura whenever she's thinking deeply, causing him to smile. "Then, Papa! Would I be able to marry my crush too?"

All the muscles on Sasuke's face tensed. Sure, he and Sakura met and felt a connection with each other at the same age as Sarada's now, but if he would be completely honest, he wasn’t ready to let his baby girl go any time soon. And it might be unavoidable for him to develop a slight fury to any guy who might steal his heiress's heart from him and Sakura one day.

"You have a crush." Sasuke's voice came out in a tone that's mixed with both question and accusation.

With widened eyes and burning cheeks, Sarada waved her hands in front of her in quick dismissal. "No, no! It's not that! All the boys in school are annoying! I only mean that if I would have one." She scratched the back of her head. "Also, you and mama would surely know when the time comes!" She grinned until she saw her dad's face relax.

"Good."

"You're overprotective, Papa!" She giggled, earning an eye roll from Sasuke.

"Tch. Of course, I don't want my little girl to be taken away by any undeserving guy." He reached out and tapped Sarada's forehead with his two fingers.

Although Sarada was quite accustomed to the affectionate gesture already, she still couldn't help but jerk a little.

"Meanwhile, to answer your question, it doesn't always happen that way. But who knows, you might be able to marry your future crush too, when you don't find the need to rush." There was a slight emphasis to the word "future" that made Sarada flinch. "But for now, just wait for the Author of love Himself to write your own love story, okay?" Sasuke smiled.

Sarada beamed back and nodded at this.

"Now back to your homework." He stood up and patted his daughter's head before leaving her to check up on his wife who was busying herself with the coffee shop's inventory for the day.

He found Sakura seated on one of the bar stools on the other side of the renovated café, scribbling with eyebrows furrowed on the directory and notebooks sprawled in front of her on the high table.

He snickered at the sight. Despite having medical duties on her own clinic by day, she still takes time in doing what she can for the coffee shop business that was passed on to them by Sasuke's parents – Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha. Sakura told him once that for her, it was the least she could do to support his career as a thriving businessman despite her being inclined to a different field, knowing that Sasuke already has several businesses that he was overseeing.

Plus, it was the coffee shop where they first met, so when she decided to personally oversee at least one of their many businesses, the cafè was her first and immediate choice.

It was heartwarming for Sasuke to see how dedicated his wife was in keeping up with the reputation of his family, not that she didn’t have a topflight repute of her own in terms of medical studies, but her character and dedication were some of the many confirmations to Sasuke that Sakura was definitely meant to be an Uchiha. Having her as his wife was probably the best dream that he has ever achieved for himself.

Sasuke paced across the room and decided to approach her from behind. Slipping his arms around her waist, he peered over her shoulder to check on what she was doing. "Are you almost done?"

Slightly startled with her husband's touch, she responded, "Yeah. Just a few more items and we could go home." She smiled as she met Sasuke's gaze. "How's Sarada?"

"Well, she was easily bored again today, pretty much a lot like me." He snorted. "But she said it was only because her math homeworks were too plain for her, so much like you in that manner. Tch."

Sakura smirked. "We've made a pretty smart child, haven't we?"

Sasuke nodded with a smile. They've always been proud of how advanced Sarada's cognitive skills were for her age. And as she grows older, the distinguished characteristics she has acquired from either of her parents are slowly manifesting in her deeds and speech. It's a little funny for them sometimes that they got to see an image of their younger selves in Sarada.

Sasuke then planted a kiss on Sakura's shoulder blade. "Meanwhile, to kill her boredom, I told her about how we met."

"Oh, yeah?" Sakura suddenly cackled. "So you finally got to tell her about how you used to have a short-lived crush on nee-chan?"

Groaning, Sasuke tightened his embrace on her waist and buried his face in her hair. "Well, if I didn't notice Sasuna-nee back then, and if Hisuke-nii didn't fetch you from school and bring you here, I most likely wouldn't even get the chance of being introduced to you." He smirked as Sakura continued to laugh. "I'll always be grateful to them, that's for sure."

Sakura slightly pulled away to turn on her seat and now face Sasuke. "It's funny how our lives changed since then, don't you think? It's how we got to know that Someone was really orchestrating every single thing in the world to fall into place." She said, beaming from ear to ear while gently placing her arms around Sasuke's neck. "That day, I felt so sure, that you were made for me, and I for you."

"Hn." Sasuke had felt the exact same way, and he couldn't help but capture her lips with his as an agreement to her words. It was quick but sweet, making Sakura giggle in delight.

"But, do you remember how difficult our college years had been?"

Her husband's face went blank. "I don't even want to remember."

"Right." Sakura frowned as she relived the pain of those years without Sasuke.

It was a mutual decision. Growing up together, it was as if they were practically glued to each other that when you try to pull one of them away, the other would be inevitably wrecked, too.

It became almost too unhealthy how they depended on each other to the point of being too consumed in their own world. That's why when it was time for them to take different paths towards the courses they wanted to pursue, they knew they had to end their two-year relationship that bloomed during their Senior High School years (when Sasuke finally had the guts to tell Sakura that what he had for her was more than a mere childhood crush).

It wasn't just about the long distance caused by their different universities, nor the hectic schedules of their business and medical classes alongside various extracurricular activities, but it was about learning to let go that they may individually grow.

When their parents learned about it, they were surprised, but they agreed that it was indeed a wise idea.

Itachi thought it was so courageous of them that he viewed them with so much admiration ever since, because he saw how his brother stood firm with his decision although it was apparently not easy for him.

Sasuna felt heartbroken, thinking about how she wouldn't be able to take it if it was her who had to break up with Hisuke just so they could focus on their individual pursuits.

Nonetheless, both their families trusted them that they were already mature enough to deal with matters of the heart, even though it involved pain.

It was Sasuna who first witnessed the positive effects of the harrowing decision to her younger sister. Entering college made Sakura leave the clingy and hopeless romantic teenager behind. She grew up to be more confident in her own skin, even though she was alone and she didn’t have the arm of a raven-haired guy constantly linked with hers. Her track record was a testament that she has made a name for herself in her chosen field, healing patients from various pains as her own heart slowly got healed.

Itachi had shared great reports about his younger brother too. During a batch reunion alongside their spouses and other batch mates in the academy, Itachi and Sasuna made sure to have a catch up about their siblings who had decided to cut off their communication with each other. Itachi proudly mentioned that despite being away from home, Sasuke grew up to be a very responsible man, worthy enough to take ownership of their companies even at such a young age. He also became more focused than ever, compared to that sulky and lovesick teen that was damned crazy about "keeping pests away" from his pink-haired childhood sweetheart.

Years later, their college graduations marked not only their professional milestones, but also their personal growth. And their families couldn't be any prouder.

For Sasuke, hearing about Sakura being hailed as one of the best rising doctors of their generation made him glad that they stuck with their decision. It was so apparent how Sakura had grown on her own, without him getting in the way as a distraction in pursuing the difficult career she chose. Though he was miles away, he had always hoped all the best for Sakura, even if it might not include him.

There was a part of Sakura that wished she was with Sasuke while he was slowly achieving his goals, but she knew that in one way or another, it would be difficult for him to focus with her around, just like when they were kids. And even though it was still a struggle for Sakura to stop longing for Sasuke, she found peace in believing that her Creator would not withold the best from her heart; hence, she continued to focus on her career and wait for love to come at its proper time. After all, she has always desired for Sasuke to be happy, even if his happiness wouldn't involve her.

But just when they thought they already had everything, they knew, somewhere at the back of their minds, that something was still missing.

"Doctor Haruno!" A nurse suddenly approached Sakura's office with a panic-stricken face. "You are needed at the emergency room. Someone came in complaining about an intense chest pain."

"Oh? Okay then." She proceeded out of her office after the announcement, though she wondered why she had to attend to the ER when she wasn’t even assigned there. Brushing the thoughts aside, she rushed to the emergency room because she knew how chest pains could lead to a more complicated situation for the patient.

She gasped at the sight after pulling the green curtain sideways. Because there, seated on the hospital bed, was no other than the man she has painfully yet bravely decided to let go of years ago. "Sasuke...kun."

Sasuke, on the other hand, simply gave her a blank yet meaningful stare, as if scrutinizing every single thing about her and taking in all the changes in her after how many years of not seeing each other.

But Sakura didn't let the previous astonishment get in the way of what she was really there for. When she came back to her professional senses, she immediately prepared to wear a stethoscope and paced towards her patient. She then asked, "What happened?"

There was, however, a long pause. And Sakura felt as if her galloping heart would explode the longer she heard the constant ticking of the clock behind her. "I need to know what happened so I could give y–"

"I realized I'm still in love with you, that's what happened."

She was frozen right then and there, with her stethoscope just a few inches away from Sasuke's supposed painful chest. Hesitating, she put her hand down and met his intent gaze. "W-what..."

Sasuke's eyes softened at the sight of the emerald orbs that he missed. He knew what he was there for, and he wasn’t gonna beat around the bush before anyone decides to call him again for a business meeting or what.

He cleared his throat, reaching out to gently grasp his doctor's hand. "This time, I hope the time is right. Sakura, would you allow me to court you again but with the intention of marrying you?"

With that, Sakura's pent-up tears for the past few years suddenly came rushing down her cheeks. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. But she knew those onyx eyes very well, and with the way they were staring back at her right now, she knew that there was no hint of lie in there.

Slowly, her lips formed a smile as she gave him a nod that made him smile back. "This time, I'm not letting you go."

And that was the beginning of their journey towards the now.

"It had to happen though. Or else we wouldn't be the man and woman that we are right now," Sakura acknowledged, still facing her husband in their dimly lit coffee shop. "There was no single day that I didn't miss you, Sasuke-kun. You remained my inspiration. I thought that as long as you're doing your best somewhere else, I ought to do my best wherever I was too."

The corner of Sasuke's lips twitched upwards. "And I never stopped loving you." He then lifted two fingers to lightly tap the pale forehead of his wife, a gesture Sakura knows all too well. "Even though I was successfully able to repress the emotion for so long, at the end of that long season, it still resurfaced above all the other things I preoccupied my mind with."

Sakura chuckled and enveloped Sasuke in an embrace. "In the end, it's still you and me."

"Hn. And it all started in this place."

"Papa! Mama!"

The couple's attention was suddenly caught by their little girl as she ran towards them with her hands seemingly clutching something behind her.

"Hey, Sarada!" Sakura stepped off the bar stool and leaned down to Sarada's level with Sasuke following suit. "Are your homeworks done?"

Sarada nodded as she smiled sheepishly at her parents. "I've just finished my gift."

Her father arched an eyebrow in wonder. "Gift?"

"Here! Happy Anniversary, Mama and Papa!" Sarada exclaimed happily as she held out her hand, revealing a paper with a drawing that was far better than her old sketches of stick people.

Her mother beamed as she received the said gift. "Aww! Thank you, dear! This is so nice!" She affirmed while scanning Sarada's drawing of their family.

Sasuke did the same beside Sakura and slowly smiled at their daughter. "Thank you, Sarada. It's beautiful."

The youngest Uchiha grinned in delight. She was glad that her parents liked her surprise gift. She almost thought she wouldn't be able to finish it within the day since her Papa was with her a while ago. "You're welcome!"

"Hmm. Why is there a fourth figure here though?" Sakura asked her daughter as her eyes trailed over the figure of a little boy with black hair and green eyes beside Sarada in the drawing.

Sarada bit her lip as her parents stared at her. Scratching the back of her head, she answered, "I...I was thinking that...maybe...Papa can give you a...younger brother as a gift?"

With that, Sasuke suddenly looked away while seemingly choking on his own spit.

Then, Sakura went home alongside her husband and daughter with a drawing in hand and a very red face after that.

————

© December 2018 AriannJS

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Thanks for reading! As always, I’d love to know your feedback! Check out my other SasuSaku fics here! :)

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- A

[kitsmits]

How would Team 7 (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura) react to the ships KaiKashi and ItaKai? How would Minato and Kushina react? And Team Recon?

Ooo…this is a fun one! Strap in, ‘cause it’s also a long answer. Gonna break it down by ships:

ItaKai

Important to note: In the story (old version, at least), Team 7 and Team Recon do eventually learn the truth about Itachi.

Team 7

When ItaKai first became a thing (pre-massacre), Naruto was COMPLETELY oblivious. He met Itachi twice during this time, but in classic Naruto fashion, never remembered it. Later on, after learning the truth about the massacre and getting to know the “real” Itachi a bit, he’s just happy that his sister got to be right about him - right to always have those nagging doubts about the massacre, right to never completely give up on him. In a way, it gives him hope that he’s also right about Sasuke.

Sakura has similar feelings to Naruto about it - seeing Itachi and Kaiya able to reconnect gives her hope for Sasuke.

Sasuke…here’s a complicated one. When they were younger, he was a bit mixed. On the one hand, his brother was spending time with this girl instead of with him. On the other, he (Sasuke) actually kind of liked that girl. He also liked how his brother was around her - lighter, happier in a way that he only ever saw with himself or Shisui. Post-massacre, their relationship doesn’t play into Sasuke’s feelings about his brother much; the whole “he killed my entire clan” thing does tend to eclipse a young romance gone wrong. As for later on, when the truth comes out…in my headcanon, he’s again, mixed. Part of him is glad that his brother got some happiness in the end, no matter how short-lived, and he’s even grateful to Kaiya (and maybe a bit envious) for being able to give that to him.

Team Recon

Not thrilled about it. At all. Before the massacre, they were…hesitantly supportive? They were all young, but Hikaru and Gorou definitely felt a sudden burst of brotherly protectiveness over Kaiya when they realized she was developing something with the Uchiha heir. They were worried he was taking advantage of her, that he’d just use her then toss her aside in favor of doing whatever his clan dictated…and they didn’t want to see their “little sister” heartbroken. Of course, that’s…more or less what wound up happening, in an extreme way. Itachi committed the massacre of his clan, becoming a notorious criminal who allegedly had been a psychopath the whole time.

Later on, when they’re together again, Hikaru and Gorou are, again, VERY not thrilled about it. By now they know the truth of the massacre, but even so, neither of them can see anything good coming out of those two being together - except that they trust their teammate and see that while the situation makes her unbearably sad, she’s also, in a way, happy. So they keep their mouths shut, try to accept it for what it is, but plan to be there as soon as things go south to pull her out and/or be her support.

BONUS AU HEADCANON: Again, they’d be hesitantly supportive at first, always with an eye out in case this clan heir was up to no good. But they see over and over again that this is not the case, that Itachi genuinely cares for Kaiya. Plus, in this AU, Itachi and Kaiya have known each other WAY longer than Team Recon has been around. So actually, they might not be as hesitant. Heck, Gorou might even be playing matchmaker in the beginning! Yuuma would be in the background with Shisui, both of them with knowing smiles that say “yeah, we knew all along this would happen.”

Minato & Kushina

This is mostly based on an AU scenario where everyone is alive, there was no massacre, etc. Kushina is totally into this. Seriously. She and Mikoto have been plotting this since Itachi and Kaiya were born (well, mostly Kushina doing the plotting!). When Itachi and Kaiya get married, Kushina is unrestrainedly cheering during the ceremony. Minato…he’s quite okay with it. Itachi is a polite, kind individual, highly skilled and intelligent. He has a good head on his shoulders, a good heart in his chest, and he obviously adores and cherishes Minato’s little girl. Minato may have been a little more protective when they first started dating as teens, maybe even using his Hokage status to…silently remind Itachi not to mess with his daughter, but I can also see him basically grooming Itachi over the years to possibly become the next Hokage.

In the “real world” of the story…I think Minato and Kushina would be heartbroken at what’s become of Itachi, and what that means for an ItaKai relationship. Minato would blame himself for, well, dying so early on - if he’d survived, if he’d been a little faster, a little stronger, defeated the masked man and subdued the Kyuubi without getting shanked…maybe the massacre wouldn’t have happened. Maybe his daughter wouldn’t have been an amnesiac orphan. Heck, maybe even his son wouldn’t have had to carry a demon. Maybe his wife would’ve survived. And maybe, just maybe, Itachi could have had a more normal life where his potential was allowed to blossom in a more peaceful environment.

KaiKashi

Team 7

Naruto and Sakura are all for it. These two are like the parent figures of Team 7, so them getting together is just…right. 

Sasuke is a little more…hesitant? On the one hand, pre-Shippuden, he was just too caught up in his own world to care - or at least, that’s what he told himself. I think he might actually be a little resentful of Kaiya for moving on in any way when he refuses to. Part of him recognizes that this isn’t a fair judgment - as he often reminds himself, she didn’t lose her whole clan that night, it’s not her responsibility to do anything about it - but he’s young. He doesn’t have the maturity yet to separate his experiences from those of others. Another part of him, though, agrees with Naruto and Sakura - the two just work together.

Team Recon

Total KaiKashi shippers here. They’re happy to see Kaiya moving on (however slowly and hesitantly) and they think Kakashi is good for her. They couldn’t be more into this if they were following them around quietly singing “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid in the background.

Minato & Kushina

Hmm…no AU scenario for this one, so just TUTN-verse: Minato is actually pretty into this. Of course, there’s a little time-shock for him here, because when he was alive and last saw these two, his precious baby girl was just short of five years old and his protege was already an Anbu operative and a teenager…so yeah, there’s a little cognitive dissonance in suddenly seeing them both as adults AND romantically involved. But he’s happy that they’ve found happiness and comfort in each other, and can almost see a bit of a mirror of him and Kushina in them.

Kushina is also pretty happy about it, though she’d probably want to give Kakashi a stern talking-to about how to treat a lady, including NOT reading porn by a certain Pervy Sage around her daughter!

[la-moonlight-lily]

May I?

Summary: She'd been waiting for the one that would make her feel this way. That tenacious, profound, lingering emotion that no words can encompass. And now that she had, it had to be the one person she could not let into her heart. ItaSaku Soulmate A/U (or is it?). Non-Mass.

Rating: T. Subject to change.

1. Misconceptions | 2. Contemplations | 3. Decisions | 4. Resolutions

A/N: This whole thing is dedicated to Nadine25 on ff.net who is the main driving factor and inspiration for me writing again. You should check out her story Unholy Matrimony, it's brilliant, and also to littlebirdrobin on tumblr who has been very motivating and supporting, and her story Pretty Cherry Blossom is also a wonderful read.

"You're staring at her again."

Shisui looked at his cousin with something akin to exasperation, mentally letting out a frustrated groan.

Itachi did not even bother giving him a glance. He groaned out loud this time.

"Itachi," he snapped his fingers in front of his cousin's face, startling the younger male, who discreetly scrambled to regain his composure.

"Itachi," Shisui sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We talked about this."

He stared at his companion, who only lowered his eyes to his hands, both tightly gripping a glass of whiskey, still silent.

Shisui raised his eyes to Itachi's cause of fascination, watching as she rested her head on her blonde friend's shoulder – Yamanaka, was it? – warm, cheerful laughter bubbling from her mouth as they watched Naruto spit his drink in his other little cousin's face, Sasuke torn between cleaning up or pummelling his friend into the ground first.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Itachi raise his glass to his lips and down the rest of his whiskey, taking out his wallet to throw a couple of ryo on the table before standing up.

"Let's go."

The finality in his tone caused Shisui to immediately spring up, filled him with an air of relief. They quickly made their way through the number of shinobi filling the bar, passing by the youngsters' table on the way. There was no way they wouldn't notice them now.

"Shisui-san!" Sakura piped up when they neared the table, sitting up to greet him.

Itachi stiffened, Sasuke glared, and Shisui had to force himself to grin brightly at the girl as if his two cousins weren't just about to jump each other at the throat.

"Why hello there, Sakura-chan!" he leaned against table slightly, standing in front of Itachi. "It's been a while since I saw you around."

"Oh you were going to get a visit from me soon enough." The girl smirked at him, making him sigh inwardly.

"Oh?"

"Someone has to drag you to your monthly check-up, yes?" She was still smiling but her eyes narrowed at him slightly, "the one you're three months late for?"

He huffed out a laugh, rubbed the back of his neck.

"No need to get violent, Sakura-chan. I'll drag myself over to the hospital first thing in the morning."

She looked slightly placated, but shifted her eyes to his cousin, still standing stiff behind him. The dark-haired man rolled his eyes.

"I'll drag him along too," Shisui said with a small laugh, "now can you quit eyeing me with such murderous intent?"

Sakura's eyes brightened with mirth and she let out a small giggle, running his fingers through her soft, pink locks.

"Fine. Only because I'm in too good of a mood to torture you tonight. Would you join us for a dri-"

"No."

Their eyes snapped to the person sitting across from her.

"Sasuke, don't be rude!"

"We were all about to leave anyway."

Shisui watched his cousin and his teammate for a moment. Sasuke pinned the girl with a hard look. She returned it with a dirty one, looking more annoyed with him than Shisui thought she would be. The two blonds at the table shot each other a slightly alarmed look, seemingly understanding of the perhaps not-so-strange situation.

Well, he wasn't about to get between them. He already had one walking mess to deal with.

"It's alright Sakura-chan. Itachi and I were just leaving actually. We had a long day and we'll need our rest if we're getting those check-ups tomorrow." Shisui gave her a small smile and watched as she dragged her eyes back to him, a frown pinching her eyebrows together, giving him a little nod.

"Come on, I'll walk you home." Sasuke said softly, standing up and holding his hand out for her, looking slightly apologetic. Their two companions stood slowly after them.

"Well, I'll see you soon then. Good night, everyone." Shisui didn't wait for them to respond, only heard their murmured goodnights while he stalked to the door, Itachi hot on his heels.

It was a long, silent walk to the Uchiha compound, one Shisui was more than used to by now to feel uncomfortable anymore

She was upset with him, Sasuke could tell. He didn't even mean to be that aggressive. He just didn't want to put a damper on her good mood after they'd worked so damn hard to get her there.

He sighed. It seemed he couldn't get things right with her on this, no matter what he did.

"Sakura-"

"Shut it Sasuke."

Okay, she was definitely more than a little bit upset.

"Sakura, I'm just trying to look out for you-"

"I know, Sasuke," she interrupted again, softer this time. "I know."

She leaned into him slightly as they walked, and he was grateful for it, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry."

"I know," she said again and put her head on his shoulder, felt him sigh again.

"I won't keep him away anymore if that's what you want-"

"I don't want to talk about it Sasuke," his teammate interrupted in a tone that clearly said there was no arguing with her. He didn't mind that much.

"Okay. I'm sorry." He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her shoulders lightly. She appreciated the comfort it provided for a moment.

They kept on walking in awkward silence, until she decided to look up at him.

"How's Hanabi?"

If he was grateful for the diversion, he didn't show it. Instead, he gave her an awkward smile.

"She's alright. Still getting used to the whole situation."

"Is her father still raging about how she's being shackled down to an Uchiha?"

Sasuke chuckled. "He's… coming around, I think. She said he hasn't been shooting as many daggers at them lately as he usually does."

The female under his arm giggled and wrapped an arm around his waist. "The poor man. To have both his daughters become soulmates to someone who is not a Hyuuga must've been more of a shock than he could handle."

"He wasn't that bad with Hinata." Sasuke sighed and Sakura nodded a bit at his words. "He already knew since they were kids that they wouldn't end up with anyone in their clan, their marks never matched. And Naruto and Hinata knew they were soulmates since they were five or something so he'd already made peace with that by the time we discovered our bond." He ran a hand through his messy hair. Made it even messier, if that was possible.

"It's the fact that I'm an Uchiha more than anything that made him fly off his handle. Hanabi said he almost had a heart attack when she told him."

They laughed at the image, both able to clearly imagine Hyuuga Hiashi red-faced and short of breath after shouting for hours and hours about how his daughter couldn't possibly end up with a man in their primary rival clan. A man from its main branch at that.

"I'm sure Hyuuga-sama wasn't the only person who almost had a heart attack at the news," she teased and he grinned devilishly at her.

"My father wasn't too pleased, no. But you know how my mother could be when she decides to work her magic."

Sakura nodded. "Hai hai." She was more than familiar with the leverage Uchiha Mikoto has over her husband. Over her entire Uchiha household, actually. She didn't think any of the three other occupants of the main house dared defy their matriarch's wishes at any point.

"And it's not even like we chose this, you know?" Sasuke continued, "they both know that you end up with whoever has your mark and that's that. The fact that most of the clan members in our case happen to find their soulmates from within the clan is the exception, not the rule. We can't really decide that we'll both live miserably till the end of our days just because our clans can't stand each other."

"No you can't."

Sasuke realised his mistake a moment too late, and scrambled to apologise when he saw her face fall slightly. She pinched his side and smiled teasingly at him before he could, however.

"And how are you feeling about this? Still giving her a verbal beating every time you see her?"

Sasuke scowled, but there was no ill feeling behind it. "It was only the first two times! And it's not my fault that the first words my soulmate was supposed to say to me were an insult!"

"Yeah, she is quite the spitfire, isn't she? Goes well with her name." Sakura grinned up at him and he sighed, poking her side to make her squirm.

"Yes, she's very intense, and so am I, so we tend to clash a lot. But I'm getting used to it. It's only been a month since we knew, but we're making an effort to have calmer discussions whenever we disagree and all. We've been doing well, I think."

They rounded a corner and passed the familiar fruit stand at the beginning of Sakura's street, their pace unconsciously slowing down as they neared her house.

She was silent for a few moments before she spoke again, her tone subdued this time.

"Do you think you could be happy with her?"

Sasuke looked down at her and found her staring ahead, that familiar sadness back in her eyes. He squeezed her closer to him.

"It's too early to tell, but I think we're making progress. She's making an effort and we're opening up to each other a bit. Slowly, but… Yeah… Yeah, I think we could be happy, at some point."

She didn't speak again until they reached her building a minute or two later. She squirmed away from his hold and stood facing him, a warm smile on her face.

He could see her making an effort not to cry.

"I'm happy for you Sasuke," she almost whispered, taking a step towards him and wrapping her arms around his middle, "I really am."

He hugged her tightly, pressing a kiss against her temple. "Thank you. It means a lot."

She gave him one final squeeze and pulled back, walking backwards to the gate. "Good night, Sasuke-kun."

"Good night," he said and watched as she turned around and started climbing the steps to the door.

"Sakura."

She turned around, looked at him with curious eyes.

"He'll come. I promise."

Sakura smiled sadly at her best friend. Willed herself to hold it together.

"I hope so, Sasuke."

With that, she turned around again, taking the steps up to her apartment two at a time.

She managed to hold off the tears until she got to her bedroom.

Or, more accurately, until she started taking her clothes off.

She peeled off her shirt, a crisp black fabric that contrasted sharply against her vibrant pink hair. Throwing it on the bed, Sakura stood in front of her full length mirror and ran her fingers over the tattoo on her right hip bone.

It had been there since she was born, and she couldn't remember the burning feeling it made as it appeared on her skin. It remained too tiny to read on her small body, the letters squashed together in an unintelligible script until she turned nine. It was Ino who finally managed to read the words when they were splashing in the pool at the Yamanaka estate, squealing when she glimpsed the short, clear line visible on her hip.

"Sakura-chan, look! You can see it now!"

Young Sakura had forgotten all about checking her tattoo for a while, too busy trying to keep up with her lessons at the Academy and fending off bullies with Ino. The girls pulled themselves up to sit at the edge of the pool after that, staring at her soulmate mark, written in beautiful, neat handwriting.

May I kiss you?

The girls blushed and squealed childishly, their eyes excited and dreamy at the prospect of a prince charming asking for permission for a kiss. They kept screaming excitedly until Ino's mother came in and yelled at them to tone it down.

They stayed up late that night, curled in bed trying to figure out who Sakura's prince charming might be. They already knew that he must be older since Sakura was born with her soulmate's first words to her already branded on her skin, so he must've been born by the time she was. Excluding half of the boys in their year because they were at least a few months younger, and then half of those that remained because Sakura's already talked to them before and none of them asked to kiss her, the girls kept on throwing in the name of every handsome boy in Konoha, giggling and speculating over Sakura's mystery man.

They kept on guessing until they were well into their teenage years, half of their friends having already met their other halves by then.

"Maybe it's a girl," Naruto said once, promptly getting smacked on the back of his head by a laughing Sakura and Ino.

"What?!" he cried defensively, rubbing his offended head and looking at the girls with an affronted expression, "the handwriting's too pretty for it to be a guy!"

"Oh yeah? And how did you know it was pretty handwriting?!" Sakura mock-growled at him, making him blush and hide his red cheeks from her view. Sakura laughed at him and patted his shoulder.

"Not that I'm not okay with the concept, but I'm not really into girls at the moment."

He blushed even harder at the thought, while the rest of the group snickered at him.

"I personally think he's a man. A very polite and courteous gentleman," Tenten said, taking a sip of her milkshake.

Ino snorted. "Well that excludes half of Konoha."

They laughed again, until Sasuke nudged her lightly with his elbow.

"He could be from another village, you know," he murmured and Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Might not even be a shinobi," Naruto threw in, which made her eyes widen a little.

"Kami, I hope not!" She tucked her hair back behind her ear. "I would like him to at least be on the same page as I am when it comes to that path of life."

The rest of the group agreed, none of them fond of the idea of having to abandon their shinobi lifestyle, before moving on with the conversation to the upcoming jounin exams.

Her friends kept on coming across their lovers one by one, until all who remained were her and Sasuke.

And it was fine. Really. The thought of meeting her soulmate was nice, especially if he was as romantic as the script on her hip says. But she was too distracted by keeping up with the Godaime's lessons and catching up to her teammates to dwell on it much. It would happen when it was supposed to, she told herself.

It was fine until she started noticing the mysterious black eyes following her around. When she was training, when she was healing, even when she was walking through the market with Ino, catching up on the latest gossip.

She would feel the familiar prickle down her spine, and somehow manage to turn her head in the right direction to where his face was.

The first few times this happened, it left her shaken. As a kunoichi, being watched never sat well with her. The fact that it was Uchiha Itachi watching her made it even more unnerving.

He looked at her with an intensity that scared her, the darkness of his irises scanning every inch of her as if she were a puzzle, and he was trying to put her together, figure her out, just by training that fierce gaze on her. And every time she would turn her head and see him fixing her with that look, she would shiver and turn away as quickly as she could without showing signs of unease.

But then one time she caught his eye and he smiled at her. A shy, crooked thing, like he wasn't sure if he was doing it right or not. And Sakura melted.

It was like he was letting her in on a little secret, one that no one knows about him except for her. And instead of turning away from him like before, Sakura took to following him around with her eyes as well, eager to unravel him as he was slowly unravelling her, each secret slowly making itself known in the form of a beautiful expression on his face.

Sakura and Itachi played this game of cat and mouse for a while, each of them making their presence known to the other as frequently and discreetly as they could, their public interactions few and usually without words, preferring to speak through whoever was accompanying them, but then exchanging those warm looks and secret smiles from a distance with those around them being none the wiser.

It was almost as if they were too scared of facing the inevitable, excited but nervous of that wonderful confrontation they'd been aching for. She knew deep in her heart that soon, she would wait no more, that it would no longer just be distant smiles and hurried touches in passing, and she knew that Itachi knew that as well. And it only took a few more weeks before it happened.

The first time Itachi spoke his words to her, Sakura froze, unable to compose herself at the sound of his calm tenor near her ear. For some reason he chose to approach her while Sasuke was there, and her teammate was gaping at the both of them and she was blushing and scrambling for a response, before she stammered an excuse at them and ran off like the idiot that she was.

For the following few days, she could feel two sets of ebony on her at all times, not one. One anxious, the other confused.

It took some courage for Sakura to be able to look at Itachi again, finding him near the Hokage's office as she was heading inside to help her mentor with paperwork, him leaving the office with a mission scroll. They stared each other down for a long minute, her green hues mirroring his intertwined happiness and distress. It was a silent conversation, one they were too good at by now, and one that told them that their compulsion towards each other, while deliciously ferocious, was inevitably doomed. The circumstances were not in their favour.

Sakura could only give him a sad, watery smile and Itachi raised his fingers to her cheek hesitantly, running his knuckles over her smooth skin, then darting away before he could no longer control himself.

She wallowed in self-pity for the whole month Itachi was away, obviously miserable and subdued. Her friends tried unsuccessfully to pry the cause of her sadness out of her, Tsunade screamed at her to regain her focus during surgeries, only to soften and try and comfort her later when she saw the girl strangely on the verge of tears with each little comment she received.

The annoying insistence of her friends continued for two weeks then suddenly stopped, and Sakura could see them shoot her sympathetic, understanding looks and being extra nice to her whenever she would get lost in her own thoughts. She couldn't explain their sudden change of attitude, but then Sasuke knocked on her door one night, holding her favourite ice cream and a box of strawberries and Sakura instantly launched herself at him, soaking his shirt with tears she had been desperately trying to keep at bay since she last saw his brother.

He was weirdly tender with her, something she had rarely, if ever, seen from Sasuke. Held her for as long as she cried while running a comforting hand up and down her back and through her hair, and listened to her patiently as she dug into the tub of ice cream and told him what he had already known for a while, but he let her relieve her heartache anyway. She finally cried herself to sleep and he carried her to her bed, tucking her in snugly under the blankets, and took the long way home to get some air on the way.

He showed up the next morning too, bringing her some cheese croissants and chocolate pastries and making sure she showered and ate, before they set out to their usual team sparring session.

It was perhaps a blessing that Sakura had grown so close to Sasuke, even if it was under such unlucky circumstances and even if he seemed like the least likely person who could be so understanding and supportive and patient with her situation, but he was, and Sakura was grateful for it. Sasuke would always make sure to surprise her with some of her favourite treats, show up on the nights when she was feeling especially dreadful, and nudge her with a smile or give her a small one-armed hug whenever he saw her slip into the darkness of her mind. And it brought her comfort, to know that she was not alone in her heartache.

Itachi returned almost too soon for her to heal, though, and Sakura slipped into a foul mood again. But she couldn't help but respond to his looks and smiles again in due time. Only this time, it felt exciting because it felt forbidden, and they were more compelled to hide their actions not due to strange flirtation, but due to disapproval. And more misery if it goes on, but right then and there, they didn't care about anything except those quick stolen moments that they couldn't go beyond. A quick smile before someone would notice, a touch of their fingers as they passed each other in corridors, the occasional smouldering, intense look that only served to increase their desire to retreat to a dark abandoned corner and not leave until they were both thoroughly sated.

Sasuke knew, though. With him at Sakura's side at least half the day every day, and living with the other party of the problem, he was bound to notice. And he did not approve.

He would scowl at Itachi whenever he caught him trying to catch her attention, and would steer Sakura away from Itachi's way if he sensed him around. Soon, Shisui got involved as well, trying to control Itachi instead, and their scarcely existent moments became even less frequent. Sasuke even became quite standoffish with his brother when Itachi wouldn't abandon his attentions, the relationship between the two becoming more turbulent as Itachi's 'relationship' with Sakura continued.

"You need to stop, Itachi." Sakura heard Sasuke utter harshly after she and Naruto finished having dinner with his family. She was waiting for Sasuke to walk her home while Naruto helped with the dished in the kitchen, and went to check on Sasuke when she started getting impatient.

"Whatever you're doing, you just need to stop it."

"I fail to see how that concerns you, Sasuke."

"It concerns me because it concerns Sakura! You know that this can't happen! You know that you're just hurting her more by making this attachment grow!" She heard Sasuke take in what sounded like a deep, exasperated breath before he continued.

"I can't allow you to hurt her more than she's already hurting. I can't allow you to hurt yourself more than this. You can't encourage her. She already has to endure the fact the someday, she's going to see you with someone else. And you're going to accept her eventually finding someone else as well. And you can't both do that if whatever it is that you're both doing continues."

Sakura almost ran back down to the kitchen. She had to walk slower so they couldn't hear her. And also so she could have time to compose herself before going back to Naruto and Mikoto.

Sasuke couldn't have been more right, and she knew it. It didn't mean that hearing that out loud wasn't still like a kunai to the heart.

It almost ceased after that. She no longer sought Itachi out with her eyes whenever she went, no longer went out of her way to frequent the same places he would so they could spend some time in proximity. And she could tell that he didn't either. It hurt too much for any meeting of their eyes to be longer deliberate, and should they find themselves staring, they would quickly avert their gaze as soon as they realised it, except for a few slips near-misses, like tonight at the bar. The combined efforts of Itachi's brother and cousin helped too.

And here she was, almost a year after that first time she caught him perusing her, standing in front of her mirror and crying pathetically at her stupid tattoo, wondering for the millionth time how she could somehow be so deeply in love with someone who was not her soulmate.

A/N: Well that wasn't very happy... I'm not sure if it's meant to be, either. I'm almost done with the whole thing, so I should be able to update soon (here's to hoping). Next, we see more of Itachi.

[ryodan]

Every team 7 ship VS NaruHina

To the clique that argued with me in the saltiest of ways, I dedicate to you my first ever anti nh post. I hope you think twice about telling people to kill themselves over your self insert and stop being a pimple on society’s ass.

Let’s start with the one that gets on your tits the most

Naruhina VS Narusaku (The Heaven and The Earth), alternatively titled : stop being angry he liked the hot chick and stop pretending Sakura isnt kushinas parallel

Whenever you feel the need to drag Sakura remember your origin story, @Lunaneko14. Don’t forget your years of defending SS to ride on it’s back lest ns happens

Your ship was here, while the ns fandom had this..no amount of sakura bitterness will change that, @mythicalheartbeat 

Ya boy that she was gorgeous from before team 7’s creation

Before you call Sakura selfish while gratifying Hintata, @fallingforkonoha, remember your void eyed princess entered a fight Tsunade knew not to interfere in knowing she can’t do anything to confess her feelings (at the perfect timing too, really) saying this about herself

A sentiment that continued until her almost final appearance in the manga she took up less than 1% of, as she took a moment to appreciate Narutos, big capable hands in front of her dead cousin . hand holding in front of lavish scenery is so sweet

VS Sakura, the selfish monster  who went in knowing she might get hurt, for him, because she cared greatly about his physical and emotional safety

Remember all those times Hinata just cared so much about his dreams, all those times she was there when he needed her

I love how she always believed in him, unlike Sakura. What a bitch, remember that comment she made in chapter 3 out of 700? Awful.

This QUEEN vs this BITCH, amirite @blackotaku97?

You know whats better than stealing someones ninja way, walmart naruto with a nuclear mushroom cloud of a head? Supporting your precious peoples ninja ways and finding your own.

A common argument that gets thrown around : Hinata was ALWAYS there for him

Sorry, I must have missed her in Narutos speech of the people who saved him from his loneliness and pain

I really like how she sees him miserable and doesn’t help him it’s the epitome of always there

Most of all, you nasty trash can excuse of a human being, I want you to get your head out of your asshole for just 3 seconds and accept that this happened

You can’t change what’s been set in stone

No amount of yapping with a filler movie can change the past. But you know what? Bitches  bark and yap, that’s no surprise

No amount of yapping about the twin lions fist, a head branch hyuga jutsu being hinatas own changes facts, @commanderkurama

My fav part of the pain arc was when Naruto never asked Hinata about her confession, or her safety. I also particularly like Narutos first ever hug that someone else initiated

Drag Sakura all you want but remember when you were here after 2013

Narusakus had this before 2007

Remember that while your self insert was fainting and going on suicide missions

Sakura and Naruto had already built a relationship based on mutual support, respect, love and equal footing (weather platonic or romantic, love is love). A relationship where they both believed in each other, supported each other, had each others back, laughed with each other, cried with each other, had actual chemistry with each other. Remember that the next time you whine about people loving this ship instead of your talked about the weather and clothes ship in an entire movie dedicated to them couple.

Sakura supports your faves so much that no wonder you want to debunk her heroine status and reduce her to a side supporting character that matches your background fav

Hiding her tears so she doesn’t hurt him!11! reminds me of that time she fake confessed to keep him,  kakashi and the rest of the world safe even if at the cost of killing her beloved one to save him from falling into deeper darkness. Sakura is so selfish, no wonder everyone in Japan hates NS

Know your place, Linda. Keep your scumbag-kun and the girl 2ch calls Hinabuta (quick Japanese crash course, that means hinapig), I like my Naruto and Sakura-chan just fine.

SasuSaku (The Hawk and The Cherry Blossom), alternatively titled: You rode on my back for years because your ship wouldn’t have had a hope in high hell if it were not for these two

Lunaneko, I think someone told me you said we try to compete with your shit ship.

It’s hard hearing you over making ship history

While Naruto was busy ignoring Hinatas general existence because she has the presence of the trash can in the sasusaku confession scene Sasuke (a boy who’s been thirsted after fresh from mikotos womb was already flustered and blushing towards sakura

You know what development is? Starting off with an irritable boy with 6 years worth of survivor guilt and manipulation weighing on his shoulders, saying something incredibly ignorant that rightfully pisses him the fuck off but still having him worry enough about you to stay with you to ensure your safety even at the risk of elimination

Aside from giving naruto his first hug, she gave sasuke his in years. Apparently Linkin park was so affected by human touch that he opened up to her about something he’s been repressing and isolating himself over for years. Going so far as stating ‘At that time, I was crying’ and even explaining his entire stance in the story ‘I am avenger’

Development is going from this look

To this look

From this

To this

And that wink too. There’s more chemistry in that wink than the entire NH movie

Remember that time Sakura helped Sasuke develop from a boy who had a childhood trauma based fear of stronger opponents with blood lust to a boy who fought Orochimaru bravely and grew 10x times in a single scene? All while she developed herself? And grew from an agreeable sasuke fangirl to a respected team mate? Y’all wanna compare the war hand hold scene to this? The war scene could have had potential if it ended better lmao

Why was he fighting?

Protecting her seems like an odd concept to you? Sasuke can’t relate :/ Naruto aint even wanna walk hinata home what joke is this

Remember that time Sasuke almost killed a guy in the forest of death? No, not broke Zakus arm

Sasuke was willing to kill for Sakura and I hope you know sasuke’s stance on killing. Where’s Naruto having this much care for hinata I don’t see it my competition is really lagging in this ‘race’

Remember that irritable boy? This boy crawling to her for comfort is a boy who grew alongside her, naruhina who?

You know what she did? She stayed up all night tending to her team mates, falling for konoha. Theres a fine line between cheating your crush at the risk of your team and staying up all night in a place titled the forest of death tending to their wounds at a mere bud age of 12

Wait no, bud who? She bloomed, all thanks to being inspired by the holy trinity (whos front and center? Louder for the people in the back, this is inspiration not just wanting to be with someone) and her own determination to protect her loved ones

Mutual development? Fuck me up. Here is an emotional maturation moment for BOTH of them

I love all of these mutual nh moments in the manga, all 0.0005 of them

She gave rise to a gentle protective side of him, so much so that he has used polite Japanese speaking to her before. The databook even states he saw her as someone he needed to protect. people ship ships for that special spark.The only spark hinata ever got was her wet dream from holding narutos hand, which she awoke from when she tripped on rock-kun

Naruto can’t tell apart true love from ramen? Canon Naruto can’t relate

I love that panel of jealous Naruto it’s great, oh wait its not him

Compete with Nh over what, blackotaku? Where is your naruto @ hinata speech I must need new glasses

Your bitch ass tried using you’re annoying as an argument and it’s so funny because imagine thinking he’s coming from a place of hate after he was willing to consciously give up his revenge for her safety and him saying what he said in their first encounter with a smile after pretending he didn’t remember their first meeting

Followed by this, the moment Japanese fans hailed the most emotional of part 1

You wish you were ss lmao, you wish you made it to 44 volumes out of 72

Compete with nh? On what? Getting stronger for your loved ones?

Chemistry?

Mutual support?

Their feelings are connected, their kid is the physical manifestation of their love not the screw that keeps them together..Her husband is travelling through space and time to keep them and the entire world safe. Naruto is 2 meters away, out there with a limitless bay of chakra unable to get clones to do his work for him.. anti-sakura-pro-hinata, at least when sasuke came home after 6 years of much harder work..he had dinner with his family. Maybe it’s because his daughter was raised well and it was pleasant being around someone who isn’t a brat.

Being intuitive to each other?

Oh lmao remember how Sakura was the only person who against all odds knew sasuke would leave the village?

Angst to keep it interesting?

Call me when Gaiden isn’t one of Kishimotos best selling works.  Call me when your ship actually wants to spend time with each other.

Where Narutos ultimate expression of love at? Is is sleeping on the couch? Boruto novel states sasusaku is having so much sex that sakuras skin is glossing, meanwhile naruto has erectile dysfunction and a shriveled dick by age 32

Sit down, there is not much competition. We keep the SS Japanese penguins, the Jump Fiesta sign attraction, the popularity, the ambitious kid and the moments, the canon selfless love only for the purpose of saving your lover and you keep the canon selfish love for the purpose of a confession  and the banana who wishes its father dies and the mom who just cried.

But remember who made you

SasuNaru (Yin and Yang), alternatively titled:  having black hair isn’t enough to make naruto obsessed.

The garbage can @anti-sakura-pro-hinata blog that attempted to call Sasuke trash because her fictional boyfriend was obsessed with him seems to forget Sasuke didn’t ask for it. Naruto needed a pep talk from fillermaru and fillerkura to chase after hinata yet chased after sasuke, even begged authorities to not kill him purely because he is his ‘friend’ for 3 years. He trained with him in mind, a fact so obvious that Kakashi pointed out Sasuke is the driving force behind Narutos training. Sasuke, and the image he had of team 7 in his mind. An image so important to him that the thought of it being tarnished by Sasukes absence made him have a panic attack.

He went after sasuke to save his best friend and for them all to be happy and smiling together, im sorry he didn’t include Hinata in his fantasies but Team 7 is kind of booked..we only have room for neo sanins, vip people and connected hearts here. If youre jealous your self insert doesn’t matter,, I don’t know, make up fanfiction where she appears in more than 38 pages of the manga

#parallels 

Hinata is canonically narutos most important person!11!! where? Must be on fight on top of the moon land. Be happy Naruto went rampant when his seal was weak, Konoha was destroyed, Jirayah was murdered, Kakashi was killed, Tsunade was hurt and then Hinatas ass decided to risk him chakra depletion, death and losing himself. But remember who made him go rampant with a strong seal at the slight mention of a name

The boy he wanted the acknowledgement of the most because he admired him so much that being like him was his goal

Yet when he got it was still like ‘later, emo asshole. Just get your shit together first.’

Why? Because he loved his friend so much that understanding him and fighting (literally fighting) the fated hatred in his heart mattered more to him than the ego he wanted stroked since age 7

What does that mean? I don’t know man. They trained together, laughed together, rivaled each other, were petty to each other and before they knew it they were inseparable. Back then and always

@remedialaction, come after sasuke because your self insert isn’t noticing the shy girl hes friendzoned later. A huge part of Narutos development was heavily tied to Sasuke, lets not ignore the fact that sasuke being a good team mate who put the 3 man cell idea into his head before Kakashi even told them about team work is the reason why they even became ninjas

Remove and erase Sasukes victim status, his entire arc, motivations, fate and position in the story because he is in the way of a ship when he isn’t the only reason Narutos dick was alive for Hinata

But no Sasuke is a bad person, no matter what the narrative and facts are because nardo is obsessed with him

Praise hinata for her naruto-kun became my goal speech when you acknowledge

‘I knew you were always alone. I felt better knowing there was someone like me..i wanted to hang out with you. It just made me happy! But I couldn’t..i was jealous of how skilled you were, so I turned you into a rival. I wanted to be just like you. I started with nothing but I finally made a connection. We went on missions as team 7, and I kept chasing you, wanting to be just as strong, just as cool. Im really glad I met you!’

Bring sasuke down and praise hakuna hintatas for saying the same thing. ‘Naruto kun saved me’ vs ‘Thanks to you I found salvation’

And weep over how sad your ship looks like next to two arms connected by love (platonic or not love is love), fate, tears and literal blood.

But no, what is yin and yang, light and shadows, love and hate, 2 lonely people watching over each other because ‘finally someone understands my solitude’ as a dynamic in comparison to meek girl and loud guy who could have voiced his attraction eons ago?! It’s funny, even with the canon context of SNS being indra and ashuras chakra incarnate and a brotherly bond, it still works better and is a hella lot more interesting than NH

The scenes showing Naruto and Sasukes iconic team work have more chemistry than naruhinas entire manga time, movie time, filler time and hell even fan art and fan fiction time. I know you're jealous because sasuke is well loved, but show some respect to Borutos mother.

 Kakasaku (Hot and hotter), alternatively titled: Get your head out of your ass

Kakasaku is pedophilia!!

It’s bad!11! because my subjective opinion said so!11!

Not as bad as nh

People ship adult Kakasaku for a whole lot more meaningful stuff than a self insert ship

Kakashi never looked down on her since shippuuden. He acknowledged her strength and how far shes come from being the whiny 12 year old he used to teach. He always knew by part two that she’d be great and he respected her a lot. He saw her kind heart and praised her for it and for her selfless love. They grew to become fellow comrades in the war who had equal respect for each other. What can y’all say about NH? This is a joke.

I want to stay in my lane, but the lanes converge when you make ugly personal attacks at people and insult ships and characters to elevate your own shit show. Drag Team 7 into your ugliness again and I expose your insecure ass.

Y’all can’t touch this aesthetic. Come at these kids when Naruto doesn’t remember them when he’s eating a bento (Something special made by someone you love-sarada) made by his wife.

Special thanks to @uzumakura for tht good ns wank, @sakuraharunos for that good sns wank, @chiwawha for her opinion on ks and me for my patience 

[koenashi-blog]

= FE:Fates AU Support Conversations: Hiiro & Waki =

C SUPPORT

Hiiro: Waki.

Waki: Oh, Hiiro. What can I help you with?

Hiiro: I just wanted to make sure you were well. I never thought you would join the army, of all things.

Waki: I'm doing fine—honest. I've been in Hoshido's service for a few years already, so I've had plenty of time to get adjusted. I'm more concerned about you. Capable warrior as you are, the camp is rife with talk about your... well, origins.

Hiiro: About how I'm from Cheve.

Waki: ...Yes.

Hiiro: People will always talk and assume as they please. A Hoshidan in Nohrian territory, a Hoshidan coming from Nohrian territory—the rumors will all be the same regardless of where I am. It's no skin off my back. You shouldn't be worried on my behalf.

Waki: I'm your friend, aren't I? How can I not be worried?

Hiiro: I appreciate your feelings, Waki. But please, lay your troubles to rest. Should anything happen that truly bothers me, I will come to you.

Waki: I expect you to keep those words.

Hiiro: I will. I promise.

B SUPPORT

Waki: Just need to twist this a little more and... that should do it. Now I need to let this cool down before I put it back into place.

Hiiro: Waki? Do my eyes deceive me? Are you actually in front of a hearth—with smithing tools?

Waki: I'm a mechanist, you know! It's my responsibility to maintain and repair my puppet as any rider would for their mounts. After all, I'd be in a bind should it not function properly on the battlefield.

Hiiro: I understand and yet... I've always remembered you as wanting to be a painter. Smithing was going to be my trade, when I succeeded my father.

Waki: Painting has very little use in a war. I wouldn't last with a weapon, either. At least, with this, I could retain my craftsmanship while fulfilling my duties here. It all worked out. I mean, look at what I've managed to create! The outside is beautifully carved from cherry wood with an internal system of iron springs and cogs and levers that are coated to perfectly channel magic to achieve movement. I'm very proud of this puppet.

Hiiro: It is rather impressive.

Waki: ...And to be honest with you, all I thought of while I was building this puppet were the times we used to help your father in his workshop.

Hiiro: Some help we were. Back then, we couldn't even lift the hammer to shape the metal, so he just had us quench the blades.

Waki: But Tanizaka was using the quenching trough, so we had to use the standing one. And since neither of us were tall enough to reach the top, I had to sit on your shoulders to even dip the damn thing in the water.

Waki: I'm pretty sure that Tanizaka occupied the trough on purpose. He was always sly like that.

Hiiro: Everything worked out in the end, though.

Waki: With us two, it always did.

Hiiro: At least... until we left.

Waki: ...Yeah.

Hiiro: …

Waki: …

Waki: You couldn't help your circumstances. You moved out of necessity. I could hardly blame you for that.

Hiiro: …

Waki: Come on, Hiiro. What was it you said before? 'Please, lay your troubles to rest. Should anything happen that truly bothers me, I will come to you.'

Hiiro: That was a poor imitation.

Waki: But the sentiments behind it are true. It even made you smile a little.

Hiiro: … 'I expect you to keep those words.'

Waki: That was an even poorer imitation!

A SUPPORT

Hiiro: ...Waki.

Waki: We seem to be bumping into a lot lately. Rather, you seem to be seeking me out.

Hiiro: …

Waki: Hiiro. What’s wrong? You can tell me.

Hiiro: …I heard some rumors around the camp. They… They said that you had been seduced by a court poet. That he had forced you into unsavory acts and debauched you.  

Waki: …Ah.

Waki: Well, they’re not completely wrong.  

Waki: It was after you and your family had left. He had yet to become a court poet, then—he’d just been a man named Hibiki with a gift for words and a strong aspiration to show his talents to anyone who would listen. When we first met, he told me that he saw me before in my father’s boat when we were pulling up our nets. He told me that I was beautiful, that the sunrise behind me couldn’t even compare—all in verse.

Waki: Now that I think about it, you probably wouldn’t have liked him. You would’ve said he was too glib and that he was trying to lead me astray. You were always the reasonable one out of the both of us—with you gone, I was swept away by the force of his praises. I drowned in the way he said he loved me. By the time he had asked me to leave the village to make a better life for the both of us—him with his poems and me with my paintings—I was too drunk on all of it to say anything but yes.

Waki: We went to the capital. Hard times befell us, despite the city’s affluence. Hibiki was getting increasingly frustrated with the situation and, after a while, he resigned himself to taking the examination in order to become a government official. His examination soared above all the rest. They say that even the late king had been impressed, though I can’t say for sure if he was just exaggerating. Nevertheless, it seemed like our luck was changing. Hibiki told me I would worry for nothing anymore: he has the court’s favor. I could stay at our home, tend to the domestic tasks, wear all the kimonos and jewelry I had always been too ashamed to don, paint to my heart’s content. And when he would come home, we would love each other.  

Waki: That’s how it was supposed to have been, at least. The temptations of the court are like the waters that make up the sea. Hibiki was swept up in that grandeur much like I had been with his words. He changed. He would stay at the castle for days at a time, would flirt and lie with other noble concubines, would guilt me into silence and into… into what the rumors say.

Hiiro: …

Waki: He made me question myself. Wouldn’t I be betraying his love for me? His good faith? What home would want to accept me back, willful child that I am? What family would take back the person who’s supposed to be their son, but finds them to be lured by pretty kimonos and hair ornaments and other things meant for a daughter? He was the only one who would love and accept the me that I discovered to be true.

Waki: But I had enough of it, after a while. And in the many years we’ve known each other, slept in the same bed, indulged in one another’s bodies and hearts—in all that time, I learned the potency of words and the power of credibility. I needed to use mine to free myself from it. But who would listen? Hibiki certainly wouldn’t. Neither would the court, I assumed. He was a prized official who had rose to a high-ranking position. I nearly lost all hope until, on the one afternoon I was going to throw my life away, I crossed paths with a woman.

Waki: ‘What ails you so?’ she had asked me. I crumpled and sobbed and laid all my burdens onto this stranger—and as I wept of all my misfortunes, she merely put her hand against my back and comforted me. When I emptied myself of all my tears, she said something I’ll never forget.

Waki: ‘You have endured much. Your strength will be rewarded and the world will vindicate you.’ Her words rang true. Soon after, our relationship came to light. All the things he had done to cement his place in the court were exposed. He still retained his position, but his reputation suffered as a result. I could go home.

Waki: …The one who made it happen—the one who vindicated me and rewarded me with my freedom—was none other than the late Queen Mikoto.

Hiiro: And that’s why you enlisted afterwards.

Waki: Mm…

Hiiro: Waki—

Waki: Don’t feel bad for me. Don’t feel guilty for not being there. Like I said, I can’t blame you for what you had no control over. You’re here now anyway. We’re both standing here because of how our lives played out, so… don’t regret any of it. It all worked out in the end.

Hiiro: …His name was Hibiki, correct?

Hiiro: If I ever come across him… I’ll cut him down myself.

Waki: Now, now, no need for any reckless bloodshed. You’re already suspected of being a Nohrian spy, anyway.

Waki: Besides…

Waki: I’ve already called to be first in line to hit him.

Hiiro: …Together, then?

Waki: Heh. Gladly.

S SUPPORT

Waki: Hiiro!

Hiiro: Hm. For once, it’s you taking the initiative to talk to me.

Waki: Only because you called me out here. It’s the middle of the night, for goodness’ sake! We’re not even on guard duty or anything.

Hiiro: Forgive me. I tried to keep it until morning, but curiosity got the better of me. Besides, I thought it would be better for us to have this talk without fear of interruption.

Waki: Did something happen?

Hiiro: No, nothing happened. I was just bothered by something during our last conversation.

Hiiro: You didn’t confirm nor deny that Queen Mikoto was the reason you joined the army. Ever since the beginning, I found it strange that you would suddenly take up arms. You were never the type to exert yourself physically and from what you told me about your time with Hibiki, there had never been a need for you to strengthen your body. Yet here you are, training and repairing and fighting with the rest of them.  

Hiiro: Waki, what’s the real reason you enlisted as a soldier?

Waki: …

Hiiro: Please, tell me the truth.

Waki: …

Waki: After the incident with Hibiki, I was going to go back to the village. I didn’t really have a clear plan in mind for what I would do when I got there—I just wanted to go home.

Waki: As I was passing through the city gates, I overheard talk about a swordsman. His strength was slowly gaining renown and infamy. He had sharp, blue eyes and hair as black as a murder of crows. They say he could cut through anything, even shadow itself. He had all the features of a Hoshidan, yet this swordsman hailed from the Nohrian territory of Cheve.

Hiiro: Ah...!

Waki: I had to find out if it was you. That’s why I joined this army. I didn’t care whether it was all for naught in the end. It gave my life a purpose again. If there was even a grain’s worth of a chance that it was you, then…

Hiiro: Waki…  

Waki: …

Waki: …I missed you terribly. I always had. And while I never blamed you for your circumstances, I spared myself none of the same mercy. I always felt like if I had been stronger or braver or even a little more reliable, like a normal boy should have been… I could have persuaded you to bring me along. All I ever wanted was to be by your side.

Waki: Even when I convinced myself that I loved Hibiki, the only one my heart yearned for was you.

Hiiro: …

Waki: …Sorry. I suppose now’s not the time for such sentiments.

Waki: I answered your question. Let’s go back to camp and rest.

Hiiro: No.

Waki: No?

Hiiro: …You had said before not to regret where our lives lead us because this is what it culminated to. I can’t accept that.

Hiiro: Because the one thing I regret, more than anything else… was leaving you behind.

Hiiro: You said you didn’t blame me for moving away. But your words ring true—I could have taken you along. I could have convinced our families. I could have even taken you and we could have run away together.

Hiiro: But instead, I played the obedient son and accepted my fate without any protest. Because of that, I nearly lost you without ever realizing it. I regret my inaction now more than ever. However, it’s also because of that regret… that I plan on not letting you disappear from me again.

Waki: Huh?

Hiiro: …Do you remember when you worried for me before? When those suspicions of me being a Nohrian spy were going around? I told you that I didn’t care for their words because it will be the same wherever I go.

Hiiro: But if I’m completely honest with myself, just having you believe in me and my integrity was enough to assuage my fears. Your opinion was all that ever mattered to me.  

Hiiro: I don’t care about your past. I don’t care about you being a willful son or wanting to wear pretty kimonos despite being a boy or wanting to paint nothing but goldfish until the world ends.

Hiiro: I only care having you with me.

Waki: H-Hiiro…

Hiiro: I love you, Waki. I realize that words may be a cheap currency to you now, but that is the truth I had promised you from before.

Waki: … *sniff*

Hiiro: Come here. It’s alright.

Waki: *sniff* H-Hiiro, I— *sob*

Hiiro: Shh. You don’t have to say any more. I already understand what you want to tell me.

Waki: I-I’m sorry, H... Hiiro... *sniff*

Hiiro: Shh… It’ll all be okay. I’m right here. I promise.

[misspandalily]

update - PIVOT!

Thanks for the support everyone!

AO3 | FFN

Dating, simply put, is the action of going out with a particular, possibly special someone, for a night of fun - dinner and a movie, maybe a hike through the forest, or an hour in an escape room. Tenten is laid back when it comes to dates, mainly because she hasn't been one in so long and as a result is willing to try anything. She doubts she'll ever meet the coveted 'One' on a first date with a handsome stranger, and even then that 'One' needs to pass the millions of tests she has in store for them before they she's fully comfortable with entertaining the notion of marriage, or love (whichever comes first). Namely, culinary prowess, knowledge of knives, humour, intelligence, and the pinnacle of them all: compatibility with her friends.

They're not awful by any means - the fou-five people she calls her best friends, that is - they all happen to be very lovely, very funny individuals with great personalities. It's just that they're all unhealthily attached to each other, and any newcomers who intrude on their group dynamic via dating have their own examinations to pass before they're accepted into their folds. Sure, Hinata didn't have to go through that but she's Neji's cousin and any family members are automatically considered welcome.

It's horribly elitist of them. They will literally be sitting with each other in a ramen-house after work every day for the rest of their lives - they hope.

In any case, her date went so well. Jugo was recently divorced - had broken the anniversary watch she'd left at their old home - and surprisingly kind, for someone who slices through meat with his cleaver like it's balsa wood, and gentlemanly. He'd held open the door, pulled the chair out for her to sit, was genuinely interested in the conversational pieces they'd had about cooking, and to top it all off - was incredibly good-looking.

It was like she'd won the lottery. Tenten'd given herself a mental pat on the back for choosing so well after four years of self-imposed abstinence.

When they were both nearly done with their meals, Jugo placed his fork on the table. "Tenten," he said apologetically, "About what we're going to do, you know - after this."

Ah. She recalled being explicitly told that sex wasn't in the cards for either of them tonight.

"Well, you're a great person, and I feel like I should tell you about - this kind of fifth-date revelation."

"Is there going to be a fifth date?" Tenten smiled at him cheekily. He flushed.

"If you want."

Tenten nodded, because why not, and he continued.

"Ever since my ex-wife walked out on me, I haven't been able to...perform sexually for two years. It's a little embarrassing," Jugo looked down at his plate and Tenten felt a surge of pity for him.

She placed her hand over his and smiled. "I'm glad you broke her watch."

Jugo returned her smile with a star-struck gaze. "So do you - do you still want that fifth date after hearing all that?"

"Yeah, I do."

And then she comes to work the next morning, grinning from ear to ear, swearing that the sun's smiling at her because holy kami, she had sex last night and nothing can ruin her mood today. Not even the sauce that goes wrong too early in the morning, which she fixes because she's a boss at fixing sauces, and not even the arrival of a prissy Shion who regularly makes predictions about which customer will storm out of the restaurant and on which night more often than she makes desserts.

It is Shion, of all people, who picks up on her good mood. "You had sex last night," she states matter-of-factly.

Tenten stops mixing the flour and glances at her, surprised. "How do you know?"

Shion shrugs. "So who was it?"

Tenten decides that as much as she dislikes Shion, she hasn't told anyone about her night yet (not even Sakura, who was asleep and moping over her wedding) so she might as well get it over and done with. "Jugo."

"Oh," Shion gives Tenten that mysterious smile she always does when she knows something someone else doesn't, "Jugo the Meat Guy. I know him."

She finds that fact strange. While Tenten regularly crosses paths with the meat section to grab ingredients, dessert and meat don't mix all too often - if at all- so she isn't sure how Shion knows Jugo. "You mean, you know him like I know him?"

"Yes," the woman affirms without a blink, "I'm happy for you two. When I was dating him, he told me that he hadn't had sex in two years!"

Tenten drops her wooden spoon and stares at the half-mixed flour in muted shock, then drops the watch he'd left over at her apartment yesterday and resolutely crushes it with the heel of her boot.

Sasuke works in a curatorial position at the Museum of Pre-historic History under the anthropology department. He walks into his office every morning with a cup of coffee - black, like his soul - and gently sets it on the designated spot on his desk, then slaps his computer awake and undergoes the tedious process of picking up his paperwork and compiling resources for his thesis. The files are in surplus at this time of the year, so he doesn't get to do his daily rounds in the exhibits as long as he normally does. But when he does get around to it, he examines and picks at the wax models of australopithecus africanus so thoroughly that his assistants are exasperated and on the verge of hitting him over the head after an hour.

He loves his job, alright.

It's the only part of his life that's been constant lately, with Temari's demand (and success) for a divorce, her moving out of their home and into an apartment with Shikamaru - who even names their daughter Shikamaru? - and Sakura's arrival from the pages of a Vogue Wedding edition.

When he's around fake pre-historic people, with their clubs and their simplistic lifestyles, he feels like at the very least, he's a member of the homo sapiens species and look how far they've come? Modern humans don't need to bang people over the head with their clubs, and Sasuke Uchiha is a modern human with an IQ of 150 and is thus very capable of rational thought.

Although, hypothetically, and if Shikamaru were male, that notion may be under question.

"Mr Uchiha," one of his assistants speak up from behind a rock and points his thumb at the glass pane, "I think your ex-wife is here to see you."

He feels his back straighten out and stiffen. "No, she's not."

The assistant starts to look and sound confused, and Sasuke attempts to send him mental death-waves from where he's standing, which is facing away from the pane and definitely not willing to see the former love of his life again. If the employee knows what's best for him, he'll pretend that Temari isn't there.

"But she is." Sasuke resolves to fire him as soon as she's gone. "Temari! Hi!"

He exhales through his nostrils and swivels around to see his assistant walking out and Temari stepping through a bush to greet him. "Temari."

"Sasuke," she replies warmly. "You look good."

He nods. "As do you." She truly does, as much as he hates that she looks considerably happier without him. The air is as awkward as it's been for the past half-year, so he decides to clear it in the only way he knows how with people who divorce him because they're not into men. "Why are you here."

"I'm pregnant."

Strictly speaking, the first time Sasuke had been present at a sonogram screening was when he was in Mikoto Uchiha's womb. He'd been told that his father was driving Itachi to school and Tenten was sitting in a nearby chair with her Barbie chef doll and minding her own business while the doctor put a stick to his mother's stomach and moved it around.

It's his first time witnessing that happen now, and he isn't sure how he feels about it.

The presence of his ex-wife's girlfriend didn't help either.

"Shikamaru Nara," the woman greets him with a handshake and a lazy, appraising expression. Her hair is spiky, her eyes droopy, her entire demeanour screaming laid back and suave - everything he isn't. Apparently, and according to his sister, he's too wound up (bullshit).

"Sasuke Uchiha."

The doctor walks in with a tray of instruments, greets them warmly and settles Temari into the hospital cot. "I'll be back in a few moments."

When she leaves, Sasuke looks at the two of them looking at each other lovingly. "Does the doctor know...about our situation?"

"Yes," says Temari, "And she's very understanding." Shikamaru grabs a water bottle from her bag and passes it to Temari, who receives it with a brief, nervous smile. "This is my first time seeing the baby."

Sasuke softens his gaze and nods. "What are we going to name it?"

"Shikadai if it's a boy, Yoshino if it's a girl," Shikamaru interjects immediately. "Yoshino is my mother's name." Sasuke feels the beginnings of a tantrum coming on and clenches his jaw.

"Are you telling me that my child will be named after your family? How selfish could you possible be."

"Shika and I made this decision together, Sasuke," Temari sends him a very familiar, very reproachful glare.

"I'm the other biological parent, not your-"

"Lesbian lover," Shikamaru practically smirks.

He fumes. "I should have a say in what my child's name will be."

"Then shoot," Shikamaru glares back at him, "Now's your chance."

"Naori. Naori Uchiha." They freeze and stare at each other awkwardly. Shikamaru mutters 'troublesome' under her breath. "What?"

"We're not naming the baby Naori Uchiha."

"Then how about Naka?"

Temari breathes in and out. "We're not naming the baby 'Uchiha'."

He feels the sting of rejection again, only this time it hurts a lot more. He hasn't been the most attentive husband to her, by reasons only half his fault, but at the very least a baby should have united them in some way. To hear Temari cut him out of his own flesh and blood like that makes him feel like punching a wall repeatedly - and Sasuke is known for having an excellent sense of self-control whenever he's in the right mindset.

"We're naming it Nara-Sabaku."

"What?" Sasuke feels the tips of his ears heat up. "I don't recall Little Miss Gothic here producing any sperm."

"Yeah," Shikamaru bites back, "And we all know what a problem that is."

"Stop it, you two," Temari shouts just as the doctor comes in, blissfully unaware of their delicate situation, and swiftly sets up the machinery. Temari's reddened cheeks tone down in colour the more the doctor speaks to her with reassuring words, and holds the hand that Shikamaru proffers apologetically.

Sasuke watches them, still irate, and walks towards the door. "If you don't want me to raise my own child, then so be it. I'm done."

Then he hears it. The gentle whirring of the machine sending its sound waves into Temari's womb. Sasuke turns his head marginally and sees a figure appearing in the screen, small and stark white against the black backdrop. Without meaning to, Sasuke finds himself edging closer and closer towards the ultrasound image and leaning down to have a closer look at the screen.

That's his baby.

A tear leaks out of Temari's eye, prompting her to squeeze Shikamaru's hand like Christmas just arrived early.

That's their baby.