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pinkhairedlily · 3 years

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Chapter 8 - Student Council President Sakura

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

“Oh, hello there Sakura.”

She almost lost her balance when she saw her next customers. Standing beside Kakashi with her arm entangled in his was a brunette, a spitting image of Dr. Aki Nohara, a giveaway that this was her sister. Sakura’s surroundings dimmed out of focus, and her hearing became muffled as if she was submerged underwater.

“Couldn’t mistake that green eyes for anyone,” Kakashi continued. “I’ll have a caramel butterscotch with extra whipped cream – make it super heavy – and Rin –“

“That’s supposed to be my order, you dummy,” the woman replied beside him. He chuckled in fascination and tightened his hold on her arm. “Besides, you don’t like sweets.”

“You’re still on a specialized diet so allow me to eat and drink whatever you want while you stick with – “ Kakashi glanced at Sakura, and she immediately mustered a tight-lipped smile. “One iced americano in your smallest size please. Thanks, Sakura.”

She took in a deep breath, suddenly aware that she wasn’t able to acknowledge her teacher and his companion, but so many things have been running through her head – like how did he know it was her? Why was he with Rin? Did he propose already? She hasn’t even confessed yet.

Somehow, in the dragging silence in her ears, she heard Sasuke cleared his throat. That was enough to break her from the spell, and she put on her bravest mask. “Hi Kakashi-sensei. Nice of you to drop by! I’ll have your order ready in a jiffy.”

Kakashi turned around and waved lazily at Sasuke. “One of my students is here too. Are you on a red eye advance study?”

“Can’t sleep so might as well have caffeine.”

“You’re too young to have this energy.”

Rin jokingly slapped Kakashi on the arm. “You talk as if you’re old already.”

“But aren’t I?” The pair slowly drifted away to find a table, but Sakura noticed the flash of recognition when Rin took a long good look at Sasuke, but her friend stared at them like he was throwing sharp draggers.

“He looks happy,” Sakura noted as she fixed their drinks.

“I want your favorite coffee,” Sasuke quipped out of nowhere.

“There’s a thing called palpitations. It’s caramel macchiato.”

“Might do me some good while I wait for you to finish your shift.”

Sakura sighed, feeling the tiredness come upon her all of a sudden so she relented. “Just take it to-go. I want to get out of here.”

She quickly asked permission from the manager, saying she felt sick and fatigued, and with her clocking overtime in the past few weeks, her request was immediately approved without deductions. The mixed winter and spring air hit her lungs as soon as she stepped outside. Sasuke waited for her across the street, a gesture that implied she could go to him or separate ways right now. As she vied for time to decide, she took one last look through the window.

It was a foreign sight. She has never seen Kakashi’s attention torn apart from his books. Even if he was talking, there would be an open page on his side, stealing glances on passages when the conversations got boring, yet there he was, fully attuned to whatever Rin was saying with no book around him…like she was his favorite book and he enjoyed reading every letter of her.

And Sakura realized she could never be the story he would even want to pick up.

She felt the tears coming so she started her pace on the same road. Across from her, Sasuke got the signal and went the other way.

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The last term of their second year came like a bazooka. Sakura threw herself on her pet project as a sort of coping mechanism. The announcement was done during the general assembly which did not generate the intended buzz or reaction. After all, it was a tricky topic to handle and many facets of which were still stigmatized when talked openly in public. Naruto, ever the people magnet, broke the agitated atmosphere in the auditorium with a slow clap and was soon joined by many others.

The council created a Google form which allowed students to anonymously register, and they get assigned a schedule on the day their contracted psychiatrist comes to visit. All they had to do was provide their designated client number. The council further complemented this with short programs that serve as mental health breaks for the student body. Sometimes, this would be as light as a block screening of a coming-of-age film or heavy like a conference with faculty and teachers and questions and concerns are remotely flashed.

Then came Valentines’ Day, and the council organized this some kind of literary showcase that presented the opportunity to mingle woes of personal sadness and griefs with confessions that would have been left unsaid. Naruto and Sasuke both helped in constructing the makeshift stage in the middle of the soccer field that would be used later that afternoon.

“Cookie points for my crush,” Naruto grinned as he hammered away. “Thanks for picking the poem I will be reciting tonight, grumpy. Didn’t know you were into literature.” He jokingly elbowed the raven-haired beside him, and he got a death glare in return.

“Do it properly. Look at that nail sticking out like your porcupine hair,” Sasuke grumbled. “And yes, I’m not as uncultured as you are.”

“But I still don’t understand it though.”

“Ugh, just use the internet to search its meaning, idiot.”

“Meanie!”

A fellow runner peeked into their work area and knocked on wood. “Hey Uchiha. Some girl is looking for you.” Her face expressed grimace, having done this for more than five times already within the span of an hour. If it wasn’t Sasuke, it was one of Naruto’s fan girls or boys.

Sasuke went to her and fumbled around for cash in his pocket. “Next time someone looks for us, tell them we went home for the day. Here’s money for your date later. If you have anyway.”

“Whatever grumpy.” The runner replied, still half-angry, half-frustrated, but she took the money all the same and told the girls that ‘They told me to tell you they went home for the day so shoo shoo.’

Naruto laughed at Sasuke’s successful attempt at bribery. “Look at that rich money. I wonder whether Sakura will give us chocolates.”

“Have you seen their office?” Sasuke flipped open the curtains that will be hang as backdrop. “Their desk is filled with chocolates from her admirers – platonically, romantically, whatever. Some people from other schools dropped by too. You got serious competition.”

Naruto chuckled nervously. “As if I do not know that already. Haven’t you told me before- she likes everyone and everyone likes her.”

Not really true at all now, Sasuke thought to himself. But ignorance is bliss, Naruto.

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The three sat on the grass beside the stage, having full view of the student body listening to the reciters. Throughout the program, Sakura went through each package given to her, visibly stressed with evident signs of sleepless nights under her eyes.

“Before I forget, happy Valentine’s day you two. My council-mates told me you didn’t get any chocolates,” Sakura gave each of them a pouch of small chocolate bars. Sasuke didn’t have to guess if it was store-bought or homemade based on the cuts on her fingers.

“Sakura, stop eating. I almost gagged at the seventh chocolate,” Naruto complained. He tried to get the basket of sweets from her, but she just moved it away from his reach.

“Everything tastes bitter,” she muttered under her breath. “I need sugar. My energy can’t keep up with the countless interviews. I understand that the school board liked the exposure, but the burden falls on me. At least have a teacher back me up?”

“Heard Kakashi-sensei volunteered to accompany you in interviews?” Sasuke was too late in shutting Naruto up, but the most that question got out of Sakura was an eyebrow raise.

“I need more sweets.” She proceeded to jam the rest of the Hershey’s kisses in her mouth.

“Okay, we have a submission from Uzumaki Naruto,” the announcer said. “Shout out to our rookie MVP!” A round of applause. “And who might be the recipient of this poem? We heard through the grapevine that he hid from his admirers all day. I know several people are waiting to confess to him!”

Sasuke instructed him earlier to send the poem anonymously and address it to Sakura, but the dumbass blonde mistakenly exchanged it. He rubbed his forehead in annoyance, but he can’t bring it up right now.

“Just read the poem!” Naruto shouted on the side, clearly embarrassed now. Sakura looked up at him, genuinely curious now, and her sticky chocolate-filled mouth was on the edge of firing him questions.

“Sasuke and I sent in poems! Just to support your program, nothing really too deep into it ehe.” Naruto glanced at Sasuke with slightly widened eyes. “Right, Sasuke?”

“Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare,” the person started.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

Sakura slapped Naruto on the arm. “Didn’t know you read Shakespeare! What a romantic!”

“Isn’t it a tragedy?” Sasuke remarked, a look of disgust in his face when Sakura mindlessly offered him a toblerone. “No sweets for me.”

Sakura guffawed at Sasuke’s remark, and her laughing was a rare sight recently. She was in too deep in her student council functions that they barely see her. And when they did, she’d be a little bit closer to fatigue.

“What’s funny? Who’s Shakespeare? Let me in on the joke!”

“Let’s call on Kakashi-sensei, our very own student council advisor and youngest teacher in the university. He’ll be reciting a poem by Pablo Neruda. A man of culture, we see,” the emcee announced.

Sakura stopped laughing as soon as she heard his name. If Sasuke could glean into her thoughts, she’s probably making up excuses to escape right now.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the stage, holding an open book. “Let me just ramble on here for a bit. Neruda is a Chilean poet and a politician, but just as much as he is a revolutionary, he is a romantic and a worshipper of ideals and ordinary things. He often compared his muses to earth and nature – basic providers of our existence. It’s interesting to see. Now, this poem is what I would have wanted to say to someone who is fundamentally part of my existence, but she won’t listen to me.” Kakashi smiled even more at the onset of outburst of giggles from the students. “So you’re gonna be the audience whether you want it or not.”

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,

your hands the color of a savage harvest,

hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,

the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,

hunting for you, for your hot heart,

like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

A thundering applause followed Kakashi’s poem and random shouts of, “Drop her name sensei!” “Good luck to your love life!” “Happy for you, sensei!”

As the lights went out on the stage, Sakura fished another pouch from her vest pocket, and Sasuke knew at once that it was Kakashi’s. She popped a bar into her mouth, staring blankly ahead.

“God, it’s so bitter.” Her lips started to quiver, and she started to cry.

Naruto threw a worried glance at Sasuke, but his expression must have given something away because the blonde didn’t prod, and he looked as if all the puzzles fell into place.

Sasuke just didn’t expect to be confronted about it as soon as the program finished. He was carrying blocks of wood to the shed when Naruto dropped the question – a question he already knew the answer to.

“You like Sakura.”

Sasuke inhaled sharply and halted his steps. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stacked the wood against each other and turned to face the blonde. “Besides, shouldn’t you be worrying about exams?”

“What exams? We’re exempted from it,” Naruto bristled.

Sasuke smirked. “No, you’re not. You didn’t qualify for finals.”

“Oh shit.”

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“What do we get in return?” Sakura asked as she munched on her bento box. Shouts of the practicing dragonboat team filtered through their space.

“But last time you volunteered!” Naruto said.

“We’re friends so my services don’t come free anymore,” she chided back.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. “If she’s not gonna do it, you’re gonna do it.”

Sasuke nonchalantly shook his head as he skimmed through Naruto’s notes. “What she said.” They weren’t notes per se, but doodles of Sasuke and Sakura and interestingly, projections of different batting stances. “I’m also not gonna forgive you with the duck butt hair.”

“But you have a duck butt hair!” Naruto crossed his arms and huffed menacingly. “Ramen?”

“Same old, same old.” Sakura finished her lunch and started to sip her cranberry juice. “Give us something new.”

“Ramen and…..karaoke?”

Sakura brightened up at the prospect. “Deal.”

“At least add snacks to your place,” Sasuke interjected. “And not just ramen. Put some nuts or fruits in your fridge.”

Naruto grumbled but raised two thumbs up in defeat. “Deal.”

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Sasuke has thin patience when it came to teaching Naruto, Sakura observed. She didn’t know how these two managed to do the supplementary math lessons when she wasn’t a part of their group yet. She didn’t mind teaching, but Naruto’s short attention span was a devil of its own. He would be attentive to her for 15 minutes and then drowse off so Sasuke and her agreed on non-negotiables.

“No ramen break for you if you don’t finish this set of problems,” Sakura told him.

“You’re demon spawns,” Naruto cried out in defiance.

“If you don’t get a passing score on this sample test, no kani toppings for you.” Sasuke raised the stakes.

“Demon spawns,” Naruto repeated.

“You won’t call us demon spawns if you see your name on the list of passers.” Sakura started the stopwatch on her phone. “Now go.”

This took her mind off things, from Kakashi’s public confession to the blank career form hidden within the pages of her history textbook. It was a good distraction until the penultimate exams day. Naruto came in with a bandana on his forehead with FIGHTING written in the middle of it. Sasuke, as usual, breezed through it, already finished by the thirty-minute mark.

And she? Well, she liked exams. The time limit and the pressure allowed her the reprieve to shut the rest of the world out so she relished answering each number until the bell rang. It was a moment where she can focus fully on the paper in front of her, the sound of her pen scribbling, and her mind working full force to cull out the answers in her memory. Her utmost concentration on questions suspended her own questions on her feelings for a teacher, on her parents’ divorce, on her future.

When the school plastered the results on the bulletin board, she couldn’t help but release a satisfied chuckle. She turned to Sasuke who was surprisingly stoic about the results. “First place! The bonus point really helped.”

“Why should I bother with a teacher’s middle name for the bonus question?” Sasuke grumbled back. “Congrats. Stop rubbing it in my face already.”

Naruto was too busy pointing his name on the board and bragging about it to the student body, most especially the freshies. When he found them on the back of the crowd, he rushed to them and placed his arms around their shoulders “Drinks on me!!!!!”

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“He really shouted drinks on me in the middle of the school, sauntered in here like he’s loaded, and ordered two pitchers of iced tea.” Sakura kept bringing this up since they entered the karaoke room ten minutes ago.

Naruto was preoccupied with inputting song numbers on the machine to respond to Sakura’s banters. “Technically, they’re still drinks!”

Sasuke was on the phone with the kitchen, and from what she could hear, he was ordering almost everything on the menu. When he sat down on the adjacent couch, Sakura leaned forward to him. “Are you gonna finish all of that?”

He jutted his index finger to Naruto. “No, but he will.”

The first notes of Michael Jackson’s Thriller wafted through the room, and the blonde made a quick impression of the artist’s famed moonwalk.

“Why are you opening with that?” Sakura cried out in amusement. “It’s not even Halloween!” Sasuke watched Naruto try to dance with a straight face, but she thought he was itching to face palm the whole time.

Naruto kept beckoning Sakura to join him in the middle of the room, but she was busy laughing at him and taking videos. “I’ll send these to Haru as a pick-me-up. I think this is the best remedy.”

Next was Sakura’s pick – Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle. She couldn’t contain her laughter in between verses when the two boys finally heard that she was tone deaf. Naruto joined her with the other mic, trying to drown out the off-key notes. By the bridge, Sasuke stood up with them, a glass of juice in his hand, and mouthed the words.

“You know this song!” Sakura said excitedly.

“I don’t live under a rock!” He yelled back amid the loud music.

“OOOH BABY DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT’S WORTH OOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH. THEY SAY IN HEAVEN, LOVE COMES FIRST. OOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH!”

“Okay who’s next?” she asked when the next number flashed on the screen. Sasuke silently took the mic from her and faced the monitor with a hand in his pants’ pocket.

Naruto gripped the mic harder when the song started. “I’ll be your second voice, grumpy!”

She immediately went to the front and started recording. “One for the road.”

“No videos, Haruno,” Sasuke warned.

“Come on, it’s my remembrance,” she whined. He wasn’t able to clap back when the lines started to move.

“Turn around…” Naruto sang.

“Every now and then, I get a little bit lonely and you’re never coming ‘round,” Sasuke’s baritone voice filled the room like an empty coliseum.

“The fuck. You can sing?” Sakura gasped out loud. “How can you have that voice and not sing - like you know, every day?!”’

Sasuke gestured her to stop as he belted, stoic-faced, through the chorus with Naruto singing like a slaughtered pig in the background. Sakura stopped recording and joined them for the rest of the song.

Two hours and three pitchers of orange juice later, they finally settled on the couch and munched on Naruto’s leftovers of fries, buttered chicken, nachos, and calamari. On the karaoke monitor was David Bowie singing Heroes.

“Can’t believe we’re already seniors two months from now.” He stared at the ceiling, his eyes following the tag game of disco lights. “Elections of officers will be tomorrow which means Captain Haru will be formerly stepping down.”

Sasuke reached out and shook his hand. “Good luck next captain.”

Naruto immediately pulled out from his grasp. “What do you mean next captain?”

Sakura chuckled and patted his back as assurance. “Everyone knows it’ll be you. Have you seen how your teammates look at you when you’re discussing strategies?”

In the dimness of the room, she saw the flush on Naruto’s cheeks, and she found it amusing how he cannot take compliments.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. “Well, everything is possible, right? That said, I still haven’t filled out my college form, but I’m really set on getting an athletic scholarship and eventually be part of the national team! How about you grumpy? Changed your mind yet?”

“About what?” Sakura glanced at the silent raven-haired guy beside her. To be able to see this much of him was a nice privilege.

“I’m moving away after high school.” Sasuke fiddled with his half-empty glass, his eyes trained on the slushing juice. “I already sent applications to some universities in Europe.”

“We also have good medicine programs here. I don’t get why you have to move away so far. I’m so bad with converting time zones.”

Sasuke scrunched his nose in annoyance. “Are you dumb? The schools you listed are also out of this district.”

She seemed to be moving farther and farther from their exchange. Like an outsider peeking in, she understood the frailty of the moments in front of her, and by the time the next two months set in, the stopwatch would have started running its last lap. The bonds she has made so serendipitously were in danger of being cut off by dreams. She breathed in, engulfing the noise and scent of this room, panning every color and shape assembled like supercut in her head, praying that someday if she would lose herself, she’d come back here right at this frozen memory and relive the wonderful indecisiveness of adolescence and the chance to say I don’t know without repercussions.

“Sakura to earth?” Naruto’s voice.

“Idiot. It’s earth to Sakura.” Sasuke’s voice.

She blinked fast, returning to the moment that wasn’t finished playing out yet. She quickly brushed her hands on her eyes as if something got into her eyes, hoping they don’t see the small droplets of tears that have formed. “Oh uh, I have a list of prospects, but I’m not quite sure what to take.” The form was still blank actually.

“That’s a usual problem of anyone who’s too good at everything,” Sasuke replied.

“Are you complimenting me?” I wish I was.

“Should I take it back?” He proceeded to gulp down the remnants of his glass.

The monitor suddenly turned off, indicating their time has run out. “Hey guys, for our last term, let’s make the most out of it, all right?” Naruto asked. “I’m so happy we became friends.”

“No hugging please,” Sasuke said, but it was too late. Naruto’s arms were too strong to pull away from so the two allowed him a few seconds of skinship.

Naruto’s words struck a chord in Sakura; it was a resolve she tried to form and disfigure for several months now. Before they could stand up to fix their things, Sakura blurted it out loud before her courage took the best of her.

“For our last term.” She flexed her fingers and curled them up against her palm, placing weight on her lap as she ground her fists onto it. “For our last term, I’m gonna confess to Kakashi.”

AO3 LINK | NEXT CHAPTER | CHAPTER 9

#SCPS #student council president sakura #sasusaku #uchiha sasuke #haruno sakura #uzumaki naruto #hatake kakashi #kakasaku #narusaku #anime fanfic #fanfic #sasusaku fanfic

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remusmainhoe · 3 years

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sirius x reader

warning:smut, language.

not sure what it is, I wanna say friends, to lovers, but really I just got carried away. I hope you love it, I had fun writing it.

I was laying on the grass, near the black lake. The sun shined on the water, the warm breeze lifting the pages of my book, my mother had gotten me about medicine since she worked at st. Mungos, but I always preferred the greek mythology books my dad had left me. I saw him from a distance, sitting down on the grass, sheltered by the shade of a tree, his back relaxed against the bark. Two other girls near him were giggling at each other, stealing glances of him every now and then, their cheeks flushed with anticipation for his attention. Even from a distance, I could make out his face, unbothered by the girls, his dark, smooth hair dancing in front of his face every now and then. His eyes remained closed, his mouth carved into that faint grin he wore so much. James was next to him, his mouth moving, grasping the snitch before it got too close to freedom, and letting it go once more. Seeing how James ran a hand through his jet black hair, careful enough to leave it perfectly messy. Remus crouched down on the floor, eyes hungrily reading every word of the paper in front of him. A strand of his sandy brown hair on his face gone ignored, his hands grasping his quill, focused. Peter was watching James, as his hands clasp around the snitch for the 100th time.

I couldn’t help catching a glimpse of the boy, feeling like the other girls whose eyes also felt what I could only describe as a magnetic pull toward him. To me, he felt like a flame, you could appreciate it, and regard it as precious, but you know better than to get too close. I try to peel my eyes off him, staring back at the book in my lap. When my eyes tired of the words on the page that no longer meant anything, I looked up again only to find those piercing eyes staring back. The corner of his mouth lifting, flashing his teeth, his calculating eyes refusing to let me go. I tear away from him, refusing to give in. I stand up, picking up my things, and make my way back to the Gryffindor tower, rushing up the stairs to my dormitory. I laid in bed, refusing to acknowledge the way he made me feel. The butterflies that swarmed through my body, the warm feeling in my chest, because no one can have this much control over me. Falling asleep that night, his eyes being the last thought before I fall asleep, and my first thought when I wake up.

Waking up slowly, getting out of bed, taking the morning air deeply, letting it feel my lungs, and hoping it could erase that feeling he made me feel. The great hall filled with the first light of the day, my lids heavy as I sit down at the Gryffindor table. The table slowly filling up with students fueling up for the days' classes. I ate my breakfast in silence, lightly listening to the words the other girls were gossiping to me. When I felt those piercing eyes on me again, not wanting to believe my own senses, I ignored them. Lessons that day went by blandly and slowly, I plopped down on my chair in the astronomy tower at midnight. Opening my book to get ready for the lesson, I felt someone sit down next to me, I glanced quickly to see who it was.

“I hope this seat wasn’t being saved for someone else,” he says, clearly noticing the confusion on my face.

“Um, no, it's ok” I sputter out, he flashed another smile in response, in turn making those damn butterflies return, I fight the slight heat in my cheeks.

Before anything else can happen, the professor calls things into order, starting the lesson for the day. Any of the tiredness that I felt, fluttered away. the professor assigned us to fill a star chart of the different constellations with a partner.

“Well, what do you say, partner?” He said turning his body to my attention, certainty in his voice.

I had known him enough to know the charade he performed with other girls, making them stutter slightly, making their cheeks hurt with the smile he would cause. I was certainly not one to judge, for who could blame them? The way that he moved in a way that felt effortlessly yet still carried some precision, the way his words came out of his mouth like honey. The most frustrating thing that made it difficult to forgive him for the effect he had, was that he knew he was goddamn gorgeous, and he liked to see the effect he could have.

“I say, I'm tired, and I wanna get this over with,” I said, surprising myself.

His eyes flickered with something, his shitfaced grin refusing to leave. He turned to his telescope and started to get to work. His hand fidgeting with his quill, his other hand gracing the telescope. I turned my head back to my telescope, observing Perseus, Studying the made-up lines I imagined connecting the stars, picturing Perseus ‘the hero’ with his sword and shield. I started plotting the dots on the chart, his hand hovering on the paper before getting to work on another part of the sky. I then saw Canis Major, which wasn’t that hard to find due to the brightest star ‘Sirius’. Remembering the books I read on the stories and mythology of the stars. Picturing Laelaps the dog that always caught whatever it hunted. sent to hunt the Teumessian fox, a fox that could never be caught. Realizing that they were doomed to be the hunter and the hunted for eternity, Zeus turned them both to stone then placed them in the sky as the constellations Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (the Teumessian fox). The irony, of course, is that they continue the chase in an eternal hunt, with Canis Minor rising in the winter skies about an hour before Canis Major, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Did you find a man on the moon or something?” Sirius’s voice pulling me back to the astronomy tower.

“Hmm?”

“You’re smiling at the stars” he pointed out, his eyes full of intrigue.

“Oh, it's nothing, I just like the constellations and the myths and stories they carry,” I explain focusing once more and filling out the star chart we were almost finished with.

“Like what?” He asked leaning closer as if it were a deep secret only he was to hear.

“Well… I like the pegasus,” I said drawing it on the star chart “The winged horse, in Greek mythology, used by Zeus to carry thunder and lightning,” I said not being able to hide an amused smile.

“ the stories become a bit tangled though, there are different stories about each of them…” I continued “like the birth of Orion, one story tells how his father was a poor shepherd called Hyrieus. Once, Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon stopped by Hyrieus’ house. Hyrieus was so generous with his guests that he killed the only animal he had - an ox. Hyrieus was not aware that his guests were gods. The gods wanted to reward Hyrieus’ generosity by granting him a wish. Hyrieus’ biggest desire was to have a child. The gods told him to bury the hide of the bull he had sacrificed to them and to pee on it. After nine months, a boy was born in that place. The child became a very handsome and strong man. He became a very good hunter and threatened to kill all of the wild animals of the world, however, Gaia the mother of all animals was not pleased with his intention. Gaia set a giant scorpion on Orion, who soon realized that’s strength and sword were useless against the mighty Scorpio. Orion tried to escape, but was stung and placed in the stars along with the Scorpio set to chase him forever as a reminder from Gaia to protect the environment.” I stopped talking, realizing that who I had been ranting to. Instead of looking up to see a look of boredom, and annoyance that I was expecting to see, I was met with those eyes, laser-focused on me, his body slightly leaned in my direction.

“I told you, it's nothing, just random shit I think about” I dismiss it trying to not get sucked into his gaze.

“Is that we read so often outside near the lake?” He asked, not looking away from me.

“Among other things” I respond, before can think about it, I say “why do you care?”

He looked at me for a moment, “I don't” he said, and leaned back in his chair for a few minutes staring at the sky. Our star sheet laid out completed, and minutes to spare.

“But let's say I do,” he said leaning back toward me swiftly, his scent gracing my nose, my lungs filling lightly with cologne, leather, and cigarettes.

“Ok, humor me.” I say “what could Mr. popularity possibly have to care about? Apart from his hair”, I say, this time keeping eye contact.

“What do you have against my hair?” He said in the mocked offense.

“Nothing” I answer with slight sarcasm, slightly holding my hands up in defense.

I don't know what made me feel the need to not let him get to me. Hogwarts, although a big castle, I would always see how the girls would spoil him with love, and attention. I’ve read enough books, I don't want to be the “I'm not like other girls” bullshit, but I'm not gonna let him play his little game of cat and mouse.

He paused for a moment before speaking again, “well I just think that any book that can keep you from stealing glances at me, must be one hell of a book”

“Well, you think mighty big of yourself” I choke out a laugh, “you know, for a second there you had me,” I say without missing a beat.

“Is that so?” He countered.

Before I can say more, the lesson ends, I grab my things not trusting myself to say more. Getting to my dorm room, my head infected with him. His grin plastered on his face, with those eyes that see right through anyone. I'm not angry with what he said, it's what he made me feel that terrified me.

The next day, I sat at the Gryffindor table having breakfast, when I felt someone sit next to me. I turned and saw him sitting there, a bit further from his groupie.

“What are you doing over here,” I asked out of pure reflex.

“It is a free country” he responded as he served his breakfast.

“Yeah… sorry” he hadn’t done anything wrong, and it wasn’t my business, even if it was weird to see his hip separated from James. We ate in silence and headed to our first class, transfiguration, the moment I took my seat, he plopped down next to me.

“Ok, what’s your game here?” I ask him, frustrated that I even have to fight back a grin playing at the corner of my mouth. If he noticed, he didn’t say so.

“Nothing,” he said innocently. The class began, and we were assigned to transform bunnies into slippers. I managed to make some hoping slippers, with a tail at the back, Sirius chuckled at them.

“Don't judge them” I said, not even realizing I was smiling.

“I'm sorry,” he says, poorly hiding his amusement.

“Why don't you try it then” I challenge looking at his bunny.

“Ok, fine” he shrugged, with a swish of his wand, his bunny turned into a pair of slippers you would probably only find at a high-end store. “I could give you a lesson if you want” he teased.

“You know, one day you’re going to need slippers that jump,” I said catching my slippers, and transforming them back into the fluffy bunny.

The classes after that, he sat next to me, at first I thought he would come back to his senses and go back to his group, but after 2 weeks of laughing at his jokes in class, how he would pull a little prank, how he would know how to get me to start ranting about something, I didn’t think twice about it. He then started to sit with me in the library, and distract me from doing work. Later on, he and I would go out near the black lake where I once sat alone, I read to him the stories I held so deep to my heart. He would grasp every word of it.

It was inevitable, but after a while, I started to hang out with the others too. Remus and I would revise together, James would pull me into small pranks, and I would help Peter understand some of the charms he couldn’t do.

I tried not to think about the things I would feel when I saw Sirius. How I wanted to mess up his hair just a little bit because it was too perfect. How his laughter gave me a feeling of happiness that spread to my mouth that made me smile and laugh like an idiot. How I would think about the way that his muscles moved when he practiced quidditch with James, how his face looked chiseled by the gods.

I was back in the Gryffindor common room, trying to finish as much work as I could before I realized that the common room was empty, looking up at the clock to see the hands read 3:30 in the morning. I was about to gather my things to head to my dorm and call it a night when I heard the door to the common room open. Turning around, I didn’t see anyone there, yet the door started to close on its own, the fat lady fast asleep. Before I can even process it, I hear a thump near the fireplace, and all of the sudden see Sirius on the floor, a cloak next to him. Before I can even question it, I see the scarlet red that trails on his white shirt, I felt my eyes open wide as I rush to him, my legs forming a mind of their own.

“Sirius?”

He looks up at me, “y/n.. I-“ he's cut off with a hiss of pain escaping his mouth as the blood trails down.

“Take off your shirt so I can see”

“Isn’t that a bold request” he forces a teasing smile.

“Your a wanker” I say trying not to laugh, my heart still racing. “You know what I mean”

He lifts the white shirt, if it weren’t for the gash on his torso, I could have been easily distracted by the way that his muscles moved. The way that the low light of the fireplace reflected off his skin, the way that his skin glowed from a slight sheen of sweat.

“Stay here, ill be right back,” I say getting up, he grabbed my hand before I could move.

“You can't get any help,” he said, his voice laced with panic.

“It's ok, I have some bandages in my dorm,” I said. I rushed up to my trunk and grabbed what I needed, my mother always made sure I was prepared and was eager to teach me everything she could about her work. I rushed back to the common room, kneeling next to him. My fingers slightly shaking from the initial shock. The scratch was deep, so I started to work on some charms that my mother had taught me. Sirius was laying down on his elbows. After healing the wound as much as I could, I grabbed a small towel, drowning it in water, and brushing it lightly on his dark red blood now rusting slightly on him.

“How do you know all that?” He asked, I hadn’t noticed him looking at me.

“My mum” I answered wrapping him up in bandages. “How does it feel?” I asked

“Loads better” he answered.

“You better get some rest, take the bandage off tomorrow in the morning, if it hasn’t healed completely tell me,” I said, “did you lose a lot of blood?” I asked starting to examine him to see if he was paler than usual”

“I'm ok y/n, thank you,” he said, “aren’t you gonna ask me why I was butchered, or why I'm out at 3 in the morning?” He asked.

“If you want to tell me, id be glad to hear it, but it's non of my business” I answered honestly, he looked at me relieved, “thank you, it's not really my secret to tell”. He was sitting up a lot straighter.

“I get it,” I said sincerely.

“Why are you up so late?” He asked.

“I was just working a bit, got carried away. I was on my way to my dorm when you stumbled in” I smiled.

“Yeah, sorry bout that”

“It's nothing, my mum would probably thank you for giving some medical practice” I joke.

“Glad to help. It's hypnotizing seeing you so focused.” He said

I laid in my bed that night, feeling guilt for knowing that I got so close to the flame I promised myself I wouldn’t touch, yet also feeling a sense of relief that he was ok.

The next morning I sat in the morning, not being able to help myself, wanting to know how he was. He came downstairs, the look of surprise evident in his eyes at seeing me waiting for him.

“Y/n,” he said.

“Hey, sorry, I just wanted to know if you were ok”

“Yeah, It's healed” he answered making sure only I could hear him.

“That’s good… well I just… I just wanted to make sure”

“Thank you again,” he said, taking a step closer.

His eyes were piercing right through me, his hand hovering slightly over mine. I leaned up and kissed him, my hand over his jaw, my lips on his, my tongue tasting him like a drug I never knew I was sober from. His lips welcoming me, I snapped back into reality and pulled away, his eyes still close leaning in my direction.

“I'm sorry… I … sorry” was all I could spit out, I made my way back to my dorm feeling like a fool for thinking that a guy like Sirius would like me, that he regarded me any more different than the other girls that touched those same lips. I had been stupid, I had burned my house I worked so hard to protect, on that flame yet what scared me was that I would do it again. His hand grabbed my wrist. before I knew it, those lips met mine again, but this time they were prepared. He pulled apart just enough to speak.

“I want you y/n”

“You already have me”

I couldn’t even think about how stupid I was being, how cheesy this all was, because when his hands lingered on my waist as his lips enraptured me all thoughts and common sense went out the window. Up in his dormitory he closed the door, we both knew everyone would be in lessons. My hands tangled in his hair finally getting a chance to mess it up. His hands sliding my shirt off as he unclipped my bra, and I took his shirt off, and he pulled down my skirt, I slipped out of my shoes. For a moment he looked at me, revealed for him, exposed.

“My merlin you’re even more gorgeous than I thought,” he said breathlessly. I could feel myself blush, he started to massage my breasts, and I let out a moan. I unbuckled his belt and felt him hard for me. All this time I thought he was in control, yet he felt the same things I felt. I slipped a hand removing his trousers enough to relieve him a bit, he let out a low growl and I throbbed. He moved my panties, starting to draw circles on my clit making me unravel. I laid on his bed, pinned down beneath him, he stretched me out, and I let out a gasp of pleasure. His mouth began to play with my nipples, placing hickeys everywhere because I was his. I bit down a moan.

“Don't hold it back love, I wanna hear you scream” he said in my ear. His movements making the pleasure in my abdomen build-up, but I knew he would tell me when I could cum for him.

“Sirius” his name coming out of my lips like water.

“Cum for me darling”

#sirius black #sirius #sirius x reader #marauders #marauders fanfiction #harry potter marauders #smut roleplay #sirius x reader smut #harry potter #hogwarts

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allthingskakashi · 4 years

Text

• Birthday Boy •

[ Kakashi x Reader ] | 3 Chapters // 17. 2k words |

This is hella long so if you’d rather read on Ao3, here’s my Ao3 link

A/n : slight shift from canon cause Gai is still capable of walking even after the war

CHAPTER - 1 (2 days to go!)

You let out a sigh, your eyes glancing over to the small desk calendar sitting in front of you.

September 13th.

A photograph of bright pink cherry blossom trees stands out on the glossy white page.

Just one more day. Just one more day and you still have absolutely no idea.

Your teeth grit unconsciously on the plastic cap of your pen as you look at the papers laid out on the table. You still have so much paperwork to get through. How, when or what you’ll plan for Kakashi’s birthday is beyond you.

You let out another loud sigh, the air making the papers in front of you shuffle just a little.

“Three.”

“Huh?” the voice brings you out of your stupor, and you look up at the purple haired woman sitting across from you, immersed in her own work.

“That was your third sigh.” Anko states, looking up at you with her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s going on with you?”

You lay your pen down on the desk, resting your forehead against your hands to massage your throbbing temples.

“Nothing, I’m just so overloaded with work, I barely have time to breathe.” You reply, dark bags under your eyes serving as witnesses. “And on top of that…Kakashi’s birthday is coming up and I really want to plan something special for him. But with all this work, I don’t know when I’ll get the time. And even more importantly, I haven’t the slightest idea what to do.” You say, leaning back against your chair to look up at the ceiling.

Anko stares back at you, her otherwise impassive face broken only by the slightest hint of sympathy behind her eyes.

“Really? Well, you better ask that old miser to pay up and throw us a party. He’s Hokage and what not now.”

Her words elicit an immediate eye roll from you. Protectiveness towards your boyfriend aside, that’s a completely ridiculous statement.

“Shouldn’t I be the one to throw HIM a party?” you retort as you slouch forward resting your elbows on the table, staring at your smirking friend in despair.

“What am I going to do, Anko? He’s been so busy since he became Hokage, I really want to make this one day special for him.”

The look on your face is so miserable, it makes even Anko soften up just a little.

“I don’t know Y/n.” she shrugs, “I don’t usually stick around long enough to have to think of this kind of crap. Just hand him two beers I guess, put on a nice push-up bra and you’re golden.”

You narrow your eyes, shaking your head at her. “I have to give him a present too”

“Wear a bra with a bow on it.”

If you didn’t know Anko better, you’d have thought she was joking.

You sigh again. This is a lost cause, talking to Anko about this.

“UGHHHHH!! You’re completely useless!!” you cry out, bending forward and making a show of banging your head against the wooden table as she laughs, watching you with a pitiful look.

“Hell-o Anko! Y/n! Correct me if I am wrong but I think I just overheard my dear rival’s name!”

A familiar voice fills the room and you stop to turn your head at the sudden intrusion.

It’s none other than Maito Gai, and the air surrounding you almost immediately livens up at his presence.

“I hear you are confused about what to do for Kakashi’s birthday! Fear not Y/n! I am here and I will help you make sure that my dear rival has the best birthday he has ever had in his entire life!”

You perk up at his words, looking at the man standing by your side.

Now that’s the spirit you’re looking for.

“Thank you so much Gai! You came in at the right time! What do you have in mind?”

Gai hurries to take a seat beside you as you turn around to face him, your eager eyes widened with interest.

“Hmmm, let me think…” he puts a finger on his chin before clicking his fingers. “A nice intimate evening with good food and tasteful music and lots of activities to celebrate the Power of Youth!!!” he says, before standing up again with his fist in the air.

You let out a wide grin at his words, that sounds absolutely perfect.

A nice intimate evening, just you and Kakashi. You could maybe cook up something, he’s taught you quite a lot of recipes lately. And music, yes. He has never been one to listen to much music but it’ll set the mood.

And activities to celebrate the power of youth… yeah, you can surely think of quite a few of those. A red tinge creeps onto your cheeks at the thought.

How you would manage the time is still a question but now that you at least have a fair idea, you can probably work something out.

“Thank you so much Gai!” you say, clasping the man’s large hands with your smaller ones. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. That sounds absolutely perfect!”

His eyes light up at your words. “You are very welcome Y/n! It is only my duty as Kakashi’s rival!”

You can hear him say something else in the background but your mind is already wandering, flooding your brain with all sorts of visuals. Expensive wine, the very best…a candlelight dinner…Kakashi looking so intensely into your eyes as you brush your foot up his leg under the table…bed laden with red rose petals…a night of passion…the spark in Kakashi’s eyes as he sees everything you’ve arranged so lovingly for him… a sensual melody playing in the background as he strips you of your clothes, one by one….

You shake your head. Now is not the time to be getting carried away.

You return your attention to Gai, whose last few sentences you missed as your mind became preoccupied with thoughts of everything that you’d like the Hokage to do to you.

“—And leave it all to me!”

“Sorry, what was that, Gai?” you ask as you watch Anko out of the corner of your eye, looking as if she’s choking on air for some reason.

“You heard me, y/n! I will set everything up, you don’t have to worry about a thing!” he sings, clasping your shoulders with his hands.

“Well thank you for the offer Gai but actually—”

“No! I won’t listen to a single word!” he shakes his finger at you, “you can leave it all to me! You go get on with your work! I will get the BEST caterer-

Caterer? What do we need a caterer fo-

“and hire the best singers in the village-

Wait what is he talking about, am I missing something-

And set up some great challenges for people to enjoy! I’m thinking 6000 push ups, a cake eating competition and of course the lucky winner gets a chance to compete with my one and only rival—

Hold up-

“And I will send out invitations to all his friends! All you have to do Y/n is bring him and yourself at my house on the evening of his birthday!”

WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE-

“Wait, GAI, I think there’s been a—"

“Please do not thank me, y/n! As Kakashi’s eternal rival, it is only my duty to make sure he has the best time of his life! I would be very happy to set everything up!”

“Um, no actually I—" you start, but you’re cut off quickly by the zealous man.

“Don’t worry! You can still take care of his birthday cake, I will leave that to your impeccable taste!”

“Right, sure but—"

“Well, off I go then! I have a party to plan!”

“Gai—” you make one last weak attempt but you’re so baffled by the pace of events that your feet stand glued. You stare dumfounded after Gai, watching him walk out of the room, skipping with every stride.

Beside you, Anko’s cheeks glisten with tears as she clutches her stomach with both hands, chortling in such a fit that almost makes her slip off her chair.

A sudden dizziness threatens to take over your senses. You stand frozen with your arms hanging limp by your sides, resisting the urge to fling yourself face first into a wall.

You throw another menacing glare at your friend, your gaze shifting between her and the door that Gai walked out of few seconds ago, before you plop down on the floor with a thud, sitting down with your legs crossed, gaping blankly at the tiled ground with your head between your hands.

What the hell just happened.

CHAPTER - 2 (1 day to go!)

You force your eyes open at the sound of your alarm. Your skin feels damp against the heavy quilted blanket, the light from the windows is too bright and a headache clasps a tight grip on your forehead.

You shake your legs to get the duvet down your body and turn on your stomach to turn that horrible beeping off. Your hand flounders around your nightstand, knocking a few things down before you find the damn clock and pound it against the wall a few times until it shuts up.

Turning on your back again, you rub your eyes and sweep away the several strands of hair sticking to your face.

14th September, reads the calendar hung on the opposite wall.

Great. Another Monday. And a day closer to Kakashi’s birthday.

You feel an instant panic rising to your throat at the thought. Kakashi’s Birthday. Goddamn.

Gai has gone into complete party planner mode, you saw him rushing manically through the village over twenty-five times since yesterday, trying his hardest to be subtle; so you suppose you’re having a party after all.

You let out a sigh, massaging your temples. God this headache is turning out to be a real bitch.

The thoughts start swirling in your head again.

Kakashi’s not really the party kinda guy, and definitely not the kind Gai’s planning. This is so not what you had in mind, but…Gai looked so eager and excited, talking about the party with such a shine in his eyes, you just couldn’t strip him off of that. Moreover, ever since his injury in the war, Gai has been prohibited from missions outside the village. To a man of his vigour, it’s as good as being put into coma. This is the one thing that seemed to make him truly happy in ages, so to take that away from him… no, you cannot do that.

But at the same time, you really want the day to be special for Kakashi. You want to make it memorable for him and show him how much you love him.

Ugh.

Your stomach grumbles as you hang your legs down your bedside, preparing to get out of bed. You were so immersed in work last night that you forgot to eat dinner. You’d fallen asleep at the desk itself but you woke up in the morning to find yourself tucked in your bed.

You shuffle your feet around, trying to find to your slippers but they’re nowhere to be found.

“Kakashi!” you yell out, your voice still groggy from sleep. “Are you wearing my fucking slippers again?”

There’s some distant noise of things clattering in the kitchen before Kakashi’s figure comes into view at the doorway, wearing nothing but a pair of joggers, holding a mug of coffee in each hand. He stands leaning on the doorframe as he takes a sip from his mug and the sight of him is one for sore eyes, enough to crumple that temper of yours into a puddle of lovestruck mush.

“Good morning to you too” he smirks as he comes near you, placing the other cup of coffee on the nightstand and planting a kiss on your head before bending down to pick up the things that had dropped on the ground earlier.

He reaches under the bed and pulls a pair of slippers out, placing them near your feet before keeping the other things back in their place on the stand. Your lip balm, hairclips, a few pens, his book and some loose sheets.

You slide your feet into the slippers, your face contorting into an apologetic look as you watch him.

“I’m sorry” you say in a whisper, admiring the way the muscles on his arms flex as he picks the things up. “I’ve been a little stressed lately.”

“I know” he says, his tone concerned as he comes up and sits beside you on the bed. “Why don’t you take a day off?”

“Oh no, I can’t, there’s so much to do, I have so much paperwork and I need to go through these files to check for—”

“Y/n.” Kakashi cuts you off, taking your hand in his. “It’s okay. Take a day off. Call in sick. You’re putting too much pressure on yourself. Take the day off and stay in bed, I’ll have someone pick up something for you from that restaurant down the street for lunch.” He says, stroking the back of your hand with his thumb.

“But Kakashi—”

“Nope. The Hokage orders it.” he says as you lean forward and sigh into his chest.

“I wish I could Kakashi….”

He wraps his arms around you, rubbing your back. “I knew I couldn’t convince you but it was worth a try” he says into your hair as you close your eyes, snuggling closer to him. The feel of his strong arms around you almost lulls you to sleep, enveloping you with such warmth and comfort that makes you wish you could stay this way forever.

You feel yourself almost dozing off against his chest so you pull away, planting a quick peck on his bare skin before relieving yourself of his grip. “Alright Lord Sixth, time to go to work” you say, patting him on the thigh.

He chuckles, nodding and taking the last sip of his coffee before getting up from the bed. “I left some toasts for you, eat before you go”

He turns around to walk away but you’re quick to catch his wrist before he leaves. “Hey.” You say softly as he stops, turning around to smile at you with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I love you” you say, pulling him down to you with a tug and placing a kiss on his lips.

He reciprocates, before pulling back to look into your eyes. You feel yourself melting under his gaze as you can’t help but smile like a twelve- year old girl.

“I love you too but your breath stinks worse than a dead rat” he says flatly without taking his eyes off you.

You fling his wrist out of your grip immediately, pushing him aside to get up from the bed. “Kakashi, you fucking asshole!” you scream, throwing a few punches at his arm as he chuckles and blocks them.

“I was trying to have a moment, you jerk!” you say, throwing a last jab at his stomach, before walking away past him, towards the direction of the bathroom, his laughter still ringing behind you.

Stupid asshole, you smile to yourself, shaking your head as you lock the bathroom door and turn the shower on.

…………………………………………

You watch white cotton clouds sailing across the sky overhead as you make your way down your usual work route. You might have appreciated the view a little more if your mind wasn’t entirely jammed and you weren’t surviving of off only 3 hours of sleep, walking around like you just rose back from the dead.

You already know you’re going to be late to work today, but that simply cannot he helped. You have to make this detour. You have to at least give this a shot.

You turn a street corner, a one storeyed white building with a fenced gate slowly coming into view as you walk ahead. Standing outside the gate, you open the latch, walking along the pavement which leads to the main door of the house.

You knock softly on the door, waiting for a response from the other side. There’s some shuffling behind and then the door opens, revealing Gai in a robe with the belts hanging loose. You notice him wearing a bright coloured boxer with banana prints on it, and his hair looks dishevelled, like he just woke up.

“Good morning, Gai! Um… I’m sorry to drop by so early, but there’s something I need to discuss with you.”

“Y/n! Come on in! It’s no problem, my morning is only made better by your radiating face!” he pipes, stepping aside to usher you in.

Only this man can sound so chirpy even with someone barging into their house during the early hours of the day.

“I apologise for my state, I was…. Finishing some business.” he says, taking the belts of his robe and tightening it around his waist.

You stand awkwardly as he closes the door, wondering how on earth you’ll bring this up with him. You shift on your feet, waiting for him to return his attention to you.

“Would you like something? Perhaps some coffee or tea or juice?” he asks, leading you into his living room.

“Um, no thanks Gai.” You look down to the floor, trying to form the sentences in your mind before you speak. You decide blunt and honest is the way to go.

He stands waiting patiently, looking at you with concerned eyes.

God I’m just the worst person in the world.

“Listen Gai, you start, “… Uhm… about Kakashi’s birthday—”

“Don’t you worry about that Y/n! The plans are full and well in motion! I’m sorry I could not get the singers, it seems that they are all booked for the day but everything else is right on track!” he flashes a toothy grin at you, holding his hand out in a thumbs up.

“That’s great, Gai… But um… Well, the thing is…” you try your hardest to come up with words that’ll soften the blow the most “I kind of wanted to do something special for Kakashi… by myself but now with your party, which is a great idea by the way, it’s just… I’m not sure, uh… I just want to do something for him too.” You fumble, looking up at him from under your lashes to register his reaction.

He stays quiet for a while, looking like he’s deep in thought before looking at you. “I completely understand Y/n.”

“You do!?” you ask, stepping forward towards him. “Oh, thank you so much—”

“It seems to me that you and I both want just the best for my dear rival! And you want to make sure he has the best birthday, just like I do! Which of course means that we should—”

Oh wait no. Oh no no no

“—Have a challenge!"

Just. What. I. Feared…

“Gai…” you begin, sighing. Your voice sounds so weak and tired, as if any moment now you’ll lose your ability to speak.

You take a few deep breaths, steadying yourself.

Okay. If this is how it’s gonna be, so be it.

It doesn’t matter what you have to do. You WILL make sure Kakashi has the best birthday and no-one can take that away from you.

If this was another time, you would have gotten Gai to somehow cancel the party. But under present circumstances, you just cannot do that. That would be selfish and horrible. So right now, you simply have to play along and do your best to make the day special for Kakashi, even amidst all of this.

But you sure heck will make sure that YOU’RE the one that makes him happiest.

“Fine.” You say, meeting Gai’s gaze, your voice masking the absolute mayhem in your mind. “Challenge accepted. We’ll both try our hardest to make this the best birthday for Kakashi, and see who succeeds.”

Gai flashes a blinding grin at your words. “Grrr-reat!” he exclaims. “I would expect no less from my rival’s lover!” he says, holding another ‘thumbs-up’ out as you smile weakly, raising your hand up to do the same.

………………………………………………..

You take a large bite of your sandwich, looking out at the vast green training grounds from the window beside your desk.

A sandwich is the only moderately nutritious but not disgusting in taste food that you can manage to eat in your 20-minute lunch break, so that’s what you usually stick to. Thankfully for you, you were able to be done with most of your work in the morning, giving you some time to think clearly right now.

You already know you’re not going to get Kakashi alone at night because of the party, which leaves… the morning. But of course, you both have to go to work in the morning which means the only time you’ll see each other is directly before the party since you’re the one supposed to be bringing him. And since he is the Hokage and doesn’t get back from his office until 9 pm, the party is set to start late. By the time you get home it’ll probably be 1 and sure, you can probably have some time with him then but…you will both be exhausted and more importantly, it won’t be his birthday anymore.

“UGHHHHH” you scream to yourself, tearing off a big chunk of your sandwich with your teeth and proceeding to chew noisily, putting all your frustration into the food churning in your mouth.

“Uhm… is this a good time?” you turn your head at the sudden voice, looking around to see Kurenai.

You hasten immediately to wipe the crumbs off your face as you gesture at her to sit and stuff the rest of the sandwich in your mouth, chugging it down quickly with some water.

“Yes, absolutely oh my god. It’s been a while since I saw you! How are you, how’s Mirai?” you ask, dabbing your mouth with your handkerchief.

“Ah you know, I mostly work from home these days. I was in the area today so I thought I’d drop by and pay everyone a visit”, the brown-haired woman replies, smiling.

“Good thinking” you say, returning her smile. “I’m glad you did, we have so much to catch up on.”

“God yes we do. Oh, and Mirai is great! They grow up so fast.” She says, her eyes filling with the kind of love you can only see reflected in a mother’s eyes. “But enough about me” she says, waving her hand. “I didn’t come down her to bore you with stories about diapers and potty training. Tell me what’s going on with you” she says, leaning forward on the table and resting her chin on her hand.

You let out a sigh, shaking your head before looking out of the window into the distance. “Ugh Kurenai, I don’t even know what to tell you.”

“I got the invite by the way! For Kakashi’s party. I was kind of surprised, didn’t take him for a party guy.” Kurenai says, her brows furrowing.

You look back at her with hollow eyes. “He isn’t. It’s a long story.”, you reply, your tone sounding just as miserable as you feel.

“Well, talk to me Y/n. Is something wrong? You look a little…bummed.”

You let out a chuckle. “Yeah, bummed is right.”

But it feels really good to talk to someone, someone sensible and actually capable of giving advice so you decide to tell her everything, narrating everything from how you’ve been up to your nose with work to how you got roped into having a challenge with Gai, to your dilemma about what to do for Kakashi. Kurenai stays quiet the entire time, listening attentively to every word, nodding and giving empathetic glances from time to time.

“So yeah…. That’s pretty much it.” you finish, sighing again.

Kurenai flashes you a kind smile before she speaks.

“Okay, so… if you aren’t getting any time with him throughout the whole day, how about you meet him for lunch during your break?” she suggests.

Lunch… yeah you hadn’t considered that. Sure, it was only around 20 minutes, but still better than nothing right?

You look at your friend, your eyes perking up as a smile spreads through your face. “Yeah, you know what…that’s a good idea!”

Kurenai returns a happy grin, glad to have been of use. “I know exactly what you should do. Pack a nice picnic basket, take a mat with you, find a good shady tree in the grounds and have a little picnic down by the lake. It’s sweet, romantic and perfect! There’s no way he wouldn’t love it. It beats a party and the weather is absolutely perfect too!”

Your eyes widen at her words. Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?

You almost jump across the table, pulling your friend into a bone crunching hug. “Oh my god Kurenai, thank you! You’re a real life saver! That sounds absolutely perfect!” you exclaim, before letting go of her.

She laughs a hearty laugh, before skidding her chair across the floor and proceeding to get up. “I’m glad to be of help Y/n, but I should get going now. Your break is almost over and I have some errands to run. It was great catching up though, I missed being around you” she says, smiling as she turns to make her way towards the door.

“Drop by more often!” you holler at her, before turning your head to look out the window at the beautiful clear sky outside.

A picnic, yep. That’s perfect. Everything is working out.

…………………………………………………

You open the drawer under your desk, shoving some loose sheets and files into it before jamming it close.

The clock reads 6 p.m. and you’re finally, finally done for the day. You worked an extra hour to make sure you have less pressure tomorrow and now with your load a little light and a tiny ray of hope about how you can make Kakashi’s birthday a good one shining through, you’re starting to feel slightly better.

Of course, there’s still loads to do. You still have to order the birthday cake, buy some things for the picnic, and pick up his gift which you’d pre ordered a month ago.

You ferret around on your desk to find the notepad you carry with you at all times. That’s where you make all your to-do lists, so that you never miss anything out.

You open the little notebook, flipping through the pages to locate the one where you’d started making a list of things to do for Kakashi’s birthday about a week ago.

You’re flipping when suddenly your eyes fall upon a different entry on the notebook, written in a handwriting that’s not yours.

You bring the notebook closer to get a better look and identify Kakashi’s handwriting at once. Written in black ink on the top of a page is

To do:

1)Kakashi

You let out a loud chuckle, your laughter ringing all the way out into the hallway.

This guy, you laugh to yourself, shaking your head. When did he even write that?

Turning a few more pages, you finally find the one you’re looking for. You glance at the sentence written in your messy handwriting.

Read Icha Icha Paradise, Page 162, para 5.

Ah yes, you’d almost forgotten about this. You’d written this down when the idea had occurred to you of re-enacting his favourite passage from that book to surprise him, one that he’d insinuated at, not so subtly, several times. You wanted to do it for a special occasion, and of course this would be just the perfect time. You make a mental note to give that paragraph a read once you return home.

So, re-enacting Icha Icha, a picnic, and his gift. That’s all you’ve got so far. Not bad but still not quite satisfactorily top notch yet. Still nothing that beats all of Gai’s efforts with a 100% guarantee. Something is still missing…

You stare out of the window, racking your brain for something, anything.

Outside, the Sun drapes the sky in its own colours. It looks so beautiful, you can barely take your eyes off for a while.

You watch the sky in awe, lost deep in thought when suddenly it occurs to you— Yes!

Yes, absolutely!

You. Are. Going. To. Write. Him. A. Poem!

What says you love him with all your heart better than a sweet, heartfelt poem written with your own very hands? It’s sweet and personal and just the kind of touch necessary to make you win. There’s no way anything can top that.

The sudden strike of inspiration sends you into a frenzy as you quickly pull a pen out from your pen stand, opening your notebook to a random page before starting to write.

Only… You have never written a poem before, don’t know how to, never tried one.

You uncap your pen, tapping on the page with the nip of your pen as you think hard, leaving blue dots all over the white sheet.

Ugh.

Kakashi your eyes, you jot down carefully, taking a minute to look out of the window before turning to your notebook again.

They’re as beautiful as the skies.

You lean back to admire the sentence you just wrote, a grin spreading across your lips. Great start.

You hunch over the notebook eagerly, scribbling the next few sentences in a haste.

Kakashi your face, it makes my heart race

Kakashi your hair, it’s so smooth it’s unfair

The grin on your face grows wider. God are you totally killing this or what? This is great, but still needs just a few more sentences.

You close your eyes, tapping the pen against your chin as you try to recall everything you love about him. The grin on your face turns to a curled smirk as you scribble the next sentences.

Kakashi your dick, it’s so big it’s sick.

Kakashi your lips, I love it when they touch my nips.

You feel a warm rush through your veins as you look at the words on the page.

Alright, now for the conclusion…

They call you copy ninja, you make my mind unhinged-ah

Baby you can bet, you make me so wet

You are my king, you make my heart sing

You lay your pen down, holding the sheet up to your eyes to read your final work.

And suddenly, the grin leaves your face. What the hell were you thinking? This is terrible.

You’re no poet, why did you ever think you could pull this off?

You tear the page off, shredding it into even smaller pieces before crumpling them together and shoving them into your pocket.

So much for poetry.

You check the time on the clock, it’s almost 7 p.m. and you have to be at the bakery by 8.

You clear your desk, moving some stuff around and throwing the rest of the junk into the trash can before gathering your things and setting off to leave. You pass by the Hokage Office on your way out and find the door closed, with two of Kakashi’s Anbu standing guard outside. They bow at you as you pass by and you understand that he must be in a meeting.

The cool evening air outside hits you like rain following a drought. After being shackled to your desk the entire day, the wind on your skin feels tranquilizing.

You walk along the street, snippets of people’s conversations flowing into your ears as you walk on, your mind boiling over with thoughts of its own.

You begin to realise how completely exhausted you are and that you can’t wait to simply go to bed. All your attempts so far have been completely useless and you most probably will be able to do nothing to make your boyfriend happy. The thought threatens to send you panicking, so you try your best to shove it away for now.

You take your last few strides towards the Bakery, which is decorated with twinkling lights on the outside. You pull on the glass door, stepping into the small store with cakes of all flavours and shapes displayed on the glass counter.

Your eyes dance across the displayed items as you reach into your pocket. You had already decided what you want and had written it down on a paper earlier today.

You scout around in your pocket, before pulling a piece of paper out and holding it out the young girl on the other side of the counter.

“Hi! I’d like to place an order for a birthday cake for tomorrow. The details are written on the paper.” You smile as she takes the paper from you.

She writes something down on a register and looks around to check both her sides before leaning closer to you, almost speaking in a whisper. “Thank you for your order ma’am, you can pick this up by 4 p.m. tomorrow. We have 3 sizes available for the cake, which one will it be?”

“The very biggest one, of course!” you sing. “The cake reflects the man, so it’s only fitting to have the largest one you have!”

She scribbles some more into the diary before looking up again. “And would you like me to add some special details?”, she asks.

“Yeah, why not? Make it your best!” you say as the girl scribbles on the notebook for a last time before handing you a receipt. You make the payment, shoving the receipt into your pocket before heading off for your next and last stop for the day, the market.

………………………………………

The Konoha Market sells everything from spices to shurikens. You stroll along the cobbled path lined with numerous small shops, each adorned with twinkling lights and a colourful assortment of all sorts of items. Your surroundings buzz with the vibrancy of people scuffling around, chattering and laughing.

You always found something so charming about the village market at night. Something about the way the little shops almost sparkle against the dark sky, or the way it always hums with such an energy, makes your heart feel happy for some reason. You take a deep breath in, various fragrances from nearby shops wafting into your nose at the same time.

You’re on your way towards one of the fruit stalls when suddenly your eye falls upon the unmistakable green figure in the distance. Gai.

He appears to be speaking very animatedly to the shop owner about something and you watch from a distance in amusement, before the man suddenly turns his head in your direction, catching sight of you.

He waves at you as you make your way towards him. You give him a nod instead of waving back, keeping up with your newly established rivalry.

Upon reaching nearer, you find yourself face to face with a variety of fluffy boa scarves of all colours, ranging from blue to red to yellow to green.

You look in confusion at Gai, who seems to have a dark green one draped around his neck.

“Um… will this have something to do with Kakashi’s birthday tomorrow…?” you ask, your glance shifting between him and the scarves, not knowing if you really want to know the answer.

“It sure does!” he replies, before turning to the shopkeeper. “I’ll take them all!” he says, as the old man proceeds to pack about 20 boa scarves into a bag.

A thousand different questions run through your mind, but if you were to put any more burden on your brain, it would iron out so you decide to simply pretend like you never saw any of this.

“Hope things are well at your end too, y/n!” he says, “I’d hate for you to lose to me, my rival’s lover!”

You take a gulp, avoiding looking at his eyes. Your head feels like it’s being crushed under a thousand heavy rocks as you feel the headache making its way back. You realise your arms can barely hold the weight of the bags you’re carrying, each filled with items necessary for tomorrow.

You look up at him, even the slightest movement of your neck suddenly so troublesome.

He looks back at you expectantly, the twinkling smile still adamant on his face. His teeth shine so bright, you can almost see your reflection in them.

You take a deep breath.

“Of course. Things are perfect, Gai.” you say, flashing him the very biggest and brightest smile that the twenty muscles in your face can possibly manage.

CHAPTER - 3 ( The Big Day)

The feel of two strong arms, one hooking under your legs and the other around your back, lifting you off the chair you’d fallen asleep on rouses you from your doze.

That must have been the fifth day that week that you fell asleep on your desk. You had been reading the para from Icha Icha which you want to re-enact for Kakashi’s birthday, and then all of a sudden you found yourself immersed in the book, devouring every single line, eager to know more about the story and what happens to the characters. So, you’d kept going but before you realised, you’d fallen asleep with your head over the book on the desk itself, with a string of white drool trickling down the corner of your mouth.

You blink in the dark as the arms carry you, melting into their familiar touch, your eyelids so heavy with sleep that you barely manage to keep them open enough to see what’s going on. The arms lay you down on the bed gently, pulling a cover over your body as you shift around in slumber, making yourself comfortable.

You watch a figure go round to the other side of the bed, before slipping in next to you slowly, careful not to wake you up by making too much noise or movement.

“Kakashi…” you whisper, your voice hoarse and barely audible. “Happy Birthday…sorry I couldn’t…stay aw…” you trail off, falling into a deep drowse before you can finish your sentence.

Kakashi smiles to himself in the dark, his heart filling with such an ache at the sight of your sleepy, drooling face. He drapes an arm over your waist, pulling you close to his chest, his hand stroking your hair at the back of your head as he places a soft kiss on your forehead.

This, this feeling… this is all he would ever want. Just you safe against his chest, the two of you falling asleep together in each other’s arms every night.

“Thank you”, he whispers against your hair, the familiar smell of your shampoo so welcoming to him, soothing his soul after a long day, washing over his mind and carrying his worries away, even if it’s only for the night.

You snuggle closer to him in your sleep as he tightens his arms around you, the feel of your body next to his filling every cell in his body with such warmth, that he gives himself in to the pure bliss of the moment, his eyes closing as he dozes off as well.

Yes, it is indeed a ‘Happy’ Birthday.

………………………………………

You jerk open every single cabinet in your kitchen with maniacal speed, looking for the damn frying pan.

Where the fuckity fuck did this guy keep the pan?

Between the two of you, Kakashi is the one who mostly uses the kitchen so he’s the one who has everything arranged according to his convenience.

You’re running on borrowed time, Kakashi should be up any minute now and you have to finish making breakfast before he does so you can surprise him with a nice breakfast tray in bed. You don’t usually wake up before him, he’s the early riser in your relationship but you figured you could reverse the roles for one day and kick start his day with a delicious meal, which would probably give you some winning points. And, of course… something else too. Something that will DEFINITELY give you some winning points.

You find the pan lying right in front of your eyes on one of the shelves and you turn the stove on, placing the pan over it before cracking open two eggs and sprinkling some cheese on them, berating yourself the entire time for being so blind.

On another burner of the stove, four perfect pancakes sit glistening, glazed with some maple syrup you picked up from the market yesterday. You reach for two cups on the counter and fill them with freshly brewed coffee as you hunt for a tray next.

You take a small glass vase and put two red roses in it, which you also bought yesterday, before placing it on a corner of the tray. Finding a notebook lying around, you rip a page off and scribble a note on it, a stupid grin spreading across your face as you write.

Happy Birthday, Kashi. You’ll always be the Hokage of my heart.

Icha Icha Tactics Pg 150, line 2. <3

Icha Icha Paradise, Page 162, line 4. ; )

By the time you’re done, so are the eggs and you gather all the things on the tray, setting the note right beside the vase. You smile to yourself, looking at your creation. Not bad.

Take that, Gai.

You peek through the door of your bedroom to see Kakashi beginning to stir, and make a quick dash towards the bathroom.

You stand in front of the mirror, checking yourself out in the blue satin two-piece you changed into in the morning, just so you can wake him up with a real jolt.

You pull on the hem of your spaghetti top, revealing more of your cleavage and pull up the waist of your shorts, before turning around to admire the way it accentuates your curves. You fluff your hair up with your hands and take your favourite lipstick from the shelf, before puckering your lips up and dabbing a bit of it on.

You step back, admiring yourself in the mirror.

Forget a snack, I look like a full meal, baby. Take THIS too, Gai.

Hearing some sounds come from the direction of the bedroom, you rush back to the kitchen. You light a candle and place it on the tray before picking it up and making your way to the bedroom.

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthdayyy- ayyyyy Kakashi-ii, Happy Birthday to you!” you sing, swaying your hips to the tune and doing a little dance as you enter through the doorway. You find him sitting upright on the bed, still under covers, his sleepy eyes widening in surprise as he catches sight of you.

He looks you up and down, taking your view in in thunderous astonishment as you place the tray on the bed and step forward to pull his face into a hug against your chest. “Happy Birthdayyyyyy baby” you mumble, smooching him all over and leaving red lipstick prints all over his face.

His hair looks dishevelled and his eyes are still sleep laden as you pull back and watch him look at the tray and then at you, and then back at the tray again.

“This… this is for me?” he asks shakily, looking up at you as you stand beside him.

“Well, duh! Who else would it be for?” you reply in a cheery tone.

He picks up the note from the tray and chuckles as he reads, his shoulders heaving with every snort of laughter.

“Y/n, I…” he fumbles, “This is… I’m…you didn’t have to...” he trails off, looking up at you with eyes that send a pang to your heart.

“Of course I did. You deserve it.” you say, smiling as you sit on the other side of the bed, facing him.

A wide grin spreads through his face, lighting the entire room up and instantly aging him down by about eight years, not that he looks a day beyond 30 right now.

“And…“, he says with a twinkle in his eyes as he gestures towards your outfit, “Is that for me too?”

“For you to rip off, yes” you say in a husky voice, smouldering at him before breaking into a giggle immediately. “Well okay now, dig in, come on! I woke up at 4 am for this!” you say, pushing the tray towards him.

He straightens up, the grin sparkling in his face as he looks at the food in front of him. “Y/n, this looks amazing!” he says, picking up a fork and a spoon before taking a bite of the pancake.

You watch in anticipation as he chews the food and lets out a “Mmmmm. This is really good!”, before digging in for more.

You watch him happily, forgetting everything about the challenge for a while and just admiring how happy Kakashi looks, your heart filling up with such joy and gratefulness to have him, and to be able to share such moments with him.

“Where’s your food?” he asks, looking up at you between bites.

“Ah I’ll eat in a while. This is for you” you say, flashing him a smile.

He stops, holding the cutlery in his hands before fixing you with a deadpanned stare. “Absolutely not. I know what that means. Come here, have a bite, there’s enough for the both of us” he says, holding out a spoonful of cheese scrambled eggs at you.

You roll your eyes at him, but comply, leaning closer and letting him feed you.

The eggs melt in your mouth, the cheese tickling your taste buds. You allow yourself a moment to feel happy with yourself.

You did a great job, no doubt.

The two of you eat in bed, laughing and talking until all the plates are scraped clean.

“That was the best meal I’ve ever had” Kakashi states, shaking his head as he takes his last bite, before putting the tray away to the side.

“Really?” you ask, smiling as you sit up your knees on the bed, watching him wipe his hands, before crumpling the tissue and throwing it into the bin.

You smirk as you crawl closer to him, slowly quenching the distance between you. He returns the smirk, a playful look dancing across his eyes as you put your legs astride his thighs, placing yourself on his lap.

You fix him with a stare, your eyes boring into his as you lean in closer, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Well…you haven’t had your dessert yet” you whisper, your lips grazing his ear before you give it a light lick, one hand holding the back of his neck as the other trails slowly down his chest, drawing a straight line along his stomach till you reach the waistband of his pants and give it a small tug.

You hear a light ‘clap!’ as the elastic hits his skin and his breath hitches.

You slide down slightly on his leg, making sure to rub yourself against him as you do and pull on the waistband of his pants again, before reaching inside and stroking over his length with nimble fingers. Your mouth trails along his chest in red sloppy kisses… moving down his body…almost about to make contact with what you can feel growing harder and harder in your hand with every touch, when a sudden loud banging noise makes you and Kakashi both jerk up.

Not the kind of jerking you’d hoped to be doing.

The banging grows louder as you look at each other in confusion for a few seconds, before you get off Kakashi’s lap and he pulls his trousers back up, hurrying out of bed and rushing to the main door to see who’s banging so loudly this early in the morning.

You sit on the bed, pulling the fallen straps of your top up and wiping the smeared lipstick off the sides of your mouth as a feeling of dejection starts to grow heavy in your stomach.

The main door can be seen from where you’re sitting and you watch as Kakashi opens the door, a booming voice echoing through the house even before the door is fully ajar.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR RIVAL!”, Gai’s unmistakable voice hits your ears as you watch Kakashi being pulled into a hug before he even has time to react.

Gai shoves Kakashi away just as quickly as he had pulled him in, before thrusting a huge bouquet of flowers, ornated with daffodils, lilies, orchids and flowers of all sorts of other exotic kinds into his hand, making Kakashi stumble with the force.

Even from the distance you can make out the look of pure confusion and surprise in Kakashi’s face as he says “Gai...?”

You can hear both men’s voice as they exchange more words in your living room, but the voices start to fade and the words become incoherent to you as you feel your mind spiralling into a horrible, sinking feeling.

You look away from the door and plop onto the mattress on your back, starting up at the ceiling as you feel the load of your heart weighing you down.

A beeping sound goes off, and you turn your head to the side, catching sight of the alarm clock which indicates that it’s time to get ready for work.

You’d set it last night so that you and Kakashi didn’t get carried away while you made him feel like the happiest man alive.

Well… so much for that.

Beside the clock, the two red roses you got Kakashi sit still in the glass vase, their wilting bodies watching you, as if in mockery. After all, what’s two measly roses in front of a massive bouquet of exotic flowers?

………………………………………………………..

You look out of the window, up at the sky for the third time since morning.

The skies are still clear, thank goodness. The weather truly is absolutely perfect for a picnic.

You take the fully packed picnic basket out of the cupboard in your office, checking the items once again. Some sandwiches, fresh fruits, yogurt, a bottle of wine, two glasses and a mat.

The morning did not go exactly as you had hoped it would, true, but that’s okay. You still have the picnic and nothing will get in the way of that. You’re still hopeful and you refuse to give up. No, you absolutely will not give up. You had resolved to try your best to make this the best birthday for Kakashi, and you will do everything in your power to make that happen.

Sure, things haven’t entirely been going your way. But that’s fine, you still have the picnic.

You tell yourself this over and over again as you make your way towards the Hokage’s Office, this little internal monologue of yours standing as the only thing that keeps you from crumpling down completely.

The door to the office stands ajar and you notice Kakashi hunched over his desk, putting stamps on a bunch of papers as you enter.

He looks up at the sound of your footsteps, immediate surprising flashing across his features. “Y/n! I didn’t know you were coming” he says, his face lighting up at the sight of you. “What’s that?” he asks, glancing at the basket in your hand.

You smile and make your way towards him, sensing a warm rush flow to your cheeks.

Despite the years that you’ve been together for now, your heart still melts at the sight of him every single time. And there’s something about seeing him in the Hokage’s chair, looking so powerful and authoritative that really gets something going in you.

“What’s your schedule like right now?” you ask once you reach his table, even though you had already asked his Anbu guards to make sure he was clear during lunch time.

He looks at the papers on his desk before glancing up at you. “Pretty free, I’d say.”

“Great”, you grin, holding a hand out at him. “Come with me.”

“Come with you where?” he asks, looking cluelessly at you as he arranges some of the papers into an organised pile.

“Stop asking so many questions, Lord Sixth” you laugh, tugging his hand and pulling him up from the chair.

Outside the Hokage Tower, you link your arm with Kakashi’s as the two of you walk along the path leading to the river. The village looks idyllic, people going about their own business, friendly chatter and chirping of birds ringing in the background. A pleasant breeze hits you and you close your eyes, inhaling the sweet fragrance of flowers it brings along with it. Kakashi smiles down at you and despite the fatigue in his eyes that’s always been a constant ever since he took up the position of Hokage, you see that he looks quite content.

You choose the biggest tree near the river, the one with lots of branches, casting a comfortable shade over the soft green grass. The shadows of the leaves dance across on the ground, swaying and flickering.

You open the lid of the basket, taking the small rolled mat out and proceeding to unroll it.

Kakashi stands in the distance, gazing at the flowing river. This always was his favourite place to come to whenever he needed a break.

He turns towards you, smiling, before crouching down and helping you lay the mat. “You know you really didn’t have to go into all this trouble for me” he says, his eyes filling up with the same familiar look that he always gives you, every time you do something for him. There’s always a sadness in it that breaks your heart.

“Would you shut up already?” you say, unpacking the rest of the contents in the basket.

He laughs, raising his hands up in defence. “You’re spoiling me rotten. When did you buy all of this anyway?” he asks, watching as you take each item out and place it on the mat.

You shrug in reply, before handing him a sandwich which he takes eagerly, biting in immediately.

“Good?” you ask, “I got it from that shop you really like” you say, biting into one yourself.

“Really good”, he replies, finishing up the entire sandwich in about two bites and reaching for another. “I didn’t realise how hungry I was.”

You get the wine bottle next, taking two glasses out and pouring some into them. The liquid catches the sunlight, shimmering like jewel inside the crystal glass.

Beyond you, the river cascades gracefully down its winding path as you watch in awe, a peaceful silence enclosing its wings around you.

Kakashi smiles at you as you hand him a glass, clinking his glass against yours as his eyes linger on you and you feel your cheeks burning under his gaze.

Even after all this while, he has that effect on you. “What?” you mutter, gazing at him over the rim of your glass as you take a sip.

He shrugs, not taking his eyes off you. “Thank you” he smiles, and you know it’s not just for the wine. Or even the picnic.

You return his smile, leaning in for a kiss when suddenly a voice interrupts you.

“Kakashi Sensei!” you turn your heads around to watch two figures coming down towards you, one with bright blonde hair and the other with bubblegum pink.

The figures get closer and you wave at Naruto and Sakura, the latter holding a small bouquet in her hands.

“Happy Birthday, Kakashi sensei! I guess you really are an old man now, huh? Good thing your hair was white to begin with!” Naruto rambles with his hands behind his head as the young kunoichi glares at him.

“It’s rude to remind a man of his age on his birthday, Naruto”, she rebukes, turning to her sensei to hand him the flowers. “Here, Happy Birthday Kakashi sensei!” she smiles, her eyes crinkling as she does.

Kakashi looks as taken aback as ever. “Thank you, Naruto, and Sakura! This is a pleasant surprise! It’s been a while since I saw you two” he says, placing the bouquet carefully beside him.

“Don’t be standing there you two, come join us!” you say, waving them over and gesturing at them to sit.

“Oh no, we don’t want to interrupt” Sakura says as Naruto crouches down with a “speak for yourself” directed at her, before reaching into the basket for a sandwich and letting out a contented moan with his eyes closed at the very first bite.

You laugh, handing him another of the two remaining sandwiches which he takes happily, putting it in his pocket. “Thank you, y/n sensei, you’re the best!”

You are about to offer Sakura the last one, when suddenly a loud, screeching noise infiltrates the grounds.

Kakashi stands up immediately, walking a few steps over to see what is causing the noise as you dust the crumbs of your dress and stand up, following after him.

You watch his eyes turn the size of saucers as you step in closer, turning your head at the direction of his gaze when you see it.

WHAT. THE. HELL.

Right there on the middle of main street stands Gai, holding a huge megaphone in his hand. Behind him stands a quartet, each holding an instrument of their own.

“Is that Gai sensei?” Naruto chimes, coming in and standing behind you with the second sandwich stuffed in his mouth.

“What…what is he doing?” Sakura says, going ahead to get a closer look.

All four of you stare frozen as another screeching noise fills the area, making you block your ears with your hands.

“HELLO, MIC CHECK— GOOD MORNING ALL MY DEAR FELLOW FRIENDS!”, you hear Gai screaming into the megaphone, the sound resonating across the next few miles.

“I AM FILLED WITH JOY TO TELL YOU ALL THAT IT IS OUR BELOVED LORD SIXTH’S BIRTHDAY TODAY AND IT IS ONLY OUR DUTY AS HIS COMRADES IN ARMS TO MAKE THIS THE ABSOLUTE BEST BIRTHDAY HE HAS EVER HAD!” He takes a few strides towards your direction, the quartet of musicians following after him.

You watch as several people in the vicinity stop to stare at this sudden spectacle.

You look at Kakashi out of the corner of your eyes, standing with his body paralyzed as he gapes at the scene unfolding in front of him.

“GENTLEMEN, IF YOU WILL PLEASE”, Gai yells, turning around at the group of men behind him and giving them a nod.

They get their instruments in position and soon a tune breaks out so loud that it almost makes the ground vibrate.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR RIVAL, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU” Gai begins singing off key as several people, shinobi and civilians alike join him. People poke their heads out of their windows in the distance, some coming down, all eager to wish the leader of their village on this auspicious day.

“Gai, what the hell are you—” Kakashi begins, but his voice fades beneath the roaring noise.

Soon a crowd begins to gather, as Gai keeps singing in tune to the quartet, nearing closer and closer to where you’re standing, the rapidly growing crowd following after him.

“This is so cool!” Naruto says, going forward to mix in with the crowd as Sakura follows behind with a “Naruto, wait—“, leaving you to stand alone.

The ground begins to echo with cheers and claps and wishes as everyone comes around Kakashi, surrounding him and you feel yourself being shoved and pushed as group of men gather in front of you, chanting “Lord Sixth!” and singing other praises in his name.

Kakashi stands in the middle of it all, his face reddened in embarrassment as he manages his very best to maintain composure, thanking everyone again and again with the occasional protests which are quickly cut off by the overzealous crowd.

You stand in the distance, watching the crowd devour his figure as you slowly lose sight of him completely.

You take a few steps backwards to get away from the stomping, screaming and shoving and come near to where you were sitting peacefully, just a few minutes ago.

You look down at the ground, Kakashi’s untouched glass of wine and the unopened boxes of yogurt lying near your feet, a few inches away.

You look up at the crowd in the distance again, their deafening bellows hurting you ears as you plop down on the ground in defeat, unable to keep holding any longer.

You reach for your glass, chugging the entirety of its contents down in one swig before grabbing the stem of Kakashi’s glass and doing the same.

Leaving the empty glasses lying on the grass, you reach for the bottle, opening the cap and tossing it somewhere into the distance. You feel your eyes well up, in spite of your every effort to hold the surge of waterworks back. Fat, hot tears start rolling down your cheeks as you chug the liquid down straight from its container, trickles glistening down the corners of your mouth, your throat beginning to burn with every swift successive gulp.

………………………………………

The Konoha bookstore lies in a quieter part of the village, away from the usual chitter chatter. It was made so with the idea that a bookstore should be situated in a place where there’s peace and quiet, a sanctuary for people to seek refuge in when they need to get away from all the commotion.

Unlike most of the newer and fancier shops in the village, the quaint little bookstore carries an old school charm, with its wooden floors, low ceilings and cosy reading lights. The latest spruce to the store, however was the addition of a DVD collection, making it a book and DVD store at present.

Throughout the years, this little bookstore has seen many unions between you and Kakashi, from romantic dates to squabbles over novels and authors. It has also always been very close to your heart, your safe place, the place that provides you comfort even on incurably bad days.

And right now, you’re on your way over to this very bookstore, walking as fast as your legs would carry you. Kakashi’s gift, which you’d pre ordered about a month ago should be here by now. Had you not gotten entangled in a million other things, you would have picked it up earlier.

You can read the little sign, written on a wooden board in the distance as you inch nearer, almost tripping on a rock as you push your poor legs to their very limit. Your body feels made up of nuts and screws more than flesh and blood by this point, ignoring every signal from your brain to work on its own.

Images of the afternoon threaten to break into your mind as you shut them away with all your might, not wanting to recall that horrible meltdown smack in the middle of the grounds.

Thankfully the crowds were too busy with Kakashi in the middle and Gai right by his side, leading the entire village into singing like they were all in some sort of a choir, to notice the Hokage’s girlfriend having the silliest meltdown of her life in the corner.

Moreover, you had made sure to slip away before the mob had thinned out, your last recollection being the tiniest glimpse you caught of Kakashi as you went by, looking as if he wanted the Earth to swallow him whole, as Gai beamed by his side with an arm around his shoulder.

You shake your head, trying to rid your mind of these flashes. You can’t break down again, no. You’re too far into this to give up now. No matter what happens, you have to stick to your resolve. Your hope may be dwindling, but it’s still not out yet.

You reach for the little glass door of the bookstore, pushing as you enter. The musty familiar smell of old books hits you immediately, almost making you feel as if everything is going to be okay.

You glance at the numerous books stacked in wooden shelves, categorised by genre. Some look new, and some display the ravages of time on them.

The shop owner, Mrs. Kimura catches sight of you, beaming as you draw nearer.

Because of how frequently you visit this store, you and old Mrs. Kimura have developed quite a bond. She also happens to be a war veteran, and you’ve spent many evenings listening to tales of her time from back in the days, tales that never fail to astonish you.

“Y/n! Hello! It’s been a while since I saw you!” she greets as you smile at her, even the smallest act of smiling so exhausting to you.

“Hello, Mrs. Kimura. Forgive me for not dropping by more often, I have been a bit busy lately” you say, flashing her an apologetic look.

“Ah, that’s okay dear. Well, what are you here for today?” she asks, the wrinkles by her eyes crinkling further as she smiles.

You fish around for a receipt in your pocket and take it out, handing it to her. “I had pre-ordered a special edition book containing unreleased manuscripts of the Icha Icha series about a month ago?” you say as she brings the paper closer to her eyes to get a better look. “It must be here by now, I’m here to collect it.” you say, unconsciously bouncing your legs as you wait.

She keeps the paper away, before looking up at you with a sympathetic look in her eyes, her face looking as if she’s about to break the news of someone’s death to you.

No. Please No.

She notices the immediate flash of horror across your eyes, reaching out her wrinkled hand to touch yours over the counter before speaking softly, as if speaking to a child. “I’m so sorry dear… I know you must have wanted it for Kakashi…Unfortunately, we had some trouble with shipping and it’s still not here yet.”

Your heart pounds in your chest as you hear her words.

No.

Is this for real?

Your hands start shaking beneath hers as you look at her, the tear ducts behind your eyes threatening you once again.

God is this really happening?

You pull your hand away, turning around to face away from her and taking deep breaths to try and calm yourself down.

This is a disaster. This is a total disaster.

This was your very last hope and now that’s gone too. If you were anywhere other than here right now, you’re sure you would’ve smashed something.

You put your face in your hands, not wanting Mrs. Kimura to see you in this state.

The old lady steps out from behind the counter, coming around to stand by your side and rubbing your back in consolation. “I’ll tell you what dear, let me give you a little something to make up for this mishap.” She says, her voice soothing.

But nothing can make this better. You had managed to maintain your cool every other time because you knew that if nothing else worked out, you at least had this. It was the one thing that kept you from crumbling and now…

You feel a horrible feeling growing into a lump in your belly as you straighten up, fighting back the dam behind your eyes with every cell in your body. You take three deep breaths, before turning to face the old lady.

“It’s fine, Mrs. Kimura. I have somewhere else to be.” you say, trying your hardest to form your face into a smile as she watches you, her white brows furrowing.

You hear her mumble something behind you but you’re already out of the door, onto the street again.

Once outside, you stand out in the lonely lane for a minute, letting out a deep sigh and looking up at the sky, the bright blue suddenly looking so grave.

You walk in the other direction from the one you’re supposed to be going in next, down the lane into an alleyway, rounding into a secluded corner where one of the village junkyards is situated.

A rotten smell of trash fills your nostrils as you see multiple trash cans littered around the area in the dingy dark corner.

You walk in amidst it all, the scattered trash resonating perfectly with how you feel inside. You let your back rest against the mouldy wall, closing your eyes to let the anger wash over you.

You feel it come surging through your veins like a charging bull as you feel your hands forming into fists and your body working against your instincts to raise your foot and hurl a kick towards one of the huge trash cans with a loud, ringing thud.

You’re taken aback by your own outburst as you watch the big metal can wobble on impact and before you realise, you find yourself coming forward, throwing kicks left and right on the can, on the walls, sometimes missing your aim but pressing on again and again and again, persevering through the shooting pain in your toes.

You are right in the middle of your maniacal fit, possibly your ninth kick, when you suddenly feel your balance stumbling, having stepped on something gross and slippery. You tumble as you feel yourself falling backwards, before crashing straight into all kinds of sticky, smelly debris and landing flat on your behind with a ‘thump!’.

You sit heaving in the middle of it all, several used wrappers of heaven knows what things sticking to you as you lift your hand off what looks like… a used condom. In addition to your toes, there’s also an ache creeping its way onto your back.

Great. Just great.

But you’re hardly surprised by this point. You almost break into a cackle at the thought of your own pathetic, pitiful state before getting back up, doing the best you can to brush your clothes off all the junk sticking to you.

Out of all the things that went wrong in the recent days, falling into a dumpster certainly hits a new low.

You dust your hands as you make your way out of the dark alleyway, a slight limp in your strides as you step into the light again.

Things are so far beyond worse by now, you feel as if nothing can possibly go downhill any further from here. You’ve hit the lowest of the low. Moreover, you are all out of ideas anyway and there’s nothing left that could go wrong.

The thought is almost strangely comforting. Because if you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way from here is up, right?

Checking the time on your watch, you make your way towards the main streets. It’s fifteen minutes to four and you have to pick up Kakashi’s cake.

……………………………………………………………

The Konoha Bakery looks emptier than it usually does, from what you can see through the glass doors as you enter.

That’s good because you’re running slightly late, thanks to your second meltdown of the day, and you have a lot of cleaning up to do before the party. With every other option out of the window, you suppose the only thing left for you to do now is just simply look stunning for your man and have him feeling lucky to have you.

Anko’s suggestion doesn’t seem so bad anymore, she was probably right the entire time. Perhaps you really will just put on a bra with a bow after all.

The young girl from before is the one at the counter again, and she greets you as you walk in, while the other few customers scrunch up their noses at your entrance. You must be stinking really bad. You flash an awkward smile at them as you wait for the girl to assist you, feeling very self-conscious all of a sudden.

She disappears into the storage room at the back of the shop without a word and you feel panic rising within you as you half expect to be served another piece of bad news, instead of the cake you had ordered.

Thankfully for your nerves, and for you since the stink eyes from the customers were getting a little too uncomfortable to bear, she comes back soon enough, holding a huge white box with a big red bow on top in her hands.

“Here’s your order ma’am! Just the way you wanted!” she says with a grin, placing the box on the counter.

Without wasting further time, you flash her a quick smile and hold the box with both hands, lifting it off the counter.

It’s heavier than you’d expected and you almost stumble, catching your balance at just the last moment.

There’s no way, no way you’re letting anything go wrong with this, hell no.

You tuck your purse under your arm as you try to hold the box, making sure to balance it in your hands. The box is so big, it almost obstructs your view and you struggle to see as you proceed to walk out of the store.

You push the door open with your foot and step outside, barely managing to see anything in front of you as you peek through one side of the huge box to see where you’re going.

Out on the street, you keep struggling your way ahead, relying majorly on your other senses to walk, tripping and stumbling a few times.

No matter what though, you are not about to let this box fall from your hands.

You’re almost near your home when suddenly a very familiar voice stops you, one that you’ve unfortunately had to hear more times than you’d have liked to in the past few days.

You peek across the stooping box to look at Gai, standing in front of you with his eyes bright as ever and the evergreen toothy grin pasted across his face.

He also seems to be carrying some bags in his hands, but you don’t bother asking what they are.

Unicorn feathers for his dear rival perhaps. Or berries of immortality handpicked by tiny fairies from the forbidden forests of the Land of Rainbows. Whatever.

“What is it, Gai?” you ask, “I am not exactly in the best state to stand and chat right now” you say, making no efforts to mask your annoyance while struggling to hold the box up as the purse almost slips from your tuck.

“I am so very sorry, Y/n! Please allow me to carry this for you—” he begins, stepping forward as you take a step back, cutting him off.

“That won’t be necessary, Gai.”

You watch a look of confusion flash across his face and then he says, “Well then, I’ll see you at my party, Y/n! Everything is almost—”

“Yes, I am sure that everything is just wonderful.”, you can’t help but snap. You know that he is only trying to make his best friend happy but with each failure, you can’t help feeling more and more bitter towards the man in front of you.

You feel your patience running out as he says “Well, the cake looks wonderful too, Y/n! I can’t wait to—”

“Yeah, yeah” you snap again, cutting him off, not able to bear it any longer. “I have to go, see you later.” You say, sidestepping past him and walking ahead, trying your best to look dignified and not trip on the way.

You hear him call after you “Y/n, Wait! You have something stuck to your—”

But you pick up your pace, ignoring his calls and walking on with your eyes ahead, hearing his voice get fainter and fainter.

Once out of his view, you stop, looking behind to check the back of your dress and sure enough, find your old friend, the used condom sticking to the thin material of your dress.

You hang your head forward, and exhale heavily into the air.

So much for dignified.

Once at home, you place the cake on top of your kitchen counter and run immediately to the bathroom, stripping as you go. The stench emitting from you is truly unbearable and the thought of having a myriad of disgusting, unknown things sticking to your body almost makes you gag.

You turn the tap on and wait for the bathtub to fill up as you take a quick glance into the mirror. You look absolutely terrible. You have dark bags under your eyes from several sleepless nights, your hair is all out of order and you just look completely exhausted. Which, well, you are. But that’ll have to change before the party.

You get your favourite, most expensive body wash down from the shelves, the one that you only use on special occasions or when you need to take a nice long bath to unwind. You uncap the bottle and breathe into its mystic fragrance, smiling to yourself.

Perfect. Kakashi loves this smell.

Next you splash some water on your face, dabbing it dry with a towel before putting on a homemade face mask that always softens your skin and leaves a nice glow.

With the face mask on, you step into the bath, leaning your head back against the edge of the tub with your eyes closed. The warm water engulfs your body, washing away the horrible day, and the stench.

You take a deep breath, inhaling in the fragrance of one of the aromatic candles you lit, and let yourself get into the moment. This is the first time in a week that you have felt truly relaxed and you take time enjoying it. You really, really needed this.

There’s still a few hours to go before the party and you take your sweet time in the shower, washing and scrubbing every part of your body.

You wash your hair, file your nails, put on some nail polish, and lather your entire body with sweet smelling moisturiser.

By the time you get out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, however, you realise that you’re running thirty minutes behind. You got so into the moment that you completely lost track of time.

The clock reads 8:45 and the party is set to start at around 9:15.

You dash to the bedroom, going straight for your wardrobe and racking through all the hangers to find the dress you had in mind for tonight. Sure enough, you cannot find it, so you start yanking each hanger out, throwing them onto the bed one after another. After about seven minutes you find the one you’re looking for, hidden behind clumps of a few other clothes.

You really need to organise your wardrobe, but that’s a thought for later.

You pull out a set of lacy black lingerie from another shelf, a pair that you haven’t worn yet since you were saving it for a special occasion.

You untuck your towel, letting it fall to the ground before slipping into the pair of black underwear. Next you wiggle into your dress, before walking to your dresser to catch a glimpse of yourself.

You smile, looking at your reflection. You have on a red, halter neck floor length dress with a thigh high slit on one leg. It was an impulse buy that you had made on one of your vacations and you recall having worn it only once your twice before.

You turn around in front of the mirror, checking yourself from all angles.

Definitely not bad.

With the clock ticking, you don’t spend further time on admiring yourself and move on to doing your hair and make-up. You brush your hair into a loose low bun, with loose locks of hair hanging by two sides of your face.

You aren’t one for much make-up, so you go for your usual minimal look, with a bit of eyeshadow, some mascara and lip gloss. To add one last touch of dazzle, you put on a pair of silver dangling earrings and then step back, looking at the final result on the mirror.

Your reflection is better than satisfactory, and a grin breaks out on your face.

Kakashi certainly is going to need a moment to catch his breath when he sees this.

Now that you’re ready, you make your way towards the main door, making a mental list of all the things you need to check for before leaving the house.

Keys, wallet, watch, cake.

You repeat the order in your head as you go around the house, locking every cupboard that contains anything valuable and turning the lights of each room off.

You take the keys off the keyholder from the wall before going up to the kitchen counter where the cake is. How you’ll carry this cake and walk wearing a floor length dress and heels is a good question, but you suppose after all that you’ve been through today, this will quite literally be cakewalk.

The smell of the rich chocolate flavour permeating through the box is overwhelming and you resist the urge to sneak a peek.

There’s no harm in sneaking a little peek. Or maybe even in getting a little taste of the icing?

You giggle to yourself like a child as you tug the bow off and keep it carefully to the side before peeling off the single piece of cello tape that’s closing the box shut.

You slowly begin lifting the cardboard lid up, juvenile anticipation rising in your chest as you grow eager to catch a glimpse of the magnificent cake, until the lid is all the way up and—

Sitting there, in front of your eyes, is a humongous, chocolate covered penis cake, complete with a pair of balls and several veins and even tiny hairs drawn delicately with icing. On top of the cake written in cursive, also with icing is “Kakashi your dick”.

You stare at the sight in front of you for a few seconds, having lost the ability to function.

You keep staring, as an inaudible scream leaves your mouth and you feel your legs wobble, your head suddenly spinning as they give way and you feel yourself losing balance, unable to keep yourself standing. Your foot catches the hem of your dress and you hear a clear ‘screeeesh’ as the flimsy material comes ripping on impact, before you fall on the ground.

You sit staring blankly at the ground in shock, your head suddenly completely empty of thoughts, before you find yourself letting out a loud, long coming, screeching scream that almost tears your vocal cords, into the empty house.

Your voice echoes through the walls as you find yourself unable to keep holding the tears back anymore, letting them come as you feel them roll down your cheeks in streams of water, completely messing up your freshly put on make-up.

You sit with your back resting against the kitchen counter, slowly slipping onto the floor before you’re fully horizontal on the cold tiled ground, crumpled up in a screaming, sobbing ball.

You make no efforts to hold back any longer as you catch hold of the ripped part at the hem of your dress and tear it off with a hard yank, using it to wipe the watery snot running down your nose.

Your shoulders heave as you stay on the floor sobbing, a whimper escaping your trembling mouth from time to time.

You lie on the floor crying for you don’t know how long, the clock ticking by behind you as you make no attempts to move.

I give up.

Gai wins.

You tried, you’d gone out of your way, you’d bent over backwards to do everything you could to make Kakashi happy. But despite your best efforts, you couldn’t. You failed. You failed at making him happy. You are a horrible girlfriend and a horrible person. You snapped at Gai and were rude to Mrs. Kimura, who had been trying to help you.

The sobs come harder and you give yourself in to them, your face looking like a wet mess with make-up smeared all over. And your dress… your beautiful red dress…

But that’s not the most important thing on your mind right now.

You recall every single moment from the past two days, letting all the feelings you had pushed to the back of your mind, every single instance where you tried to be strong when you really wanted to scream, flow over and consume you.

Your mind wanders to when you’d placed the order for the cake and you realise… you have no one but yourself to blame for this particular mishap. When you’d shoved the ripped pieces of the poem into your pocket, it must have mixed up with the scrape of paper that had the details of the cake written on it. And like an utter moron, you had handed the paper to the girl without even looking at it. No wonder she had looked at you funny.

And God, Kakashi’s name was on it. He’s the Hokage for God’s sake.

In addition to self-pity and dejection, you feel embarrassment creep in as you recall the conversation you had had with the girl.

The cake reflects the man so the largest one you have of course.

Not only did you embarrass yourself, you also, without even trying, managed to drag Kakashi’s dignity into the grounds by involuntarily disclosing details about his measurements down there to the girl in the bakery.

God what did she even think!?

Another surge of tears overwhelm you as you hide your face into your hands, realising just what you have done.

The veins, I suppose that’s what she meant by “special details”

You bury your face in the cold ground, hoping never to get up again. There’s no way you can ever show your face at the Bakery ever again. Which really sucks because they have the best blueberry muffins in all of the Land of Fire.

You remain lying on the ground for what feels like a lifetime and the tears eventually stop but you feel like trash and your muscles feel weak from all these days of running around and biting off more than you can chew, so you remain on the floor, crumpled into a ball like a snail.

It must be somewhere around 10:30 p.m. when you feel the main door clicking, but you remain in your position, too exhausted to care about anything anymore.

“Y/n!” Kakashi’s voice rings as he enters, almost screaming. “What happened, are you okay?” you hear him as he comes running across the room as soon as he’s inside, crouching by your side to take your face in his hands.

In all the years that you’ve known him, you can count the number of times he’s sounded this alarmed on your fingers.

You study his panicked eyes as you look into them, a sloppy smile spreading through your face. “Kakashi… what’s up, man?”

His brows knit deeper as he takes your state in, your tear streaked, make-up smeared face and your ripped dress. He leans down further and sniffs. “Are you drunk?”

“No, but I should be” you reply, still in the same position as he watches you in utter confusion.

“Y/n, what’s wrong?” he asks, his tone worrisome. You realise he’s breathing fast, like he ran on his way here.

You lift your head off the ground, sitting up and facing him. “The question is, what isn’t wrong?” you say, putting a hand on his shoulder. “And the answer is, nothing. Because everything is completely and utterly wrong.”, you smile again.

You watch his eyes grazing across your face, reading you but saying nothing. He remains quiet, only looking at you, waiting for you to regain sanity.

A few minutes of silence pass before you speak. You let out a sigh before forming the words.

“I’m sorry” you say, taking your face into your hands. “It’s just… I really wanted to make you happy on your birthday, and I failed. Miserably…”

“What are you talking about?” he asks, moving your hands away your face, shock evident in his voice.

You avoid looking at him, shaking your head. “Nothing. I’m just stupid.”

He comes closer, pulling you into his arms as you rest your head on his chest, matching your breaths to the beat of his heart.

Being in his arms feels like being blanketed in a cocoon and you feel a strange feeling of comfort flood over you. You stay that way in silence for a while before you conjure the ability to talk again.

“So…Did you um… go to the party?” you ask against his chest, still in his hold.

“Yes, but you weren’t there, so I came to look for you.” He replies, his chin resting on the top of your head as he speaks.

You feel a strange guilt forming as you wonder how thrown off Gai must have been when you hadn’t shown up.

“And were you surprised?” you ask, making a mental note of apologising to Gai. Temporary rivalry aside, he’s a good friend.

“Well, I knew about this” he says matter-of-factly and you pull back, looking at him. “But there definitely were surprises.”

“You knew about the party?” you ask, your brows furrowing.

“Well, yeah. Gai tried to hire singers and any gathering of such magnitude requires the Hokage’s sanction and I didn’t want him to go through so much trouble so I denied permission and asked the singers to tell him they were booked, but… he found some way around it, I really don’t know how.”

You can’t help letting out a chuckle at this. “Sounds like Gai. He really went all out, huh?”

You watch Kakashi almost shudder. “You should’ve seen what did for the party” he says, shaking his head.

“Were there boa scarves involved….?”

“You don’t want to know.” He says chuckling, and you smile, taking his hand in yours, glad to have him alone at last, even under these circumstances.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I was the one who was supposed to go get you and I got ready” you gesture at your face and your dress,” But then this happened” you say, reaching for the open box lying on the counter with your hand. “Are you ready?”

He looks at you in confusion as you get a hold of the box, carefully bringing it over and placing it in the space between you.

You watch his eyes widen at the sight before he starts laughing and you join in, staring at the humongous edible rendition of a penis in front of you.

“Well, that is one well-endowed cake” he says, tilting his head to get a better look at it.

You sigh. “Ugh. This whole thing turned out to be such a disaster. This is not how it was supposed to be…” you say, looking down at the ground, your face forming into a frown again. ”I just wanted this day to be special and to make you happy”.

His eyes soften as he looks at you. “I AM happy”.

Inside your chest, your heart starts doing somersaults.

“You bring me a lot of hap-penis, Y/n.” he says, looking right into your eyes with a straight face.

“Kakashi, did you just—"you scoff, “This is not funny! Do you know the amount of craziness I’ve had to—” but you trail off, breaking into a fit of laughter yourself. “You’re such an idiot” you say and he smiles, coming closer to you and pulling you into a hug again.

You close your eyes as he whispers into your hair, “You smell nice”.

“Can’t say the same about you,” you reply without missing a beat but do nothing to let go of him.

He laughs into your hair and you feel the muscles of his chest move as he does. “Yeah, I should go take a shower. I ran on the way here.”

“Shouldn’t you get back to the party?” you ask.

“I’m not going back there.”

“But it is your party. As much as I’d like you to stay, you should go, Kakashi.” You say, pulling back from the hug to look at him.

“I did go.” He protests. “Believe me, they won’t miss me if I don’t go back. Gai is 3 sakes down, he can barely tell his right arm from his left, it’s havoc out there.”

You widen your eyes at his words. “3 sakes down? That’s not going to be good” you say, shuddering as you recall this particular memory from a few years ago where you had had the misfortune of witnessing Gai drunk in a bar. The place had taken 2 months to renovate and your entire group was banned from ever setting foot there again.

Kakashi laughs, recalling the same memory. “So, don’t worry. I am going to go take a quick shower and then I’m all yours for the night.” He says, with a twinkle in his eyes.

You smile at him and for the first time this evening, it doesn’t feel like a chore.

“Wait, let’s cut the cake before you go, it’s been sitting out for too long” you say, getting up with the box in your hands as Kakashi follows.

You come around to the counter, placing the box on top and looking for a knife as he comes behind you, standing with an arm around your waist as he laughs at the sight of the cake again.

“Well thanks to this, everyone in the village is probably going to know now that their Hokage is packing” you say, before proceeding to take the cake out of the box and placing it on a tray.

“Yeah, I had been thinking of ways to get out of this Hokage job for a long time and I think you gave me the perfect reason to resign.” He says as you hand him the knife, chortling.

He remains standing beside you with an arm on your back as he makes the first cut on the cake, and you watch thick white molten cream come spilling out onto the tray.

“Oh my god” you exclaim, laughing in fits as he cuts a slice and holds it out near your mouth.

You open your mouth and let him feed you and cut one of the 'balls' of the cake before holding it out to him. “Open wide” you say, before feeding him the slice as both of you try not choking on your laughter.

He looks at you with those eyes again, before dipping his index finger in a bit of the cream and smearing it on both your cheeks and your nose, before leaning forward and kissing the areas, licking them away.

“Thank you, Y/n” he says and you see the same look from earlier reflected in his eyes.

You lean forward and place a kiss on his mouth, the one you couldn’t earlier.

“Alright, I’ll go take a shower.” He says, kissing your cheek again before turning around to head towards the bathroom. Halfway through, he turns around to call out. “Oh and I found a package addressed to you at the doorstep? I kept it by the couch” he says, before turning back and disappearing down the hallway.

A package? What could that be?

Confusion looms over you as you walk up by the couch, inspecting the package in your hand. It looks big and heavy.

You crouch down, unpacking it slowly and find a note attached. You keep the note aside and open the package first and inside, you find a projector, complete with a roll up screen and a manual guide, and a DVD copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

You pick up the note, holding it in front of you.

Dear Y/N,

Please accept this small gift for me, as a token of apology and gratitude for all that you’ve done for me over the years.

But remember that the best gift a man can have is the company of the woman he loves.

My best wishes to Kakashi and my love to both you.

Akari Kimura

You hold the little note close against your chest and feel your eyes welling up, but not out of frustration or sadness this time. You smile to yourself and make a mental note to personally deliver a bouquet of flowers to Mrs. Kimura tomorrow.

But right now, something else plays in your head as you suddenly recall a line from that paragraph of Icha Icha Paradise.

His engorged fleshy sword slipped into her moist tenderness, thrumming deep and hard into her honeypot as the petals of her flower bloomed to welcome him into the humble abode between her legs. Their dewy bodies heaved, as if dancing to a melody written only for them and they became one, in a sacred union of love and lust, as they made love under the sparkling stars of the beautiful night sky.

Sparkling stars of the beautiful night sky.

Your face breaks into a massive grin and you stand swiftly up on your feet and dash towards the bedroom.

You pull out some sheets, a pair of comforters from the storage cupboard and run to your backyard, piling them all on the grass before making a quick dash back into the bedroom and coming back with some pillows and cushions.

You lay the sheets and the comforter carefully on the grass, before throwing the pillows on top.

You hurry back to the living room next, carrying the box containing all the things out into the backyard and set up everything one by one, with the help of the manual. You connect the projector to the DVD player you had in your house already and set up the screen on the two metal stands in front of the makeshift bed on the grass.

You make another quick dash inside your house, making sure Kakashi is still in the shower. You hear some movement behind the door and you yell “Don’t come out now!” before getting some twinkling string lights you have from the store room.

“What do you mean don’t come out? I’m done, I need to get dressed” you hear him yell back from the other side, followed by the sound of the bathroom lock clicking as you run to the door just in time, the string lights still in your hand, and lock the door from outside. “Don’t come out until I say so!”

You hear him utter a confused “What?” but you’re already off, out in the backyard again. You wrap the string lights around, in bushes and trees and clothing wires, before turning them on.

A dim yellow light fills your backyard, flooding the entire place with a warm cosy aura.

You look around to your creation, satisfied with the results and let out a big grin, thanking Mrs. Kimura in your heart.

She’s right. The best thing you can do for Kakashi is to simply be there for him, and spend time with him. You got so wrapped up in thinking about doing things to make him happy, that you forgot that it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as the two of you are together.

Kakashi loves you and you know you make him happy, regardless of whether or not you make any grand gesture on his birthday.

But that being said, it certainly doesn't hurt to do a little something for him, as long as you don't get too carried away with it to the point that it almost kills you.

The realisation soothes you and you feel a long-standing burden slowly crumble in your heart as you start to feel lighter, your spirits lifting up.

You hum to yourself as you make your last trip into the house, gathering some of the food you had picked out at the market that day but didn’t fit into the picnic basket. You pull out an old bottle of wine from the refrigerator, filling up two glasses and carrying it outside to the backyard.

Laying it all beside the sheets, you make your way back towards the bathroom and stand outside, facing the door.

“Kakashi?” you call in a soft voice.

“Yeah? Can I come out now? What are you even doing?” he calls back as you smile to yourself at the sound of his voice.

“How well do you know Icha Icha Paradise?”

“All the lines by heart, can we have this conversation when I’m not standing near a commode?” he calls out impatiently as you laugh again.

You reach behind and pull on the strings of your halter-neck tied at the back of your neck, feeling the top of the dress fall to your hips in one swift motion. You slide the rest down your hips, letting it pool near your feet as you step out of it, standing in front of the door in your lacy black lingerie.

“All the lines?” you ask again, your voice teasing.

“Yes”, he replies and you hear him about to start another sentence as you unlock the door, pushing it open. “We’ll test that.” You say, looking into his eyes as you watch him look at you like he just got an electric shock through his veins.

You gaze at him, standing there in a white towel with his hair wet, droplets of water still trickling down his torso as you feel something stir inside you and you smile, not taking your eyes off him.

He still stands there looking frozen as you step forward, and take his hand in yours, even the touch of his fingers against yours suddenly sending a shiver through you.

“I, uh… You look… I’m—” you hear him fumble nervously, visibly shocked as you cut him off.

“Just like the main heroine of Icha Icha, yes” You say in your calmest voice, tugging at his hand, a mischievous smile playing on your lips as he steps out of the bathroom, still looking at you as if he’s not sure you’re real. You pull him by his hand, slowly leading him down the hallway, all the way out into the backyard, knowing that nothing is going to come in your way this time.

You catch a glimpse of the clock as you lead him outside, and see that it’s almost midnight and soon it’s not going to be his birthday anymore but right now, you don’t care.

You don’t care if it’s not his birthday anymore, or if you don’t have rose petals, expensive champagne or a delicious meal cooked.

You don’t care that you couldn’t give him the perfect birthday gift, or that he’s already watched this movie multiple times before.

You don’t even care that all your previous attempts had failed, that even after breaking your back trying to do things for Kakashi, you couldn’t pull a single thing off.

All that you care about, is the fact that he’s here with you.

In the end, it all worked out just fine, better than you could have ever dreamt of.

But what matters most is the fact that you’re together, and you make each other happy, and nothing else in the world could ever be more special, or a greater gift than that.

Just her and him in their own little world, entangled in each other’s arms, laughing the night away and making sweet love under the stars. (Last Line, Icha Icha Paradise)

Notes:-

I tried my best to proof read but since it's really long, I may have missed some things. So if you find any spelling mistakes or any words missing or anything that seems out of place, please do not hesitate to let me know!

Also, I’m gonna reply to the comments about the earlier chaps on here lmfao

@ibukiirisha - You’re so cute what the hell, it was MY honor to tag YOU omg, I honestly was so fkn delighted when you’d even asked to be tagged in my fics,I was just ahdfdhkefhj 😩 Thank you so much ❤️

@ren-hatake - AHHHH i cant even tell you how happy you make me with all the love and support i mean 😩😩 it really fills my heart, you and your comments make My day 6000000x better and thank you so much for everything bb, I’m so glad you liked the earlier chaps thank you so so much ily ❤️

@issamomma - OH GOD THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING YOU SAID, honestly. I can’t verbalise how happy it made me 😩 Your comments always make my day, thank you so much taking the time to write them, I appreciate it a hell lot. You’re so precious, thank you, ily ❤️

@psychofishie - shdhdk i don’t even know what to say, you’re literally encouraging me and supporting me all the damn time and thank you so so much, it really does keep me going. Your comments mean a hell lot to me, thank you SO MUCH for all the support, i completely adore you and i really hope you like the story ahhhhh ❤️

@ sushi-comet - I agree lmfao Gai is pure af and i love him but yeah he sure does go over the top sometimes lmfao. Thank you so much for reading!! 😩

#kakashi #kakashi hatake #hatake kakashi #kakashi fanfiction #kakashi x reader #Naruto #naruto fanfiction #naruto fanfic #kakashi fanfic #kakashi x y/n #kakashi x you #hokage kakashi #rokudaime #kakashi headcanons #naruto headcanons #kakashi scenario #naruto scenario #kakashi imagines #kakashi's Birthday

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fuwafuwamedb · 3 years

Text

A Game We Play (Caster Gilgamesh/Hakuno)

It was like a game.

“I do not recall such a woman,” he had said when Gudako had introduced her to him, saying that she had been one of his former masters. Gudako had pat her shoulder when Gilgamesh Caster had simply told them that he was busy and wandered off to complete his business. She had figured that was going to be the end of it. Perhaps they would be platonic now.

A shame, since the caster had seemed so much more sensible and mannered than his archerself.

“You should look at me,” the golden haired man purred, his golden gloved hand turning her face to look up at him. Her body was spread out on the bed, body slick with god only new what anymore.

There was a wetness between her legs. Her thighs were trying to press together, only serving to bring the man’s hips closer to her center. Her skin gleamed in the low lights of the room. There was a musk, a potent smell dancing around it now.

The fabrics around them were damp, the ones overhead blocking some of the light from reaching the bed. It felt so terribly small in this room, although it was hard to remember where the room’s doors were anymore. There was only miles of bedding keeping her here, this man’s body serving as steel to keep her caged here.

Her amber gaze met that crimson gaze. Her breath caught in her throat as those eyes dilated.

“That’s a good master,” that honeyed voice purred to her. “Doesn’t it feel good? You must feel grateful, being back in my arms again. What did you tell me before? Say it again, woman.”

The words from before- She had to wrack her brain for them, the man’s grip on her tightening.

“Do not tell me you’ve forgotten-“

“P-please… my king.” Hakuno closed her eyes, trying to gather the strength to make her voice sound clear. The man cocked a brow at her.

“Are you already so exhausted? So soon?”

When had they come in this room, she had to wonder again. Every time she came to, he seemed to be clean again, his hands roaming over her body. Sometimes it was them resting side by side. She somehow was clean, although that feeling felt so far away right now.

“Again, master,” he leaned in, his nose nuzzling into the valley of her breasts. His grip moved to each, fondling as he ran his tongue over her skin. His hips thrust tentatively, leaving her to roll her eyes back and try once more to hold onto thought. The rippling feeling, proud and resilient echoed through her veins, driving her to that place where the world seemed to vanish around them. Those red eyes darkened, those lips turning up as he pulled back, licking his lips and staring into the depths of her soul.

Her lips parted.

Those hips gave another shove, his length delving deeper in.

She couldn’t last.

Her hands clawed at his naked body, clawing at the purple tattoos upon his arms.

“Gil,” Hakuno breathed.

“Tell me what I want to hear, since you are my master,” Gilgamesh purred into her ear, that pace of his quickening, driving her to madness. “You know that you desire to say it. You want to please me back, don’t you, master?”

What was it that he wanted to hear?

What would satisfy him?

“G-Gil,” she pleaded.

Everything was too far gone, the next waves of pleasure overtaking everything. The dark sheets were an endless ocean, the pillows a shore that seemed to be leaving her to sink deeper into these dangerous waters. Everything in the world aside from that was cast away, abandoned until she heard her voice echo out to eternity.

The laughter meeting her ears was unmistakable. The mouth moving over her body again, biting mercilessly, was as unforgiving as these waves of pleasure drowning her.

“We will try again in a while, my master. Perhaps you will realize your place when you awaken next.”

Awaken next?

She couldn’t move enough to see what was happening. Her strength had forsaken her so greatly there was no opening her eyes.

She would awaken another time, walking out of this room.

“How amusing. Do you think me so simple a lover that you could achieve such a feat?”

She would do it.

“Ha. So confident… It is little wonder I gained interest in you.”

Something cold was running over her skin, a pair of lips moving along her chest again. The cold felt so good against the feverish feeling in her body.

“It pleases you to be cleaned? You are lucky I am so generous. Were I more naïve, perhaps an archer, I would have no qualms with simply leaving you to be filthy and used upon my bed. As it is, a lover should be cared for after sexual exploits. You may begin praising me whenever you see fit. I will make note of how well you extol my generosity.”

Same old arrogance.

Same old demands for praise, after all he’d done for his own pleasure.

The cold was gone this time when her body seemed to gain consciousness. Opening her eyes, Hakuno stared unfocused towards the ceiling.

“Are you sure you haven’t seen her, Caster?” Gudako asked.

“To what aim do you think I would seek to acquire by fibbing to you, Gudako?”

“I-I’m not saying you’re lying! I just- We’ve looked everywhere and Archer is growing livid. The other servants said they saw Hakuno heading this way last. You’re the only servant in this wing of Chaldea.”

“So you are assuming that I would be the reason you cannot find someone in this entire building?”

“No! No. Just- Can you help us look? Archer Gilgamesh is about ready to blow half the building apart.”

“Do you desire to watch the two of us fight then? Having the two of us around one another would be asking for competition and war. There can only be one true king in any area at a time, Gudako. To ask multiple to share the same space, to acknowledge and respect one another in an equal manner over the same feats? That is too much. It would be too much in our nature as kings to resist the desire to see who truly deserves the conquests that our name is attributed to.”

“It’s just until we find Hakuno.”

“You desire comes at a cost too great for your people.”

The sound of the door closing could be heard.

The sound of jewelry clinked, the sight of the tussled blond hair being brushed back could be seen as he came slowly into view. That hypnotizing gaze fell to hers, holding the prolonged stare until a small smirk came to his lips.

“You woke up faster this time, master. You are that eager, are you?”

“What was that about?”

The caster’s smile only seemed to remain in place, those eyes narrowing. “Are you listening to conversations that you have no business in? Eavesdropping, as they say?”

A hand came to rest upon her chest. The bed was sinking as the man came in closer.

The sent of ancient pages and foreign blooms tickled at her nose as the man’s lips began a path up her chest.

There was little to do but close her eyes and moan.

“Shall we try again? You have not accepted me as your servant yet.”

“Gil,” she tried again. Gudako had needed him.

“Tell me what I want to hear, master,” the Sumerian king purred once again, nuzzling himself between her breasts again, kneading them as he was all too happy to do each time this began.

It was like a game to him.

An eternity of pleasure, with two very stubborn spirits.

#drabble #drabbles #kinktober prompts from Meddy B

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rileys-nest · 3 years

Text

Jedi Ceremonies

Reminder: These are my own personal ceremonies, I wrote these with help from Grace and Dome plus others from NSWC and Guides. You can use the full ceremonies in your writing, or you can take the general baseline and use them to create your own. The only thing I ask is for permission to be given, and linked directly back to either my archive of my own page (The_Highlands_Lady) or my tumblr (rileys-nest). Thank you.

When a Foundling is Brought to the Temple (Also known as the Welcoming)

“From safe beginnings, you come, brought by the Force into our care and responsibility. With the Force, you will learn and grow under the watch of all of Us. May the Force watch over you, and bless your path from now on, present and future, eternally, little one.”

(IF a Foundling is brought with a slave name/no-one’s name, this version is used) “The Force recognizes your name as improper, little one. Force-sensitivity is not a curse, nor is it a reason to enslave children. We, as guardians and keepers of the Force, hereby remove (insert slave/no-one’s name), and bless you with (insert new name here). May the Force watch over you and bless your path from now to ever on, little one.”

When an Initiate Becomes a Padawan (Also known as the Graduation Ceremony)

“You have learned from your clan, crèchemates, and instructors, and now you have found someone you want to teach and be taught by.”

“Do you, (Insert Master’s name here), take (Insert Initiate’s Name here), as your Padawan learner until the day their Trials arrive? Do you swear to guide them, to teach them, to care for them until the day they become Knights?”

“Rise as one, Master (Insert Name here), and Padawan (Insert Name here). May the Force watch over you and light your path until the end of your days.”

The Braiding Ceremony (Also known as the Master-Padawan Ceremony)

“As you were once an Initiate, so does your journey begin on the path to knowledge. Three strands, three paths. The Past. The Present. The Future.”

“There is the Past, your childhood, now fallen to the wayside. A new path has been laid out for you to walk in the eyes of the Force.”

“There is the Present, the current, the path you now walk. As a Padawan, you will encounter times of peril and times of peace. The Force will always be with you if you remember to listen.”

“There is the Future, the path that awaits you. All Futures are the same, but yet, all are different in the end. The Force will be here to support and guide you, and so will We until the end of Our days.”

When a Padawan Prepares to Take Their Trials

(This is the pre-vigil ceremony, spoken by one Councilor directly to the Padawan) ”Padawan (Insert surname here), the time has come for you to come to the Trials of Knighthood. Five trials that you will face, five trials that will determine your path. The Trials of Skill, Courage, Flesh, Spirit, and Insight await you… and do not forget that the Force is always with you.”

(This is the ceremony that precedes the entrance into the Trial Room)“As you were once an Initiate, you now stand before us, prepared to take your Trials. The Force has guided you through trials and triumphs, tribulations and victories, and now it will guide you through the Trials that lay ahead. The Force is always at your side, you never walk alone. May the Force watch over you and guide you through the paths that lay ahead.”

The Knighting Ceremony

“You have passed the Trials laid out ahead of you, and your Master states that you are ready to be an independent member of the Order. You are ready to serve the Order as a Knight.”

“You have learned from your Master and experiences, and in return, you have taught your Master. Though your padawanship is coming to a close, you take the first step onto the pathway of Knighthood. In doing so, you are always learning and teaching.”

“May you find the strength to remain open to new experiences on the path you now walk. May the Force be with you always.”

“By the Right of the Council, and the Will of the Force, we name you, Knight (Insert Name and Surname here).”

The most senior member of the newly-Knighted’s lineage steps forward to shear off the braid with the end of their lightsaber.

When Taking a Padawan

“I, Knight/Master/Councilor (Insert name here), swear to you, Padawan (Insert name here), that I will teach you, care for you, and guide you through all the winding paths that the Force guides us on throughout our years together. If the Force agrees, will you, Padawan (Insert name here), take me as your Master to see you through to your Knighthood?”

“I, Padawan (Insert name here), do swear to you, Knight/Master/Councilor (Insert name here), that I will teach you, care for you, and follow your guiding light through the paths of the Force until the time comes for separation. The Force agrees that you will be my Master to see me through to my Knighthood.”

When a Knight becomes a Master

“Knight (Insert surname here), we have called you to stand before us. You have guided and supported a Padawan from the very start of their life to their Knighthood, and as such, we feel you are ready to take the title and responsibilities, as well as having shown the behavior expected, that come with being a Master of the Jedi Order. May the Force watch over you, from now until the time you step into the Force.”

When a Master becomes a Councilor

“Master (Insert surname here), you have walked the path of the Force. You have guided others to understand the twists and turns of the Force, helped teach the next generation. Now, the time has come for you to help us all by guiding with the unified and living Force, for the best interests of all, from the oldest senior to the youngest crècheling. We, the High Council, are pleased to count you among the ranks of Councilors, former and present, until the time comes.”

When a Councilor Steps Down

“I have served the Order faithfully as a Councilor and Master for the past (Insert time served as a Councilor here) years, but I feel that my time as a member of this High Council is coming to an end. I thank all of you for the lessons you have taught me over the years, and what I have taught you as well, but the Force is now calling me to serve in a different position. May the Force watch over all of you, and choose a worthy candidate to fill my chair.”

When a Master Retires from Active Service (Also known as Retirement)

“As nature changes, so does the Force. I have served the Order faithfully for (Insert years here, if KNOWN), and the changes in the Force are now calling to me that it is time to retire from active field-service. I am thankful for everything I have learned over my years active, and I hope to have many more years as a senior in the Order.”

When an Initiate is Killed

“There is no foot too small, no step too short, that it cannot leave an imprint on this world. The Force gives, and the Force takes, but (they/she/he) was taken too early. (They/She/He) had years of life, years of brightness ahead of (them/her/him), but the Force called for them to serve in a different manner. May you always find peace wherever you walk.”

When a Padawan is Killed

“Those we have held in our arms for a short while, we hold in our hearts forever. The Force gives, and unknowable twists occur through the days, taking Padawans too early. We say farewell to (them/her/him), a light that was cut too short, in the days of training. The Force called for them to complete their training in a different path, and for that, may they always find peace wherever they walk.”

When a Knight is Killed

“Those we love don’t go away; they walk beside us everyday. (They/She/He) served the Order strongly, following the call of the Force in every mission they took during their active years. We say farewell to (insert Knight’s name here), knowing that (they/her/him) will be serving the Force and walking along us until the days come to an end.”

When a Master is Killed

“The galaxy changes from year to year, our lives from day to day, but the love and memory of you shall never pass away. (Insert Master’s name here) has served the Order faithfully and without hesitation for (insert time served), and have trained skilled members throughout the years of their service. We say farewell to them, knowing that they will remain walking at our sides until the end of days come.”

When a Councilor is Killed

“A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest. (Insert Councilor’s name here) has served the Order, as a student, Master, and Councilor, for (insert years served) here. They have learned, and taught, and the Force calls for them to teach and learn in a different manner. We say farewell to (them/him/her), knowing that they will always be there even in the most difficult of moments.”

When a Retired Master Dies/is Killed

“To these memories we hold, with their blessing we will go, to turn at last to paths that lead home. (Insert Senior Jedi’s name here) has been a lifelong representative of the Order, bringing their talents to planets and cultures far and wide. They have learned, and taught, even in their advanced age, and the Force now calls them to their side for evermore. The lessons they have taught will always remain, their memories never forgotten, and their presence never vanishing.”

Jedi Convocation

“As we serve the Force, the Force gives us life. The Force calls the Individual Representatives of the Temples of the Order to (Insert Temple & location here), on (Insert date).”

Concordance of Fealty

“I, Knight/Master/Councilor (Insert Name-Surname here), entrust my lightsaber to you, Knight/Master/Councilor (Insert Name-Surname here), until I return. In entrusting my lightsaber to you, I give you my trust until the end of days.”

“Knight/Master/Councilor (Insert Name-Surname here), I have something to return to you. It is a product of your own hands, which you once entrusted to mine. In returning this lightsaber, I return your trust.”

When a Jedi is placed on the Blacklist

“You, (Insert Master/Knight’s name here), have overstepped your bounds where Padawan (Insert surname here) is concerned. You swore to them that you would care, guide, and teach them, but you broke that oath. There can be no second chances given when a Padawan is at stake, and we, the High Council, unanimously agree to put your name on the Blacklist.”

A member of the Supply department is standing by to give the Blacklisted Jedi their new robes, with their embroidery covered in a thick black fabric.

When a Jedi is exiled from the Temple

“Padawan/Knight/Master (Insert name here), you have broken the Trust placed in you by the Order. You have broken the oaths sworn to your Temple, and you will not be given a second chance to break the oaths again. You will be exiled, tracked by the Guards, not to be permitted within one ship-length of (Insert Planet that the Temple is located on)’s airspace until the time of the exile has concluded. Under discussion, the Council has decided that the exile will last (Insert length of time of Exile here). From the end of the meeting, you will have six hours to gather what you need, and then you will be escorted to the ship that will remove you from (Insert planet again here)’s airspace until your time has concluded. May the Force decide your path.”

When a Jedi Falls

“As there are two sides to the Force, there is always a decision to be made as to which path to walk. Padawan/Knight/Master (insert surname here) has chosen to walk the path of the Dark, chosen to walk the path of possessiveness and selfishness. They are no longer considered a member of the Order from this day on. May the Force guide them.”

When a Jedi Leaves the Order

“Despite the years served, Padawan/Knight/Master (Insert name here) has chosen to depart from the Order due to (Insert reason here, if applicable). They still regain the qualifications and inter-galaxy benefits granted to them by their position, but are no longer allowed to consider themselves representatives of the Order. Despite this, they will still be remembered for their acts in service of the Order and the wider Galaxy. May the Force watch over, and guide their path until the end of days.”

When a Jedi Switches Branches

“Padawan/Knight/Master (Insert surname here) has been called by the Force to serve in a different manner than first intended. They will transfer to (Insert new branch here), to serve the Order as a member of (Insert sub-group of new branch here), until the end of their days. May the Force guide their hands as they learn the new branch of service.”

#rileys nest #jedi #ceremonies #worldbuilding #my writing #writing #sw_meta #jedi_culture #you may use with permission #you may reblog

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trophywifejimgordon · 3 years

Text

It’s over.

Just as soon as it started, almost, except for the part where it took an eternity. Except for the part where, though Daniel actually has experienced being pitted in a fight to the death before, and this was nothing like that, he just relived the past 35 years of his life, not “flashing before his eyes” so much as being jogged into his memory in chunks, hit by overwhelming hit. Every decision he ever made, and every one that was made for him, brought Daniel here, to this moment, to… victory?

Daniel LaRusso has won every most important fight in his life, and this one is no different; Johnny Lawrence now lies on his back, pinned there by the weight of Daniel’s foot resting on his chest. He’s not struggling anymore, just breathing hard and looking, really looking, at Daniel. Daniel’s not really so sure that he likes it.

He’d been face down, last time. Something like that. Daniel’d hardly had attention to spare on the disarmed bomb, not when his whole world was relief and agony and celebration and Miyagi and the sweeping crowd roaring his name and Ali. He had only even been distantly aware of Johnny handing him the trophy, and had, at the time, actually just assumed that he had been forced to by the bounds of tradition--after all, what did Daniel know, then, about the way of things at tournaments like these? It was only after Mike Barnes neglected to be the graceful loser that Daniel had even started to wonder… but Johnny had been long gone by then.

He’s here now, though. And there’s none of the rest; no roaring crowds, no debilitating pain in his knee, no Ali, no excitement, no relief. No Miyagi, either, but that’s kind of been the problem. It��s all over, and here, in the aftermath, there is only Johnny and Daniel, as there ever was, and looking down at Johnny’s wide eyes, Daniel is hit for the first time by the notion that, for you to win, someone else has to lose.

And of course, that should be no great surprise, no world shattering revelation--that is, after all, the business he’s in. Both karate and cars; it’s cutthroat, and it’s a competition, no matter how much he might preach otherwise (lie) to his class at Miyagi-do. But it is. A revelation. Daniel has spent the past year learning about Johnny Lawrence as a human being, more human than it ever felt comfortable to consider him, seeing him struggle and reach out and lash out and, admittedly, grow. There were times when Daniel had hated him, times when he almost thought they could be friends. But it is only now, staring defeat down into the waiting--not angry, not guilty, just… expectant--expression of his opponent, that it hits Daniel: there is a side to their story, and maybe there always was, where Daniel is the villain.

This breaks the man. That’s not him; he’s never been that. Daniel, growing up, had been friends with action comics and superheroes more than actual people--he tried, of course, but could never quite get anyone to stay. (Anyone but Mr. Miyagi, that is, but Daniel is old enough by now to suspect that he might have had his issues, too.) His mother--always a Daniel fan, as a rule--had encouraged him, told him he was too good for those other kids, anyhow, and he sort of believed her. Then he got older, and there was Kreese and Johnny and Chozen and Silver and Barnes, and the world was black and white, just like in the pages of his comics--there was a lesson in Daniel’s final two years of high school, and it was that his childish worldview had essentially been correct, that there was a good guy, and there was a bad guy, and most of the time, the role of the “good guy” fell to him. Growing up, if it could be called that, had done him no favors; while Daniel as a child had been (okay, he could admit it) a bit obnoxious, he had also been fresh and impressionable and wide eyed, ready to learn, always. Ready to shift his viewpoint. Age, as it does with all, or at least most, had made the walls around his worldview a little more stiff, while trauma (for that’s what it was, he realizes now, Trauma, with a capital T) had cemented them in place. The final, glancing blow to Daniel’s ability to bend before he broke was the death of the man who had taught him to do so in the first place; after he lost Mr. Miyagi, that had been it for him, the nail in the coffin. He was stuck. Unalterable, unchangeable. Bitter, and stiff, and unyielding, and more than any of that, completely unable to see it.

Because, who had time for self-contemplation when you were successful? Who had space for introspection when you were busy and moving up and, by all rights, happy? Daniel didn’t need to look inside or better himself; he was the good guy. He was a g-d damn heroic archetype, baby, and he helped people see the light, not the other way around.

And that mindset had lasted, it had served him, for the better part of eight whole years, or maybe a lifetime. It kept him going, affirmed his choices and supported his self-righteous streak, for all this time, and it was maybe going to keep powering on forever, through the very end of Daniel LaRusso until

suddenly

it didn’t.

And so he gaped down at Johnny Lawrence (old hat, by now, at being typecast as the villain in Daniel’s personal morality plays) and met his sad, blue eyes with sad, brown ones showing--though he did not know or altogether intend it--pure, abject terror right there on his face.

For the first time since Mr. Miyagi died, Daniel feels a shift, uncomfortable and alien and wild, and so all he can say, deer in the headlights wishing the car would come sooner, is, “My knee.”

He thinks about letting Johnny up, or at least removing his own personal peine forte et dure and making it an option. Daniel thinks about it, he hesitates, but he doesn’t move in the end.

Can’t.

“What,” Johnny says cautiously, expression still indecipherable, or maybe that’s Daniel. Despite the weight on his chest, he pushes himself up a little, halfway into a sitting position and resting on his elbows, and Daniel lets him. Can’t do anything about that, either.

“You didn’t go for my knee, you never did, even though you knew it was my weak spot. I must’ve left it open about a hundred times, I was stupid--but you didn’t take advantage. Why not, Johnny, huh? What did you get out of that?”

Johnny, like, licks his lips a little, probably (probably?) in contemplation, and his gaze flits between Daniel’s face and his leg, the one that’s still pinning him, the one that he and Bobby Brown but John Kreese most of all had done irreparable damage to 35 years back. He almost seems to challenge Daniel (though it’s probably just his keyed-up confrontation brain talking)--like, oh, you mean this knee?

Daniel isn’t sure what the look in Johnny’s eye means--he’s starting to figure out that he doesn’t understand Johnny Lawrence half as well as he’d prided himself on knowing him before--and there’s a second when half of him thinks Johnny’s about to lick a stripe up the surgery scars he caused and the other half thinks that Johnny’s about to strike first, strike hard, strike one last time and show no mercy as he shreds the tendon with his teeth, finishing what he started 35 years ago and ruining the leg for good.

Of course, he does neither of these things. All he does eventually is bring his gaze back up to Daniel’s eye--expression steel, more sober than Daniel has ever seen him--and say, “I keep telling you, man, and you don’t listen--that’s not who I want to be. I want to be better than I was taught. And you’re never gonna hear it.”

The truth of Johnny’s statement strikes him--in that moment, Daniel knows that Johnny’s strides toward redemption, his constant game of two steps forward, one step back, have not been petty or self-serving or convenient in the least for him; they’ve been genuine. Johnny has been struggling since their childhood, since he fell in with Kreese, and he’s still struggling right now; struggling to unlearn all the bad, three decades of toxic crap dumped on him and into him, because Johnny sees his faults and sees his failures and he wants to be more than the sum of them. It might mean (and just watch, this revelation is earth shattering) that Johnny is a better man than Daniel, who has never once looked in a mirror to do anything more than adjust his too-expensive tie before heading out on the sales floor. Who would Johnny be if he’d had someone like Mr. Miyagi for a mentor? Who would Daniel be if he hadn’t?

His breath, finally calmed down from the physical exertion, starts to speed up again, heart pounding in his chest, and oh, sure, why not, Daniel thinks he’s going to have a panic attack. The least he can do is free Johnny from the pin before he does so; things will probably get really, really strange, if not.

Shaky, trying to control his limbs and remember--well, pretty much anything about the simplest breathing techniques, Daniel lets him go.

After another second’s deliberation, he reaches down a hand.

“You’re wrong, Johnny,” he says (because nothing between them can be without petty disagreements, not even this), eyes focused on something he couldn’t name if his life depended on it, a spot on the floor just behind Johnny’s shoulder. The floor, the hardwood floor he’d installed himself, even after Amanda had dropped several hints that she wanted it done professionally, because he could handle it, and he had; his floor, in his house, because--oh, right--they’re in his house, his house in Encino, and this whole thing should reek of normalcy, and yet. “I hear you.”

The fight drains out of him entirely, and all of a sudden, Daniel is nothing so much as he is tired. Johnny takes his hand and lets himself be pulled up, and they’re both left standing, shells of men, hollow. Nothing inside. They look at one another and the reflection of their nothingness, and Daniel….

Well. Daniel, is broken.

And then, in a perspective shift like an earthquake, like a typhoon off the coast of Okinawa, like a crane kick in the fucking head, he just may be reforged.

#cobra kai #lawrusso #daniel larusso #johnny lawrence #text post #fanfiction #am i posting this here instead of ao3 because i crave instant validation more than i want to spend the time editing? yes.#do i hope you like it anyway? also yes #fun fact i wrote this entire thing just to give context to that line about johnny ripping apart daniel's tendon w/ his teeth #and this itself needs to be set in a larger context so. how far will it go #if i do ever post this my working title is 'my orthopedic knee specialist does not think the world of you'

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big-oof-bi-goof · 4 years

Text

So there’s this meme going around with TMA fans, the whole “hello Jon” thing, but it kind of disappoints me. We, as a fandom, are capable of more. We can do better than this. We just need to Hello Jon. Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself.

I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen.

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

Statement of Jonah Magnus regarding Jonathan Sims, The Archivist.

Statement begins.

I hope you’ll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of two centuries of work. It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It’s a simple enough answer: for immortality and power. Uninspired, perhaps, but – my god. The discovery, not simply of the dark and horrible reality of the world in which you live, but that you would quite willingly doom that world and confine the billions in it to an eternity of terror and suffering, all to ensure your own happiness, to place yourself beyond pain and death and fear.

It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, Jon, the freedom of it all. I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction in that choice.

I am to be a king of a ruined world, and I shall never die.

I believe there are far more people in this world that would take that bargain than you would ever guess. And I have beaten all of them.

Of course, this desire did not manifest overnight. When Smirke first gathered our little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear.

But as he compiled his taxonomy and codified his theories on the grand rituals, I began to develop a very specific concern. Smirke was so obsessed with his ideas on balance, even as our fellows began to experiment and fall to the service of our patrons.

I began to worry that if one of them successfully attempted their ritual, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world.

At first, I attempted prevention, but the cause seemed hopeless. The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable transformation was to bring it about myself. So what began as an experiment soon became a race.

Beyond that, I was getting older, and mortality began to weigh more heavily on my mind. How much in this world is done because we fear death, the last and greatest terror?

I convinced Smirke to work on Millbank, leading him to design it as a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium, such that my own modifications to the design of the Panopticon went… unremarked.

It. Took. Years, for the dread of the prisoners to fully suffuse the place, and I was an old man before I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the center of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet.

It was… flawed, of course, as all Smirke’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it.

But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to.

It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I found vessels to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it was born.

I’ll not bore you with details of my bodies and failures through those intervening years. Suffice to say I kept busy, both planning my own next attempt, and doing my best to stymie those others who tried versions of their own.

Surely my interpretation of the Watcher’s Crown had been incomplete; there had been some element of the ritual I had overlooked.

It was not until I met Gertrude Robinson that things began to really come into focus.

You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.

But Gertrude was unlike any other Archivist. She simply did not care about compiling experiences or collecting the fears of others. She was driven to stop those who served the Powers.

More than once I thought she must secretly be of the Hunt – but there was never that sick joy in her, that thrill of predator and prey. She had simply decided that this was her position in life, and went about it with a practicality that even I found disconcerting at times.

I once asked her what drove her, what had started her down that path. She told me the Desolation had killed her cat.

I don’t know if she was joking, and, to be honest, I could never bring myself to look into her mind and find out for sure.

In any case, Gertrude’s ruthless efficiency in derailing and collapsing rituals threw into stark relief a question that had been bothering me for almost a hundred and fifty years: In the whole span of humanity, why had nobody ever succeeded?

Perhaps there were a long line of Gertrude Robinsons throughout history, but I found that hard to credit. Could it be, then, that there was something in the very concept of the rituals that meant they couldn’t succeed?

She was clearly having similar thoughts in that last year, all of which culminated with the People’s Church.

When I saw that she was making no preparations whatsoever to stop it, I realized she was putting into practice a theory, and one she couldn’t afford to be wrong. She was going to wait, and see if the unopposed ritual succeeded, or if it collapsed under its own strain as mine had all hose years ago.

Knowing Gertrude, I’m sure she had a backup plan if she had miscalculated – but she had not. The ritual failed. And all at once, I realized what had to be done.

You see, the thing about the Fears is that they can never be truly separated from each other. When does the fear of sudden violence transition into the fear of hunted prey? When does the mask of the Stranger become the deception of the Spiral?

Even those that seem to exist in direct opposition rely on each other for their definition as much as up relies on down.

To try and create a world with only the Buried makes as much sense as trying to conceive a world with only down.

Every ritual tied itself so closely to a single power as to render itself impossible. They could bring their patron close, but never sever it from the others, and eventually it would be violently pulled back into the place next to reality where they dwell.

The solution, then, is simple: A new ritual must be devised which will bring through all the Powers at once. All fourteen, as I had hoped I could complete it before any new powers such as Extinction were able to fully emerge. All under the Eye’s auspices, of course. We mustn’t forget our roots.

And there was only one being that could possibly serve as a lynchpin for this new ritual: The Archivist. A position that had so recently become vacant, thanks to Gertrude’s ill-timed retirement plans.

Because the thing about the Archivist is that – well, it’s a bit of a misnomer.

It might, perhaps, be better named: The Archive.

Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, Jon. You are a record of fear, both in mind as you walk the shuddering record of each statement, and in body as the Powers each leave their mark upon you.

You are a living chronicle of terror.

Perhaps, then, if I could find an Archivist and have each Power mark them, have them confront each one and each in turn instill in them a powerful and acute fear for their life, they could be turned into a conduit for the coming of this – nightmare kingdom.

Do you see where I’m going, Jon?

It does tickle me, that in this world of would-be occult dynasties and ageless monsters, the Chosen One is simply that – someone I chose. It’s not in your blood, or your soul, or your destiny. It’s just in your own, rotten luck.

I’ll admit, my options were somewhat limited, but My God, when you came to me already marked by the Web, I knew it had to be you. I even held out some small hope you had been sent by the Spider as some sort of implicit blessing on the whole project, and, do you know what, I think it was.

Of course, I had to bide my time, get a measure of you before I began to push, learn how you worked – So I decided I would wait until something came for you, and see how you reacted. Attacks upon the Archives were not uncommon during Gertrude’s tenure, and, while she was always prepared, I made sure you would not be.

I reasoned if you couldn’t survive a single encounter, you were unlikely to make it through all fourteen. So, when Jane Prentiss attacked, I watched eagerly, one hand on the gas release from the start.

You acquitted yourself well enough, so I decided to see how far you would get, though I waited until the worms were in you before I pulled the lever. I needed to make sure you felt that fear all the way to your bones.

The discovery that one of the Stranger’s minions had infiltrated the Institute in the aftermath was certainly a pleasant bonus. Even if that sliver of paranoia, that vague wrongness you couldn’t quite place wouldn’t count as a mark, it was only a matter of time before it confronted you in a far more direct and affecting matter.

Admittedly, given the advent of the Unknowing, I needn’t have bothered. But what’s the old saying about hindsight?

More important to me was Sasha’s encounter with the Distortion. If it had taken an interest, then I very much wanted it to cross your path.

So I found one of its current victims and convinced her to make a statement.

Poor Helen. I actually had to put her in a taxi myself, she was getting so lost in those narrow London side streets.

It worked, though.

Between the stabbing and at least two desperate flights into its doors – you’re marked very deeply by the Spiral.

Jurgen Leitner was a surprise, of course, and I was forced to improvise. I had no idea how much Gertrude would have told him, and he could very easily have derailed everything if you learned too much too fast.

I… justified it to myself saying I was going to have to send you out into the world anyway, if you were to encounter more of the Powers, but I can’t honestly pretend it wasn’t a… rather rash move.

Still. I’d requested Detective Tonner be assigned to the case when they found Gertrude’s body in the hope that having a Hunter in the mix would eventually lead to a confrontation, and setting you up as a killer certainly hastened that.

Then it was just a matter of feeding you statements to lead you to a few Avatars I thought were likely to harm you – but probably would stop short of actually killing you.

Jude served her purpose exactly as I had hoped, as did our dearly departed Mr Crew, marking you for the Desolation and the Vast.

Honestly, I had – nothing to do with Melanie and her Slaughter adventure, but when I saw the situation, I made sure to trap her here, so when her rage bubbled over you would be right there, a ready target.

I didn’t foresee the mark coming from surgery gone wrong, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

The Unknowing was a distraction, but not an unwelcome one. For this to work, you needed more than just the marks; you needed power. And that was something the Unknowing served to test, though it posed no actual danger in the grand scheme of things.

And it did serve another purpose, of course. It inadvertently pushed you to confront death, a mark I had been very worried about trying to orchestrate. If I tried too early, you’d just die. Too late, and you might be powerful enough to see the attempt coming, and maybe even understand why.

As it was, it was just right, and once again, you came through with flying colors.

By this point, your abilities were coming along in leaps and bounds, and I was concerned that meeting face-to-face might end up with you Knowing something you shouldn’t.

I had initially planned to go into hiding, but when your colleagues surprised me with the police, well. It was simple enough to cut a deal.

All that remained, then, were the Dark, the Flesh, the Buried, and the Lonely.

I was a little put out when that idiot Jared Hopworth misinterpreted my letters and attacked the Institute too soon, before you were even out of the hospital, but then – Ho, you should have see my face when you voluntarily went to him.

I couldn’t see what happened in there, of course, but given how you came out, I’m very sure it counts as a mark.

I suspected the coffin might turn up again, and once it did, it was simply a matter of getting any, uh… restraining factors you might have had flying off on a wild goose chase, and waiting.

Honestly, Detective Tonner has been proving invaluable through this process. I’d been racking my brains for months about what I could use to lure you in.

And, of course, I knew the Dark Sun was just sitting there waiting. So when it came time, I just whipped up another apocalypse and sent you on your merry way.

Then all that remained was the Lonely.

Poor Peter. He really should have left well enough alone. Or just done what I’d asked in the first place.

Ah well. He knew what I was attempting, and was very unwilling to cooperate until I made him a little wager about Martin.

Of course, he had no way of knowing that, in addition to setting you up for the final mark, he was giving you all the tools you needed to escape from it.

How is Martin, by the way? He looks well. You will keep an eye on him when all this is over, won’t you? He’s earned that.

And there, I think, we are brought just about up to date. I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, but past here lies only impatience.

You are prepared. You are ready. You are marked. The power of the Ceaseless Watcher flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.

Don’t worry, Jon. You’ll get used to it here, in the world that we have made.

Now. Repeat after me.

You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.

Come to us in your wholeness.

Come to us in your perfection.

Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and leads and dies!

Come to us.

I – OPEN – THE DOOR!

#tma #the magnus archives #jonah magnus

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les-mooserables · 3 years

Text

Hello, John

[AS SOON AS HE BEGINS SPEAKING, A WHIZZING STATIC KICKS IN FROM THE BACKGROUND.]

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)

Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself.

I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. (slightly strained) I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen.

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

[THE ARCHIVIST MAKES A PAINED COUPLE OF SOUNDS OUT-OF-STATEMENT-CHARACTER, AS IF HE’S TRYING TO TEAR HIMSELF AWAY FROM THE STATEMENT AND PHYSICALLY CANNOT.][WHEN HE PICKS THE STATEMENT BACK UP, THE WORDS SOUND LIKE THEY’RE BEING TORN FROM HIS LIPS.]ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)

Statement of Jonah Magnus regarding Jonathan Sims, The Archivist.

Statement begins.

[A SLAP ON THE TABLE – OR A CRACK? SPOOKY.]

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, John, the freedom of it all. I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction in that choice.