#how was he able to get out of the mob? his skills? his contributions over the years? something more personal?

[sungjinwoouff]

hard to impress, i. | sung jinwoo

where you fail to catch his attention countless of times.

pure fluff, harsh words, may be a tiny bit ooc.

note - not sure if this has been done yet, but i sincerely apologize if it has.

you were an a-rank archer, often working with other high rank hunters in raiding various gates. getting a chance to work with the most famous hunters of south korea wasn’t a rare event, although you haven’t gotten your rise in popularity yourself. you didn’t mind though, because you enjoyed the more private and personal life without having to worry about what the public thinks of you.

you’ve once had the chance to raid a dungeon with the usual team of b to a-rank hunters — only this time, you were being supervised by the famous 10th s-rank hunter of south korea, sung jinwoo. being the hardworking archer that you are, you promised yourself that you would at least impress him with your skills.

it was a normal raid, fighting hobgoblins and taking whatever loot you could find, leaving the rest to the mining team. during the battle with the dungeon’s boss, you managed to land multiple arrows on the cold-blooded hobgoblin’s head, no doubt dealing the most damage to said boss. you had hoped that was enough to gain praise from sung jinwoo himself, but to your dismay, he had said nothing. granted, he was fighting a mob of the boss’ minions himself, so he might have not noticed your great achievement. still, it disappointed you just a little, making you realize that maybe jinwoo was hard to impress.

that maybe, you needed to do that more than once for him to notice you. but how? you thought you’d never meet him again after that raid had ended.

you were yet again proven wrong when you were called in the following week for another raid. as always you didn't think much about it, until you caught sight of a familiar face talking to one of the hunters joining your raid. your heart started beating quicker than usual, your determination growing as you realized that you had another chance at impressing someone so intimidating and prestigious.

the group entered the dungeon and it went as smooth as it could have, with you contributing to the most damage given to the boss. you felt proud of yourself, gaining praises from your comrades, but nothing from jinwoo.

upon leaving the dungeon, one of the higher-ups from the surveillance team was standing there waiting for them, or at least that's what you thought.

his eyes immediately landed on jinwoo as he exited the gate last out of all of you. the man walked over to jinwoo and talked quietly to him about something, with jinwoo muttering a few words in response. you watched their conversation from afar for a while before turning around and heading home, tired from the raid.

weeks turned into months and you've done countless raids, which was not surprising, since you are a high ranking hunter. the odd thing was that sung jinwoo happened to supervise every single raid you've been called to.

in the beginning, you thought that maybe it was just a couple of coincidences in a row. though after a while, you realized that there must be so many more raids going on all throughout seoul, so there really was little to no chance for you to meet him so many times. what's worse, he seems to never take notice of you, no matter what you do. not even when you narrowly dodged an attack from the boss, not when you continued giving your all despite being injured, not even when you were able to defeat enemies quicker than your peers. nothing seemed to gain his attention, let alone his praise.

you're beginning to think that he's just an arrogant asshole.

—

"hello?" you answer into your phone that's been ringing only for a few seconds, as you already read who had been calling — a higher-up from your guild.

you purse your lips and hold back a sigh, hearing the words you already guessed you would hear. you were called to yet another raid. it's a good thing you had just finished your lunch, because then you'd be filled with energy for the whole raid which will no doubt last a couple of hours.

you had a strong feeling jinwoo would be there again, but this time, you aren’t determined to impress him like before. you have chosen to give up last night when you were eating dinner while watching a movie. you feel it was useless, as anything you did failed to gain the s-rank hunters attention.

who were you kidding, you are just a mere a-rank hunter, of course sung jinwoo wouldn’t bat an eye at you.

letting out a sigh, you grab the coat hanging behind the front door to your apartment and put it on before leaving. the gate you're heading to requires you to take the underground subway through a few stops, but you don't mind. it's a peaceful ride as always, with most people already at their offices, working. the peace gave you time to ready yourself, mentally preparing for the worst-case scenario, thinking through backup plans like you usually do.

you finally reach your station, immediately hurrying out of the car, tapping your card on the gate, and rushing up the escalator. upon reaching the surface, you could already see the crowd of hunters waiting to enter the gate, including sung jinwoo himself.

you approach the group, smiling as they greet you cheerily like they always do. though this time, unlike before, you feel eyes on you. you scan the area around you while continuing your conversation with the other hunters, but you don't see anything or anyone odd.

"come on, we're ready to go in now." one of the hunters nearest to the gate called out, cutting your conversation short.

you take a deep breath and nod, following the others, being the second to last one to enter. sung jinwoo was right behind you, watching quietly as always, but you paid him no mind despite feeling your heartbeat rise in pace.

the dungeon is a snowy forest, meaning you had to fight some ice bears, something you were familiar with.

that feeling of familiarity quickly disappeared though, as the atmosphere suddenly changed drastically, sending shivers all throughout your body — and it wasn't because of the cold.

"something's off," you call out, earning sounds of agreement from the other hunters.

you open your mouth to continue your words but you're stopped abruptly by a harsh wind blowing against you, making you nearly lose your balance. you quickly recollect yourself, realizing that the gush of wind was caused by jinwoo, who suddenly appeared right in front of you in a protective stance, seeming to hold something right in front of his face.

"ice elves," he muttered. "it's a red gate."

you couldn't even register the fact that that was the first time you've ever heard jinwoo speak up close, fear and panic coursing through your veins. never in your life have you stepped foot in a red gate, playing it safe. you've never seen what an ice elf even is, yet by the way it had shot that arrow without you noticing as an archer yourself, you know for a fact that it must be at least a s-rank monster and could kill you in one shot if it wasn't for jinwoo protecting you.

wait... protected you?

another rush of arrows attacked the group, but you didn't have time to see anything before the arrows shot toward you were suddenly cut in half. this time you see jinwoo with a dagger in hand, and you immediately knew that he is the one who cut them before they reached you.

"is... is everyone okay?" you call out, peeking from behind jinwoo's tall frame to see some of the hunters crouching, while the others stand with fear, seeming to have just barely dodged the arrows.

"they're okay," jinwoo answers you on their behalf, turning his head slightly to look at you. "are you?"

your eyes widen as the stare back at his, you feel the heat rushing to your face but you brush it off. "i-i am. thank you."

you could swear you see the ghost of a smile appear upon his features just before he returns his attention to the trees in front of him.

"i'd suggest you close your eyes." he says, right before his entire body emits a dark purple glow. you gasp, watching as multiple shadows arise from the ground and form the shape of knights and hobgoblins, of everything you have ever fought before.

you ignore his suggestion and watch in shock as the shadows you saw finally move, moving so quickly they practically teleported into the trees, to which you assume is to defeat the ice elves that were hiding. screeches of those intelligent yet sly creatures were heard soon after, alerting everyone yet again.

jinwoo turns, facing you. he sees the way you stare into the trees as the shadows eliminate the beasts, not a single trace of fear seen on your face. he felt something as he admired you, something approaching him quickly from behind, but as he moves to slash at whatever it was, an arrow hit it before he could.

a thud was heard as the ice elf's body hit the ground, an arrow in its head. jinwoo returns his gaze to you, who is holding your bow with a small smile on your face.

"hunter sung," you breath out, "i just saved you."

jinwoo let a small laugh out, a grin pulling at his lips. your moment is disrupted when suddenly a hunter screamed, and as you both turned to look at him, you realize some ice elves had escaped jinwoo's shadows and started attacking your group.

"we'll continue this later." jinwoo says, glancing at you before charging at a group of ice elves himself.

you watch him go before finally regaining your composure and focus, counting on your newly found bravery to fight higher rank monsters, proving your worth as an a-rank hunter.

—

by the time you and the other hunters step out of the red gate, the moon is well above your heads, but a small crowd had formed. you realize that they are hunters from the association, probably sent to monitor the gate while you were all inside and to standby as back up if they were needed.

your squad leader had let you all leave as he reported to the hunter's association representative, and you were all too ready to head home and call it a day — but a certain tall ebony-haired hunter had placed his hand on your shoulder.

"excuse me," he says as you turn around to face him. "if you don't mind, i'd like to talk to you some more."

your heartbeat quickens as you listen to him.

"are you perhaps free tomorrow afternoon? i'll treat you to lunch, if you'd like." he continues, a warm smile decorating his usually-cold features.

your eyes widen the slightest bit, not believing that the person you've been trying to impress this whole time is practically asking you out on a date.

"um... yeah, sure," you lose your composure and confident tone for a bit, but you don't mind. "i'd love to."

jinwoo's smile widens.

"great, i'll see you tomorrow."

[twiceasmanysunbeams]

HOTCH as the KNIGHT IN SOUR ARMOR

The world is filled with idealists who believe in truth, justice and all that stuff and devote their lives to fighting for it. And then the world keeps letting them down. For them, Being Good Sucks. But rather than giving up on their goals, they replace their shiny armor with a full plate of pure cynicism. These characters realize they live in a dark, cruel and brutal world and choose to fight not because they believe they will truly make a difference, but because it's the right thing to do. And they hate themselves for it.

@gc-appreciationweek

[shnuggletea]

InuKag Week 2020

Some nice, fluffy moments for you in this chapter. As well as a lemon but ya know. Day Five of InuKag Week: Instinct. @inukag-week​ here is my contribution for today. Hope you all enjoy!

Thank you to all of you for reading and reviewing. It's nice to know where I stand on this fic.

Chapter 5 of 8  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Instinct

It took a year and a half but frankly, I was surprised it took that long. I may be inexperienced but I'm not an idiot and I know how these things work. When I missed a period, I wasn't even upset or confused. And the at-home and doctor's positive tests were just extra. I knew I was pregnant.

We didn't even try to be careful. Inuyasha never wore a condom and I wasn't on the pill. And we fucked constantly. With Inuyasha not even pulling out, I had to assume he didn't care if he knocked me up.

I still didn't say anything to him though. I didn't really know what to say. I wasn't his girlfriend or wife. We weren't even lovers we just had sex. I didn't know anything about him outside the house either.

I did know his moods. One glance and I knew what to expect. I knew his laugh, his tender touch, how he could be excruciatingly kind. How he was overprotective to an obnoxious amount sometimes, another good reason not to mention my pregnancy.

I had his dick memorized. How he liked it touched, licked, and sucked. And the slight curve it had and how it felt inside me. Inuyasha knew my weak points too, the spot on my shoulder, licking the inside of my thighs, how hard to suck my nipples or my clit.

I knew every inch of his body as he knew mine. Which made me wonder how long it would take him to notice? I said nothing, not even to the staff. But the cook noticed my change in appetite and the maid noticed my vomit in the bathroom.

The weather went from cold to hot again, passing the two-year mark and Inuyasha either didn't notice or was saying nothing. Even as I developed a little belly under my belly button. My clothes were getting tighter and the only thing Inuyasha had said about it was sending someone to get me new clothes.

I didn't tell him I was going out regularly to see my doctor but it was my only excuse to get out of the house. With my pregnancy showing, I couldn't even have Sango over. What would I tell her? I couldn't even find the words to tell Inuyasha!

Particularly irritated, I sat on top, grinding hard on Inuyasha's cock. Our nightly meetings had never changed and now without periods to break them up, they never faltered.

Inuyasha was lying still, his arms under his head watching me. There was no hiding it anyway and I no longer cared, one hand on his knee to steady my angle to get him deeper and the other on the peak of my swell as I rocked. The extra weight was a little uncomfortable without support in this position.

I was close to getting rid of my horny irritation, my orgasm beginning to start as I took out my frustrations on Inuyasha's penis. "You aren't...seeing anyone else?"

Now I was even more irate because Inuyasha's random question made my orgasm fly out the window. Coming to a stop, I righted myself on his pelvis and glared down at him. "Excuse me?!"

"You aren't seeing anyone besides me? Dating, fucking, sleeping with someone besides me?"

I rolled my eyes as hard as I could, making sure he could see it. Another thing I learned was Inuyasha's weak-ass communication skills. This was his way of asking me if the baby was his. Which only infuriated me.

"When? When the hell was I able to date or fuck anyone but you?!"

As skillfully as I could at six months pregnant, I swung my leg and myself off of him. He hissed as the cold air hit his dick, losing my warmth and my wetness which only made it cooler. Grabbing my robe off the floor where I left it, I tried to be clothed for this fight. I felt less intimidating naked.

Inuyasha didn't move save for pushing up on his elbows to follow my movements. "Maybe when you worked at the club?!"

Crossing my arms to sit on my chest and small bump, I glared at him hard. "I'd already given birth if it was someone from there. The kid would be at least a year old by now!"

"I know that!" He screeched.

"Then why did you ask?!"

"Maybe it's when you sneak out of here a few times a month?! Did you really think I wouldn't notice?!"

I was shocked because I sincerely didn't think he had. Shutting my mouth, I quickly swept away my angry tears and tried to stop my shaking. "I'm going to see my OBGYN you ass hat! Not a lover! The only dick I've ever known is you!"

He didn't hesitate, continuing his rant right along with mine. "You shouldn't be going out, not even to see your doctor. Especially looking like that…"

Even though I swore I was over Inuyasha's need to keep me hidden away from the world, it now felt like an elephant sat on my chest from time to time when it was brought up. Now being one of those times. "Like what? Like a knocked up sex slave? If you are so ashamed or worried or whatever then maybe you should have worn a condom!"

"Maybe you should have gone on birth control!"

"When?! I'm not allowed to leave this fucking prison and they don't mail that shit to you!"

I was so angry the room was spinning and all I saw was red. I was trying to storm back to my room but for some reason, I was in Inuyasha's hold. "Kagome?! Are you alright?!"

My arms felt like jelly as I pushed at his hold. "I'm fine. Don't touch me. You've touched me enough!"

The room was still spinning and I was struggling to breathe. Then the room went from red to black.

oOo

"It's her blood pressure. It was way too high."

I woke to the sound of voices, in my bed, with Inuyasha and my doctor standing over me.

"High blood pressure? She's 23!"

"And pregnant. Pregnancy causes a lot of changes in a woman's body and sometimes it affects their blood pressure."

"What can I do?" I stared at Inuyasha, unknown by him as he looked and sounded like a scared little boy. "What can I do to keep them safe and healthy?"

I'd never seen Inuyasha like that, terrified and helpless. He'd always seemed sure and strong no matter what was going on. It was strange to see it now after two years. And a part of me was far too happy at his acknowledgment of the baby.

"Is she under a lot of stress? What was she doing when she fainted?"

Inuyasha shifted his weight, his arms crossed across his chest like when he wanted to protect himself. "We were...fighting. It's my fault."

I couldn't stand being spoken of anymore so I slowly sat up. My doctor was quick to my side but Inuyasha was quicker. "Whoa, now Kagome. You gave us quite the scare there. Let's take it easy, yeah?"

"I'm fine."

"Jesus, Kagome, listen to the damn doctor!"

Inuyasha was upset but I could tell it was partly out of fear and all at himself. Even if I hadn't heard their conversation. It all had me forgetting my earlier slights and irritations with the man now sitting near my legs on the bed.

Leaning over, I gently stroked his cheek and he greedily took the comfort. "It's okay. I'm okay, Inuyasha."

"It's not uncommon or even unhealthy for couples to fight. But maybe tone it down until after the baby is born?"

Inuyasha saw the doctor out, who promised to return for her next visit so I didn't have to come to her. Something Inuyasha must have set up while I was out. I was trying really hard not to be upset about it as Inuyasha returned to me.

Sitting in the same spot he had before, he looked me over carefully and thoughtfully. "You set up in-home visits with my doctor?!"

His eyes went to the floor but he still nodded his answer.

"Why is it so important to you…"

"Because you're important to me."

Anything and everything died in my throat. I had nothing to say to that. Inuyasha still wasn't looking at me, wringing his hands between his knees as he hunched over.

"My mother died when I was really young. She went out one day and never came back. My dad said it was his fault, that they killed her to get to him…"

"Who's they?"

He shrugged, "no clue but dad killed them in return. That's… all I really know about it."

I held my breath because now I'd learned a lot more about Inuyasha in a few shared words. His mother was murdered because of who his father is. Meaning not only did Inuyasha have overprotective tendencies that verged on obsessiveness but he came from a family that others wanted to hurt.

Inuyasha was rich and powerful.

Which meant he was either one of two things: mob or politician. Given his interests and investments, I'd have to guess mob. I was having a baby with a mob boss.

Oddly enough, it didn't bother me. Mob boss or not, Inuyasha was a nice guy to me. I'd never seen him do bad and so it was easy to ignore any misgivings. I struggled to imagine Inuyasha hurting anyone.

"Going to the doctor..it wasn't a big deal. I was safe. There was no harm and it was an excuse to go out…"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?! Someone killed my mother just to spite my father. For kicks, because they wanted to weaken him." Turning, Inuyasha showed me his angry eyes. They always looked like they were on fire when he was like this. "The people who want to hurt me, they'd take one look at your pregnant body and see Christmas. And they would have no struggle killing you and sending me the fetus."

I broke. It was all too much. Because I wanted to go out, to be normal and free. But Inuyasha was scaring me. So I wept, clutching my swollen body like a jewel that others were trying to steal.

Inuyasha clutched it just as hard, wrapping around me to either comfort me, himself, or both. "The house sits on five acres. There's a pool, tennis court, hell there's even a zen garden. All of it is yours. You can have Sango come over and spend time with you, I don't care. Just please, don't go out broadcasting our child around town for all to see."

oOo

I was relaxing in my bed when it started. Inuyasha was still at work since the day had barely begun. The book in my hands was not being read as my mind was miles away. Thinking about the night before.

Inuyasha and I had just had gentle but satisfying sex, he bent me over the bed so he didn't put weight on my belly while rubbing my clit as he throbbed inside me from behind. At my size, sleep was a struggle. I couldn't get comfortable. But sex always helped because it tired me out.

It must have been the baby that woke me, waking up exhausted to see her foot or hand trying to escape my uterus. I could actually see my skin rise as she pushed with all her might against her cage.

That didn't bother me in the slightest, I thought it was cool even though annoying. What had my mind tumbling even till morning was Inuyasha.

He rolled over to me and put his hand over my belly, gently rubbing the spot the baby had been pressing. "Shhhh...calm down or you'll wake mommy."

Inuyasha clearly had no clue I was already awake and I continued to be as he spoke to the baby through my belly.

"I'm excited to meet you too but it's not time yet and you and your mommy need to rest. You've been a bad girl lately, getting all wild whenever mommy tries to rest. That's not nice." I wasn't sure if it was his touch, voice, words, or all of it but the baby calmed back down and stopped her escape attempts. "That's a good girl, Moroha."

We hadn't discussed a name and yet, Inuyasha had one picked out already. I liked it. It was repeating in my head all day long. The entire 'conversation' was. The whole thing was so sweet, it brought me to tears each time I let my mind hear Inuyasha's voice as he spoke to my belly. With so few instances in which Inuyasha showed interest in our child, that one moment showed me just how much he wanted this baby. And it mirrored me.

But, as Inuyasha said, it was still early. Three weeks from my due date. Which was why I ignored the tensing of my muscles around my swollen belly and uterus. Even as they squeezed close to pain. I kept hoping it was Braxten Hicks and that they would go away.

So I said nothing, even when Inuyasha texted me midday to check on us. It was good he didn't call like usual, he always said I was a terrible liar, even on the phone.

When I didn't come out for lunch, it was brought to me. And of course, I had another contraction with the maid there. A big one. It was starting to seem as though these were the real deal. This only added to the fear in my veins, doubling over myself to try and take yet another contraction. This one felt as if my muscles were trying to pull me apart from the inside out. My only reprieve was that they weren't that close together yet. I had a good 30-minute break between each one.

Which timed it perfectly for when Inuyasha burst into my room.

"Kagome?!"

My open, in shock, mouth served to allow a loud whimper to escape as my muscles tensed and pulled at me. Curling into a ball did nothing but I did it anyway for some reason. A bodily reaction I had no control over.

Inuyasha was at my side when I opened my tear-filled eyes, kneeling on the floor next to my bed and brushing strands out of my face. Taking in his appearance, it was clear he had raced here straight from work. It was the first time I'd seen him with a tie on, he usually had it off by the time I saw him.

"You lied to me. You fucking lied, Kagome!" He was mad, even as he tenderly brushed my skin with the pads of his fingers. "The doctor is on her way. How far apart are your contractions?"

Getting over my shock at his apparent knowledge, I took a dry swallow, "30 minutes."

"Good, then there's still time." He got to his feet but kept his eyes on me. "I'm just going to go change, I'll be right back."

True to his word, I wasn't even close to another contraction when Inuyasha reappeared in some jeans and a t-shirt. Chuckling to myself, I wondered if he wore jeans just to keep from being in his usual 'let's fuck' outfit.

He helped me sit up but just as he did, another contraction hit. His hands still in mine, neither of us let go and he let me squeeze as hard as I could without so much a whimper of complaint. When I continued to push up to stand, he complained then.

"What are you doing?!"

"The doctor will be here soon...and my contractions are less than 30 minutes apart….I should take off my underwear…."

It was surprising how out of breath I was like I had been running when all I'd done was face an onslaught of pain every few minutes or so.

My legs were shaking so Inuyasha sat me back down on the edge of the bed and worked my panties off my hips for me. I giggled when he got them to my ankles, lifting my feet for him, and he looked up at me with a smirk. He already knew what I was thinking, how life was like a revolving door of sorts. The very act that caused the life about to be born, taking off my panties, was now being done again for a completely different and still the same reason.

Inuyasha remained crouched before me, his warm hands on my knees when another contraction hit. He shot up, his hands on my shoulders to steady me. I grabbed his shirt, gripping it and close to ripping it since his child was trying to rip out of me.

"Inu...yasha…"

"I got you. I got you, Kagome."

A dark laugh spilled out of me, a mixture of pain and hormones that had my emotions all over the place. "You got me...INTO THIS MESS...you damn well better….be here to GET ME OUT OF IT!"

I was panting but the contraction was over, Inuyasha still held me tight though. "Please don't call having my baby a mess. Besides, the real mess starts after the baby is born."

By the time the doctor arrived, my contractions had stalled. She kept checking but my cervix hadn't dilated past seven centimeters. Inuyasha was beginning to pace.

"Isn't there something we can do? The baby could be in distress!"

That made me nervous and Inuyasha cringed, stopping his little walk to sit beside me and hold my hand. The doctor said something to her nurse and then answered his question. "The baby is fine. We went over all of this when we prepped for a home birth. Remember?"

She was scolding him and if it were another time or place, I would have laughed. He was the one who pushed to have the baby at home, changing my birth plan completely. I wanted to have her in a hospital surrounded by doctors and people who knew what the fuck they were doing! But Inuyasha had his reasons.

"Sorry." He mumbled to her and to me.

Hours passed and finally, my labor started again. But I almost wished it hadn't. I thought the contractions were bad. No, pushing a six-pound person out of my vagina was worse. Things were tearing and all I could do was continue to push and tear more.

Inuyasha was still at my side, letting me squeeze whatever I wanted to death in payback. At one point I had grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close to hear me growl. "I knew you were going to ruin my vagina."

He smiled and I almost punched him so he tried to lean back but I held on tight. My brain flip-flopped with emotions and I found myself crying. Inuyasha thought it was pain, using his free hand to brush wet strands from my face and cup my cheek carefully. But it wasn't the pain exactly. It was something else. It was fear.

"I don't...I don't want to do this alone….I don't want to raise her on my own…" I sobbed.

Inuyasha glanced over at the doctor and then back at me. "You aren't alone. You'll never be alone, Baby."

It was strange, hearing a term of endearment from him but I was too wrapped up in the situation to care. More sobs ripped from me and they hurt all the way down to my aching vagina.

"When I first saw you," Inuyasha whispered in my ear, "...up on that stage; you were terrified but you didn't back down. It was your eyes, Kagome. Your bright teal eyes and I couldn't look away from you. I wasn't there to buy or anything. You were not my purpose that day. But I couldn't leave you. I still can't. I wish I could say I was sorry but I want you more and more each day, Baby, so I can't let you go."

His words had another sob come out with a whimper but he cut it off, kissing me sweetly and not caring about the others in the room.

"Alright, Kagome. One more big push."

oOo

The bassinet Inuyasha bought months ago had yet to be used. Mainly because I was too afraid to move Moroha after she fell asleep. The last thing I wanted was to wake her.

So she slept next to me. With one arm wrapped around her head and the other poised over her, I kept her safe and eventually got used to the uncomfortable position. At two months she was far from rolling but I still felt paranoid about it.

I don't think I had really slept since she was born. Or before then when my size made me too uncomfortable. It was why when the lightest touch came to my arm, I nearly jolted out of bed.

"Kagome.." Inuyasha whispered, standing over me and looking down at the two of us.

Going around, he removed my homemade cage and gently lifted tiny Moroha into his hands. She used to fit in just his hands alone, stretching across his palms as he held them together. But now he had to put her in the crook of his arm to carry her. I was overjoyed she was growing, so small when she was born I wept for days, but she was growing fast.

Now still asleep in her bassinet, Inuyasha slowly climbed into the bed next to me. On my side and him on his, we stared at one another for a few silent moments. Then we met halfway in a tentative embrace that quickly turned up the heat.

We were ripping clothes off without a thought. It had been a while and Inuyasha had been very patient. And patient still, his tip pressing to my entrance and freezing.

"Are you okay? Are you ready?"

He was frantic. Wanting to fuck but not wanting to hurt me and the two were colliding together at the moment.

I grabbed his ass, digging in my claws, and whispered in his ear. "Fuck me hard now."

Obeying my command, his tip hit my womb so fast it made us both dizzy. A few seconds of fast pumps and we both came. Which was the fastest either of us had ever finished and stars filled my room.

We were both still a little out of it, Inuyasha still hard and as deep inside me as he could go, when Moroha fussed a little beside us. Neither of us moved and I was sure we had no clue how much noise we had made during our fast and needy fuck.

When she settled back to sleep, Inuyasha turned his attention back to me. "I meant for the two of you to sleep in my room with me."

I shook my head at him. "She keeps me up most of the night. And you have to work in the morning."

His arms around me, he gave me a squeeze. "I want to have more."

"More sex?"

"No, I mean yes that too. I want to have more kids. With you."

"Easy for you to say. I'm the one that went through hell!"

"But you can't tell me it wasn't worth it."

Inuyasha was looking back at the bassinet while I was watching him. The glassy look in his eyes and the smile on his face. If I wasn't already in love with Moroha, blissfully happy with my life, and actually thinking about at least two more children then the look on Inuyasha's face right now would have changed my mind.

"Yes. It was worth it."

I feel as though having a baby is pretty instinctual. Not the wanting to have a baby part but the growing and birthing in general.

[theshinobiway]

Hello there! Let me just start by saying I love the way you write. As someone who wants to publish one day, I find your style beautiful and inspiring. Now for my request, could you maybe write a scenario where Neji would end up falling for someone who is like his fanboy/fangirl? Kinda like the Sakura to his Sasuke if that makes sense. So sorry if it doesn't. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge this request, I hope you have a lovely day/night and please keep writing my fellow Neji lover ♥️

             Okay first off,

May or may not have gotten a little teary reading this. You have no idea how much hearing that actually inspires me to continue writing! I often look back at my own writing all the time and feel like it sounds pretentious or too try-hard-y but hearing that people actually find it beautiful is, well, incredibly touching and feels like awonderful accomplishment as a writer. I hope I can do your request justice!

On the prompt: This is actually a really sweet prompt that I’ve mused about before! I tried to keep the story as gender-neutral as possible since you specified both. I hope you don’t mind that I took some liberties with giving the reader some medical jutsu because it just flowed well with the story. Since my last two Neji prompts were a little heavy I tried to make this one fluffier, and I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for for contributing to the blog!

Also SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG, LIFE HAPPENED BUT HERE I AM AT LIKE 3AM LOCAL TIME FINISHING THIS, ENJOY A 13K FIC AS MY APOLOGY.

Request Scenario – Neji Falling for his Fanboy/Fangirl

Neji Hyuga - Who You Are

“He’s so cool!”

“Woah, that technique!”

“He’s obviously a genius.”

“That guy didn’t stand a chance.”

            A boy with long, brown hair stood over another, sprawled on the ground. His fist was at his fallen opponent’s face, perfectly still. As he rose from his completed match, you were in awe at how fluid every movement from him was—even out of combat. Still, what was the most cool was how his face didn’t contort in some ridiculous jeer or stupid grin. No, he was completely assured of his victory from the beginning, and his expression was disciplined, collected.

You were taken from the start.

[…]

           Neji never paid any mind to any of the girls and boys that fawned over him in your class, let alone you. In fact, he was rather snarky and aggressive when they overstepped his wide boundaries. But you made sure that you stood out in ways that mattered. You remembered his birthdays, his favorites, and made especially sure to mind his preferences when he was around you, intentionally never getting on his nerves, and especially never speaking on his behalf as the other ‘fans’ did.

           It didn’t take a genius to see that he hated people speaking for him. You stayed silent, letting him speak, and when he asked you about your portion of a group activity, you gave him straightforward answers—but with a smile, of course. You didn’t expect special treatment from him, you merely knew that keeping your professionalism in a school atmosphere was the right thing to do.

           You knew that he knew you liked him, you made it clear when he asked you outright one day and he sneered at your answer. He was harsh, slamming you with a rejection to the confession he had intentionally solicited from you. You weren’t perturbed. He was rude, but it was his way. You told him it was what it was, and that you hoped he wouldn’t treat you any differently because of the answer—after all, you had always liked him, but most importantly you had always acted as you meant to. Neji raised a brow, but the vaguely disgusted look didn’t leave his face. It hurt, a bit, knowing this was a clear rejection, but you weren’t dissuaded. You meant what you had said.

           You still gave him gifts for the occasions, but not out of the blue—he hated that, too. When Valentine’s Day came around, you especially made sure to never make him anything sweet, knowing he hated sweets. When all of the other gifts ended up in the trash when he left the academy that day, you noticed you didn’t see yours. When his birthday came around, you made sure you had taken note of some concept you noticed him looking for in the library and bought him a book accordingly. You didn’t mind that he threw most of the things people got him away, but you quietly noted that you saw your book in his slightly ajar bag some days after, or that when he sat eating lunch alone in some place the others couldn’t get to, the (healthy) granola bars you had made him seemed to have made their way into his lunch.

           But you didn’t say anything. Because you knew that when Neji liked something, it was clear enough. And when he didn’t, it was just as clear—the other ‘fans’ just didn’t want to accept that forcing their way on him wasn’t the way to treat him, let alone anyone. You never wanted to force Neji to be what he wasn’t.

And, while he would never have admitted it to your face as an academy student, it was what made you at least bearable to be around.

[…]

“Hyuga Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten.”

           Your heart sank a bit knowing you wouldn’t be on the same team as the one you admired. Still, you couldn’t be bitter: it was a good choice for the composition. The other ‘fans’ of the Hyuga weren’t as forgiving.

“Seriously? Her of all the kunoichi?”

“Such an eyesore.”

“Watch her get a big head after this…”

“She had better not interfere.”

“Look at that grin, what a sk-“

“Shut up!”

           You slammed your fists on the table, and immediately the room silenced. The instructor announcing the teams turned to look at you as well, caught off-guard. You knew you had everyone’s attention, which was exactly what you wanted. If there was one thing you couldn’t stand, it was that mob-mentality bullying you had grown so accustomed to with the other “fans” of Neji.

“Tenten was the best choice for his team! She’s the best weapons user that’s probably ever been through this academy, so she’s the perfect choice! You all know exactly how skilled she is, so shame on all of you for talking trash about her just because of your petty jealousy!!” You huffed in the direction of the dissenters, already knowing exactly whom had been speaking. They hadn’t changed from the same girls in all the years at the academy.

           You knew of all the other fans after all, and they had gotten to know you quite well, which is why you were mildly surprised they had dared say anything around you. You never leveled with just how petty they could be. ‘And frankly,’ you thought, ‘being a bully had nothing to do with admiration!’

           You turned your head to Tenten who was shocked but sent you a small smile of gratitude. You knew the girl had thick skin—another reason she was likely on his team—but words could hurt. You shot her a thumbs-up and brushed your shoulder at her, and Tenten gladly returned the gesture. ‘Just brush it off.’ Lowering yourself back to your seat. The presenter clearly had no idea what to do with the situation, so he cleared this throat tentatively before continuing.

“Al..right…Next team, Team Four: Hitomi Tanaka…”

            You focused your eyes confidently ahead, ignoring most of the dirty looks that had been sent your way, but occasionally returning the glare if you saw one out of the corner of your eye. Most of them immediately turned their heads away so you could focus again.

           The one glance you didn’t see was from the root of the problem in question, who raised his brow at you and narrowed his eyes. He studied you for a moment, scrutinizing your every move, looking for some self-serving purpose. When he couldn’t find any—and he had never been able to—the corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly before he turned his gaze ahead once more, lost in his own thoughts.

[…]

“(Y/n), You will be accompanying team Guy on this mission as the squad’s default medic-nin, providing additional aid and support where necessary.”

“Understood!” You chirped happily, letting your enthusiasm glow in full view. Tenten gave you a high five, glad that their first mission was with a familiar face—and you both trusted each other.

           It had been almost a year since your teams were assigned, and your abilities as a medic-nin had become more apparent with time. Because of this, you had been assigned to this mission to assist team Guy in their first solo venture without their sensei. It was a C-rank with a moderate chance for conflict, so you knew to be on your guard. But still, you had only seen Neji periodically since then—occasional joint training exercises with your own team, a mission or two with Tenten or Lee when Neji was occupied—you hadn’t had much time to get to talk to Neji, and you were excited at the chance to finally show him how much you had improved. Your admiration from him had hardly waned during the time of distance.

           This was to be your first mission with him, and you knew you were going to give it everything you had. You realized still that you wanted his approval more than anything.

[…]

“I want to help!”

“Then stay out of the way and do your job.” Neji’s voice cut deep, though you brushed off the pain. There was no worse feeling than the scorn of someone you admired so much.

“Just because I’m here as a medic-nin doesn’t mean I’m useless in combat!” you protested, but the glare from Neji the second you finished told you well enough to keep your mouth shut. He wasn’t going to budge, and you knew that much. If anything, he found it disrespectful that you were going against the squad leader’s—his—judgment call.

“You’re right, you’re not useless.” Neji’s voice perked you up. He was giving a compliment..? Suddenly you felt excited. This was what you always wanted. But, seeing his face filled with mockery, your expression fell immediately.

“You’re a burden. And, after this mission, I’ll consider myself lucky in that I will not see you again.” He turned on his heel, making his way to the front and in position, and your stomach dropped lower than it had probably ever been. Hearing those words from him almost made you want to cry. Tenten, who had seen the exchange from her position, gave you a pitying look from where she was. She symbolically brushed her shoulder at you.

‘Y/N, just brush it off. He’s just like that.’

           You shot her a half-hearted smile back and brushed your shoulder back in response, but his words were stuck replaying in your head. As you hid yourself, waiting for the encounter, you tried to gather as much courage as you could. This wasn’t the way you had always envisioned your first mission with your longtime crush. Maybe it was just you, but for some reason, Neji felt much colder than he had been even at the academy.

           As you heard the battle begin, you readied your weapon just in case. Then, when you heard Lee cry out, obviously injured, something within you lit like a torch and you couldn’t stay still. You never hid behind the scenes for your own teammates, let alone here in hostile territory. You had been preparing a new technique for months and you finally were confident in its use. Especially now. You heard unfamiliar footsteps thud towards you, the weight was too heavy to be a comrade. As you readied your technique, you were prepared to do your job the right way, even if it meant proving Neji wrong. For once, there were bigger things at stake than impressing your crush.

[…]

“I told you to stay put, and you disobeyed!” Neji raised his voice, something he never did. But despite your current victory, his pride appeared to be speaking on his behalf.

“I realize you gave an order. But given that it was a stupid order, I elected to ignore it!” The words fell out of your mouth before you could stop yourself. This was so uncharacteristic of you; going against the object of your affections, your squad leader, but as you worked tirelessly to heal Lee, halfway exhausted from the combat and the chakra exertions from your healing palm, you couldn’t keep your mouth shut. The irritation of what you knew could have been avoided was still currently draining precious chakra.

“You’re a medic-nin with no combat ability-“

“No combat ability?! I don’t think you know what that means, considering that my interference is the reason your comrades still have their organs intact and the mission didn’t carry on for another exhausting few days as we tracked them down again! Medic-Nin doesn’t mean walking-first-aid kit, Neji, it means I have a specialized skill set! And if your team—”

“If they failed their duties, then it’s not on you to interfere, it’s on-“

“YOU!” You finally raised your voice, barking back at Neji, who stood over you. His head jerked back and you saw the anger flash in his eyes, but you ceased your healing immediately to stand up and stare at him, eye-to-eye the best you could. Tenten pulled your shoulders back, trying desperately to deescalate the situation.

“You’re the squad leader, and for all the time I’ve ever spent admiring you in my whole life, you were absolutely the worst one I’ve ever seen! And, I’m not surprised after seeing the way you’ve talked to them this whole mission—and now me—it’s no wonder your teamwork is garbage! Who wants to work under someone like you?! Your pride comes before their well-being! I have no confidence in you as a leader to prioritize us, your teammates, and its clear your teammates are just as intimidated by you as they are the enemy!” You huffed, your fists balled and your knuckles turning white. “And you think that their failures are on them? No, you want to be the squad leader, you assume the responsibility—your team’s failures fall on you!”

           You saw Neji immediately move towards you and you felt the anger radiating off of him in waves. Tenten lurched forward in time to hold Neji back, separating the two of you, shouting at the both of you to calm down.

           The person you admired from the beginning, that anger that you saw in his eyes, the momentary snap of killing intent…was that really the person you admired for so long?

           The mission ended when you returned to the village, but Neji had given you the stern silent treatment ever since, and when you were dismissed from the assignment room, he had left without a word. You grimaced at the report he was likely to make about your insubordination, but Tenten gave you a knowing look.

“(Y/n), he isn’t the kind to be…that spiteful. If the mission was a success, he’ll want to focus on that. It was his first assignment as squad leader, after all…” You offered a small smile to Tenten and Lee, knowing they appreciated you sticking up for them.

“I hope so.. but in the future, you two… don’t let him talk to you like that anymore. He needs to learn to look after you all, too.”

“I think you’re right, (y/n). Don’t get me wrong, he’s actually better now still than he used to be, but…” Tenten looked off, exchanging looks with Lee, who nodded.

“Neji-san is improving day by day! My rival refuses to remain weak in any area, and so I know he’ll improve as a leader, too!” Lee gave you his trademark thumbs up and flash of teeth, and you giggled back.

“Well, even if I’m not on a team with you three from now on, I hope I’ll see you around!” Both nodded and you waved, bidding them goodbye on your way.

           As you walked home, though, the weight of your words bore down on you. You had never been that harsh with anyone in your life, let alone Neji, and you know there was a better way to handle it. You’d make things right. Because, after all, nothing ever would stop you from doing the right thing—not even Neji.

[…]

“We need to talk.”

           You weren’t the kind of person to let arguments set without resolution, so you had spent the better part of three weeks tracking him down and contemplating what to say. He was skilled at avoiding you—and you knew he was avoiding you, because that was just who he was—until you cornered him in a remote park.

“Leave.” His brows narrowed, teeth grit, and body tensed in agitation. He knew you had tried to find him, and he also knew how to avoid fans—he had been doing it for the better part of his life, anyhow. The only reason you caught up was because he had become sick of putting forth the effort to avoid you.

“You’re going to attack me? Since when were you ever a slave to any of your emotions, let alone anger?” You huffed, standing your ground. “You’re better than this. And I know you are. That’s why I’ve always admired you.”

           As you always seemed to, you caught him off-guard with your blunt confessions. Still, his steely-eyed approach didn’t waver. He let a small ‘hmph,’ obviously deeming you a non-threat, and returned to his cool demeanor.

“I’m not going to ask for forgiveness from you.”

“You don’t need to, I’ve forgiven you already whether you’re asking or not.” You crossed your arms, playfully returning his snark. Neji, after so many years, had weathered at least a little to your impenetrable wall of positivity.

“Oh? You’ve graciously forgiven me, I see?” Neji was sarcastic, but you knew him too well to pay it any mind.

“Yup, and you don’t have a choice about that. We all make bad calls, and I actually owe you an apology too.” Your demeanor softened as you finished until you paused meaningfully for a moment and sighed, letting your shoulders drop. You took a breath before making eye contact, letting him know you were serious. “You were under a lot of pressure for your first leadership mission, and I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I could have stated my concerns better. I’m not happy about the way I handled myself. Insubordination isn’t something to be proud of, either… I’m sorry, Neji.”

           Neji, despite you being the one apologizing, looked like you had punched him in the gut. You waved your hands at him, defensively.

“Hey hey, you know me. I’m not trying to be the better person here. You should know I say what I mean. I don’t care if you apologize officially or not, it’s water under the bridge now. I just want to make things right, whether we see each other in the future or not...though, hopefully...yes?”

           Neji shook his head, same expression on his face. There was a momentary silence between the two of you until he broke it.

“When I tell you to stay put, I mean it. I don’t take chances.” Neji looked off, monotone as always, hands on his hips. You quirked your brow at him, wondering if he had missed the point of all your protests on that mission. Until it hit you why he had commanded you to stay safe, and you blushed in realization.

           When Neji turned back to you, he caught your face a deep scarlet and was startled. He waved you off, grumbling about you taking it the wrong way. Still, you couldn’t help but giggle and followed him, hoping that this particular good mood would make him more agreeable to a proposal for lunch.

           It didn’t, but you were glad enough that you had made up with him. He coldly dismissed your offer and made his way off. Even then, he was sweet too… in his own way. He didn’t like you, but it seemed he wanted to assure your well-being, even if he could still cut you off at any time.

[…]

           When both Neji’s team and yours went through the Chunin exams a year and a half after you graduated, you were worried sick about…his predicament. Knowing what you did about the participants involved, you prayed he wouldn’t come to meet her during the exam.

           Your team had decided unanimously to go through, but the second exam was wreaking havoc on you. You lost your own scroll within the first day to a surprise assault, and now you had the task of finding not just one, but two scrolls. It seemed unlikely, until you noticed in the distance a team arguing over whether or not to open theirs preemptively. You caught the jump on them in their disoriented state right as they tried and your team’s well-timed ambush earned you an earth scroll and left them unaware. Not that you really had taken anything they wouldn’t have lost, anyway—there was a disqualification for breaking the rules of the exam.

           Still, you were worried you wouldn’t find the other scroll in time, and you definitely didn’t want to run into the team that stole yours again—you had barely escaped with your lives. By a stroke of luck, you ran into Neji’s team during the exam.

           They looked at you cautiously, but Neji was aware immediately that both teams held the same scroll, making a fight between the two of you pointless. That, and with Lee in a pitiful shape after his encounter with the sound-nin, your impulsive act of healing him—and disregarding conversation until you finished, you had a one-track mind on the matter—softened the situation. With Lee feeling better, you both drew up a temporary ally-ship. As a repayment for your medical services, Neji scouted two teams in the vicinity with heaven scrolls and you both planned out your assault. It was pointless to have two Konoha teams fight when allyship was far more lucrative.

           When you both finally made it to the tower with a day and a half to spare, you immediately learned that there were no on-duty medic-nin permitted to assist the passing participants. After having a few choice words with authority, you resolved to take care of both teams, using your chakra reserves carefully over the next few days to revitalize both your team—and Neji’s.

            When you finally got to Neji, he wasn’t as torn up as some of the team, though he did sustain a few nasty bruises from the second assault. The problem was that they were under his jacket…and his mesh armor.

“I-I need you to…” Gods, you couldn’t even say it. It was also fruitless to hold back your blush, but Neji narrowed his eyes at you.

“Work quickly, before the other teams catch on that we’re working together…and mind your manners.” He quickly unzipped the jacket and tugged off the armor as you stammered over something about ‘I just need to see the bruises to know what I’m dealing with’ and ‘what kind of person do you think I am?!’

           Now in full view of him, you couldn’t even bear to look. You took glances to see where the injuries were localized, but immediately averted your eyes when you began. Neji kept his gaze locked on you the whole time, and you weren’t sure if his stare was really meant as threatening as it came across. It was hard to process anything besides your chakra control. You’d never felt flustered about this sort of thing before, but he always made you notice these sorts of things, and right now it was simply embarrassing.

“Are you done?” His voice brought your attention back to reality. Neji glanced down, and you followed his line of sight. Your hand was solidly on his bicep, your healing quite finished. In your lost thoughts, you didn’t recognize you had stopped and your hand rested there…of its own accord, obviously.

           In all your training sessions for tactical withdrawal, you weren’t sure any of those recorded times came close to how fast you tore out of the room in that instant, yelping and stuttering a quick apology in your stupor towards the door. Neji, on the other hand, sat motionless on the bed, hands pulled into his lap, face solidified into a stern expression, and eyes locked on the door that slammed shut behind you as he waited for the slight tinge of color that had crept on his face to secede.

[…]

            The preliminary rounds were difficult, but you and another of your teammates managed to pull through the first round by the skin of your teeth. Your third wasn’t as lucky, and you made note to see him later, his injuries not so bad because he had surrendered in time. The rookie teams quickly made note of how you and team Guy knew each other, and at that point, the atmosphere between the leaf-nin was friendly enough to socialize comfortably. Lee was forming friendly, competitive bonds as well. It made sense, of course: even if this was an exam, you all fought for the same village.

           When Tenten’s round came, you were also shocked at how the sand-nin kunoichi quickly dealt with the girl you were barely on-par with. This filled you with a sense of dread for the upcoming fights. Still, you were concerned over your best friend, and took a small break to see her in the wing. When you came back, your eyes locked on the screen and your heart stopped.

           During the preliminary matches, your worst fears came true—Neji was to face his cousin from the main branch. And during, all the progress you had seen in him after the last year of working on his anger fell apart in those thirty minutes. You felt nothing but pity and sorrow for the girl trying her best, and you knew firsthand how words from Neji cut deep. She was just like you—she admired him, honestly, and you could feel the sense of loss from what once was a close sibling-like relationship.

           When Neji moved to kill her in the final act, you felt your legs jolt forward of their own accord before the Jounin were leagues ahead of you. When the orange-clad kid made an oath to get back at Neji, you were too lost in thought to process what was going on. You only hoped that if this kid would beat Neji—and you seriously doubted he would, because it was Neji—that some positive change would finally stick. Lee diplomatically handled the situation, telling the two to save it for the final matches, and you whispered words of praise for him when he returned to the balcony.

           Neji, on the other hand, caught immediately the look of abject disappointment on your face. Disappointment in him. But in true and prideful Neji fashion, he scoffed at you, deciding to ignore you for the rest of the rounds. You couldn’t read his eyes, but that was his intention after all.

           When Lee fell to the boy from the Sand, you experienced your second round of heartbreak that day. Once the matches concluded, you all but rushed to see him. He was being prepared for transport along with the other injured attendees to be transported out of the forest, but the medic-nin relayed his condition to you after you protested that you were his friend and a fellow medic-nin in training.

It wasn’t good.

           You leaned against the wall in the hallway, look of horror plastered over your face. You felt the tears begin to sting your eyes as the words from the medic in front of you passed over you and he left, the hall suddenly eerily quiet. You didn’t notice that someone had walked up to you and was speaking to you until a hand rose and snapped in front of your face.

           When you glanced over at Neji, jolted, his face impassive at your tear-stained cheeks.

“He’s not well, I take it?” The bite that was in Neji’s expression earlier was gone, but his voice held the same amount of emotion as always—none, perhaps with a hint of vague impatience.

           You managed to shake your head, tears threatening to spring anew. You hated having to be the one to break it to him, but today had been emotionally taxing. Your sorrow at Neji’s match was forgotten now, your attention focused on Lee.

“How bad?” He moved forward, but you caught his eye twitched as your expression worsened.

“He…his legs…they think they’re…” You couldn’t finish, your voice cracked, and you shook your head furiously, unable to say the words, the tears streaming down your face as you clutched your hands your face. You tried to regain your breath, to force the words out, but it wouldn’t come. You knew it was unprofessional, un-shinobi of you. But you couldn’t stop.

Neji also didn’t ask you to.

           You heard a sigh and a warm arm came around you, pulling you into a firm embrace. You almost gasped at the sudden contact, but your face was buried in his jacket. The part of you that always admired him would have been squealing with joy, but that wasn’t who you were right now. You clutched onto him for dear life, letting yourself cry and shake, Neji standing completely still to allow you to let it out.

“I’m going to make sure that kid from the sand knows…he’s made a terrible mistake.”

              That was enough for you to know. Neji was still the person you always admired. A year ago, he would never have moved on behalf of Lee. Now, Neji had his own resolve, one that didn’t take kindly to those who assaulted his precious teammates. You hadn’t seen the encounter in the forest with the sound-nin, but somehow you knew that had to have been similar to this fury…no, this was a deeper anger, one you felt as his fingertips unconsciously dug into you as he spoke. But Neji would need to be calculated for this match, because that Sand-nin, Gaara, had no qualms about killing. At all.

“Please.. be careful… that guy is…” You buried your face deeper into his jacket, unable to help the outpouring of your emotions, trying to pull yourself together. “Please, please be safe, Neji.”

“…I promise.”

[…]

            Neji had kept you busy during the month-long training period between the previous exams and the final. While you had your own match to prepare for, you both decided it would be best to train together along with Tenten. In addition, your opponent had been the particularly deadly nin that would have killed your teammate in the preliminaries had he not surrendered. This would be a difficult match.

           You weren’t completely sure, but you picked up a sense of urgency that Neji directed towards you during your training sessions. Neji was much stricter and harsher with his critique during your spars than previous session pre-exam, and he made sure to leave little room for error. You secretly hoped you wouldn’t need to face him in the final rounds, as both of you could already tell the inevitable outcome. If it weren’t for Tenten’s positive attitude, you might have been overwhelmed with how serious Neji was. He wasn’t going easy on either of you.

“How long were you neglecting your physical spars? You’re not going to heal the enemy to death. Get up.”

           After what seemed like the umpteenth time you had landed in the ground, your shoulders were crying out from the pain. Nevertheless, you groaned as you rolled over, drawing your elbows up under you in an attempt to push yourself up. One of your arms gave out midway and you tumbled back down, the side of your face hitting the ground as you winced.

“Is that all you’ve got?

“Ugh, I’m trying.”

“These exams have the fatality ban lifted, simply ‘trying’ is the last step before dying.”

           You cringed at the thought, admittingly not knowing what the outcome could be at this point either. Your opponent was able to secrete poison from his body in both a liquid-like substance as well as blowing poisonous gas from his mouth and nose. Close combat was pout of the question. Still, it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

“Neji, lighten up. (Y/N)’s team isn’t a taijutsu specialty like ours. They aren’t as focused on-“

“It doesn’t matter what their specialty is, Tenten.” Neji snapped back, startling the kunoichi. Despite being used to it, Neji’s calloused nature was never pleasant to experience.

“If you’re furious about something then we’re not the people to take it out on, Neji.” You snapped back on her behalf, finally regaining your balance on your feet.

“What did you say?”

“You’re taking something out on us! You never told us what happened when you returned to the compound aft-“

“Silence.” Neji’s voice had a dangerous uptick and something flashed behind his eyes that you really didn’t like. “My affairs are none of your concern, and….” His voice dropped multiple levels. “…clearly nothing did, or else you know I would not be standing here.” His voice dripped with acid, burning a painful hole in the conversation by the end. Both you and Tenten stood there awkwardly for a moment, exchanging glances.

“(Y/N) is…we’re just concerned, Neji.” Tenten covered for you, knowing where your heart was.

“If we’re going to sit here and talk about my feelings instead of train, then I’m off to be productive. Goodbye.” Neji scoffed, turning on his heel and made for a new training ground.

“Why do you walk away from everyone who cares about you?!” You blurted out suddenly, already regretting the decision, but also somehow possessed by the question that had been lingering in you for a long time.

           Normally, Neji never responded to taunts. And, he never needed to, he was far too self-assured. But this time, Neji’s feet halted immediately and his head snapped back at you in anger.

“Tenten, I need a moment.” You were still calm, giving Tenten a reassuring look before she acquiesced and left promptly, leaving you both alone for a time.

“Are you intent on getting on the very last nerve I possess? You clearly overestimate your importance, here. You’re a vapid and lovesick fan that had the sheer luck of being in proximity to me, but your healing was useful enough to keep you around. I was considerate enough to spar with you in exchange for your aid abilities, and now that I’ve shown a base amount of concern you decide to throw it back in my face?” Neji was immediately on the offensive, wasting no time once Tenten was out of sight. And oh, his words cut deep. The feeling of shame covered your face, knowing that was all he thought of you. He was the person you admired the most, and now he said everything he knew could hurt you.

“Of course I’m grateful, Neji, but it doesn’t mean I deserve to be treated like this. Tenten doesn’t deserve it, either. And I…I never asked you to care about me, so let’s get that straight!” You balled your fists and dared make eye contact with him, only a few feet away from you. “I’ve always admired you, I’ve always watched you succeed, and for good reason! You are a genius, and you know it! But even if I did, I’ve never asked anything of you that you shouldn’t have already done!”

Neji’s face gawked at you for a moment before blinking, thoroughly insulted. He must have imagined you were chastising him.

“No, you know you would never have gotten anything out of training with me, but yet you still…” You bit your lip. “You still asked me to come. Even if it’s just as shallow as not wanting me to die, that’s enough for me. I don’t want anything from you. I don’t! Have I ever asked? Have I ever demanded your attention, your time, or your concern?! I’m never going to do that, Neji! That’s not how I want to treat anyone, let alone someone I admire!” You breathed, still in disbelief that you were letting loose like this for the second time in your life. “You’ve always improved so far ahead of everyone, and now you care about your teammates and it shows, because I completely admire you as a leader, too. But this… it’s not painful because of the insults. I…we both could sit here and take it all day. Honestly, I think we’re just… too used to it by now.” You averted your eyes, Neji’s face deadlocked on yours, remaining unresponsive and silent, his brows narrowing.

“It hurts only because I’m seeing you suffer in silence. And it matters to me that you know you have people that want to look out for you…the same way you look out for all of us. I’m…we’re all not going to force you to open up, we just want to know how we can be there for you.” As you finished you noticed your voice growing weaker, the deadpan and harsh stare from Neji intimidating you. For a few moments, he was silent. He didn’t blink. And then, suddenly, he spoke.

“Get out of my sight.”

           You were shocked, the command so blunt as if he didn’t respond to anything you said. He wasn’t moving, but he expected you to. When you didn’t budge, still too overwhelmed in shock by his words, he stepped forward.

“Now.”

“No.” You said it, but you don’t know how in the world you managed, because when you did, Neji’s eyes widened in anger—the same sort of anger you saw during the exams, and you threw your hands up in front of you as though he were to attack. He didn’t move, but you saw his eyes flicker to your arms, and then you.

“I…you’re terrifying me right now, Neji…” Your voice shook, every fiber of your body telling you to get as far away from him as you could. Slowly, he advanced, posture straight, until he was uncomfortably close. You were deathly still, poised defensive.

           He suddenly leaned forward, and your foot flew out behind you, moving you further away. He did so once more, and you followed suit. Until you couldn’t move anymore, your back pressed against a tree, and his imposing figure with the darkest white eyes staring down at you, lips curled in a snarl. His looming figure blocked out the sunlight, casting a shadow over you.

“Where’s that bravery you had a few minutes ago, (y/n)?” His voice was soft, but no less menacing. In fact, the quiet inflection in his voice only heightened your sense of danger. You swallowed in reply, never taking your terrified eyes off of him. You felt hot, though not in the romantic sense you always anticipated when you daydreamed of him being as close as this. This was far more sinister.

“...It went with the person I admired.” 

          Mild shock painted his face, and suddenly he paused, the malice in his expression ebbing from his face.

“...You’ve been caught in a childish daydream for far too long.” He gave a subtle shake of his head, never letting his eyes leave you. “I’m not going to train with a child. You’re on your own after today. Whatever Tenten does after training with me is up to her.” He rose from his position, face eerily calm. He didn’t move away. Suddenly, you realized he wasn’t going to. Wanting nothing more than to be out of that situation, you slowly inched to the side and gave him a wide berth, hurrying out of the training area, leaving him as a lonesome figure in the field.

[…]

            You didn’t get a chance to speak with him until the exams, but you felt a sort of embarrassment as you stood near him in the lineup. The crowd had you feeling nervous, and the glare from your soon-to-be opponent was only succeeding in that you had already been feeling vulnerable even before you arrived. You had prepared something sufficient for him, but it was the following matches that had you concerned. Perhaps you would surrender when you could, after all.

           You were the second match following Neji and the one orange jumpsuit kid from the previous exam. It was likely to be a quick match, knowing the kid was a two-rate failure that would perform to expectations.

Oh, you were wrong.

           The match played out before your eyes in an unbelievable showdown. When Neji revealed his curse seal, you winced and clutched your hand over your heart from the combatant’s box. You had never seen it before but had heard of it in passing from Tenten and Lee. Hearing his past had all but wrenched your heart out, you never knew he suffered so much. This was the pain he had carried all his life.  the reminder of how you both had last spoken, the awe you always had of his impassible skill, and the fantastic fight put up by the boy called Naruto.

           All in the last few minutes of the match, when Neji had nearly been victorious…it all changed then. Naruto pulled a last-minute clever victory in an uproar, and Neji lay motionless on the ground. You found Tenten in the crowd who exchanged looks of shock with you, and she moved from her seat to go down to the medical wing. You couldn’t bear to do it yourself, though, and merely gave the Naruto a sideways glance as he returned to the competitor’s box.

Your own match was next.

           You had concern racing through your mind when you led yourself down to the field. You weren’t sure what the crowd thought of you—perhaps you were another filler match to them until their long-awaited Uchiha/Sand-nin match.

“You sure you ain’t giving up right now? If not I’m sure they offer shared rooms so you can see your friend…”

“Match Two, Begin.”

           When your eyes rose to meet him, the world didn’t matter. All that was ahead of you was a certain payback to one ninja that had bloodied your teammate.

“Yeah, now send my regards to both of yours.”

[…]

            The ambush came on suddenly from the stands, and your remaining teammate managed to awaken you just in time to see Neji and Tenten rush out of the area behind Hyuga elders, the sand and sound-nin in full assault upon the remaining jounin stationed in the arena. Knowing your techniques, though still in their novice stage, could mean the difference between life and death for those in the surrounding area, you took a stealthy approach, utilizing your scalpel technique from hidden corners of the arena.

            Your match had ended swiftly, the endurance training you had begun with Neji and continued with Tenten allowed you to counter your opponent’s close-range poison abilities. You were almost always out of range from his clouds of gas until you had lured him in close enough for a finishing blow. He began to laugh until you whipped around in the last moment and shoved a syringe into his artery.

           You had prepared an antidote to his poison—one you administered directly to him, and as the antidote flooded his veins his poisonous gases were neutralized. It was only a matter of time before his actual sub-par Taijutsu was overpowered by your swift movements and precise attacks with the Chakra Scalpel technique. You shoved yourself to the ground to lash out at his Achilles tendon, and rolled to avoid his weight as it came crashing down. Standing over his hunched form with your hand primed with another scalpel just out of reach of the vertebrae on his neck, the match was officially over.

           Now, the stray ninja that came after you shared the same fate. You worked to disable their mobility when you saw an opening, leaving the more experienced Jounin to finish them off.

           As soon as it had happened, it seemed that the ambush was over. Only a few hours had passed, but those that were caught surrendered, those that were against retreated. Knowing you still had one teammate in your sight with minimal injury and another in the rehab wing of the hospital—he had inhaled far too much poison had needed recurring checkups on his lungs—your thought wandered to Neji and Tenten, hoping they were safe. You didn’t have much time to think as soon you were ambushed by multiple shinobi needing your assistance.

           Even as a novice in the coming months, you were stretched thin by Konoha Crush’s aftermath. There were days without a break, and you dreamed of your bed often. On a few occasions, you had passed out from chakra exhaustion, only to stubbornly pick yourself up after a short period to gather what you could and continue. No one stopped you, knowing that your skillset was too valuable to protest.

           Tenten came by now and then, and you sighed in relief when she told you that Neji was safe and sound—in fact, things had been apparently better since the attack. She told you of their meeting in the medical wing and you smiled warmly, happy she had been there for him.

           She also mentioned that she heard of your match and had shared the story with Neji, and you burned red, nudging her in the side for putting you on the spot like that. She laughed in their characteristic way and let on that in her limited abilities to read of the Hyuga, she had never seen a look so close to ‘impressed’ cross his face as when he heard about it. Tenten gazed at you for a moment, acknowledging that even if he hadn’t come to see you since the exams, it was likely because he was embarrassed by his actions before. Not that he would admit it ever because it was Neji, but she advised that you should see him sometime.

           Though your schedule was full enough that in the coming months that any hope you had of seeing your longtime crush and admired one fell to the wayside. In the distance, though, one day in the marketplace as you tiredly picked out ingredients for dinner, pearl-colored eyes caught sight of you through the crowd of people, tracing your every movement and expression with relaxed lids that spoke guilt. As soon as they did, though, they seemed to be self-aware enough to force themselves away, retreating to a familiar road home.

[…]

           Sasuke had left the village, and Neji had been sent after. They were back now…in the hospital. This was the news that came to you as you returned your report to the desk.

           You had been gone on your own mission. Otherwise, Shikamaru later told you, he considered your medical abilities as a valuable backup for the team. You couldn’t rebuke Shikamaru, seeing the look of defeat that he was barely holding back. You comforted him the best you could, but you couldn’t stop the question that spilled from your lips.

“Where’s…Neji?” You looked at Shikamaru, hopeful, only to see the broken expression of the man who looked at you with nothing but guilt hanging from the corners of his eyes. He bit his lip, knowing you wouldn’t like his response.

“He’s…in critical care. They’ve been working on him for the last few hours.”

            Those words echoed like a shot through your heart, and you rushed off before Shikamaru could utter another word. The halls were a blur, your heart thrusting against your ribcage, threatening to make its way through your throat if upset further. You had been in the hospital many times before for supplemental training, and knew the intensive surgical room had a short observation deck above the area that was walled off with glass. It was utilized for students that sat in on procedures, but family members made their way above as well. This time, though, the area was barren and you held your breath.

‘Neji had a huge family, where were they? The room was still in use. Had they left already? Were they wrapping up the surgery? Had something gone wrong? Those rooms were only empty if it was done, or if..no, no, otherwise if they had…been led out…because of….’

            Your hand went up to stifle the gasp as you saw the extent of his injuries. The nin were still working, but there were two large perforations in his torso, clean punctures through. That he hadn’t bled out by now was a miracle.

            The seconds staring at his injuries were the longest of your life. Time would only resume as normal when a hand came upon your shoulder, and you saw the face of the new Hokage herself.

“Oh Good, I was wondering who I would need to assign to take care of this one when he leaves surgery.”

Tsunade let a sly grin slide onto her face, and at once your worries retreated back, though they hung off in the distance.

“Will he…?”

“Make a full recovery? You should know that these things are never a hundred percent certain.” Despite the partial warning, Tsunade didn’t retract her confident grin and chuckled. “…but it might raise a few percentage points or so if you keep an especially good eye on him after. I’ve heard you’re probably the only one who can, given how this one can get a bit of an attitude, right?”

          You sighed in relief, and you felt Tsunade pat your back as she returned to her duties.

“In the meantime, it’ll benefit you to keep watch over the procedure. You might be doing it yourself, one day.”

            When the surgery finally ended, you let out a breath that you may as well have held for the whole session. Tsunade had long since left, but you had been joined by Tenten, Lee, and your teammates. The observation room rejoiced, your cheers startling the doctors below for a moment until they smiled at the enthusiastic group above that had been waiting on their friend.

            You hardly left his bedside for the days following, gently tending to some of his care when the nurses were swamped with duties. Changing bandages was now second nature to you, as were the rotations. The others occasionally came by, but none of his family came.

            This went on for two days until a quiet presence made its way through the door. You had hardly slept, so you weren’t sure you had imagined it at first until a meek figure peeked out around the curtain. You recognized her immediately.

“Nii-san?”

“Not awake yet, but maybe your presence will do the trick.” You smiled at Hinata, knowing that her attendance meant they had indeed made reparations in the time since the exams.

           She stayed for a while, and you made small-talk. Hinata was a sweet, kind-hearted girl. She was bashful even in person, but soon your conversation fell to the wayside when Neji began to stir. You both silenced immediately and Hinata waved her hands at you in flustered urgency, and you checked for his vitals. As soon as he had begun moving, he stopped, slipping back into unconsciousness. This began to worry you. You gave Hinata what reassurance you could, but she was obviously shaken by the event.

“I told you he’d stir! Now you just need to come back until he wakes up all the way!” You flashed a grin at her and she managed a meek smile in response, nodding gently before bowing and excusing herself out of the room.

           You hoped she really would return, given that she was the only family to pay him a visit since.

           That night, you told the nurses about his activity and they put him on watch for the night, closely monitoring for any additional activity or abnormalities. You begged to stay until they finally relented, warning you not to let the hospital head find out about your presence outside of normal visiting hours—you weren’t immediate kin or his actual teammate, after all. Still, it meant another nurse could divert her attention to other patients for the evening, and for that she was grateful.

           You felt hopeful that evening, but as the night drew to its zenith and still no change in his condition, you began to get inside your own head. That lingering “what if…?” echoed louder than it had in the days before. You visibly shook your head, frustrated, planting your face in the bed near his arm as you leaned over in your chair, trying to focus on anything but your overwhelming anxiety about his condition. The prospect of losing him, though…wasn’t one you were sure an eternity could prepare you to grapple with. You had to keep hope.

           At some point, you must have dozed off into a feverish rest, your head still tilted onto the bed. As you dreamed, you felt as though you were walking with a heavy weight upon your head. You kept attempting to shake it off, to move around in every way you could, but it wouldn’t leave. It was almost as though you had a headache, and suddenly the weight began to bounce on top of your head. A constant pounding of an invisible force shook you in your dreamlike state, until you realized you were no longer in a dream.

“…(y/n).”

           Your groggy state let out a small groan as you attempted to move, your body stiff from being in an impractical position for so long.

“(y/n).”

That voice.

           You shot up immediately, stumbling a bit as your body had yet to catch up with your consciousness and your eyes shot straight for the brilliant opal eyes of Neji, peering through half-opened lids at you, his hand resting on yours.

           He was nearly feverish in this state, though he wasn’t flushed and you knew he had no temperature. Coming out of a coma was always a slow process, not a dramatic event that stories always made it seem. It dawned on you that the thumping had been his hand, still with limited mobility, trying to get your attention.

           You cursed yourself that this of all times had to be the moment you fell asleep, and you quickly got to work with checking his vitals and going through routine questions. You had to repeat many of your questions and keep them as simple as possible—he still seemed to be in a state of semi-consciousness—and checking for any discomfort, pain, or sign of undetected ailments. Neji slowly answered and his voice grew stronger as you went along, until he was finally able to ask one of his own.

“Where…How long..?”

“Four days total since your mission. Well, if you include tonight.” You were testing his collarbone, noting how he winced at the lightest touch. Pulling loose the gown’s shirt for a better view, the area was still closed but had an ugly, dark bruise that extended from just below his collar, over past the top of his shoulder, and midway through his upper chest. You compared the length of the bruising around his shoulder to the measurements took previous. It was slow, but they appeared to be decreasing in size and lightening in color.

“Please tell me you didn’t stay…this whole time.” Neji swallowed dryly, flicking his eyes from your hands that examined his bruising and back to your face that was concentrated on your routines.

“I can’t lie very well, you know that.” You smiled at him, gently checking for his pulse and scanning the monitors for his brainwave activity. It was slow, but that was normal. Satisfied that he was in no more pain than expected, you poured him a small glass of water, doubling back over your shoulder to check his painkiller levels, and sat next to him. He needed some faint assistance raising his head to drink, but you kept your motions as gentle as possible. His hand reached up to cover yours as it gripped the glass, but you weren’t confident he could hold it just yet.

           He groaned in pain, letting his head fall back on the bed in partial exhaustion. It was almost ironic how tired he was given that he had essentially slept for four days. Without thinking, you caressed the messy hair out of his face, and Neji, in his half-awake state, leaned into your touch, closing his eyes. Your face flushed instantly as you froze. With a confidence you didn’t know you possessed, you leaned forward to kiss his forehead and Neji blinked, looking back up at you with an expression you couldn’t read.

“I’m…just glad you’re safe. I didn’t know what to do when I found out, and…just…” You babbled, not even sure of what you were going to say, while he gazed back up at you, your thumb running over his cheek for a brief moment before you caught yourself and turned away, trying hard to contain the heavy feeling behind your eyes that attempted to spill out. You retracted, rubbing your face, taking a deep inhale before a weak hand covered yours as it rested on the bed.

“(y/n)…Thank you.”

[…]

           Neji was a little stubborn when it came to medical care, only insofar as Guy’s teachings made him habitually push himself beyond his limits. While the hole in his chest and abdomen had closed, the soreness from those areas was ever present. One thing many did not understand about healing jutsu wasn’t that it was an instant cure unless you were someone like Tsunade. It was a forced regrowth of cells, and those cells were delicate until they took time to completely weave together. The deeper the wound, the longer it took for the cells to settle. It was as if you had only placed tightly-woven mesh made from thin fibers over the wound. The fragile new skin could reopen and tear if not cared for properly.

“You need to take care of yourself! For being a genius, you’re so…just…ugh, wreckless sometimes!” You finished tying the bandage on his shoulder around the same time you finished your lecture.

           You weren’t really mad—and he knew, judging by your pouting face as you hurried your care of his arm—but you were very serious about him being careful. You caught a small smile from him as he sat in silence, letting you complete your work, admiring how talented you had become. As you got up and turned to put your things away, you heard him chuckle for a moment before he let out a small sigh.

“I’m not sure there’s anyone in this world that will care for me as you do.”

You paused at his words, your brows raising in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

“What do you think?”

           That statement had so many interpretations and all of them were just as ‘Neji’ as the last; you couldn’t figure where to begin. You turned away for a brief moment, your face contorting in many comical expressions of confusion as you sputtered out syllables in an attempt to fathom some reply. It wasn’t working, you needed to know more. You turned to question him, but his back was to you, silhouette suddenly much further than you remembered as he left without so much as a glance back. “Whe- Hey! Neji!” But despite your attempts, he was gone before you had even finished.

           You clenched your fists and pouted. There he was again, leaving without even letting you respond. For being in recovery, he sure knew how to make a swift exit.

“Hey! Seriously! Quit walking off when you make statements like that!”

[…]

            As soon as Sasuke left the village, it seemed not long after Naruto had as well. The village was relatively quiet for the next years, and once Neji recovered you made sure to not let your schedule get in the way of seeing him again.

            He always seemed to play off your insistence at coming to see him, but you could tell by the way he didn’t protest he actively enjoyed your presence. One rare occasion you had to cancel training plans on him for a mission, you could have sworn his ensuing silence was actually his form of pouting, if Neji were ever capable of such a reaction. When you tested the waters and asked to reschedule for your return, he agreed far too quickly. This surprised you, and you teased him about it, much to his chagrin as he resorted to ‘stern and silent’ once more.

             He had been more open in the last years, and you spent hours--made hours--to dwell in long conversation that became as natural as breathing. You didn’t know Neji could be so talkative, but while deep in a meaningful exchange you always were in awe at the thoughtfulness that came from him. Though you had grown up a bit, that admiration from you never completely subsided. 

             Neji also had brought new, more personal topics on his own accord with you when appropriate. Sometimes they caught you off guard, though you were incredibly attentive to him. In fact, sometime after he had recovered from the mission and knew that you weren’t obligated to stay around, he caught your attention with a strange request.

“Can we speak after training today?”

“I…ah…sure, is there something on your mind?” You tilted your head, now swimming with ideas about what it could be. The inner part of you was dancing with joy, shouting ‘Confession! Confession! Confession!’ but your clearly rational side rebuffed that idea as best it could, knowing that while Neji was occasionally considerate towards you, you didn’t get the ‘crush’ vibe from him. Then again, Neji was someone who knew how to hide secrets from you.

“Yes, you could say that. It’s a conversation far overdue.” He nodded courteously and you scrutinized every motion he made, trying to get a sense for what it was. No indicator of a confession. As he was back on the field and his focus diverted, you tilted your mouth to the side, crossing your arms and thinking as hard as you could.

            By the end of training, you were ready to sprint a mile to run off the energy that had built from your anticipation. Leave it to Neji to make you impatient. As the others left, you stood around awkwardly, pretending to be occupied so they wouldn’t hang around too long out of suspicion. When you felt a familiar presence behind you, your heart kicked into overdrive as you spun around, nervous and fidgety.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-Yes! I’m fine! I just, uh…I just have no idea what it is!” You held your arms behind you and bouned on your heel for a moment, chastising yourself and telling you to focus. Neji eyed you in mild interest before he took a breath.

“I owe you an apology.”

            Your movements stilled and you observed his features. He was straightforward as ever, his hands balled into fists, and his voice only speaking words he meant.

“You know you’ve never owed me anything.” You smiled at him, tilting your head. This was endearing and uplifting all at once. He really had changed for the better thanks to that fateful match, and you saw the progress before you. He had been gentler, his quick anger replaced with a serene maturity. Neji gazed at you for a moment before briefly closing his eyes to think as he returned his honest gaze to you.

“You’ve always said that, but I wonder…if you really know what support like yours is worth. What it meant…even if I don’t owe you anything, you deserve to be treated accordingly. Being the way that I was, saying those calloused things to you, knowing I didn’t truly mean them and I was lashing out, I was unfair to you. And you’ve always been patient with—” You held your finger up to your lips with a soft smile, and he silenced midsentence.

“You’ve changed for the better in such a short time, and believe me, I can tell in your actions that you mean every word and gesture. I don’t dwell on the past. Knowing you’re trying to change from the person that you were then…is enough of an apology for me. I forgive you, and…I want to see more of that person.”

           You were beaming at him. Neji’s cheeks dusted the fainted shade of pink, betraying his forcefully placid expression. It was always so adorable to see him hold back when his feelings were strong. It was the rarest sight, but you committed every moment like this to memory.

“You know, Neji…my admiration of you still grows every day.” You confessed honestly, enjoying the fact that the shade on his face became slightly more prominent.

“What do you mean by that…?!” He nearly stuttered; something Neji never does, and your smile grew wider as you gracefully footed your way around him, making your way for the town.

“What do you think?” You teased as you called back in the distance, Neji startled and frozen at once as you disappeared off.

“Cheeky…” He grumbled with a tsk, moving ever so hurriedly—but calmly—after you.

[…]

            It was nearly two years since the exams and you had spent your time building your strength, training, fulfilling missions, and if you were lucky, shadowing Tsunade when she allowed. You weren’t her formal student, but you took after Shizune, finding your strength in poisons and antidotes. Your skills had followed as well, shaping you into a much stronger shinobi than you once were, giving you a modest reputation.

            The second wave of Chunin exams came and went, resulting in Neji’s promotion to Jounin and your own promotion to Chunin. When he told you, you couldn’t help but erupt in a bubbly cheer of joy and congratulations, throwing your arms around him and giving him an impulsive kiss on the cheek. Neji was never more flustered in his life, resembling Hinata more so than his usual self. He immediately went rigid and halted responding for a few moments after you broke away from your half-second action, and you waved your hand in front of his face to be sure he was still breathing. This all earned you a stern lecture when he maintained his composure, though as you grinned your way through it you could tell that his heart wasn’t really in it.

            News of Naruto’s return and the Kazekage’s kidnapping hit the village all at once, and you were concerned when you realized Neji’s team had been called after the S-rank assailants. You bit your lip when he bid you goodbye, placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder before he went to meet his team. He was older now, and his face was well-defined with gentle angles that your eyes loved to trace, leading back to his beautiful, iridescent eyes. You couldn’t look at him right now though, only grumbling as you fidgeted with your medical pack.

“If you scare me again like that Sasuke mission, I swear…” You meant to warn him seriously, but the hope and confidence you always had in him won out over your fears.

            A soft hand suddenly thumbed over your cheek and under your eye, giving you a gentle but unexpected reassurance. Your eyes met and you blushed. Neji was never openly…like this. And you both weren’t…you know.

“I’m coming back. On my feet, this time. I promise.” His hand left your face as soon as it had reached for it, and Neji blinked, the softest of smiles on his face.

You crossed your arms, pouting, but relenting.

“If you don’t and you break your promise, know that I know the most efficient poisons to keep you alive but moderately uncomfortable.” You huffed; your threat not serious in the slightest.

Neji chuckled, turning on his heel and bidding you goodbye, and so you began the long days of wait for his return, your heart slowly disappearing in the distance.

[…]

           You settled next to him on the engawa, taking in for a moment the gracious view of his silhouette against the wooden walls and backdrop of the gardens, and the gentle, meditative look on his face. You made sure to leave an ample space between the two of you, not wanting to press on his boundaries, but no sooner had you sat down, he turned his head towards you. His eyes motioned you closer—how did he always do that with just a glace?—and you complied, containing your enthusiasm, scooting slightly closer to him before settling completely.

          Neji observed you for a moment, and you could feel his eyes tracing out the contours of your face. You blushed a bit as you always did under his observation, and he let a soft smile. He secretly enjoyed that he could make you react this way.

          You looked to a recent bandage on his shoulder, revealed only by the sleeveless kimono top he was wearing. You sat down almost reflexively to adjust it, keeping your eyes focused on rewrapping the cloth. ‘For all of his genius,’ you smiled to yourself, ‘he’s only somewhat proficient at appropriately wrapping injuries.’

          Still, what weighed on the two of you was the news of the impending war that was coming. Squad assignments were being given, and very soon you would be in the fight for your lives. It made it difficult to enjoy the quiet moments like these, knowing that this would be a distant memory when you were on the battlefield. You were both tense. And for each of you, concern painted every move you made with one another.

“The war seems to be coming, soon.” You shifted the silence to calm conversation, knowing it was best to speak sincerely from the start. Neji lowered his eyes, the small smile on his face in gratitude that starting the hard conversations was always your strong suit.

“It seems that way.” Neji didn’t seem dismissive, though. On the other hand, his tone told you he received and reflected your own concerns.

“I’m… worried.” You confessed.

“I’m sure, war is never a joyous occasion.”

“No, I mean…I’m worried. For you.”

           Neji blinked, seemingly lost in contemplation at your words.

“You always are, aren’t you?” It was less a question and more of a statement of realization, one that seemed to echo deeper within him.

           The air was still, save for the soft fluttering of wings as two birds settled on the branch in front of you, letting forth the occasional chirp to remind you of their presence. Neji was reminded, too. Of a question that had hung in his heart for a long time, one he had always been afraid to ask. Was it fear, of the answer, though? Or fear that the answer could change everything?

           Now, it was perhaps the only time to ask. He had to know.

“….Why have you always cared this much for me?”

           You blinked once, wondering if you had imagined him saying it. When you turned your head to look at Neji, he wasn’t looking at you. His brow was furrowed and his gaze downcast, he seemed lost in thought. You put your hands down from the newly wrapped bandage, settling them on your lap as you blinked once, twice at him.

“Because… it’s you.”

“…That’s it?” He turned and blinked at you in surprise, his face turning to slight confusion, moving each syllable over his tongue as if he was more unsure with each word. “You’ve always cared because I’m…me?”

           You couldn’t help but smile. It almost sounded like a shallow answer given your history, but as you reflected on it, it was succinct, simple, and honest.

“It’s all the reason I’ve ever needed.”  You shyly looked away, keeping your head turned towards him. “I don’t think any honest affections for someone are solely based on what they do for you. I’ve never wanted, never needed anything from you. It was never about cost, or return, because those are woefully capricious and complicated things. This feeling is simple and constant. It is as it has always been.”

           Your eyes returned to his, absorbed in yours, while the smile on your face grew of its own accord. “And you, just as you are, have always been enough for me.”

           There wasn’t a word to describe the emotions that passed through his eyes, though his outer face was still. As if of their own accord and without his knowledge, the corners of his mouth twitched, curling up as he couldn’t hold back the soft joy that grew in his chest. Returning to his upright position and painfully aware of the slight tinge of pink on his own face, he returned his gaze forward and away from your searching eyes to avoid further embarrassment. His furthest knee drew up and he rested his elbow upon it, burying the lower half of his face in his palm. Though when he heard your quiet giggle, you saw a small smile return to his face and his eyes temporarily flickered towards yours before returning ahead.

“What about you, then?” You slid a little closer to him, thoroughly enjoying his bashful repose. And he knew it too, from the way you saw him sternly (but not seriously) quirk a brow at you. He lifted his head from where it had been covered by the hand.

“What do you mean?”

“When…?” You pouted a bit, halfway expecting his responding silence. You knew better than to force him to espouse his feelings before he was ready. “I never knew you cared this way…until recently. After the last time we had this chance alone. But it’s no wonder I was drawn to you, you’ve always been admirable in every sense. But I have to ask…with you, why…me?” You leaned forward, but he didn’t move, didn’t avert his gaze ahead. With a few moments of lingering stillness after your response, you turned your head forward in resignation, letting it be.

           At least, you thought, you would enjoy the serenity of the garden with him, knowing that what had happened minutes before—the lack of rejection—was a confirmation in itself. The only sound came from the two birds you had seen earlier, both sitting upon the same branch, seemingly having a conversation of their own, a song shared between the two of them. You were almost in a meditative state until his unexpected answer broke through the silence.

“You’ve only ever been who you were.” You turned once more to him, giving him your full attention. His answer wasn’t what you expected, either, though it sounded similar to yours. He was oddly reminiscent about an answer that should have been in the present, until you realized that it all went further back than you knew. 

“…Regardless of my actions towards you. And for my younger self, that was surely no small feat of strength.” He sighed, the tinge of guilt hanging in the air.

“Still, our world as shinobi is cold, and yet the warmth from you was constant. We are required to be cruel, but to me, you were ever kind. We must lie, but you’re forever honest with me…even when I was wrong. We must rescind all of our attachments, but you…refused to let me feel alone…” His voice trailed off, the last few words barely audible. His words were carefully chosen—as expected of the composed Hyuga. He gazed at the sky for a moment, lost in his thoughts, searching for those last words that echoed once, twice, so many times through all the memories of your past together.

“It is as you said. It’s always been just you, as you were. How could I…have fallen for anyone but you?”

           A fluttering of wings took part of your response, as the two birds previously nestled in the tree in front of you took flight. In tandem, they soared. You heard this, but only part of it. As soon as your eyes locked once more, time spun forward, weaving you both finally as one.

           In an action that Neji would later recount as perhaps uncharacteristic for him, he gently, tentatively, leaned down to place a chaste and unsure kiss upon your lips, lingering hesitantly to feel your response. As you pressed back, you felt a small hum or gasp—somewhere between—as if he didn’t expect that the person who had loved him all this time would wholeheartedly return it. No matter how new it was for both of you, the passion was ever apparent in the warmth of your lips that entwined deeper still, one hand lacing with his. Gentle movements of his thumb sweeping over your cheek and caused your heart to resound firmly in your chest as you clutched onto his shirt with your other.

           It was surreal, feeling your lips move together in tentative caresses, letting the passions of the moment take precedence over the need for perfection. The motions of the kiss grew deeper in a turn that surprised both of you, and you felt his cheeks hot against yours. Both of you were embarrassed, but this felt so right, and clumsy as it was the closeness that you both desired but now finally had was intoxicating. His lips were soft and better than any of the hazy daydreams that you remembered from when you were young. As he drew away, his eyelashes barely covering his lidded eyes, you found yourself longing for them the moment they left.

           Not content to let him leave, you pressed your nose against his in an affectionate gesture before he went too far. He flinched at the contact, but such was Neji and not the feelings he held. He leaned forward once more, resting his forehead against yours, enjoying your warm presence, taking a second to inhale and catch his breath from the romantic exchange. At some point his other arm came around you to press you flush against him. His motions were so slow and subtle you hadn’t realized he moved until you where there, in an embrace that felt heavenly.

“This close is really…” You mused, enjoying the contact along with the new opportunity to poke fun at the all-too-serious man that held your heart.

           Of course, Neji was more likely to assume you meant otherwise and he pursed his lips in shock, relinquishing all contact immediately before you caught him, throwing both arms around his torso and snuggling up to his shoulder. He let out a small sound of surprise, his arms drawn halfway up in the air. “I’m teasing!” His eye twitched again before he chuckled at the genuinely adorable reaction from you, finally relaxing and resting his arms around you once more.

“You’re going to be the death of me.” He sighed, complaint as genuine as his half-hearted attempt at agitation. You winked and grinned at him. Neji merely hummed in reply, his hand gently caressing your back as his head rested on yours. You were the only part of the world that existed to him then, and it was all he longed for. It was a moment he knew he would never forget, finally letting himself truly feel the warmth of the one who had always been by his side.

[heartofsnark]

Black Market Wonderland (Chapter Four): The Game is Not Played Alone

Notes: We get some Eisuke POV in this one, which hopefully doesn’t suck. Pov switches wont be like extremely common, but I do want to do them when I think it benefits the plot or just to occasionally switch it up. If it’s really jarring or off putting to have two different POV’s in one chapter, let me know. Again, thank you to everyone commenting, giving feedback and enjoying it. I’m glad you all like my  little disaster bean Tsuneko. Also, lowkey scared Soryu is OOC here because things...escalate.

Word Count: 13228 (I’ve notice word counts are off between AO3 and my program, sorry about that, WPS Writer is a bit fucky of a program.)

Warnings: POV Switches, Fat Shaming/Body Shaming, Masturbation (it’s me dudes, someone had to nut eventually), Cis-Female Masturbation, Sex Toy, Bath Masturbation, Panic Attack, Threats of gun violence (Soryu is such a gem), Suicidal thoughts

Missed the last chapter? Link Here!

Eisuke waits in the lounge, trying to get work down on his tablet while he waits for Ota to finish. He’s forcing Tsuneko to work as his assistant at an event tonight, this doesn’t qualify for the bet, which she was quick to point out to him. But, it will give him some opportunities to see how useful she can be. He doesn’t lose and this will be no exception.

She’s intriguing that’s for sure, challenging him to a bet for her freedom. This is to her detriment of course, he probably wouldn’t be so determined to keep her if she was boring. It’s been a long time since he’s had such an interesting toy. She was right when she said there’s no practical reason to keep her around, but she’s become a source of amusement. Once he’s won the bet he might keep her around a while longer, just until he gets bored of her.

“Finished,” Ota yells out as he enters the lounge, noisy as ever, and Tsuneko is following close behind.

“Seriously can we talk about this dress?” She’s complaining as usual and gesturing towards her chest. When she tried it on in store she was wearing a blazer over it to make it more modest, but this works well on her too. The simple colors and silhouette keep it from looking too trashy with the amount of cleavage on display.

“It looks gorgeous on you, princess,” Baba tells her, his eyes linger on her chest. The only one of them not paying attention to her cleavage is Soryu who’s making a point to look anywhere else.  

“Look, I don’t know how Kenzaki does his job, but I don’t think having my tits out is a part of assistant work.”

“Pfft, not bad,” he finally gives comment, “at the very least your outfit won’t embarrass me.”

“Oh yes, ‘cause I’d hate to make your life more difficult.”

She rolls her eyes and he’s caught between wanting to scowl and grin. It’s rare anymore to find people who can so shamelessly talk back to him, who don’t seem afraid of upsetting him, but she has a habit of pushing her luck. While entertained, he doesn’t want to tolerate any disobedience. It’s a weird place she puts him in and maybe that’s why he’s so intrigued by her.

“We’re leaving now, hurry up.” He stands from his seat and leaves the lounge, heading towards the limousine The click of Tsuneko’s heels follow after him.

They step into the car, Tsuneko looking as uncomfortable as she was earlier today. She may look more the part, but it’s clear she can’t relax in these environments. She’s just a commoner and a maid after all, from rural Kyushu at that, when she was first bought at the auction he had Kenzaki show him her files.

“Memorize this,” he tells her and hands her his tablet, a list of who the guests at the event are and rules on interacting with them is pulled up on it. Her eyes widen as she starts to read through it, it’s a lot to learn in a car ride, but it’s not impossible. It will be interesting to see if she can manage it. A part of him is concerned about bringing her to such an event, the very thing that makes her so amusing can make her a detriment in this situation.

The event isn’t extremely important and he knows any mistakes she makes he can easily recover from. She gets great feedback from guests she works with and is considered one of the better maids at the hotel, despite not being there for a full year. It’s clear she’s capable of being polite and friendly, perhaps that skill just leaves her when she’s speaking to him or the other penthouse residents.

His most pressing matter at the moment is the meeting with the Bucci’s, the Italian mob. Carolina, the boss’s daughter has taken an unfortunately interest in him. He can’t just brush her off and dismiss her, as much he’d like to, or he risks losing the deal with her father.

He should be able to sic Carolina on Soryu, he’s definitely her type, and if she’s interested in someone else he won’t have to deal with her. As far as he’s concerned, she’s just a pawn to get the deal with her father. It will be entertaining to see Soryu dealing with the clingy energetic woman.

Not only will the deal help his work with the Tres Spades, it will allow extra opportunities for the auctions, and maybe connections that can help to find his sister. He thought for a moment or two when he first saw her that Tsuneko could be his younger sister, they’re around the same age. But, he’s seen enough of Tsuneko’s chest between the lower cut dress and her uniform popping open to know that she doesn’t have a burn mark. Additionally, when he requested her information from Kenzaki he was informed that the manager had already checked to see if there was even a chance they were related just to find there wasn’t. He can’t help wondering is that’s why Kenzaki her application in the first place. She’s definitely one of the more interesting employees.  

Eisuke continues to think about what he needs to do for his work and the plans he has until the limousine comes to a stop. They’ve reached the venue. He takes the tablet from her hand and changes what’s on it, an open document.

“Take notes and do whatever I tell you, I won’t be tolerating any disobedience, understood?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She waves him off, she still hasn’t told him ‘yes’ or ‘okay’, even when she does what he asks.

They walk into the event and it’s a fairly standard affair. Everyone dressed to impress and talking over wine or champagne. Each event is painfully reminiscent of each other. Tsuneko seems pained for a moment before she forces a smile, she’s trying at the very least. Whether it will be good enough remains to be seen.

The first individual to speak to them is Mr. Belrose, a wealthy man from France. He’s excited and robust, greeting her with a faire la bise, kissing Tsuneko on the cheeks. To her credit, Tsuneko seems to expect it and reacts kindly. It’s not unusual for those kinds of greetings to be shocking to people not use to them, but she either memorized the notes he gave or is smart enough not to show any signs of fluster.

Eisuke guides the conversation as he introduces her as his assistant, but Tsuneko doesn’t stand blankly off to the side. She stays engaged and takes notes, contributing when she has something relevant to say. Her and Mr. Belrose end up discussing pastries with her recommending places to visit while he’s in Tokyo. By the time the conversation ends he’s smiling and seems happy to have met her.

This trend continues as they continue making rounds and talking to guests. She’s not truly any less of a smartass, he can’t even say she’s putting up any sort of act. But, her tone is different, her little comments more like playful teasing than genuinely being annoyed. He’s just begun talking to Watanabe when he notices both of their champagne flutes has gone dry.

“Get us more champagne,” he tells Tsuneko and he can tell she wants to argue, but she doesn’t and instead goes to find champagne for them.

“You’re a lucky man, Ichinomiya,” Watanabe tells him with a grin.

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Tomori, she’s a beautiful girl,” Watanabe looks over at where Tsuneko is getting champagne, “I mean, surely you have a thing for her?”

Is that how it looks? Eisuke looks over at Tsuneko, she’s certainly attractive by most standards. She’s petite with collarbone length chocolate brown hair that falls in soft waves and her large expressive eyes are a soft plum purple shade. A soft round face decorated in freckles and a single dimple that shows when she smiles. She’s a bit chubbier than the average Japanese woman which might be detractor to some. He can see how to an outsider she may seem worthy of his attention.

“She’s a diligent assistant.” Is all he says before a woman he knows he’s seen before, but can’t place the name of, comes rushing over. She throws her arms around his arm and all but glues herself to his side.

“Eisuke,” her whine is like nails on a chalkboard, “I’ve been wanting to talk to you this whole time.”

“Well, why didn’t you come on over, Kaede?” Watanabe asks her and Eisuke’s trying to figure out how to pry her off of his arm, Kaede, that’s right. She’s Amachi’s daughter, he’s the owner of a modeling agency, a spoiled girl who’s only in these circles because of her dad.

“Ugh, well I couldn’t exactly come talk with that pig hovering around Eisuke.” She didn’t want to come over because of Tsuneko, interesting. 

“I brought the champagne,” Tsuneko speaks from behind them, her glare at Kaede makes it clear she heard the pig comment. Maybe she can deter these kind of women? Eisuke and Watanabe take the champagne flutes from Tsuneko’s hand.

“Wait, I remember you,” Kaede says, her eyes trained on Tsuneko and her nails digging into his arm as she clings, “you were that maid at the I.V.C, why the hell are you here?”

Kaede was there clinging to him at the I.V.C as well when Tsuneko went off on a pervert that was harassing her.

“I’m working as Mr. Ichinomiya’s assistant today,” Tsuneko explains, her face remains stoic but her tone has lost any sign of playfulness.

“Assistant,” Kaede’s eyes seem to brighten at this, “that makes sense, you’re just here as the help of course. Why don’t you make yourself useful and get me some champagne too?”

“Given Mr. Ichinomiya is my boss, it would be up to him,” she says this politely but her meaning is clear, she won’t be taking orders from Kaede. The model scowls.

“Actually,” he draws out seeing one of the servers with champagne is finally nearing them and he pulls his arm away from Kaede’s grasp to get one of them. She looks smug as he grabs a glass, but her face falls again when he hands it to Tsuneko, “would you like some?”

“Oh, thanks.” Tsuneko’s eyes are wide with surprise, like it never even occured to her that she could enjoy some as well.

It’s time to test the waters of Tsuneko’s use as a woman deterrent. He makes sure to let their hands touch as he passes off the champagne and softens his expression as he looks at her. When he pulls his hand away it makes a small show of doing so slowly, letting his touch linger. One of Tsuneko’s eyebrow raise and her head tilts just slightly, clearly confused by his actions. Kaede however, lets out a huffy noise and storms off.

He can’t help smirking. It won’t win the bet, using her as deterrent, because many woman could probably fill that sort of role. But, it’s still some use he can get out of her, particularly when he has to meet with Carolina. It’s not unique or special to Tsuneko, those stipulations to the bet are aggravating to say the least, but he knows he’ll still win.

Watanabe gives him a look like he just caught Eisuke and Tsuneko in a private moment. Tsuneko shakes off the weirdness with an actual small shake of her head and starts drinking her champagne. The event continues on with no further issues or moments of interest.

The night winds down and it’s time for them to take their leave. Tsuneko lets out a heavy sigh as she sits down in the limousine. Perhaps it’s just from the stress of the event but she seems more relaxed in the car than she did before. She even pulls off her heels and starts rubbing her red sore ankles, unconcerned if she looks uncouth in front of him.

He can’t ask her to pose as his girlfriend or anything directly, his thoughts wander to his plans as the car starts moving. If he asks her, he’s sure she’d refuse and even ruin it purposely. She may have behaved tonight, but she’d never agree to something like that. The implication of it was enough to drive off Kaede; just forcing himself to look disgustingly in love and leave lingering touches. It may be enough to convince others he has feelings for her, not that they’re actually together. He can’t help disliking the thought of looking like a love stricken fool who’d sit idly by and not take what they want, he’d never lower himself to that kind of behavior. But, if it in addition to introducing her to Soryu gets Carolina off his back and keeps the Bucci deal safe, it will be worth it.

A loud stomach growl rings out through the car from Tsuneko’s direction and she’s glaring down on her stomach like it’s betrayed her. He can’t help letting out a short huff of air in place of a laugh.

“I haven’t eaten anything since lunch, give me a break.”

Eisuke thinks for a moment, he hasn’t eaten in a while either, the event didn’t have much in the way of food. A bakery with it’s lights still on catches his eye and he remembers Tsuneko’s babbling about sweets with Mr. Belrose. Most higher end bakeries he knows of would be shut down by now, but it’s something. He tells his driver to stop and park in front of the building. 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, I can just eat when I get home.”

“We’re going because I want to ,” he tells her and it seems to quiet her up for a brief second, even if she does roll her eyes at him. The car turns to park outside the bakery and she pulls her shoes back on before they walk inside.

He can’t help sneering a bit as he looks around, it was an impulse to stop here. Eisuke didn’t realize it would be so small. A simple layout with off white walls and maple wood paneling. At the front of the store is a large brightly lit glass case meant to display sweet, but it’s notably empty. He’ll have to pay extra for them to make something, he figures.  

“Sorry, we just shut down the oven, we’re getting ready to close up in the next hour.” A young man comes out from the back in a pastry chef uniform.

“Nonsense-”

“Ah, uh,” Tsuneko interrupts and glares at him, “that’s fine, we understand.”

What on earth is wrong with her? He can just pay them to stay open longer, they’re both hungry, what’s the point in just leaving? Does she enjoy wasting his time?

“Hmm,” the chef chews his lip and seems to mull it over, “we do have one cake still left, it’s big enough to share if you two want it. Otherwise it’ll be thrown out.” The chef brings out a a large strawberry cream cake.

“You don’t mind us staying here to eat it?” Tsuneko asks him.

“We still have a half hour before we officially close, so it’s fine,” the chef tells her and she smiles brightly, the young man flushes up to his ear, “don’t worry about it.”

They take the dessert to settle in at a table to enjoy it. It’s an immaculate cake, piles of white cream and ripe strawberries between layers of sponge cake. On top a single large strawberry in a little dollop of cream. He goes to stab a fork into the top strawberry when it’s plucked off the top of the cake by Tsuneko’s fingers. Eisuke glares as Tsuneko starts to bring it to her mouth, she pauses when she realizes this.

“What?” she asks, still holding the top strawberry to her lips.

“I was going to eat that.”

“It’s literally right next to my mouth.”

“I was going to eat that,” he says again, scowling. How dare she just steal the top strawberry? She narrows her eyes and pouts, before a subtle smirk pulls at her lips.

Tsuneko makes a little show of putting part of the strawberry into her mouth and sucking off the cream, leaving the bright red fruit shining with saliva when she pulls it from her lips with a pop.

“Still want it?” She offers with a grin, like she’s got him and he wouldn’t dare eat something she’s licked. 

He returns his own smirk and plucks it from her fingers to pop it into his own mouth; eating it right in front of her.  Her face falls and she glares at him, pouting.

“Seriously?” She narrows her eyes at him and licks some cream still clinging to her lips.

“I told you, I wanted it.” He swallows the fruit, somehow tasting even sweeter than he expected.

“God, you act like a toddler.” The plate makes a scratching noise across the table as she pulls the cake closer to her and stabs her fork into it. She shoves a hunk of cake into her mouth and he drags the plate back towards him to get a bite himself.

This goes on throughout the meal; becoming a tug of war with the plate. The cake dwindles down to nothing and she swipes the final bite, licking cream from her lips. They both stand from their chairs and Tsuneko pouts when she sees him pulling his card out to pay, shouldn’t she be happy?

“I’ll pay,” she tells him and walks off towards the register. This nonsense again.

“Don’t be stupid.” He groans as he makes his way to the counter. His steps are larger than her’s by virtue of his height, but she practically hops to cut in front of him., shoving her own bank card into the machine. He glares at her back and the pastry chef rings her up. Eisuke can’t help but scoff when she has to put her card back in because she jammed it into the chip reader before it was ready.

There’s a grin across her face as she finishes the purchase and tucks her card back into her purse. She makes absolutely no sense. Buying a cake is nothing to him, but she’s still insistent on being the one to buy it. Usually the women he meets are constantly pestering him to buy them things.

She’s still an insipidly proud grin across her face as they go out to the car. At the very least it’s better than the pathetic look she had when they first bought her. He tries to focus on the buildings passing by as the limousine moves, but his eyes keep straying towards her. Her makeup is just barely starting to fade and he can see a hint of the purple bruises on her face.

It was a shock seeing her being sold that night, it’s against the rules of the auctions to sell someone against their will. He never expected to see one of the maids in a golden cage screaming at the top of her lungs, like a trapped animal. There were fresh bruises across her face, her eyes were wet with unshed tears, and she was cradling her bloody hand. While he hasn’t seen her look that pained again, he still hasn’t seen her happy. Even her proud little grins seems spiteful instead of truly happy. It’s clear she’s miserable by this whole thing and is desperate to get away from them.

If he was a nicer person he would have let her.

The limousine comes to a stop outside the hotel. He steps out and is around the other side of the car when he notices Tsuneko wincing as she gets out. Her steps are tender and careful.

“You look ridiculous.” He smirks and she glares at him.

“Well, excuse the fuck out of me for being in pain.”

“Come here.” He moves to pick her up and she jolts back like he’s burnt her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m not going to waste my time waiting for you to hobble your way up to the penthouse.”

“Well, there’s not really any alternative, now is there.”

“There is.” He attempts again and she ducks away from him, letting out a whimper.

“Dude,” he’s taken aback being called ‘dude’, “you can’t pick me up.”

“What are you talking about?” He glares at her, is she calling him weak?

“I’m a chubby girl and, no offense, you’re kind of a string bean.”

He scowls, how dare she, Tsuneko isn’t able to avoid him this time and he hoists her up onto his shoulder.

“Ahhh, what the hell are you doing!?” She squirms where she’s over his shoulder, swinging her fists down against his back. He gets a firm grip on her thigh to keep her steady, her skin warm and soft under his hand.

“Stop squirming or I’ll drop you,” he threatens as he packs her into through the hotel lobby, her body heavy but not overbearing on his shoulder. A few guests give them odd looks, but he doesn’t pay them any mind.

She’s still yelping and smacking at his back when he gets her to the penthouse elevator. He’s put the key in and the elevator lurches into movement.

She hits him particularly hard in the back, a dull ache already starting to form, and he puts her down. What is her problem, she should be grateful he was willing to carry her. She glares at him instead and he scowls then she slams her fist into his stomach. A jolt of pain runs through his abdomen and he hunches over, grabbing at where she hit him.

“What is wrong with you?!”

“What is your problem!?” He tries to yell back, his voice a rasp from having the wind knocked out of him, he can’t remember the last time someone actually hit him.

“My problem is you! Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be packed around like a sack of potatoes!”

“Is it anymore humiliating than limping through the hotel?”

“Yes,” she looks at him like he’s an idiot, “it’s a thousand times worse!”

“So when you don’t get what you want, you hit me, who’s the toddler now?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you not like getting touched without permission,” she jabs him in the chest with her finger, “I told you not to pick me up and you did anyway, so I hit you.”  

“I own you, I don’t need your permission.”  

“Hellooo?~ Did you forget the entire fucking bet?! You don’t own me until you win and you know what, even if you did own me, I’d still kick your sorry ass for that bullshit!”

The elevator comes to a stop and the doors open with a noise. Tsuneko stomps off towards Kisaki’s suite where her clothes are. He glares at her as she leaves before he enters the lounge. Everyone is there and they all seem to give him an odd look as he walks to his usual seat.

“What the hell happened?” Kishi is the first one to speak, taking a drag off of his cigarette and Eisuke glares at him, not that he seems bothered.

“Nothing,” he says and gets his tablet out to reviews the notes Tsuneko took.

“We could hear the woman screeching from here,” Soryu grimaces, like even talking about her or hearing her is a pain. Eisuke shifts in his seat and a twinge of pain goes through his gut, his expression must change because he gets some strange looks.

“Are you alright boss?” Baba asks him with a look of concern.

“She hit me,” he admits, avoiding eye contact as he pulls up her notes.

“Pfffft,” Kishi lets out a sputtering laugh and chokes on his cigarette.

“We can still get rid of her,” Soryu offers without hesitation.

“No,” Eisuke tells him as he reads over the tablet. Her notes are immaculate, well organized and clear to understand with an immense amount of details. She may be proving to be a handful, but he knows he can find a proper use for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tsuneko groans loudly as she stumbles into her dorm peels off her shoes. She could have changed in Kisaki’s suite, but after her fight with Ichinomiya, she just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The event dragged on for entirely too long, it’s like she’s spent years with Ichinomiya instead of hours. She puts the shopping bags of professional clothes down on her counter, she’ll tuck them away in her closet properly after she’s done everything else that needs to be done. For now those and the stack of documents listing auction items will sit right there and stay as far away from her consciousness as possible.

She checks on Kiyo, he’s snoozing with only half of his body in bed. Tsuneko grabs some comfy casual clothes, one of her favorite pajama sets, and heads into her bathroom. They’ll be nice to relax in after her bath. She scrubs off the makeup, revealing her plain baby face underneath, Kisaki really is a master with that kind of stuff. The dress takes her a moment to strip off, her bra and panties follow into the clothes pile.

It takes a while for her water to warm up and fill the tub. She’s infinitely thankful the dorms come with bathtubs and not just a shower, even if they’re on the smaller side. Showers are great in the morning when she’s in a rush, but when she needs to relax, baths are the best.

She sinks down into the steaming hot water, keeping her bandaged hand up on the side of the tub. It’s a bit of trouble to pour some body wash into her uninjured hand, but she manages it. She takes a deep breath, the familiar smell of her body wash is relaxing. A soft sweet scent of fresh cream that’s just warm and comforting to her.

It builds a gentle lather across her skin, flushed pink from the hot water. She scrubs down her neck and whimpers when she starts to tease her chest. That burn of arousal starts to build inside of her again, maybe it all the stress, but she’s been feeling so needy lately. Her body is begging for some sort of release.

She gently squeezes and plays with her breasts, avoiding her nipples for the time being. Soft moans and whines escapes her as she tries to imagine someone else teasing her and groping at her body. There’s a steady heat building between her thighs as her fingers sink into the squish of her breast. She can feel herself growing slicker with each movement.

Her fingers finally travel to her nipple, teasing over the sensitive peach pink skin. A breathy sound escapes her as she starts pinching and pulling at it. Her teeth sinks into her lip, she’s not sure how thin the walls are in these dorms, but she doesn’t want to test it. Even with the warmth of the water her touch is able to bring her nipple to a stiff peak before she moves to the other one. Her thighs clench together, trying to put some pressure on her clit.

Once she’s teased her other nipple for a moment, leaving her chest covered in suds as her hand starts to slip down lower. Her fingers rub down the soft squish of her stomach before finding their place between her thighs. She’s gentle at first, just teasing her slit, but she can’t stand it a moment longer.

She lets out a loud whine of pleasure when she presses her fingers to her clit, the bundle of nerves twitches at the touch. A jolt of ecstasy hits her and she presses down harder. She can feel her hot slick even through the water and she starts rubbing at herself. Her fingers move quick and her hips instinctively rock up against her own touch. The water splashing out of the tub from the movements. Her body is so desperate and her pleasure builds quickly. She dips her fingers down into her to stop herself from cumming so quickly.

It’s a slow pumping motion, her fingers aren’t long enough to give herself any kind of deep penetration, but it’s enough to keep her pleasure going without crashing over her peak. She scissors her fingers, trying to give her tight hole a slight stretch. A whimper escapes her and her clit throbs, needing more stimulation.

She drags her slick fingers back up and starts playing with her swollen clit again. It’s too much and her walls clench at the touch. Pleasure overwhelms her and her moan catches in her throat as the tension snaps, finally finding her release.

She’s reduced to whimpers and whines as rides out the aftershocks, softly teasing herself through until it’s too much. Between the heat of her body and the water, it’s like she’s melting. Her breath comes out in heavy pants and her toes are sore from curling. Once she’s caught her breath, she carefully washes the rest of her body, avoiding her sensitive cunt and chest.

She’s extra careful getting out of the tub, between the water and her now shaky legs it’s a bit more precarious. She dries her skin, whining when she rubs the towel down between her thighs, the fabric brushes across the sensitive lips of her sex. Once dry she changes into her pajamas and pulls her hair up into two messy space buns. Her face is still red, the after glow of orgasm clinging to her. The bathroom smells like body wash and sex now, despite what she did, she still feels clean.

She needs to take care of a few mundane things, now that she’s gotten her release. Kiyo is still snoozing in his cage, so she’ll have to let him out to play later tonight when he’s awake. She cleans up his cage then changes his food and water. The stack of documents catches her eye, she needs to deal with that. Everything about having to present at the auction is a headache waiting to happen. Instead of starting on that she marks the day off on the calendar, she has the duration of the bet highlighted, so that she can keep track of how long she has until she hopefully escapes this hellish situation. She puts a reminder on the day of the auction as well.

Tsuneko plops onto her bed, pressing her face against her pillow. She just wants to relax, while she usually is dying to keep busy, those assholes take up her time in the worse kind of way. Playing assistant to someone else wouldn’t have been bad, but dealing with Ichinomiya, ugh. She groans against her pillow. Those assholes frustrate and exhaust her in the worse kind of ways.

Even thinking of them is ruining her time to relax, her skin is still warm and clean from the bath. She idly runs her hands over her side and up over her chest, feeling her nipples through the thin cotton of her tank top. A whimper is muffled by her pillow and her thighs clench. Fuck, her body never seems to be satisfied.

Tsuneko moves to her knees and uses her injured hand to pull the pillow tight to her face to muffle any noises. She doesn’t waste any time shoving her other hand down her short and between her thighs. Her clit is already slick and swollen, it’s like the first orgasm did nothing to sate her. She rubs her fingers over it, making noises into her pillow.

Tension and pleasure pools between her legs, her orgasm building higher and higher. But this time, she can’t go over the peak. Her hopes of a quick second orgasm are dashed, her ecstasy plateaus and she can’t seem to build it high enough to cum. She rubs quicker and harder, it’s good but it’s not enough.

“Fuck,” she whines into her pillow, she just wants to cum damn it. Her bed creaks as she scramble to get her box out from under her bed. The baby pink box with a quilted heart lid and a Winnie The Pooh padlock is where she keeps all of her sex toys. She nearly drops the key, her movements are so frantic and her fingers are too slick. It opens, showing her growing hoard of toys.

She picks her big smooth silver toy meant to hit some spot deep inside of her. That spot has an actual name, but the lusty haze in her brains keep her from remembering it. She peels off her shorts and gets back on her knees, with her face in the pillow.

Tsuneko reaches back with the toy, a soft mewl escapes her when the toy brushes against her sensitive folds. She slowly pushes it inside of her, whimpering at the deep penetration and stretch of it opening her up. It hits that sweet spot and she sees stars. She starts fucking the toy into herself, losing all sense of patience, as she furiously chases her orgasm. Her slick drips down her thigh and coats her hand as she slams the toy inside of herself. Pleasure keeps building with every pump of the toy. She can’t keep any sort of rhythm or pattern, it’s just a frantic mixture of thrusting the toy while her hips bounce. Her hips slam down just she fucks the toy up in, hitting that spot so hard the tension finally snaps and she bites down on her pillow to muffle her yell, her body melts into pure bliss. A gush of slick rushes down her thighs as her cunt clenches down on the toy.

She pants into her pillow, drool smearing across it. A soft noise escapes her as she takes the toy out with a flood of slick following it. Tsuneko catches her breath for a moment and forces herself to sit up; there’s a big wet spot on her blankets, her thighs are coated in her own juices, and there’s a sheen of sweat clinging to her skin.

A shower would probably be a good idea, but her body is heavy. She stares at her clock, making promises to get out of her bed and clean up. A minute or two passes and the numbers grow fuzzier. It’s like her eyelids are weighted, keeping them open is a struggle.

When her eyes open again the clock has jumped to an hour or two later. Whatever dreams she may have had weren’t vivid enough to recall or she wasn’t asleep long enough. Orgasms and booze is the best way she knows she suppress the worse of her nightmares. Though she never seems to stay asleep for very long after an orgasm, which is probably for the best. If it could give her a long deep dreamless kind of sleep, she’d probably spend the majority of her time with her hand between her legs.

She stretches as she climbs out of her bed, the air is cool on her sweat and slick coated skin. Her toy is still on top of the sheets, she cleans it and tucks it back into the box. Tsuneko grabs her discarded shorts and a new set of pajamas before heading to the shower.

Her shower manages to be free of funny business She leaves the bathroom clean, with new pajamas, and newly done space buns. It’s a little after three in the morning, she usually gets up around five, so she might as well just stay up and get something done besides masturbating.

Kiyo is up and making noises as she comes over to his cage. She lets him out and he’s quick to tackle one of his toys. While he’s playing with that she puts the new clothes away in her dresser, the price tags still hurt, and changes the sheets on her bed.. Tsuneko grabs one of her binders, a black one with a cute minimalist cat face on it. It’s empty, one she bought on a whim because it was adorable with no real use, now she has something to use with it.

She takes the documents of auction items and punches holes in them to fit them into the binder. She’ll start reading over them on her lunch break and she still needs to visit the tea room, or whatever, where Oh said the hatter was.

Memories of the hatter and the auction flash through her mind. All eyes on her, an entire crowd just waiting for the chance to use her, to hurt her and she can’t even get away. Her throat is tight and she can’t get a deep enough breath. Her heart races like a runaway train, it’s going to burst out of her chest. She wraps her arms around herself and pulls her knees to her chest, hiding her face away from the phantom eyes she can still feel on her.

Something fluffy touches her thigh and she jolts in her chair, Kiyo is climbs into her lap. She hugs him tight to her chest and pets his fur. He makes soft noises and she focuses all of her attention on him, slowly she starts to feel better. Her breathing steadies and her heart race starts to normalize.

“You’re such a good boy, Kiyo.” She gives him a soft smooch and he nuzzles into her face. Tears she didn’t realize she was crying wet his fur, but he doesn’t mind and makes soft dooking noises.

She takes a deep breath, thankful her body will allow it and puts Kiyo down, time for a game of tag. Tsuneko boops him and runs away letting him chase her excitedly across the dorm. They play and chase after each other for around an hour. She catches him after her turn to tag him and scratches at his stomach, making him nip at her fingers.

Tsuneko makes him some breakfast, his favorite eggs and raw beef, giving him an extra helping. She feeds him a bit from her hand before putting him away, topping the bowl off again before she goes to get ready. She’s gone through her skin care routine, put on makeup, tied her hair, and changed into some slightly less pajama-y clothes. Her stomach growls, she’ll go to a gas station and grab a candy bar or something. She’s still running early and it will be nice to go out of her way. A little walk might help clear her mind.

The early morning air is cool and nice on her skin, there’s a little convenient store not that far away from the hotel. She walks inside, rows of colorful snacks and fluorescent lights greet her. Tsuneko takes her time browsing before picking out a bottle of strawberry milk and custard filled taiyaki. She’s getting her bank card out as she walks up to the register.

“Hello, princess.”

Her head jerks up at the familiar voice and sickly sweet pet name. Baba stands behind the register with a big smile in the striped blue convenience store uniform, isn’t he a thief? Does he need a day job?

“You work here?”

“Part time, I like to help out, now you know another place to find me.” Baba wink as he starts ringing up her order.

“Guess I’m not coming back.” Tsuneko slides her card and then her eyes go wide. There’s a display of Cinnamoroll lollipops near the register she didn’t see earlier. Not only is the little fluffy mascot on the wrappers, the actual suckers are shaped like him. She has to bite her lip to resist yelling out, it’s so cute. But, she’s already bought her makeshift breakfast, maybe she’ll come back after work and buy a bunch to fill her candy bowl and uniform pockets. 

“Awww, don’t be like that, lovely lady.”

“I have a name.”

“And it’s a beautiful one.”

“Don’t make me sick before breakfast.” She sighs and grabs her bag before heading out the door.

“See you later, Tsuneko.” At least she knows he does actually remember her name. She gives a half-ass wave before she leaves the store.

She pulls out the taiyaki and unwraps it, munching on the custard filled cake as she walks towards the hotel. Tsuneko is licking her fingers clean as she reaches the back lot behind the Tres Spades. She’s getting her milk out of the bag when she feels something else.

It’s one of the Cinnamoroll lollipops, a pink bubblegum flavored one. Did Baba toss it into her bag for her? He must have seen her practically drooling over them. That’s actually really nice, ugh. It’s hard to hate him if he’s going to be like this. She tucks it into her pocket for later and drinks her milk.

She’s finished with her little breakfast and thrown her trash away by the time she enters the locker room. She immediately sees Sakiko and makes a beeline for her, remembering the conversation she had yesterday with Chiho and Mari. Tsuneko pinches Sakiko’s ear and yanks.

“Owww, what are you doing?!”

“What the hell have you been telling people?!”

“About wha-owwww!” Tsuneko yanks harder.

“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”

“Chisato, help!”

“You did it to yourself, Sakiko.” Chisato doesn’t even look away from her locker.

“Confess, asshole.” Tsuneko yanks again.

“Ahhhh, all I did was tell people about you bumping into Mr. Ichinomiya.”

“Don’t lie to me!”

“Owww-uh, okay maybe I told them he loves you.”

“And why the hell would you do that?!”

“’Cause it’s true!”

“Do you want to die?!”

“Not before I get a boyfriend,” Sakiko whines and Tsuneko lets go of her ear.

“Stop being an idiot.”

“Just tell me to stop breathing why don’t you,” Sakiko grumbles, rubbing at her bright red ear.

“It would certainly make my life easier.”

“That’s mean Tsuneko,” Chisato scolds in a deadpan voice.

“Well, yeah, I said it, that’s how you know.” Tsuneko opens her locker and her eyes widen, there’s a stack of new uniforms in her locker. She checks the tag, it’s doesn’t say a specific size.

“Did you finally get your new uniform?” Sakiko asks as Tsuneko pulls out one of them.

“Uh, yeah,” Tsuneko tells her because she doesn’t know what else to say, maybe Kenzaki noticed and put in an order for her?

She pulls on the uniform and the fit is amazing, like it’s tailored just to her. Tsuneko sometimes struggles with sizing, finding a balance between comfortable but not frumpy, but this is perfect. It’s not too tight across her chest or stomach, but still tailored enough that it doesn’t sag or swallow her whole. Her waist is still defined in it and it doesn’t make her look bigger than she is.

Is the neckline a little lower though? She feels like she has to do up another button than usual to completely cover her cleavage. She’s not too shy about having her chest showing, but it’s not exactly professional, so she just does up the extra button and calls it done.

“By the way,” Tsuneko starts as she shuts her locker, “do either of you know where the tea room is?”

“The tea room?” Sakiko raises an eyebrow, maybe they don’t know anything about it.

“Uh, like somewhere to get tea at?” Chisato tries, but she clearly has no idea what Tsuneko is talking about.

“No, not exactly, don’t worry about it.” She’ll just have to ask Kenzaki, he’s sure to know. They leave the locker room and get their work schedules.

Tsuneko spots Kenzaki at the front desk, checking in guests, and makes a quick beeline over to him. She waits patiently for the guests to finish registering.

“Is there something I can help you with Tomori?”

“Yes, Mr. Oh told me that I needed to go to the tea room at some point, but I’m not sure where that is.”

“Ah, alright then, please follow me.” Kenzaki isn’t bothered in the slightest, nothing seems to knock the passive smile off of his face.

He leads her through the lobby and down to the basement. Her mouth goes dry as they meander through the familiar halls, all she can remember is seeing them through cage bars. She swallows hard and tries to push through, then Kenzaki leads her down another flight of stairs she’s never seen before. She always though the level with the ballroom and auction was the lowest of the hotel, it’s even marked as the basement floor in the elevators.

“Here we are,” Kenzaki tells her and gestures towards a large set of double doors along the hall in this new basement level of the hotel.

“Alright, I’ll make a note of it. I still have rooms to clean, so I’ll come back later.”

“If you’ve been asked to come down here, it’s best for you to go on in. The penthouse guests and the tea room resident should take precedent over your other duties,” Kenzaki explains calmly, before leaving her alone in front of the door. Tsuneko tales a deep breath and lets her nerves calm down before she knocks on the door.

“Come in,” a voice calls out and Tsuneko pushes the doubles doors open.

Her breath catches in her throat. It’s like she’s stepped into another world. The ceiling looks exactly like a beautiful early morning sky, soft blue with puffy white clouds, so real she can almost convince herself she’s outside. What looks and feels like lush green grass is under her feet, but she knows it can’t be real. Masses of green vines and bright red roses are painted across the brick walls. Within the middle of the room is a table covered in a white table cloth, wooden chairs with white blue striped cloth. At the table sits the Mad Hatter, still dressed in the same costume from the night she was sold.

“Um, hello, I was told to come down here.”

“Alice,” the Mad Hatter jump out of his seat with wide eyes and rushes over to her. She startles back it’s so sudden, “Oh, you’re timid, I must treat you delicately.”  

“Uh, no, I’m fine sorry,” she murmurs. Given his hatter get up and the wonderland vibe of the room, she can gather that this must be an Alice in Wonderland reference. She can’t say she’d ever liken herself to the fairy tale character, but that doesn’t stop the Mad Hatter.

“I finally found you, Alice,” he whispers as he clasps her hands between his, he’s like a kid who’s just been told he can have candy and a toy. His costume and aesthetic is far on the uncanny side, but his expression is almost cute underneath the caked on makeup.

“My name is Tomori Tsuneko.”

“Your eyes are so pure and innocent, you’re the perfect Alice.”

“Pffft,” she suppresses a laugh. She definitely would not consider herself pure or innocent, “uh, Oh told me to come talk to you about helping out with the auction shit.”

“Yes! I was so excited when he told me, your outfit should be here soon!”

“Outfit?” She grimaces, if it’s anything like what he wears, she’s scared.

“Yes, I know you’ll look beautiful in it, I’ve been wanting to see you again since that night!”

“You have?”

“From the first moment I saw you, I was a prisoner of your love.”

“Okaaaay,” she looks away from the entirely too earnest looking hatter, “someone’s been spending too much time with Baba.”

“You’re the Alice that I’ve been searching for,” there’s a hopeful lilt to his voice, “you have no idea how long I’ve waited to meet you, Alice.”

He casts his eyes downward and a pout pulls at his painted lips. The expression causes a pang in her heart, that she really doesn’t want to address. He’s a grown man in a hatter costume who’s working an illegal auction, he gleefully sold her, he’s not a child. She has to tell herself this, remind herself not to feel sympathy for this man.

“Well,” she scratches at her nose sheepishly, “I’m here now.”

“The reason you started working here, you breaking the Venus Statue,” his face lights up, “it was all part of the fate that brought us together. I don’t believe in coincidences, Alice. Our fates are connected. ”

“Well, I don’t believe in fate, so we’re gonna have a helluva time.”

“You say the oddest things, Alice.”

“So, wha-huh? Oh my god!” Brushing against her leg is the fattest, fluffiest Himalayan cat she’s ever seen, staring up at Tsuneko with bright blue eyes.

“Oh, Cheshire! And how are you doing today?” The Mad Hatter scoops up the cat, just a fat mass of fur in his arms.

“Can I pet them?” Tsuneko asks, despite how much she wants to reach out and just snuggle that precious fluff ball, she knows it’s wrong not to ask first.  

“Of course, Cheshire’s pride and joy is her silky long hair,” he says as hands Cheshire over. Tsuneko’s arms strain to hold the cat, but she doesn’t mind and nuzzles her face against the fluffy girl.

“You’re such a pretty girl, aren’t you,” she coos at Cheshire.

“Would you like to help take care of her, Alice?” The Mad Hatter asks, his unnaturally blue eyes wide and a smile across his lips.

“Can I?”

“You may, but you’d have to come down here everyday to brush her fur.”

“I don’t mind.” Tsuneko smiles, cuddling a cat is now part of her job, that’s the best news ever.

“Wonderful!” The Mad Hatter bounces and claps his hands, you’d think he had just won the lottery.

“Okay, so-god damn it.” Her pager buzzes in her pocket and she has to let Cheshire go to answer it.

“Penthouse. Five Minutes.”

“My, my, how frightening.”

“Yeah, I gotta go deal with his shit.” Tsuneko sighs, the last time she saw Ichinomiya she’d sucker punched him.

“Oh, you’re leaving.” He pouts and stares at the ground, he looks like strange wounded harlequin puppy.

“Yeah, but I can come back.” The words comes out before Tsuneko even realizes it, the need to comfort him is overwhelming.

“Really!?” His expression is bright again, “Would you want to come back around nine or so and help me with a tea party?”

“Yeah, sounds good to me,” Tsuneko tells him with a soft smile.

“I can’t wait, ahh, you better get going or he’ll be mad.”

“What else is new.” Tsuneko waves him off and heads out the door. She takes her time to make it up to the lounge, taking her time with the stairs and helping a few guests before entering the elevator with her cleaning cart.

“You’re late.”

“I was in the tea room.”

“Ugh, I’d go crazy if I had to spend even a hour there.” Kisaki grimaces.

“Maddy is definitely an eccentric guy.”

“Coffee.” At the very least, Ichinomiya isn’t trying to harp on the whole punching him thing. She ventures into the kitchen and makes up drinks.

“I’ll go ahead and start cleaning,” she tells them after she hands off the drinks.

“You’ll be be working as my assistant all day tomorrow,” Ichinomiya says after taking a sip of his coffee.

“I can’t believe you’re dragging that woman along with us,” Oh grumbles as he takes a drink from his cup. Everyday is a struggle not to spit into their drinks.

“Dress appropriately and be here ready to leave at 8:30am.’

“Is Kenzaki still busy?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“This is my job and you’re my employer, this could not be more of my business.”

“Be quiet and start cleaning already,” Oh demands her and she can’t help glaring at him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going, you sexist dumbass,”she grumbles and goes to start cleaning.

“What was that?”

“I called you a sexist dumbass,” she repeats louder.

“You’re just asking to be put down at this point.”

“Whatever,” Tsuneko mumbles again, she’s still not sure how serious Oh is about killing her and every time he makes those comments she has to wonder. If she knew how empty his threats were, she’d feel better. Even if he is being honest and would kill her, at least then she’d know to be careful of him.

Once the lounge is cleaned she starts working on the suites. Kishi’s gives her a headache again, but she manages. Oh’s room is last, because his is usually fairly neat and just needs standard maintenance Tsuneko cleans the bedroom, living room, and kitchen before making it to her bathroom.

Oh is annoying her in particular today. Between the condescending way he calls her woman and the constant death threats. He may want her out of there, but he plans on treating her like shit until it happens. Baba and Kisaki generally seem pretty light hearted when they tease her. There’s something more, hateful almost when it comes to Oh and Ichinomiya. Kishi takes up space and ruins the air quality, that’s where his influence end.

A wrapper scratches across her fingers where she’s fiddling with the good luck charm, a force of habit at this point. She’s reminded of the cute little sucker tucked away in her pocket. Keeping candy in her pockets isn’t uncommon, but this is all she has on her today. Her eyes are drawn up to the shower head in Oh’s bathroom. She pulls off the wrapper carefully, saving it for the cute art work. 

“Sorry, Cinnamoroll, know you died for a good cause,” she tells the little puppy shaped lolipop as she yanks the candy off the stick. Tsuneko unscrews his shower head, tucks the treat inside, then puts it back together. By the end of his next shower, he should be coming out sticky and smelling like bubblegum.

Content with her petty revenge of the day, Tsuneko finishes the rest of the bathroom and leaves the penthouse to start the rest of her work. The rest of the day passes by pretty easily; cleaning rooms, restocking amenities, and helping guests. She eats her lunch in the cafeteria with Sakiko and Chisato, the two of them idly chatting while she reads over the auction items. Tsuneko wants to see about them eventually getting lunch at Parole, the little bakery Ichinomiya and her went to. Not only was the cake good, the pastry chef was adorable, all she wanted to do was hug him when his face lit up red. 

She’s finished the last room on her work schedule and it’s time to head back to Wonderland for the tea party. She can’t help but snort at the ridiculousness of that thought. The Mad Hatter is a strange man and despite trying to remember how he fucking sold her, she can’t help having a soft spot for him. Tsuneko knocks on the door to the tea room

“Come in, come in,” The Hatter ushers her in with a smile, “help me decorate for the party, Alice.”

He brings her through one of the many doors in his Wonderland that leads to a bedroom. The walls are a soft green and there’s a canopy bed with teal blue sheets. There’s a huge oak book shelf across one of the walls, piled with a mixture of books and strange little trinkets. The room itself looks like a jam packed antique and oddity shop, just an eclectic mishmash of random things.

“Uh, what about this?” she points at a candelabra.

“Why did you pick that?”

“I don’t know, looks nice.” Tsuneko gives a shrug, does it really matter?

“That’s not a very good description,” The Mad Hatter pouts like she’s scolded him, “this is how you should describe it, Alice.”

He snatches it from his hand with a flourish and waves his hand around it. His expression is bright again, all wide eyed and smiley. The Mad Hatter’s emotions seem to shift on every little whim.

“The feel of it is as sensual as juicy pear. It’s cold as ice, the temperature like a chameleon which stirs a sluggish soul!”

“Pear are sensual….?” She raises an eyebrow at him, now she’s just wondering if he fucks pears or something.

“The candelabra was in a deep sleep, but now it’s alive. With the appropriate descriptions, any object can be brought to life. Word have both the power to give life and to kill.” all jokes aside, she can kind of see what he’s getting at, that describing things in a creative way kind of makes it more fun.

“I think I get it.” She can’t say this is really her forte, but there’s something fun about his over the top antics.

“Now, let continue choosing decorations.” The Hatter bustles around the crowded room. He grabs random objects and presents them to Tsuneko before going into some flowery description about them.

“The painting of the cobra,” he spins and shows it to her, “silently command words. It’s dainty as a house mouse, brimming with an inner passion rivaled only by Perseus.”

“Uhhh, but it also hides the secret pain of knowing Medusa’s tragedy,” Tsuneko offers, using her limited knowledge of Greek myth. His smile is her reward for the attempt, even if she’s still not confident. Creativity isn’t exactly her strong suit.

“Hidden in the depths of this bronze goddess statue is a shy spotted garden eel. But, the sweet curve of her breast is like a sad melody from Chopin!.”

“That’s a poetic way to say nice rack,” she turns to find something else when she sees two random figures, “ahHHH”

Tsuneko jumps back and trips over one of The Hatter’s treasures. There’s two grown men in furry animal heads, one a mouse and the other a rabbit. Both dressed and vivid suits and just looming in the doorway.

“Alice, that’s so rude.”

“What!? A wild furry convention just broke out in your bedroom and you wanna call me rude!?

“These are our guests, The March Hare and The Dormouse.”

“What up?” A rough masculine voice comes from The March Hare.

“My stress levels, that’s what!” Tsuneko yells as she scrambles to her feet, this just went up a few notches on the strange meter. The weird almost furries start silently packing the ‘decorations’ out into the tea room.

Once her heart starts pounding, she does her best to help set up the little party. Eventually, everything seems to be in order to The Mad Hatter’s standard. Cheshire watches idly by, her big fluffy tail flicking back and forth.

“Let the party begin,” The Mad Hatter decides once it’s all done, tapping a teacup with a spoon. A discordant tone starts to play, where it’s coming from she doesn’t know, it’s almost like a distorted carnival song.

Tsuneko takes a seat and so does the two partial furry guys. Food arrives and she can’t help raising an eyebrow. It’s all strangely and vividly colored, reminding her of those bright toxic frogs. All of the food is in weird shapes, from lizards to mushrooms and a variety of bug shapes.

She slowly bites down on one of the mushrooms, it looks the least odd of the items. It has the texture of gelatin with an almost chemically artificial sweetness to it, like cheap icing.

“The steam lizard is as soft as mashed potatoes! The butterflies are crispy and fried to perfection! The grasshopper tastes lovely with the brown butter sauce, but the ladybugs taste better with the raspberry!”

The Mad Hatter rambles on and on, while no one else speaks. The March Hare and The Dormouse silently eat, while Tsuneko tries to search for one of the little treats that is actually good. She picks up one of the little butterflies, decorated like a monarch one and nibbles on it. Tsuneko nearly spits it out, it taste like fondant, awful like sugary play-doh. She ends up just pouring raspberry sauce on her plate and eating that alone. Exactly, how delusional is the hatter?

“Isn’t this fun Alice?” The Hatter asks her.

“Yeah,” she tells him, sucking raspberry sauce off her finger. Cheshire hops into her lap and, once her fingers are cleaned, she starts scratching through her fur.

“Cheshire is so happy with you here, Alice. I am too, this was the best nothing day ever.” The Mad Hatter gives her a big smile. His party is winding down, the Hare and Dormouse leaving without a word. Despite the inherent strangeness, she can’t say she didn’t like the odd little party. The Mad Hatter is at the very least entertaining.

“It was fun,” she tries to think of a nice way to say this. He can’t actually like this food and it’s definitely not good for him. No one likes fondant or bad gelatin, “but, if you don’t mind, I’d like to cook the food for a tea party at some point.”

“Really,” his eyes go wide and then he smiles, “I’d love that!”

“Lovely, how about the day after tomorrow, so I can get a menu together?”

“I’d like to have  yorkshire pudding and lemon chiffon pie.”

“York...shire...pudding?” Her eyebrow raises at the unfamiliar dish name.  She knows what pudding is, but the word yorkshire has her stumped, like those terrier dogs?

“Don’t worry, it’s a very simple recipe from my home country.”

That gives her no more information, his voice has a slight accent and that food definitely isn’t Japanese, but she can’t discern his race underneath the thick makeup. The little treats he has at the tea party are shaped like lizards and bugs, maybe it’s pudding in the shape of  a dog? How would that even work, pudding can’t hold it’s shape, unless you freeze it. So, would it be like a dog pudding pop? That doesn’t sound right, either. She’ll just have to look it up later.

“Okay, I’ll-” her pager buzzes in her pocket, “what the fuck, I’m not even on shift!”

“Get up here, now, woman!” Oh barks demands when she answers it, someone tried to take a shower.

“They’re taking you away again,” The Mad Hatter pouts, staring at his feet. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

“Really?”

“Promise,” she says and offers her pinkie finger to him. He locks his finger with hers and a smile lights up his face, “you know what a pinkie promise means right?”

“That you promised?” His head tilts to the side a bit.

“It means that if someone breaks the promise, the other person can punish them. Traditionally, it’s cutting off the pinkie finger, ten-thousand punches, or swallowing a thousand needles. But, it’s up to the other person to decide what the punishment is. ”

“I don’t want to punish you,”

“That’s good, ‘cause you won’t have to. I have to help out Ichinomiya tomorrow, so I don’t know if I can stop by tomorrow, but I’ll be here the day after with as many treats as I can carry.”

“Okay, thank you Alice.”

“No worries, now if you excuse me, I have to go get yelled at.” She waves a bye to him and starts the journey back up to the penthouse. This should be interesting to say the least.

There will be a death threat involved, she knows that given Oh’s love of those. Even if it wasn’t her original intention, in all honesty she was just mad and feeling petty, this might be a chance to see how genuine those threats are. If the guy is willing to kill her over a petty prank, she’ll know how carefully she has to tread around him. Not that this will necessarily stop her from talking back and getting angry, because, well, that’s just kind of who she is. It’s not like she can’t bite her tongue and be kind to people she doesn’t like, but there’s some stuff she can’t let pass. And given how they purchased her at an illegal auction, she doesn’t really feel the need to treat them with anything resembling respect. They sealed their fate with her that night. Even if she loses the bet, she’ll never be kind or respectful to them.

She can hear laughter and yelling as she steps into the lounge. Baba, Kisaki, and Kishi are cracking up in hysterics. Ichinomiya is smirking and looking like he’s on the verge of laughing as well. Oh is in the middle of the lounge, yelling at them to shut up. His usually slicked back dark hair is falling into his face, just slightly damp, and the smell of artificial bubblegum is evident in the room.

“I was paged.”

All eyes are on her and she barely manages to keep the smile off her face. Oh glares at her and it gets easier, her breath catching in her throat. His hair down soften his appearance a bit, but there’s nothing but sheer venom in his dark blue eyes.

“What the hell is this?” He throws something at her and she just manages to catch the half melted piece of candy, no longer recognizable as Cinnamoroll.

“Hey, be careful, if that stuck to the floor, it’d take forever to clean,” she complains and toss the candy into the trash, trying to wipe some of the sticky residue off her skin.

“Did you seriously put candy in my shower head!?” He yells and storms closer to her, invading her personal space, looming over her.

“Yeah, obviously.”

“You’re not even going to deny it, really?!”

“You were an asshole, so I got back at you, simple as that.”

“Do you have a death wish?” He threatens in a low voice.

“Sor, don’t-”

“Sure, go for it,” she challenges, ignoring the shake in her voice and way her mouth’s gone dry. Her hands tremor, but she doesn’t break eye contact or back down.

“What was that?” His voice is practically a growl and he’s getting closer, trying to intimidate her.

“I said go for it,” she sits down one of the couches crossing her arms and legs as she glares up at the mobster, “put up or shut up.”

Oh doesn’t hesitate to pull a gun from the waistband of his pants and points it directly at her face, the metal glinting. Her chest tightens as her heart races, she swallows hard, but keep her eye contact.

He’s serious. He’s fucking serious.

“Stop,” Ichinomiya demands, from his position in his chair, looking over his tablet. Despite the harshness of his tone, he shows no signs of moving or looking up. Oh scoffs and lowers his gun.

“You’re not worth the bullet it would take to kill you.”

“And you weren’t worth the candy it took to ruin your night.”

“Are you seriously still pushing your luck!?”

“Yeah, I am, ‘cause this is fucking pathetic! You were gonna blow my brains out over a piece of fucking candy, do you hear how fucking stupid that is!?”

“Stop,” Ichinomiya repeats, this time harsher and more commanding, his eyes actually landing on the arguing pair.

“This is asinine,” Tsuneko grumbles and stands from the couch, walking towards the exit, “my shift has been over for hours, I’m going home, and I expect to get overtime for this bullshit!” she yells the last bit over her shoulder as she leaves.

She makes the journey back down to the employee locker room. Tsuneko has to focus on every little step, every movement, her eyes focus on just going. If she doesn’t do this she’ll break down and she knows it. She knows the tell tales signs. The way her throat constricts and her lips quiver.

The locker room is empty, all of the coworkers working the same shift as her have gone home and those on the later shift have already gone to work. Still she checks the bathroom and shower attached, no one, then she moves a trash can to block the door, so no one can come in.

She sits on the ground in front of her locker and pulls her knees to her chest. Her face is soaked in seconds as tears stream down her cheeks, hot against her skin. A disgustingly pathetic sob echoes in the locker room and she hates herself for making a noise like that, for being this weak.

She’s not been that good of a person and she knows that, she’s hurt a lot of people and done a lot of shitty things. A part of her wonders if it’s some sort of cosmic punishment, but her skepticism keeps her from committing to that line of thought. Anyone could have been put in her place, she could just as easily see Sakiko, Chisato, or even Erika somehow finding themselves in this predicament. 

She’d rather it be her than anyone else. In all honesty, even if it isn’t karma at work, if anyone deserves to suffer like this it’s her. But, that doesn’t make it any easier. Nothing can make this easy. This is only the second fucking day of the bet and she’s had a gun pointed at her. She hates this, she hates being stuck with those men and for no other reason than Ichinomiya gets a kick out of it.

Her sobs fade to whimpers and sniffles. She tries to wipe the mess of tears off of her face. She’s got to win this bet, she can’t let this drag on for more than two weeks. Tsuneko remembers the deadlines she’s looked into for applying to those smaller colleges back into Kyushu. She wants to win this damn bet and get as far away from this hotel as she can.

The alternative makes a fresh batch of tears fall from her eyes. She can’t live like this and running away wouldn’t be an option. She’d rather die than have to deal with them beyond that, but not at any of their hands. If she loses, she’d rather go out on her own terms. Memories of thick woven rope she bought a while back comes to mind, it’s been sitting at the back of her closet since she moved into the dorms.

She shakes her head, she’ll cross that bridge when she gets to it. Tsuneko forces herself back up to her feet, she’s got shit to do right now. Her legs are like jelly as she stands up and changes into her street clothes. Twelve more days, that’s all she has to survive, no matter what.

[thesecundus-blog]

Character Analysis/Bio

 Name: Mello (Mihael Keehl) Age: 20

Personality:

From a young age, Mello has been conditioned to win, which has served to shape the majority of his overall demeanor. Groomed to succeed L, the world’s top three detectives, Mello has known competition since he was young and carries it with him in everything he does. Life is a game and the world is his playground; he will willingly destroy everything in his way in his effort to be number one.  Paired with an inferiority complex that is brought to light when he states that no matter what he does, he always comes in second to his primary rival, this leads him to make overblown, extreme decisions in his quest to accomplish a goal.

Highly intelligent, he has the ability to deduce and predict his opposition’s thought-process and form his own plan of attack accordingly. While his brilliance was originally intended to be utilized for noble purposes, he instead chose to exploit it in order to rise to a high rank of a criminal enterprise. His intelligence shows in his ability to form successful plans and bring them to conclusion, as referenced by one of the mafia members with whom he associates when the man asks his comrades rhetorically whether Mello has ever been wrong in the short time he worked with them. Another area where he is knowledgeable is literature, as when telling the story of Beyond Birthday—the failed successor who went on to defy L—he quotes Holden Caulfield and refers to him as, “One of history’s most famous literary bullshitters.” Given that he was second in line to succeed a genius, it would be safe to assume that his intellect is extraordinary. His reference to Caulfield and the flippant comment that followed is a clue that at some point, he immersed himself in literature to the point of becoming a bit of a well-versed critic.  

Before the explosion that destroyed his hideout and wiped out his crew, Mello appears to practice self-preservation through delegation, a primary aspect of his personality denoting selfishness.  The duties he imparts on others range from kidnapping the Japanese chief of police’s daughter (who was also Kira’s sister), having underlings seal a deal with a death god—sacrificing half of their lifespan—in order to gain the ability to see his enemy’s names and subsequently write their names in the notebook to simple tasks ranging as low as holding a mobile phone to his ear. In order to win, he has to be alive. Making others do most of his dirty work is a way to ensure this, though he will also have people do small, unimportant things for him in order to assert himself on the food-chain. However, when backed into a corner, he has personally taken drastic actions that have injured and eventually killed him, showing that he's not at all incapable of being the one who will make a move directly.

If it suits his purposes, Mello will employ his high social skills in order to gain the favor of those around him. He will seek the group or individual with the most power and align himself with them in order to exploit their position(s) for his own needs. This will often lead him to operating outside of what would be considered legal restrictions. If criminals have more pull, he will align himself with criminals. However, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that if law-abiding groups have more influence, he will turn to them instead.  

Loyalty?  What’s that? He doesn't understand the meaning of the word. Through his actions involving the Los Angeles mafia, he shows no loyalty to the L title or the institution responsible for educating and housing him. Through setting explosives all through the building which he detonated with his remaining crew inside, he shows a disregard for those with whom he works. Having no loyalty, he is not trustworthy when forming pacts and alliances. If someone’s motivations align with his own, he will use that to further his own agenda and show no qualms when it comes to disposing of the other party. In the world of Death Note, possessing a person’s name in conjunction with their image gives the notebook holder the ability to kill an individual. There is one picture of Mello in existence and it is possessed by Near after Mello (for unknown reasons) left it behind at the orphanage where he resided. That Mello goes to retrieve this photo and offers information pertaining to the rules in the notebook as a fair exchange shows that he is well-versed in acceptable business tactics and will employ them even if he is not particularly fond of the individual with whom he is interacting. Disloyalty does not necessarily suggest a lack of honor.

That said, Mello is most likely not apt to become close to anyone in the traditional sense. Instead, he will interact with those he holds the most confidence in on a level that may resemble camaraderie though in the end, he is only interested in what the individuals contribute to whatever his given cause may be. Manipulation, however, would be an incorrect assessment as those with whom he associates possess the opportunity to mutually benefit from their interactions.

He possesses a commanding air about him, even going so far as to frighten a god of death with his demeanor. Where the death gods make it a point multiple times in canon to state that helping the human who possesses their notebook is not something that interests them, Mello succeeds in having one not only assist him, but work under him and take orders. It even appears that he hands orders down to the head of the mafia sect to which he belongs, though he does so in less in the way of barking commands, more along the lines of making infallible suggestions that he knows will be heeded. He is frequently shown sitting separate from his gang, as though he has established spaces for himself that others simply don't enter.

In the words of the death god, Sidoh: "For a human, he's scary."

His lack of subtlety shows in the most ridiculously obvious ways: he’s aesthetically flashy, he owns any room that he occupies with nothing more than his presence. He likes to <i>sprawl</i> when he sits, he has the ability to stand at 5’6” next to a hulking mob boss and make the other man look small in comparison. However, this isn’t just limited to the physical. His actions are chaotic: he has launched missiles, killed, kidnapped, blackmailed the President of the United States</i> (successfully), blown his own hideout with himself in it to avoid capture, and he has done it all with poise and style. While many of his moves may be driven by impulse, they are also the result of quick-thinking on his feet and the ability to carry out actions with little time between conception and execution.  

Despite his cool exterior, Mello operates on emotion more than it appears. It is shown that he is prone to outbursts as a child such as when he is informed by the school’s headmaster that L has been defeated and killed by Kira, he launches over the man’s desk and takes him by the collar, demanding confirmation that it is in fact true that his predecessor was killed. After this incident, he regains some form of composure and makes the impulsive decision to leave the school and set out on his own. Though given the option to work alongside Near under the L title, he refuses, stating that the two of them don’t get along. He then goes on to acknowledge his own shortcomings by claiming that unlike himself, Near is able to “calmly and unemotionally solve the puzzle.” He makes decisions based on frustration and impulse but will blanket them with a calm justification, though he is very aware that emotions drive his most reckless responses.

Victory, excitement, defeat: these things all show in his facial expressions at any given time.

All bets are off if someone is considered a fierce rival. Mello will hold a grudge forever and lose his composure in the face of said rivalry. Both as a child and an adult, Mello is shown to have little patience for Near’s presence, even going so far as to recklessly pull a gun on the other in the SPK headquarters where the majority of his team is armed. Doing so shows that despite his logic and thorough planning, when in the presence of a worthy opponent, Mello’s emotions will overcome common sense to the point where he will ignore his self-preservation instinct and risk his life in exchange for instant gratification. He is also not above cheating, as he has one of the mafia members execute most of Near's team via the notebook in order to set the other back in his race to capture Kira.

Morally, Mello cannot be defined as either “good” or “evil.” Whereas L sought to bring Kira to justice, Mello states during his hunt that he wants Kira’s head, and that he “will be number one.” It is merely a byproduct of his end-game success that thousands of lives would be saved and the world would ultimately benefit from the removal of Kira. However, this is not to suggest that he is evil in any sense. Though people may get caught in his line of fire, Mello does canonically show remorse for, not his actions, but the fallout from his actions. He expresses regret for the death of his former Wammy’s schoolmate who was eliminated in the process of kidnapping Kiyomi Takada, an underling of Kira.  He also states that he originally had no intention of inadvertently causing the death of Yagami  Soichiro, Kira’s father and the chief of the Japanese Task Force, during a raid on his hideout. He may be a firebomb, but he does occasionally feel guilt for his actions.

Based on how highly he speaks of L in the spinoff novel, Another Note, he appears to hold his predecessor in high esteem despite deviating from his methods to the point where he falls into the category of “criminal.” He laments the loss of a great man and states that his killer, Kira, is “Not worth the dirt beneath (L’s) shoes” and that meeting L was “The single most valuable memory” that he possessed.  He then goes on to gloat in reference to L’s achievements and shows an overall awe of the man he was set to succeed. Mello’s reverence for his predecessor directly contradicts his criminal lifestyle and goes to show that with him, there is no black or white. There are only grey areas, self-serving initiatives that hold no place on either side of the “good and evil” spectrum. What he views as good is anything falling in line with his own wants/ideals with evil being all that opposes him and stands in his way.

With a fierce determination, Mello is unmitigated chaos. He will do anything and everything to dominate any situation which he deems worthy of his attention, including sacrifice himself if it will prove that no one else could have accomplished the goal. His drive is the thing that fuels him, though it can also be his downfall. His capability is often eclipsed by his sense of inferiority—his need to constantly prove himself to anyone he deems competition—and this can lead to him going overboard with his execution to the point of endangering himself and everyone around him. He is a vain, dangerous, untrustworthy, disloyal, self-absorbed genius who has somehow convinced himself that any uncouth action he takes in the grand scheme of things is for the greater good. He wants the world, and he fully intends on taking it.

[chemicalmagecraft]

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 11

A/N: College stinks. This is a bit of a shorter chapter because of that and the fact that I don't want to start an entire arc mid-chapter. Don't worry though, next chapter's probably going to be a doozy to make up for it.

And in this chapter we see some more of that offscreen character development Bakugou had.

xoxoxo

I gulped. There was a huge mob of reporters standing in front of the gates, worse than any swarm of skeletons my Illusion Barrier could spawn. Their large, beady, camera-like eyes turned to focus on me, and they lurched over to me in a single horde like ravenous, information-hungry zombies. "Young man, have you been in a class with All Might yet?" the leader of the pack asked me.

"Eep," I said. "W-well..." I was cut off from an oppressive feeling coming from my left. I turned to see Kacchan glaring at the press gang.

"We're going to class," Kacchan said coldly. "Would you kindly fuck the hell off?"

"Hey, weren't you that one boy from the sludge mon-" Kacchan glared harder.

"Actually, we were both involved in the sludge monster incident..." I corrected.

"Wasn't the other kid Quirkless?"

"My Quirk is really weird, okay? I only really learned how to use it after that..."

Kacchan angrily cleared his throat. "Now could we please get to our class!?" he demanded.

"But-"

"Pretty fuckin' sure what you're doing is illegal," Kacchan said.

"And it's our job as heroes in training to report crimes in process, right?" I contributed.

"Right, so how 'bout you guys disperse before we go get one of our pro hero teachers, who I'm willing to bet won't like how you won't let us through."

"I really don't," Aizawa-sensei said from behind me. "Now please let my students go to their class unless you have a genuine, valid reason to keep them from their education aside from 'I want to know how All Might teaches.'"

"If it's any consolation, he's nice and gave us some pointers on our Quirks," I said.

"You got your statement, now let us through," Aizawa-sensei said. The crowd let us pass, though the lead reporter lady tried to chase us and was blocked by the security barrier.

"What the hell is with that? I could have died!" The reporter yelled.

"That thing's meant to catch villains who try to enter!" Kacchan yelled. "If it comes down, that means you're trying to trespass!"

Aizawa-sensei sighed. "I'll deal with this. You to get to the classroom."

xoxoxo

Kacchan and I summoned our elementals, causing some oohs and aahs from our classmates. "So these are our elementals," I said. They waved for the class, showing off a small application of their powers as well. "They're sorta like spirits made from a certain element of magic. I don't know if we create them or summon them from nature with the elemental ritual and they don't seem to have any answers. My theory is that they do exist in nature, but without a summoner they're too... primordial, if that makes sense, to do anything. It's only by forming a contract with a summoner that they can take humanoid forms. Any questions?"

"They're so cute!" Mina said.

Pyra smiled. "That wasn't a question, but thank you," she said.

"For whatever reason, they look like kids," Kacchan said. "Apparently how powerful they are is dependent on skill level or something. Our elementals are actually at the second stage or whatever. They looked even younger a couple months ago."

Tokoyami walked up to me and bowed on one knee. "Honored keeper of ancient knowledge, wouldst thou teach me thy power?" he said in a dramatic voice.

"What the fuck did I just listen to?" Kacchan asked to nobody in particular.

"Child of shadow," I said, playing along with him.

"Jesus fucking Christ Deku what the actual fuck," Kacchan groaned.

"Thou art but a fledgling in the ancient art of magyck, yet thy drive to learn is great."

"How the actual fuck did you manage to audibly pronounce 'magic' like that?"

I continued despite Kacchan's interruptions and the popup for Magycked Words. "For thy great ambition, I bequeath upon thee this." I raised my hands into the air, using Inventory to make a scroll slowly materialize from thin air, glowing with magical light. The scroll dropped into my hands and I held it out to him.

"Okay, so would anyone else like to fucking point out that Deku literally fucking had that ready in advance?" Kacchan asked.

"I thank thee for the arcane knowledge thou hast granted upon me," Tokoyami said as he gingerly accepted the scroll from me.

"Hey fun fact apparently words like thee and thou are actually informal, which makes this shitshow a lot more stupid," Kacchan said dourly.

"My only request for thee is to share this arcanum among any of our peers who should ask for it," I told him.

He bowed his head. "I solemnly swear it." He got up, gave me a small smile, and said, "And thank you for playing along..."

"Right, that's it. I'm fucking done. Taking a nap 'til Aizawa-sensei comes back," Kacchan said, then sat down at his desk. "Thanks for not yelling at me, Iida," he muttered before putting his head down.

"I've decided to not be too annoyed about that so long as you don't curse too much when class is actually in session," Iida explained. "Speaking of which, I believe we should take our seats soon. Aizawa shouldn't be too much longer."

"I've actually been here for all of Midoriya's speech, I just wanted to watch," Aizawa-sensei said from behind his desk, causing me to jump. "Now where should you guys be right now?" We all quietly took our seats. "Good. Now, first I'd like apologize if anyone was inconvenienced by the reporters outside. We're taking care of it. Next, I'd like to say that I saw the recordings from yesterday's Hero Basic class and I have some notes. Off the top of my head, Todoroki, you should try to be a little more efficient. Maybe try freezing the room instead of the whole building next time. Mineta, actually try. If anyone wants notes in more detail, talk to me. Now, what we're doing today is going to decide your future." Everyone tensed up. 

"You need to pick a class representative." 

And with that, the mood immediately lightened. Just about everyone raised their hands and asked to be class representative. It made sense; while being the class representative is normally a responsibility that people don't want, in the hero course it's a really good idea because hero agencies tend to notice people who take responsibilities like that.

"Everyone!" Iida shouted over the din. "We need to work this over in an orderly fashion! Perhaps we should put this to vote!"

"Don't we barely know each other?" Asui asked. "And won't everyone vote for themselves?"

"All the better!" Iida stated. "Anyone who has already managed to gain the trust of enough people to get the most votes would most likely be the best candidate for class representative."

After all of the votes were counted, the rankings were put on the board. "How did I get four votes!?" I asked. I really had no idea how that happened. I mean, I voted for Iida.

"Right, Midoriya's the representative and Iida and Yaoyorozu can figure out who's deputy between them," Aizawa-sensei said. After me, Iida and Yaoyorozu were tied for second place with two votes each.

xoxoxo

"I love the food here," Uraraka said as she ate some rice. She, Iida, Kacchan, and I were eating lunch together.

"You're literally eating only rice," Kacchan said.

"Well some of us are on a budget, Kacchan!" Uraraka said.

Kacchan twitched. "Don't fucking call me Kacchan. And can you seriously not afford anything other than rice?"

Uraraka blushed. "My parents don't really have too much money... It's already expensive enough for me to be here..."

Kacchan sighed and got up. "You're really gonna make me buy you something aren't you?"

She flailed her arms in front of her. "N-no! You don't have to do that for me!"

"You need to eat actual fucking food, idiot!"

"I don't want you to have to spend that much money just for me!"

"Too bad, my mom's a model! Just about everything on the menu's fucking chump change to me!"

Uraraka stopped her protesting and gasped. "Your mom's Bakugou Mitsuki! How did I miss that? You guys are almost identical!"

"Fuck if I know."

Uraraka pressed her fingers together and blushed a little. "Y'know, I'd kinda like to know how she looks that young. She's almost forty and she's still pret-"

"Aaaaand I'm gonna stop you right there before you start talking about how hot my mom you just said looks like me is. It's weird enough when strangers do it." He sped off. "I hope you like curry!"

"To answer your question, though," I said after Kacchan left, "it's because her Quirk, Glycerin, makes her sweat moisturizer." I grinned a bit. "It's actually a little interesting. While only the sweat from Kacchan's hands explodes, the sweat all over his body is altered, which is apparently a leftover of his mom's Quirk. Theoretically, Kacchan will age about as well as his mom does thanks to that."

"I didn't know Emitter Quirks could be passed on like that," Iida said. "I thought it was only Mutation Quirks that did that."

"No, Emitter Quirks can do that too, though it's normally a lot more subtle. Even though it's not my Quirk, I'm actually heat-resistant and have slightly more fire affinity because of my dad's Fire Breath, and my mother and I have more water affinity and can cry a lot thanks to her mother's Quirk, Ocular Gushers, which let her shoot water from her tear ducts like some sort of reverse heat vision. I haven't figured out how to do it at will, though now that I think about it I should probably be able to do it with magic." I felt my cheeks heat up at the looks they were giving me and chuckled a bit. "I... like talking about Quirks..."

Uraraka smiled. "I think it's pretty cool! Plus, Yuuei is definitely the kind of school to do that!"

"Thanks," I said. "Though how exactly do you know about Auntie Mitsuki? No offense, but you don't exactly strike me as the type to really follow the fashion world..."

Uraraka blushed. "W-well sometimes I just read the articles!"

For some reason, Raine randomly started cheering loudly. I jumped and Blaise reassured me that she hadn't stabbed anyone or anything before I had to look for her. "Are you okay, Midoriya?" Iida asked.

"O-oh, I'm fine," I smiled. "Raine just started randomly cheering for some reason, so I had to make sure she didn't stab anything. She's really enthusiastic about stabbing things..."

"That's a little disconcerting," Uraraka said.

"She also started gushing about you after seeing you for some reason..."

Uraraka stopped eating her rice and cleared her throat. "Okay, so I'm a little uncomfortable now. Iiiiis there by any chance a way to detect elementals?"

I shrugged. "I only know one detection spell, and it'd only work on tertiary elementals. Oh, by the way, while we're on the subject of tertiary elements, I have reason to believe gravity is one, so you might want to check that."

"Okay, I'll put that on my magic to-do list, right below 'Detect Elemental,'" she said, then began fiddling with her chopsticks. "Hey, let's talk about something that doesn't involve an invisible stabhappy spirit who likes to talk about me? Hey, Deku you're class rep now! Let's talk about how you got two other votes!"

"What do you mean, 'two other votes?'" Iida asked.

"Well Deku obviously voted for himself, and I voted for him too, so who were the other two?"

"Actually I voted for Iida," I butted in, "and if I had to guess, one of the votes for me was Tokoyami because I gave him that scroll."

"AMONG OTHER THINGS, DEKU!" I heard Kacchan's voice from somewhere in the cafeteria.

Dune giggled. "Context." I rolled my eyes.

"I suppose I should add that I voted for you, not myself," Iida added. "And thank you for putting as much faith in me as I put in you. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, thanks to the both of you, too," I grinned. "Both of you voted for me, even though I don't think I really deserve it..."

"Dude, you literally discovered magic," Uraraka said bluntly.

"I did it accidentally, and we only found out thanks to Kacchan..."

"You managed to discover magic without even meaning to!" Uraraka shouted. I noticed that she'd put her chopsticks down and they had a glowing pink aura around them. She grinned and put her hand on her rice bowl. "Speaking of which," she said, then her rice bowl started glowing pink too. "Iida, pick up my rice bowl."

Iida tried to pick up the rice, but gave up after struggling a bit. "Did you amplify the gravity on your rice?" he asked.

I picked up her chopsticks, which felt like they were made of lead, and used Fuckery Detection on it. "I think she did. This is pretty cool, Uraraka!" Some alarms blared, causing me to drop the really heavy chopsticks. "Warning. Level three security breach," a voice said from the same speakers that the alarms were coming from. "What's that mean?" I asked.

"This is the first time I've actually heard this alarm and I'm a third year!" a student near us shouted over the racket. "It means there's an intruder!" Everyone started panicking and stampeded to the exit, and I was swept away from my friends in the tide of students despite my high STR stat. 

"G-guys!" I tried to shout over the noise. "Someone could get seriously hurt if we keep doing this!" I tried some more, but I just couldn't get anyone to listen to me... Eventually, though, I saw Iida spinning through the air like he was trying to use his Quirk in zero gravity. Before I could do anything, he hit the wall over the emergency exit sign.

"EVERYONE! CALM DOWN!" he shouted, causing the mob to stop. "It's just the media! They managed to make it past the front gate somehow!" He pointed toward some windows. "Take a look! There's nothing to worry about!"

"Oh hey, the spinny guy's right!" One of the students said.

"And the police are coming!"

"Now that we've calmed down, I suggest we form an orderly line. All of that pushing and shoving could've seriously hurt someone!" Everyone followed Iida's orders and calmly evacuated. Except, of course, for Kacchan, who decided to bring Uraraka her curry.

xoxoxo

"We've still got to pick the other class officers," I told the class. "But first, I'd like to step down as class representative. I'm honored, but I don't feel like I'm up to the task. I couldn't help at all when the code three happened, and my deputy managed to calm everyone down and get a handle on the situation. I'm nominating Iida as class representative and Yaoyorozu as his replacement as deputy."

"I can get behind that," Kirishima said. "Iida really handled that situation! Let's hear it for Emergency Exit!"

"Thank you, Midoriya!" Iida said with a bow. "I will not let you down!"

xoxoxo

A/N: So I don't know when Raine turned into Froakie Toga, but she totes did and it's funny.

And speaking of Uraraka, I was going to have gravity magic not have any sort of glow at all, but then I heard that we could be independent together. Also I had a question that I put on my tumblr but nobody actually answered because I only have like twenty followers, so I'mma put it here too. Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon? This is most assuredly just for curiosity and will not at all have any bearing on anything in this fanfic. No reason at all for asking aside from curiosity. None whatsoever.

EDIT: So it seems that I have made an error in the syntax of my question, which I take full blame for. When I wrote "Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon?" some people misinterpreted it to be "Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon?" with an inclusive "or," or asking if you guys thought Uraraka would be willing to play one of those games. At least, that is what I assume happened with the two reviews I got which attempted to answer the question, which I would like to note that I am still grateful for even if they didn't actually answer the question I wanted answered. However, I meant "Do you guys think Uraraka would play Pokémon Sun or Moon?" with an exclusive "or." In other words, in the hypothetical scenario that some omnipotent being were to for whatever reason grant Uraraka a choice between being able to play the game titled Pokémon Sun or the game titled Pokémon Moon despite her economic status, which would be her first choice? Science may be so amazing, but isn't grammar infuriating?

xoxoxo

And guess what! I thought of an omake!

Screenshots

"Midoriya, are you taking notes?" Cementoss asked me. "You aren't touching your notebook."

I jumped a bit. I wasn't really paying too much attention to his lecture because I already knew what he was talking about. "O-oh, I actually found out a way to automatically record lectures word-for-word with my Quirk, so I'm kind of testing that out..."

"Ah, how creative," he complimented me. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing?"

"So I've known for a while that my Quirk lets me do things like see subtitles like I'm in a video game, but recently I found out that if I clench my buttcheeks and bite my tongue just right, my Quirk takes a screenshot of my vision that I can view later, HUD and all."

"So what you're saying is that you're taking a screenshot every time my 'text' changes?"

"Yes."

"How many screenshots have you made?"

I checked the new "Gallery" tab. "Fourty."

"I think it might just be easier to write my words down..."

[osmw1]

Dimension Wave   Chapter 29 — Dimension Wave: Conclusion

—?!

It wasn’t clear who landed the final blow, but Cerberus let out as if he had been torn apart. At the same time, a flash of white light blinded everybody in the instance as they braced themselves for the next attack. The light dissipated and revealed white clouds on a backdrop of blue… just as the skies had been before all of this happened. White petals blew across the battlefield; we were now in a field of flowers in full bloom.

“We did it!”

Everybody was in high spirits and some were crying out from our shared triumph.

“Good job, team.” “Well done!” “That was a doozy.” “Hell yeah.”

A victory fanfare played in the background—this is an MMO, so of course it did. I sat down on the bed of flower as both my—as both Kizuna†Exceed’s body and mind were exhausted. The tension and anxiety I was holding back crushed me all at once now. It was extremely stressful avoiding getting hit as a Spirit.

—The first wave of Dimension Wave has been defeated!

The game popped up a message in my vision. There was also a ranking of who contributed the most. Let’s see where I placed…

—Overall rank #77: Kizuna†Exceed

Looks like I’m 77th place among all other players. There were a few other rankings as well.

—Total damage given rank #1: Tsugumi†Exceed

No surprise there. That scythe was great for crowd control.

Oh, there’s a ranking for resources contribution as well. Alto and Romina were in the top 10. They did a lot to back us up, eh?

Another category was “Everyday”. I assume that’s for like activities, like cooking and other roleplaying elements? I’m at #542 for that.

“Holy! Look! There’s someone who took 80,000 points of damage!”

That guy was #2 for most damage received, but who’s #1?

—Total damage received rank #1: Kizuna†Exceed

… hey, that name looks familiar! I fell prostrate on the ground. Now that I look at myself, my clothes had been unequipped, leaving me in my underwear.

Name/ Kizuna†Exceed Race/ Spirit Energy/ 19,550 Mana/ 8,100 Serin/ 46,780

Skills/ Energy Production X, Mana Production VII, Fishing Mastery IV, Hate & Lure I, Gutting Mastery IV, Cleaver III, Speed Gutting III, Naval Combat IV, Transmutation I

… well, that makes sense.

“Required level to equip… Energy, in my case…”

I never knew there was a level requirement for my clothes. They got unequipped because I don’t have enough Energy now, I assumed. Guess I don’t have much of a choice but to use my old equipment. I’m glad I kept everything in my inventory. I clicked out of the rankings and looked through other information.

—Buffs and item usage

There were patch notes for new skills, equipment, and other changes as well. More weapon types were added too. Something I was just talking about is the new specialization for scythes, called war scythes; dual blades derived from one-handed swords; and katanas from two-handed swords. I can’t tell for sure unless I check with the next one, but I’m sure there are new items and skills that are affected by each Dimension Wave.

Oh, hey, it said that fishing rods can now be equipped with reels. I’ve gotta get me one of those. I kept scrolling through the notes.

“Racial powers unlocked?”

That line caught my attention while I was skimming. First off, lemme see what’s in store for Spirits.

—Stone of Mediation implemented.

A crystal that allows its user to project their soul. Or, at least, that’s what this Spirit-exclusive rock claims to be able to do. Every Stone of Mediation has a different effect. Some may shorten the amount of time needed to produce Energy or reduce skills’ Energy usage.

Finally, it looks like we all get something from participating in Dimension Wave. Ranks 1-5, 6-100, 101-1,000, 1,001-5,000 all get different items.

And since I’m number 77, I should be getting something pretty decent. I clicked Yes on the dialog box asking me whether I’d like to receive my reward. Then, a slot machine with numbers and fruits on its reels popped up in my vision. After a quick spin, three icons of souls lined up in the center.

—Energy Blade obtained.

It looked so fitting for a Spirit like me, though the description looked far from normal.

Energy Blade Weapon type/ Not applicable Attack/ 0 Prerequisites/ Must be a Spirit User must have at least 2 Energy to equip this weapon. The user charges up the blade with Energy then unleashes all of it in one single blow. Beware that all charged Energy will be expended upon making an attack, regardless of its success.

All that’s there to the weapon is just its handle. It’s reminiscent of old movies and anime, like how the blade part would only appear if the sword chooses its wielder. It sounds cool and all, but I’ll hold off judgement until I try it out. Personally, I don’t have strong feelings either way. Since it’s a Spirit-exclusive weapon, it’s quite the oddball. I bet it’ll be tricky to use as well. At the very least, it’s not an option for me in my current state. It won’t be long until I’m back in business, so I’ll just keep it safe for now.

“Kizuna.”

Shouko showed up just as I had finished stowing away the Energy Blade into my inventory. Just like everybody else, I congratulated her with a “Well done out there”. But even though we’ve defeated the Dimension Wave, she looked less than happy. I couldn’t help but worry about her.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” “No, it’s just that… I overdid it out on the battlefield, causing you to suffer such terrible damage…” “Oh, that’s what’s bothering you? Don’t worry about it. The true winners in games are ones who enjoy themselves, isn’t that right?” “Still—”

Shouko seemed to be bothered about me losing my Energy. I had been swarmed by the mob, hurt myself in trying to protect Tsugumi, and nearly lost my life when I was drawing the boss’ aggro. Even if I had voluntarily done all that, she must be feeling guilty about all of the damage I faced. But I knew. I knew Shouko had tirelessly used her counterattack skill to protect me. Still, the fan-type weapon needs to be charged so, of course, she couldn’t block 100% of Cerberus’ attacks. Nevertheless, it was touching to hear that she had been thinking of me the entire time.

“More importantly, the sea! I mean, I’d love to head back out onto the water, but with the little Energy I have left, I’ll just be dead weight.” “Nonsense. I will help you reach… no, rather, I wish to be by your side and reach beyond the horizon together.” “I couldn’t ask for anybody better. I knew that before, but seeing you out there today, I’m even more sure of it.”

I can’t forget how graceful of an acrobatic Shouko was when facing Cerberus. And frighteningly, she’s as skilled as Tsugumi. Even though her prowess suits the frontlines much better, knowing her and her personality, I’m sure she’ll choose to stay with me. But I know better than to outright ask her to return to the frontlines.

“It’s been a long day. Let’s head back to the First and get some rest.” “Oh, but…” “Hmm?”

Shouko pressed her index finger to her lips, cueing me to stay quiet. Then, she looked over at Cerberus’ corpse. I get it now… gutting, eh? I was going to tell Roz and his party about the power of gutting-type weapons, but I didn’t get the chance to do so. I definitely had a hard time keeping cool back there. I mean, it’s only natural to get mad when someone insults you and your friends, right?

We made our way over to where Cerberus fell and eyed the other players. Many of them were already teleporting out of the instance since the raid was finished. The thriftier ones were walking home while the frontliners didn’t even bat an eye when they used their Tomes of Returning. Some of the braver ones were even saying how they’re headed off for the next battle. There were still too many people around for me to start gutting—that is if I still wanted to keep this a secret.

“Shall we stay here for a while? It’d be a waste to not enjoy the scenery.” “… yeah, why not?”

The bed of flowers was simply fantastic—both in the sense that it was beautiful but also unrealistically so. It’s almost as if the devs put it in here for us players to relax after the raid. Well, Cerberus’ corpse lying there kinda spoils the view though.

“Miss Kizuna!” “Oh, hey, Yamikage. Good work back there.” “I thank ye, but I bear exciting news.” “Ooh, what is it?” “I am now the highest ranked Spirit!” “Number one in the Energy rankings, eh?”

It’s no surprise for someone who has accumulated a total of more than a million Energy. I bet Circle Drain contributed a lot to her growth too.

“Where’s Sheryl anyway?” “… I have been here the whole time.” “Agh! Don’t scare me like that.”

Sheryl suddenly spoke up from behind me. I had no idea she was with us. It’s almost like she concealed herself or something. Well, I’m probably unperceptive because I’m just too tired.

Near the end of the raid, Sheryl was still fighting the mob to not get in our way. It’s boring, but someone’s gotta do it. Or rather, it shows exactly how considerate and attentive Sheryl is. Like that time with the bird-type monster who tried to run from us. She’s always there to back us up and to take care of loose ends. Anyway, it looks like we’re all back together now.

“I don’t think I need to explain much, but let’s enjoy the garden here while we’re waiting to do that thing I always do.” “‘Tis a splendid idea!” “‘kay.” “Yes, let’s.”

I’ll be honest. I’ve never sat around in a park to enjoy the cherry blossoms or anything like that in real life. But perhaps I’m still feeling the adrenaline rush from the fight, this was a little exciting. … I mean, as exciting as looking as flowers can be.

“It’s a little boring to sit around with nothing. I’ll make sure I take up cooking next time, so we can have a picnic or something.” “Will it not be straining your Energy reserves, Miss Kizuna?” “You’re right, but it’s something I should learn sooner or later. It’ll be useful for our voyage on the seas.” “That would not be a bad idea. We bring some food on board, but if we run out, we can rely on cooking.” “Since we have Shouko and Yamikage as specced purely for combat and Sheryl for crafting. I guess that leaves me as the team’s cook.” “… only if you’re okay with it.” “It’ll synergize well with my weapon type too.”

I’ll catch and cook our meals. Now that I think about it, I don’t do much with the fish after I catch them. Why didn’t I take up cooking sooner? The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Hmm? It sounds like someone’s running up to us. It was Tsugumi and Roz’s party.

“Big brooooo!”

She barreled towards me and squeezed me tightly in her arms. Maybe because I’m low on Energy, but I didn’t have the strength to pry her off of me.

“That was some amazing support there, Kizuna.” “You too, Roz. Almost all of you are ranked in the top 100, right?” “Ah, we were just lucky.” “You guys wanna join us? We were just about to celebrate our victory.”

Roz looked like he thought about it for a quick second. Well, I don’t blame him for being hesitant in front of total strangers.

“I hate to say no, but we’ve got to get going.” “You guys heading out for more grinding?” “Nah, but we’ve gotta figure out our equipment and skills.” “Frontliners sure have it rough. Well, good luck with that then.”

They’re throwing themselves back out onto the battlefield right after a huge raid battle. Honestly, I’m ready to pass out already. Frontliners are just so impressive. Well, I mean, I’ve been in their position before too. I know just how addictive games can be. Roz didn’t look like he was here just to say hi.

“Anyways, I was hoping to talk to the girl with the fan.” “Yes? What is it?”

Shouko looked at him with suspicion. He’s gonna ask her to join their party, I bet. Well, after seeing Shouko perform like that during the raid, everybody should be begging her to join their parties.

“I was wondering if you’d like to join—” “No, thank you.”

She cut Roz off before he could even finish his sentence. Yamikage and Sheryl looked like they wanted to say something but judging by how quickly she rejected him, I don’t think anyone could change Shouko’s mind. It was a bit of a shock, frankly speaking. I wouldn’t have expected her to flatly reject him like that, given how considerate Shouko is. She was quick to understand what he wanted as well. But even for being such an upright and proper lady, Shouko has her brash moments too, I guess. To refuse him like that is not unimaginable. Rosette seemed a little taken aback as well.

“But with your skill, you’d be perfect for the frontlines.” “I will follow Kizuna no matter what.”

… I’ve knew from the get-go that Shouko is like that, but still, that’s super embarrassing for me. I can still remember how politely she bowed to me when we first met.

“I see… sorry for trying to poach your party member like that, Kizuna.” “No worries. That’s just how Shouko is.” “Yeah, I can tell… those bastards have no idea what they’re missing out on.”

I’m guessing he’s referring to Shouko’s previous party members. It’s easy to judge us Spirits by the rumors that surround us. A lot of people fall into a bad habit of blindly listening to whatever strategy sites or wiki pages instead of seeing it for themselves. It really is a shame for them. I’ve really hit it off with Shouko. Not only is she a great person, she’s real skilled at combat too.

“Alrighty, then we’ll be heading off.” “Gotcha. I can’t wait to fight alongside you guys again.”

Roz and his party waved goodbye before teleporting away. But my sister, Tsugumi, is still clung onto me like a koala.

“Listen…” “What’s good, bro?” “Your party’s gone already, y’know?”

Tsugumi looked over her shoulder to see no traces of her teammates anywhere. Then, she shook her head and looked at me.

“What’s up?” “… big bro, are you guys going to sit here and chill for a bit?” “That’s what we’re planning to do. What about it?” “…”

For some reason, Tsugumi was staring straight into my eyes. She only looks like this when she’s really concentrating at her games. She must be thinking long and hard about something. No one—not even Kanata—can break her concentration. It’s like Tsugumi gets into some sort of a trance. Shouko gets into a hyper-aware state like this sometimes too. But Tsugumi? She only gets like this when she’s doing something she likes… that is to say when only when she’s gaming. And seemingly as if she’s figured it all out, she beamed with a smile.

“Alright! I’ve made up my mind! See ya, big bro!”

Then, she disappears after using a Tome of Returning. What was that all about?

“Anyway. Let’s go enjoy the flowers, shall we?”

We sat around chatting until everyone around us had left.

contents: /prologue/ /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /ch025/ /ch026/ /ch027/ /ch028/ /ch029/ /next/

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[a-year-of-musicals]

Day 209/365 - Spongebob Squarepants

Day 209/365 - Spongebob Squarepants

By Various Artists

SpongeBob SquarePants awakens and happily welcomes the day with his pet snail, Gary (Bikini Bottom Day). He greets various friends in his hometown of Bikini Bottom - including his best friend Patrick, his neighbor Squidward, and his squirrel friend Sandy Cheeks - as he walks to the Krusty Krab restaurant. At work, his boss Mr. Krabs tells his whale daughter Pearl she will manage the restaurant one day. With Pearl uninterested, SpongeBob hints that he dreams of being the manager. Mr. Krabs laughs at the idea, telling SpongeBob he is "just a simple sponge" and could not handle the position (Bikini Bottom Day Reprise 1). The day continues uneventfully until a violent tremor suddenly rocks the entire town.

The mayor announces all citizens should return to their homes. A television news report reveals that the tremor was caused by a nearby volcano that will erupt (No Control). SpongeBob checks up on Patrick, who is upset over the emergency. To cheer him up, SpongeBob reiterates that they are best friends forever (BFF). With the town in a panic over the impending doom, married villains Plankton and Karen try to convince the citizens to enter an escape pod that will take them away from the volcano. But, the two have a secret scheme planned. Once the residents are inside, they will hypnotize them into liking the chum that they serve at their restaurant, the Chum Bucket (When the Going Gets Tough). The townspeople, unknowingly, support this idea and decide to hold a last-minute music concert to raise money for the transport. Squidward, who dreams of getting to perform his own one-man show, is immediately shut down when he brings it up. Instead, Pearl suggests that the famous rock band, the Electric Skates, plays at the concert. Everyone agrees and Squidward is named manager of the event.

SpongeBob, however, is against the idea of leaving town and believes the citizens should fight to save Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob thinks back on Mr. Krabs' words from earlier and wonders if he could really save the town (Just a Simple Sponge). He decides that he can think of a solution with the help of Patrick and Sandy. Together, the three could build a device that could stop the volcano. Mr. Krabs sees the upcoming disaster as a money-making opportunity, holding an "apocalypse sale" on his signature fast food dish, Krabby Patties. Pearl worries about her father's greedy obsession with money, believing that it overshadows his care for her (Daddy Knows Best).

Meanwhile, SpongeBob convinces Patrick and Sandy to team up, climb the volcano, and stop it from erupting with an invention Sandy will build. Sandy has smarts and Patrick has strength, but SpongeBob does not know what he can contribute. Regardless, the friends are determined to succeed (Hero Is My Middle Name). Before they can start their plan, a group of cultist sardines appear. They found wisdom in Patrick's simple thoughts at the town meeting and decide to make him their new leader (Super Star Sea Savior). Patrick likes the idea and decides to back out of SpongeBob's plan so that he can bask in self-glory, angering SpongeBob. The two fight and end their "BFF" status. After Patrick leaves, Sandy reminds SpongeBob that things are bound to be okay. The entire company reveals their personal thoughts and feelings about the impending disaster (Tomorrow Is).

After intermission, Patchy again sneaks onstage, telling the audience that pirates are persecuted by others because of stereotypes (Poor Pirates). Once again, security intervenes to chase Patchy away. SpongeBob wakes up and greets a new day: the day when the volcano is expected to erupt (Bikini Bottom Day Reprise 2). Bikini Bottom has fallen into anarchy and chaos: the mayor has employed a dictator-like rule over the people and an angry mob has started to hunt down Sandy, thinking her scientific achievements are the cause for the volcano's impending eruption. Sandy is able to hide from the mob and show SpongeBob her invention, the Eruptor Interrupter. They plan to throw it inside the volcano and save the town.

Back in Bikini Bottom, Plankton worries Sandy and Spongebob will successfully climb up the mountain and save the town.But Karen tells him that she found his avalanche maker.She says they can use it to create an avalanche that Spongebob and Sandy won’t survive.Electric Skates finally arrive (Bikini Bottom Boogie). Squidward asks if he may perform with them as an opening act. The band will only allow it if Squidward buys every item on a ridiculously long shopping list. Meanwhile, SpongeBob and Sandy make their way up the volcano with great difficulty. Sandy tries to lift their spirits by reminding them of what they have learned in karate class about never giving up (Chop to the Top). When they stop to rest, SpongeBob cannot help but think of how he misses Patrick and wishes he was there to help them. In Bikini Bottom, Patrick finds life as a guru unexciting and misses SpongeBob as well, prompting him to leave his followers behind to help SpongeBob ((I Guess) I Miss You).

Meanwhile,we see Karen preparing the avalanche machine. Plankton then nervously says that his real name (Sheldon) is small sounding and he then asks to be called big guy. Karen happily agrees to call him big guy and she jumps into Planktons arms and the two have a very romantic kiss. Squidward obtains all but one of the items on the Electric Skates' list (seahorse radish), so the band refuses to let him perform despite his pleas, calling him a "loser" in the process. Their use of this word causes Squidward - constantly called a loser in childhood by his classmates - to snap back at the band in anger, and they end up quitting. Now alone, Squidward insists that he is not a loser and performs a show-stopping song with a tap dance number and a back-up chorus in his imagination (I'm Not a Loser). Back on the mountain, Plankton and Karen use the avalanche maker to make the avalanche.SpongeBob starts to fall when Patrick saves him with a jetpack Sandy invented. The two reaffirm their friendship and follow Sandy to the summit of the mountain. When they reach the top, neither Sandy nor Patrick are able to reach the rim where they need to throw the device in. They turn to SpongeBob, who doubts his skills (Just a Simple Sponge Reprise). They remind him that he is the only one who can squeeze through tight areas and that his optimism has gotten them this far. With new determination, SpongeBob throws the Eruptor Interrupter in. They head back to Bikini Bottom and wait to see if their plan will work.

In Bikini Bottom, the entire city is in anarchy. Since the band is gone, there will be no concert and no escape pod. SpongeBob tries to calm everyone down, insisting that whatever happens, they have each other (Best Day Ever). When the time comes for the volcano to erupt, everyone braces for their deaths. The time passes without an eruption, signaling that the Eruptor Interrupter has worked. With Bikini Bottom safe, everyone decides that they should celebrate by having a new concert with Pearl as the lead vocalist. Patchy descends from above on a rope, having finally managed to sneak into the show, and joins in (Bikini Bottom Day Reprise 3). During the curtain call, the cast performs the (SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song).

Favourite Songs: Bikini Bottom Day, Just A Simple Sponge, Tomorrow Is, I Guess I Miss You, I’m Not A Loser and Best Day Ever

Favourite Character: Squidward

We both play Clarinet - ‘nuff said!

[its-filmfixer-blog]

Fixing ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016)

The goals of this fix are as follows;

1. Use the same basic plot structure of Batman v. Superman to primarily fix the following issues with the original film.

2. Make the finished product primarily a Superman movie. 

3. Lex’s plan needs to make sense.

4. Feature more of Superman’s supporting cast.

Click below for the Fix.

The Fix;

The film opens “somewhere in the Indian Ocean.” Several small children go diving near one of the Kryptonian machines that Superman destroyed at the end of ‘Man of Steel.’ They fish out several large rocks and carry them to a man in a business suit standing on the shore. Using a rock hammer, he breaks one of the rocks in half to reveal a glowing, green crystal-like substance.

Flashback to the day of the attack on Metropolis. Bruce Wayne arrives on his private air-field and contacts the head of Wayne Corp’s Metropolis division, Michael Corben, to check on the status of the building’s evacuation. Corben is urged to leave by his son, John, but he refuses, claiming he has something to take care of first. Corben gets on a nearby computer terminal and informs Bruce that he is forwarding all research and plans for “Project Batwing” to Lucius Fox in Gotham. Just as the transfer is completed, Superman and General Zod smash into the building, destroying it and killing Corben. Bruce arrives at the wreckage and finds John Corben with his legs pinned under part of the building. They both look to the sky coldly as Superman and Zod streak across the sky towards their final confrontation.

The opening credits roll over a montage of various news reports detailing the world’s reaction to Superman and the suddenly rare appearances of Batman. Other reports show Bruce Wayne shaking the hand of John Corben, his legs now amputated at the knee, and Senator June Finch becoming the chief anti-Superman voice in Washington.

Eighteen months later, we arrive in a scene of panic as a small town is threatened by heavy flooding. Just when all hope seems lost, several people are rescued by a red and blue blur. A family of survivors on a rooftop look up to the sky and cheer as Superman descends to save them. While Superman checks on the survivors, some of them verbally attack the mayor (there to thank Superman for his help) and claim that he is responsible for the disaster since he cut funding to emergency operations for the town. Superman admonishes the mayor before leaving. In retaliation for the slight, the mayor testifies before Congress that Superman’s existence was the reason for the funding being “diverted,” since “who needs first responders with Superman around?” Senator Finch makes her stance on Superman clear; that she considers him a threat until she is fully convinced otherwise. When asked who she has working on possible solutions, she only smiles.

Finch arrives at LexCorp, a tech company and conglomerate that has become one of the top businesses in the world thanks to their rapid and advanced recovery of Metropolis. We meet Lex Luthor, the young, red-headed CEO of the company, one of the smartest men on Earth and someone who knows it. He is the person Finch has working on the “Superman problem.” He takes her into his research labs and shows off the elements his scouts located from the Indian Ocean. He has already deduced the crystal to be pieces of the Kryptonian’s home world and thus has named the substance “kryptonite.” So far, he and his scientists have discovered three varieties of kryptonite; blue (which seems to have no effect), red (which increases irritation and anger after prolonged exposure), and green (which generates a low level radiation.) Lex demonstrates on the salvaged arm of Zod’s female lieutenant that the green kryptonite can pierce the seemingly invulnerable kryptonian flesh. Finch wants to know how much Luthor wants to create a Superman deterrent, and the scientist demands access to the crashed ship in Metropolis and the body of General Zod.

In Gotham City, Commissioner Gordon meets with Batman on the roof of GCPD. He informs him that several of the low level criminals that have been brought in have no criminal records and show signs of being hypnotized to commit their crimes. Batman seems non-committal and makes a vague promise to look into it. As Batman leaves, Gordon observes that he’s changed since the Kryptonians attacked and he barely sees him anymore. Batman tells him that there are bigger threats now than thieves and muggers.

In a Gotham apartment, we meet Jervis Tetch, a neuroscientist and amateur hypnotist with a fixation of the works of Lewis Carroll. He’s been hypnotizing people off the street and using them to steal for him. He’s counting money and reciting Carroll when he gets a phone call from Metropolis.

Back in Metropolis, Clark Kent and Lois Lane are introduced to their new photographer; James “Jimmy” Olson. The trio gets to know each other as they head for the dedication ceremony for a new Superman statue. The ceremony is sabotaged by the crippled John Corben, who has graffitied the statue with anti-Superman slogans. He publicly blames Superman for his father’s death and is arrested. Clark is shaken and confides in Lois that he’s still trying to make up for not reigning in his powers that day.

While investigating Zod’s ship, Lex discovers and activates a latent AI in the database that identifies itself as the Brain Interactive Construct. When Lex challenges the AI to impress him, the B.I.C. hacks the LexCorp mainframe and solves the issues they’ve been having with a new nano-machine technology. After seeing Corben on the news, Lex bails him out of jail and asks if he’s interested in taking revenge on Superman.

Back in Gotham, Bruce sulks in the Batcave. Alfred pushes him to pursue the hypnosis angle, but Bruce shrugs it off. When Alfred leaves, Bruce returns to watching coverage of Superman.

Back in Metropolis, Clark, Lois, and Jimmy cover a gala to celebrate Lex Luthor’s contributions to the city’s recovery. While trying to conduct an interview, Lois and Senator Finch clash on whether Superman is a positive or negative. Finch notes that Lois seems to be able to talk to Superman whenever she wishes and extends the vicarious invitation for Superman to testify before Congress. Clark finds Bruce Wayne and they have their own conversation. Bruce openly states that Superman could be a bad thing in the long run, while Clark has the same reservations about the Batman. He tells Bruce how relieved he is that Batman seems to be phasing himself out and notes how irritated Bruce becomes.

In the labs below the gala, Lex uses the nano-machines on Corben. The machines quickly go beyond Corben’s legs and begin replacing more of his internal tissues. Corben’s heart gives out from the stress. Lex, at a suggestion from the B.I.C., quickly replaces the dead heart with a generator powered by a chunk of kryptonite. Corben wakes up and notes that he can’t feel anything. Lex says that it’s a temporary side effect and invites him upstairs.

Lex debuts Corben and his new legs as models for a new line of prosthetics. Bruce tries to talk to Corben but is ignored. He mentions to Clark that he hasn’t spoken to him since he left the hospital. He receives a call from Alfred about a hostage situation and rushes out. Lois declares her intent to investigate Senator Finch.

Back in Gotham, Batman arrives at an empty warehouse and finds no hostages. Jervis Tetch appears and plants a miniature hypnosis card in his neck, giving Batman a vision of a world conquered and dominated by Superman. When he comes to, Tetch is gone. Batman returns to the Batcave and decides that all resources will now be devoted to finding a way to stop Superman before the future he saw can come to pass. Hacking into the LexCorp database, he finds files on kryptonite. Several days later in DC, as Corben prepares to testify before Congress, Superman arrives to speak. He and Corben get into a heated altercation that leads to Corben punching Superman in the face… and knocking him across the room. With his new powers revealed, Corben brawls with Superman through the Capital building and across the National Mall. Once Superman gains the upper hand, the kryptonite in Corben’s chest is exposed and weakens him. Before Corben can strike the fatal blow, Luthor arrives and uses a device to render Corben unconscious. He makes a grand show of helping Superman to his feet while the crowd goes wild. Corben is taken back to LexCorp and stored for future use. When Mercy Graves, Lex’s assistant, asks why he didn’t just let Superman be killed, Lex confesses that this was only a test. Lex returns to the ship and, with the B.I.C., begins the process of reanimating Zod’s corpse, using Lex’s own DNA as a trigger.

While watching footage of Superman and Corben battling, Bruce notices the kryptonite and how it affects Superman. Bruce suits up, sneaks into LexCorp, and steals the green kryptonite. On his way out, he encounters Superman. Superman explains that he believes that someone is working against him and he asks Batman to use his detective skills to help him find out who it is. When Batman inquires as to why he’d do that, Superman admits that while he doesn’t necessarily agree with Batman’s methods, he believes that they’re on the same side. Batman disagrees and Superman asks him why. Batman explains the concept of escalation. He tells Superman that when he started operating in Gotham, he only faced the mob and low-level criminals. As the years went by, he began to attract stranger and more dangerous foes. He reasons that Superman’s strength will attract stronger enemies, and worries that Superman will ultimately be corrupted by his own powers. While Superman scoffs at the notion, Batman cryptically warns that he’s watching the Man of Steel for just that very purpose. The two part uneasily, with Superman noting that Batman should trust him “since I didn’t use my powers to see who you really are.”

Lois’ investigations into Senator Finch’s dealings lead her to a link between Finch and Lex Luthor. She and Jimmy confront Lex about his ties to the very anti-Superman senator. Lex explains that what he’s doing is for the benefit of all mankind. Mercy knocks Lois out, but Jimmy barely escapes.

Back in the Batcave, Alfred finds Bruce starting to weaponize the kryptonite. He makes one final plea for sanity, but Bruce angrily declares that Superman must be stopped at any cost. Heartbroken at what Bruce has become, Alfred abandons him. Back at the ship, Lex and the B.I.C. observe the gestating Zod. The B.I.C. warns that if the process is terminated early, the effects could be disastrous. Senator Finch arrives and confronts Lex, suspecting that he intended to have her killed by Corben. Lex laughs the suggestion off and tells her that she’s no use to him dead. Tetch reveals himself and hypnotizes Finch.

Lex brings Lois to the roof of LexCorp and throws her off, summoning Superman. Once Lois has been taken to safety, Superman asks Lex if he’s the one who’s been working against him. Lex stealthily exposes Superman to red kryptonite gas while claiming that it was actually Batman working against him this whole time. Blinded by rage, Superman spies the bat-symbol and blasts off for Gotham.

Batman is waiting, clad in special armor. Using various green kryptonite weapons and tools to even the battlefield, Batman goes toe to toe with the Man of Steel. The two titans do battle across Old Gotham. Superman’s attacks break through Batman’s armor and finally destroy Tetch’s chip with a barely deflected blast of heat vision. His mind suddenly clear, Batman weathers the attack until the effects of the red kryptonite gas wear off. The two quickly deduce that Luthor is behind everything. Superman heads off immediately, while Bruce returns to the Batcave. He finds Alfred waiting and the two reconcile with Alfred revealing the completed Batwing. Bruce dons one of his old costumes and blasts off to Metropolis. Lois has found and convinced Jimmy to join her in investigating the kryptonian ship. They accidently interrupt the resurrection process and escape just as Lex and Tetch arrive. They are confronted by the united Batman and Superman. Lex discloses his entire plan. He intended for Batman and Superman to kill each other, and then release the resurrected Zod to wreak havoc in Metropolis. Using a new power-suit designed by the B.I.C., he would defeat Zod and enshrine himself as Metropolis’ true Superman. Against the B.I.C.’s warnings that the process has been interrupted, Lex completes activates the resurrected Zod. The process has left Zod with chalky, cracked skin and a severely diminished mental capacity. He can barely remember his own name.

Lex: “Well aren’t you bizarre?” Zod: “Bizarre? Zod? Bizarre Zod. Bizarrezod. Bizarrezo. Bizarro! Bizarro!”

Batman tries to use the green kryptonite, but finds it actually strengthens Bizarro. The resurrected kryptonian attacks Superman while Batman pursues Tetch and Luthor. Tetch attempts to plant another device on Batman, but he reverses the attack and uses Tetch’s own tech to overload the chip. Tetch is driven mad and collapses into a laughing, sobbing heap.

Superman and Bizarro battle across the city. Seeing the terrified people, Superman does his best to keep the battle contained to unoccupied areas.

Batman catches Lex and demands to know why the kryptonite didn’t work. When Lex mentions the blue that seemed to have no effect, Batman gets an idea and races back to LexCorp. Bizarro is finally wearing Superman down. As he’s about to strike the killing blow, Lois and Jimmy intervene, drawing his attention. Batman arrives just in time with the blue kryptonite, weakening Bizarro enough that Superman can knock him out. For a moment, Batman considers ended the threat of Bizarro with the mineral, but his morals ultimately win out. Jimmy snaps a picture of the two heroes shaking hands and formally introducing themselves. The headline of the new Daily Planet? “WORLD’S FINEST.”

A montage reveals character fates. Tetch, now calling himself the Mad Hatter, is placed in Arkham Asylum. Lex is arrested but freed when a hypnotized Senator Finch confesses to everything. Superman takes the kryptonian ship and Bizarro to the arctic for safe-keeping. While observing the shell of the only other remaining kryptonian, Superman promises to find some way of helping him.

Back in Metropolis, Superman visits Lex in his office and asks him why he hates him so much.

Lex: “Because you don’t belong here! You’re not human! Your very existence on this planet taints us, pollutes us. You’re stifling our growth as a species! We have grown and evolved for hundreds of thousands of years, and we have done it all without a Superman. I will do what must be done, even if none of THEM can understand. If I have to spend every cent I have, break every oath I’ve ever sworn… if I have to scour the universe to find some way of beating you, then I will do it and I will bring you down! Do you know why? Because I am SUPER. I am super because I wasn’t BORN super. I was born weak, and that makes me strong!”

(Special thanks to Dan Harmon for the main thrust of that monologue)

Superman asks Lex to just confess and save them all a lot of pain. Lex reveals a new ring with a chunk of green kryptonite, assurance that Superman cannot lay a finger on him. After a tense moment, Superman departs, promising to always be there to oppose people like Luthor. The B.I.C., now stored in LexCorp’s database, asks if wearing the ring is wise (due to the radiation.) Lex again brushes off the suggestion. He sits at his desk and asks the B.I.C. if he has any other names. The B.I.C. notes that he was originally called ‘Brainiac.” As Lex remarks that “this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” he notices a clump of hair falling out of his head.

Batman and Superman have a final chat. Batman reiterates that stronger threats may be coming and the two of them might not be enough. They agree to seek out other heroes, but in the meantime they have each other’s backs. They part as friends, with each revealing their secret identities.

Back in Gotham, Bruce and Alfred share a moment in the Batcave. Alfred hints that his return to the spotlight might have lured back the few uncaptured bad apples. When Bruce asks what he means, Alfred reveals a puzzle box emblazoned with green question marks. They share a smile and get to work.

In Metropolis, Lois tells Jimmy that Superman appreciates his courage and gives him a gift from the Man of Steel; a signal watch to use if Superman is ever needed. Clark, Lois, and Jimmy have a warm moment together before heading out to cover a presentation at S.T.A.R. Labs.

In a mid-credits scene, Brainiac activates himself in Lex’s office and muses about finally being given the opportunity to finish what he started; eliminating the kryptonian race.

In the post-credits, the Mad Hatter is seen ranting in Arkham. As the camera pulls back, it reveals the incarcerated members of Batman’s rogues gallery, all “waking up” and chanting about the return of Batman.

THE END

This gives the DC Cinematic Universe a much more level launching point without throwing every character in the world at us from the very first moment. Wonder Woman is introduced in her own stand-alone film the following year. 2018 sees the release of ‘Man of Tomorrow’ (aka Man of Steel Part 3) and ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum.’ 

In 2019, we finally see the properly two part Justice League film.

So, did you enjoy this fix? Got comments, either good or ill? Let me know.

If you enjoyed this fix, please support my crippling milkshake addiction at http://ko-fi.com/thefilmfixer.

Until the next fix, I’m your friendly Film Fixer reminding you that there’s no such thing as a move that’s beyond repair.

[pendingdamnation-blog]

Bio

CHARACTER INFORMATION Character Name: Mello (Mihael Keehl) Age: 20 Canon: Death Note (Manga/Anime, Another Note) Personality: From a young age, Mello has been conditioned to win, which has served to shape the majority of his overall demeanor. Groomed to succeed L, the world’s top three detectives, Mello has known competition since he was young and carries it with him in everything he does. Life is a game and the world is his playground; he will willingly destroy everything in his way in his effort to be number one.  Paired with an inferiority complex that is brought to light when he states that no matter what he does, he always comes in second to his primary rival, this leads him to make overblown, extreme decisions in his quest to accomplish a goal. Highly intelligent, he has the ability to deduce and predict his opposition’s thought-process and form his own plan of attack accordingly. While his brilliance was originally intended to be utilized for noble purposes, he instead chose to exploit it in order to rise to a high rank of a criminal enterprise. His intelligence shows in his ability to form successful plans and bring them to conclusion, as referenced by one of the mafia members with whom he associates when the man asks his comrades rhetorically whether Mello has ever been wrong in the short time he worked with them. Another area where he is knowledgeable is literature, as when telling the story of Beyond Birthday—the failed successor who went on to defy L—he quotes Holden Caulfield and refers to him as, “One of history’s most famous literary bullshitters.” Given that he was second in line to succeed a genius, it would be safe to assume that his intellect is extraordinary. His reference to Caulfield and the flippant comment that followed is a clue that at some point, he immersed himself in literature to the point of becoming a bit of a well-versed critic.   Before the explosion that destroyed his hideout and wiped out his crew, Mello appears to practice self-preservation through delegation, a primary aspect of his personality denoting selfishness.  The duties he imparts on others range from kidnapping the Japanese chief of police’s daughter (who was also Kira’s sister), having underlings seal a deal with a death god—sacrificing half of their lifespan—in order to gain the ability to see his enemy’s names and subsequently write their names in the notebook to simple tasks ranging as low as holding a mobile phone to his ear. In order to win, he has to be alive. Making others do most of his dirty work is a way to ensure this, though he will also have people do small, unimportant things for him in order to assert himself on the food-chain. However, when backed into a corner, he has personally taken drastic actions that have injured and eventually killed him, showing that he's not at all incapable of being the one who will make a move directly. If it suits his purposes, Mello will employ his high social skills in order to gain the favor of those around him. He will seek the group or individual with the most power and align himself with them in order to exploit their position(s) for his own needs. This will often lead him to operating outside of what would be considered legal restrictions. If criminals have more pull, he will align himself with criminals. However, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that if law-abiding groups have more influence, he will turn to them instead.   Loyalty? He doesn't understand the meaning of the word. Through his actions involving the Los Angeles mafia, he shows no loyalty to the L title or the institution responsible for educating and housing him. Through setting explosives all through the building which he detonated with his remaining crew inside, he shows a disregard for those with whom he works. Having no loyalty, he is not trustworthy when forming pacts and alliances. If someone’s motivations align with his own, he will use that to further his own agenda and show no qualms when it comes to disposing of the other party. In the world of Death Note, possessing a person’s name in conjunction with their image gives the notebook holder the ability to kill an individual. There is one picture of Mello in existence and it is possessed by Near after Mello (for unknown reasons) left it behind at the orphanage where he resided. That Mello goes to retrieve this photo and offers information pertaining to the rules in the notebook as a fair exchange shows that he is well-versed in acceptable business tactics and will employ them even if he is not particularly fond of the individual with whom he is interacting. Disloyalty does not necessarily suggest a lack of honor. That said, Mello is most likely not apt to become close to anyone in the traditional sense. Instead, he will interact with those he holds the most confidence in on a level that may resemble camaraderie though in the end, he is only interested in what the individuals contribute to whatever his given cause may be. Manipulation, however, would be an incorrect assessment as those with whom he associates possess the opportunity to mutually benefit from their interactions. He possesses a commanding air about him, even going so far as to frighten a god of death with his demeanor. Where the death gods make it a point multiple times in canon to state that helping the human who possesses their notebook is not something that interests them, Mello succeeds in having one not only assist him, but work under him and take orders. It even appears that he hands orders down to the head of the mafia sect to which he belongs, though he does so in less in the way of barking commands, more along the lines of making infallible suggestions that he knows will be heeded. He is frequently shown sitting separate from his gang, as though he has established spaces for himself that others simply don't enter. In the words of the death god, Sidoh: "For a human, he's scary." His lack of subtlety shows in the most ridiculously obvious ways: he’s aesthetically flashy, he owns any room that he occupies with nothing more than his presence. He likes to sprawl when he sits, he has the ability to stand at 5’6” next to a hulking mob boss and make the other man look small in comparison. However, this isn’t just limited to the physical. His actions are chaotic: he has launched missiles, killed, kidnapped, threatened the President of the United States (and got him to agree to his terms), blown his own hideout with himself in it to avoid capture, and he has done it all with poise and style. While many of his moves may be driven by impulse, they are also the result of quick-thinking on his feet and the ability to carry out actions with little time between conception and execution.   Despite his cool exterior, Mello operates on emotion more than it appears. It is shown that he is prone to outbursts as a child such as when he is informed by the school’s headmaster that L has been defeated and killed by Kira, he launches over the man’s desk and takes him by the collar, demanding confirmation that it is in fact true that his predecessor was killed. After this incident, he regains some form of composure and makes the impulsive decision to leave the school and set out on his own. Though given the option to work alongside Near under the L title, he refuses, stating that the two of them don’t get along. He then goes on to acknowledge his own shortcomings by claiming that unlike himself, Near is able to “calmly and unemotionally solve the puzzle.” He makes decisions based on frustration and impulse but will blanket them with a calm justification, though he is very aware that emotions drive his most reckless responses. Victory, excitement, defeat: these things all show in his facial expressions at any given time. All bets are off if someone is considered a fierce rival. Mello will hold a grudge forever and lose his composure in the face of said rivalry. Both as a child and an adult, Mello is shown to have little patience for Near’s presence, even going so far as to recklessly pull a gun on the other in the SPK headquarters where the majority of his team is armed. Doing so shows that despite his logic and thorough planning, when in the presence of a worthy opponent, Mello’s emotions will overcome common sense to the point where he will ignore his self-preservation instinct and risk his life in exchange for instant gratification. He is also not above cheating, as he has one of the mafia members execute most of Near's team via the notebook in order to set the other back in his race to capture Kira. Morally, Mello cannot be defined as either “good” or “evil.” Whereas L sought to bring Kira to justice, Mello states during his hunt that he wants Kira’s head, and that he “will be number one.” It is merely a byproduct of his end-game success that thousands of lives would be saved and the world would ultimately benefit from the removal of Kira. However, this is not to suggest that he is evil in any sense. Though people may get caught in his line of fire, Mello does canonically show remorse for, not his actions, but the fallout from his actions. He expresses regret for the death of his former Wammy’s schoolmate who was eliminated in the process of kidnapping Kiyomi Takada, an underling of Kira.  He also states that he originally had no intention of inadvertently causing the death of Yagami  Soichiro, Kira’s father and the chief of the Japanese Task Force, during a raid on his hideout. He may be a firebomb, but he does occasionally feel guilt for his actions. Based on how highly he speaks of L in the spinoff novel, Another Note, he appears to hold his predecessor in high esteem despite deviating from his methods to the point where he falls into the category of “criminal.” He laments the loss of a great man and states that his killer, Kira, is “Not worth the dirt beneath (L’s) shoes” and that meeting L was “The single most valuable memory” that he possessed.  He then goes on to gloat in reference to L’s achievements and shows an overall awe of the man he was set to succeed. Mello’s reverence for his predecessor directly contradicts his criminal lifestyle and goes to show that with him, there is no black or white. There are only grey areas, self-serving initiatives that hold no place on either side of the “good and evil” spectrum. What he views as good is anything falling in line with his own wants/ideals with evil being all that opposes him and stands in his way. With a fierce determination, Mello is unmitigated chaos. He will do anything and everything to dominate any situation which he deems worthy of his attention, including sacrifice himself if it will prove that no one else could have accomplished the goal. His drive is the thing that fuels him, though it can also be his downfall. His capability is often eclipsed by his sense of inferiority—his need to constantly prove himself to anyone he deems competition—and this can lead to him going overboard with his execution to the point of endangering himself and everyone around him. He is a vain, dangerous, untrustworthy, disloyal, self-absorbed genius who has somehow convinced himself that any uncouth action he takes in the grand scheme of things is for the greater good. He wants the world, and he fully intends on taking it.

[jumpchain-drop]

Chapter 3.21: 4.02 Years

Year 5, day 10: It pained me to let him die that night.

It really did.

But without Bottles’ death to stack with the destruction of the house, who knows if Banjo, Kazooie, and Mumbo would be spurred into their island-spanning adventure to get revenge on Grunty? With the entire island under threat of becoming zombies – including my girlfriend and son – and too many unknowns regarding how safe the warehouse would be from life energy drainage, I couldn’t take any chances.

So last night, when the entire valley shook during poker night, I played dumb. Well, not entirely; I started discreetly shoving my money back into my backpack while Mumbo was outside. As well as some of Kazooie’s as she appropriated Mumbo’s entire stack. Fair’s fair.

Once we were outside, I made excuses about my family to the others and got back to my place. Thankfully the wicked sisters were on their way out so I didn’t have any trouble. I roused them quickly and we were ready to defend ourselves from the incoming horde of goons.

The following day, we “learned” Bottles was dead. Well, I “learned;” I hadn’t told the others to spare them the pain of my precognition. Banjo-Kazooie went after the witch, Mumbo headed back to his hut to make the necessary emergency preparations, and we… were definitely going to do something.

If you know what you’re doing (and are capable of figuring out what to do about Canary Mary, fuck Canary Mary), you can 100% Banjo-Tooie in about fifteen to seventeen hours. The problem was that was the Way of the Player. If Banjo-Kazooie took five days to complete along the Way of the Mob, how long would Tooie take?

Better question: would it still outrun the charging of the B.O.B. zombifying the entire damn island, when it wasn’t held back with a game that didn’t bother with a global time limit?

As I said, I couldn’t take that chance. Not with my family. Not with Terra. Not with Tooty.

While Banjo and Kazooie got the Jiggies they needed to break the various barrier spells the witches had thrown up on their way back across the island, I had to delay the B.O.B. firing as long as I possibly could. Until Banjo could get there and stop the witches. And like before, I had both the skills and to go alone.

I thought for a moment I could defeat them myself, but I reminded myself that, depending on what they could do, it would take a lot of moves that I simply didn’t have the time to learn. I was already taking risk enough even without getting the other team members involved.

“OK, first I need to get Shadow from the Warehouse so he can use Rock Smash to carve a way up the mountain to Cauldron Keep,” I told my team.

“Can’t Dig get you through the stone anyway, Ball Boy?” Bitbit pointed out.

“...Oh. Right. But if I need backup before Banjo can get the forty-plus Jiggies he’ll need, you’ll guys will need a way up.”

“We might be able to widen the tunnel you leave behind,” Terra said.

“Maybe if I plunge through the tunnel with Dive, the stone will erode behind it?” Piddle suggested. “Especially if I switch back to Manaphy form.”

“Might not even need that if you dig it big enough in the first place,” Bitbit added.

“Your suggestions have been considered and I’m still bringing in Shadow,” I concluded. “I can only Dig for so long and someone might have to pick up the slack if I run out of PP.”

That they couldn’t argue with. It’s surprising they went against bringing someone else in, but then again we never had to operate in a dungeon in a group bigger than four.

So we went to our house, and I opened the Warehouse through the front door. “Shadow, come on out!” I called into it.

And Shadow came running out. I’m not sure where in the Warehouse exactly he was when I called him, he was just suddenly there. “Good to see you again, boss!”

“Good to see you too, Shadow! Ready to contribute to saving the world?”

“Not a problem, boss!”

“Awesome! I’ll explain on the way!”

Twenty Notes later, and I was zipping my team through the silos to the Quagmire. The underground went into a state of emergency once Jingaling was zombified, but the silo network wasn’t locked down. In fact, it was very busy as residents were taking cover or trying to get back home to their families before something terrible happened. At least the Gray Jinjo Family should still be alright? No time to check.

The Quadmire was in the heart of Winkybunion clan territory. Not only were Cauldron Keep and Grunty Industries in this region, but also Clanker’s Cavern deep underground as well as Rusty Bucket Bay. Seemed weird that magic-users would do a lot of technology stuff, but like I could question it when that technology could wipe us all out.

Of course Cauldron Keep had the strongest barriers of all on its door, and five Jiggies wasn’t going to do it. Regardless of all the polluting innovation, the mountain itself was still simple stone.

“I’m going to try to aim for the part of the secret exit from the other side of the barrier,” I told the team at the bottom of the silo hatch to avoid detection. “If it turns out to be too booby-trapped or something, I’ll keep going the rest of the way up the mountain. Once I’m up there, I’m going to be the worst gremlin they ever had.”

“Y’know y’know, I shoulda brought this up earlier,” Bitbit said, “but you mentioned backup before. But how are you going to let us know when you need backup?”

“Assuming your screams don’t carry all the way to the bottom,” our driver quipped. “But I think I can help with that?”

“You can?” I asked. I was thankful, given I hadn’t thought of it.

He tossed us a pair of walkie talkies. “Should cover the distance. Can’t do much with electrical interference, but the witches shouldn’t be able to trace the signal. Don’t tell the drill sergeant; he’ll start yelling at me again.”

I took one and Terra took the other. “Thanks.”

“It’s for the Isle, after all. Give them the good fight.”

With the walkie talkie and five Reviver Seeds in my backpack (and its pair and seven more in the Treasure Bag worn by Terra), I ascended to the silo entrance and emerged in the Quagmire. The ground was soft; I couldn’t figure out the details, but I wouldn’t bet on digging into it. Probably saturated with toxins.

I sneaked over to the base of the mountain, evading the eyes of the flying goons about, and found a good spot. “Claws, don’t fail me now...”

And I turned back into a Sandslash and started Digging.

It took a total of two uses of Dig to reach the secret exit tunnel, emerging on the opposite side of the barrier. Apparently they hadn’t anticipated the ability to dig through solid rock and metal and just covered the entrance itself.

And then I check and found the barrier actually wasn’t just over the entrance, but a massive bubble around the entire mountain – except, again for the solid rock and metal.

Anyways, after turning back to a pangolin, I headed up the secret entrance, slowly and carefully. The corridor was poorly lit, but that didn’t stop me from seeing anything. There was… surprisingly little. A couple shutters, presumably to hold of pursuers, but no security cameras.

“Breaker 5, this here’s Rubber Ball,” I whispered into the walkie talkie. “Exit corridor seems clear, taking up to the Keep.”

“Tell us the code names before we start next time, Desert Face,” came Bitbit’s reply. I rolled my eyes.

I emerged from the exit, only to realize something terrible.

Y’know how originally Cauldron Keep in Banjo-Tooie was going to be a full world with ten Jiggies, but it had to be cut back due to time constraints?

That.

That full giant castle was what was up here.

Sometimes the Way of the Mob just sucks, but the Way of the Player didn’t allow a possible path through while avoiding detection by the witches.

I could see the massive nozzle of the life-sucking gun near the top, sticking out the top of one of the old towers. With a Gyro Ball-backed jump roll, I got across the moat and Dug through the stone wall into the building.

What is there to say about this Cauldron Keep? It’s an old castle that’s been retrofitted with futuristic technology. Technology that almost seems to be running on magic. Guards were everywhere. It took everything I got to say hidden as I climbed the tower, avoiding security cameras and laser tripwires.

Eventually I found the room holding the Big-O-Blaster and the life force tank. The witches were nowhere to be seen thankfully. I checked the screen. As I feared, only forty-eight hours of charging up to go before Gruntilda reigned over an undead land.

Merely stopping the charge wouldn’t do it; they’d just start it up again as soon as they noticed. I had to do something more permanent.

So I turned back into a Sandslash and started Crush Clawing a massive hole in the side, and once I got the outside plating open, I found the most important-looking parts and shredded it down with Gyro Ball. It was a cacothonic maelstrom, the tearing of metal and the loss of power.

Of course, something as loud as that was noticed – by the worst possible people.

“What is that miserable racket?!” I heard a painful crone along with loud footsteps, a voice I easily recognized.

From a distance, you really can’t grasp just how large witches are compared to literally everyone else. Even aside their dark magic, they possessed a truly intimidating stature. Being reduced to a skeleton didn’t reduce the effect in the slightest. If I weren’t the former leader of one of the greatest exploration teams in the Pokémon world and fought down bigger, I suspect I would be paralyzed with fear at being so close.

As it was, being in the proximity of three only raised an adequate amount of alarm.

Obviously they spotted me as I ran. “Intruder castle has!” Mingella shouted.

“Deal with him we must!” said Blobbelda.

I janked to the side as a ball of green light sailed past me and quickly Dug through the floor. Once on the next story down, I bolted through a nearby door and took cover in a dark corner.

There was a large slam as one of them followed me down – and I could guess which witch from the click-clack of bones. However, she didn’t come into the room.

“Blast it all, he got away!” Grunty declared.

“Grah…! Much damage intruder did cause!” Mingy reported, shouting to be heard from the floor below. “Lost charge B.O.B. has! Weeks to repair this will take!”

“Curses!” Grunty screeched. “Death is too good for that pangolin! The moment I get my hands on him, he’s going to wish he was never born!”

“Lockdown policy we must turn on, ensure intruder not escape we will!” Blobby added.

That got me racing. I made my way back down the castle, only to find the drawbridge up and the barrier around the castle shrunk and even more solid. That night I tried to Dig out with my almost completely exhausted PP, only to find this time the barrier did pierce the rock.

The guards were all on high alert, but I managed to make my way to one of the storage rooms, where I could find a relatively well-hidden corner.

“Breaker 5, this here’s Rubber Ball.” I whispered into the walkie talkie even though I had the volume turned down. “Target hit successful, but I’m locked in and you’re locked out. Once the bear breaks the door down, be ready to give them hell.”

And I settled in for a fitful night’s sleep.

[newstfionline]

India’s angry young men and its lynch mob crisis

By Annie Gowen, Washington Post, August 27, 2018

GOVARDHAN, India--The two young men at the leadership camp were soft-spoken yet assured, from well-off families, wearing aviator sunglasses and flip-flops.

The right-wing activists say they have beaten men they suspected of violating core Hindu beliefs and threatened interfaith couples because they fear Muslims are stealing their women. They say they’re ready to kill for their faith if necessary.

“Even if a life is lost, we don’t care,” said Ram Kumar, 23.

It’s been a summer of rage in India. Dozens have been killed by lynch mobs, and extremist Hindus continue to assault and kill others, many of them Muslims. In the latest viral video, religious pilgrims angered over a minor traffic incident used sticks to demolish a car as police looked on.

Much blame has been cast on India’s governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with critics charging that they have encouraged violence by Hindu extremists. But India’s problem of male rage has roots beyond the strident Hindu nationalism embraced by the current government.

India has more than 600 million people under age 25, and they have greater access to technology and education than ever before. Yet millions have little hope of finding decent jobs, and a “bachelor bomb” of more than 37 million surplus men--a legacy of generations of a preference for sons and aborting female fetuses--threatens social stability for decades.

“People are frustrated that they are not being able to get jobs,” a leader from Modi’s party, Vasundhara Raje, told the channel CNN-News18. “There is angst which is spreading across communities and people. ... It’s a reaction to their circumstances.”

More than 1 million job seekers enter the labor market each month, many with poor English and inadequate job skills, but the country generated only 1.8 million additional jobs last year, according to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, a research firm. Modi says the number of new jobs last year was closer to 7 million.

Without solid prospects, many young men are gravitating to India’s growing right-wing nationalist organizations, where they find a sense of purpose.

Over time, a stereotype of a right-wing troll has emerged: keyboard jockeys with too much time on their hands, sitting in their childhood bedrooms furiously tweeting about every perceived slight to Hinduism and Modi.

This summer, Kumar attended a leadership camp sponsored by the Hindu nationalist World Hindu Council, where he learned to protect cows, which Hindus regard as sacred, protect women’s modesty and prevent outsiders from converting Hindus to other faiths. The youths did military drills in the baking heat, slept in the spartan concrete dorm rooms, and ate lentils and rice.

Kumar, a college graduate who runs a tent rental company, and Gaurav Sharma, 22, a law student, grew up in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, which they see not as an ethereal white monument but as a reminder of the Mughal invaders who subjugated India’s Hindus.

Kumar said that as a boy he was shy, but after joining the Hindu nationalist movement, “I have a strange sense of confidence now. The group has taught us what is right, what we need to do for society.”

Before long, he said, he was out on the streets chasing down and threatening interfaith couples, conducting the moral policing he feels is necessary because Muslim men allegedly seduce girls “as young as 14.” The Hindu activists call it “love jihad.”

Kumar said he also prowls the streets at night, searching for cattle traders who might be illegally smuggling cows for slaughter. Recently, he said, he and five others stopped a truck transporting cows and beat the Muslim driver, who pleaded for his life. The man was saved only by the arrival of the police, Kumar said.

“I was raging,” Kumar said. “If I had a pistol, I would have killed him.”

Sharma said he, too, has participated in assaults, punching one suspected cattle smuggler in the face. Elders have since shown him how to administer a beating without leaving marks on his victim.

“We have been taught to not hit the head and chest; that can be fatal,” he said. “We beat them in such a way so they get these serious, silent injuries--on the backs, on the legs--so they do not die. Otherwise, there will be a case against us.”

But since the BJP came to power in their state, Uttar Pradesh, led by the Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath, they do not fear being held accountable by the authorities.

“Earlier there was a fear that the government would arrest us, but now with the Yogi government, we don’t have any fear,” Sharma said. “Even if a smuggler is killed during a fight, we don’t have to worry about it.”

He continued, “All these BJP leaders, they’ve said, ‘Do what you want to do about cow protection. Don’t worry, if there is any problem we are there for you.’”

Modi has said that state governments should deal sternly with these “cow vigilantes” and that the government is committed to upholding the law, but other BJP politicians have sent a different message, meeting with or congratulating the alleged killers themselves.

The young men harbor a deep sense of victimization and spend a lot of time on Hindu pride-focused WhatsApp groups and alt-history websites that recount the glories of India’s ancient civilization before the Mughal and British invaders imposed, as Modi puts it, 1,200 years of servitude. Critics say social media is deepening the division between Hindus and Muslims in India that existed even before the bloody partition of India in 1947 that created a separate country for Muslims and ultimately an Islamic republic in Pakistan.

“Our parents never told us anything bad about Muslims. But in madrassas, they learn that Hindus are bad,” Sharma said. “We will tell the next generations how bad these people are.”

Sharma and his peers face stiff competition for careers because they attended schools where classes are taught in Hindi and because they know only a few phrases of English, the lingua franca of aspirational India. Many of their classmates are struggling, selling vegetables or doing menial labor. Thirty classmates joined the military.

Kumar plans on having a traditional family, if only to have babies and “contribute to the population.”

“The Hindu population,” Sharma clarified.

Others in their generation may not get the chance. Demographer Christophe Guilmoto estimates, because of the gender imbalance, that 40 million surplus men in India will remain single between 2020 and 2080.

“There is a saying, ‘Behind every successful man is a woman.’ But you don’t need women. You can leave them behind and achieve success in life,” Sharma said.

For Sharma, the love of his life married someone else. He said he still regrets that he did not ask his parents for permission to marry her. But nobody in his family had ever had a “love marriage”--always arranged unions.

Now he’s made a “final decision” to remain single and devote himself to the Hindu nationalist cause, to the dismay of his parents. Just like his idol, Modi, who, after an early marriage, has long embraced the bachelor lifestyle as a campaigner for Mother India.

[cursedcandyroses]

CURSED CANDY ROSES PRESENTS: THE 50 BEST PROJECTS OF 2017

The most jam packed year of the decade has came and went with a crater of emotion left behind. The ever expanding Pandora’s Box that the internet has become has only seemed to scratch the surface of iit’s potential in the field of music. Every year the music world becomes smaller and smaller while albums become more grandiose. Streaming has lead to numbers being juiced extravagantly, allowing acts to sell minimal physical copies but still go Gold & Platinum. The Streaming Boom has also lead to acts we may have never heard of 20 years ago exploding into the limelight, and acts of yesterday having their 15 minutes expanded. In all honesty I could have made a list of 100 albums and it still wouldn’t have felt like enough. But 50 (plus some) will have to do. 

BEFORE WE GET STARTED: THE NEXT 9 

N*E*R*D - No One Ever Really Dies

Giraffage - Too Real

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism

Rex Orange County - Apricot Princess

Lil Peep - Come Over When You’re Sober

Bill Woods & Blockhead - Known Unknowns

RJ - Mr. LA

Joji - In Tongues

Amine - Good For You

Now to the real list

50: Overdoz. - 2008

Genre: Hip-Hop 

4 years since their last release, Overdoz sounds like they never took a day off. Party jams mixed in with two step love anthems and sprinkles of consciousness are the ingredients to one of the most energetic and top to bottom enjoyable west coast albums in recent memory. These elements mixed with a murders row of top tier producers (Hit-Boy, THC, Pharrell, Organized Noize) meld together for a kaleidoscope of sound and texture, the perfect kind to start and end a night out with.

Best Tracks: “Last Kiss” & “House Party″

49: Syd Tha Kyd - Fin

Genre: R&B / Pop

The family tree that the Odd Future collective has spawned is like none other in music. Within the collective sat The Internet, a duo that has expanded into a full 5 man band, and within that crew is lead singer Syd. On her first solo effort, the songstress dips her toes into the sound of today’s sound with R&B and Rap infused production, with hook as infectious as the best Pop songs on the other side of the dial. Branching out from the jazz and neo-soul stylings of The Internet has given music fans a new artist to reinvent and evolve the mainstream sound of the day. 

Best Tracks: “Know” & “Nothin’ To Somethin’”

Sounds Like: Kehlani’s “You Should Be Here″

48: A$AP Mob - Cozy Tapes Vol. 2: Too Cozy

Genre: Hip-Hop

When the winter brings snow to your ankles and winds that’ll chap your lips, you know it’s time to layer up and get cozy. A$AP Mob has been the go-to New York rap crew over the past few years, but with this newest compilation they take a turn. With heavy contributions from their newest adoptee Playboi Carti, the Mob turns to sonic's that lean more Soundcloud then sample heavy. Tunes with Big Sean, Key!, Chief Keef and Quavo are balanced out by posse jams with Flatbush Zombies and Pro Era members, bringing everyone into a new space that the Mob keeps curating and molding as they go along. 

Best Tracks: “What Happens” & “Walk On Water”

47: Your Old Droog - Packs

Genre: East Coast Hip-Hop

The balance of keeping the grit and feeling of classic New York hip-hop and wanting to mix in a modern day playfulness and enginuity is type of duality New Yorkers have been reaching for since 50 Cent. Unlike 50, Droog has no want to be a mainstream star, but instead focuses on being the best at what he does. Storytelling, obscure references and punchlines that’ll bring chest pains (from either laughter or how hard they hit) are the specialties of one of hip-hops most talented underground stars.

Best Tracks: “Grandma Hips” & “White Rappers (A Good Guest)”

46: Ty Dolla $ign - Beach House 3

Genre: R&B / Hip-Hop

Every artist strives to find their sound exceed within it. For an artist like Ty Dolla $ign he is with every project experimenting and proving that he is one of the most talented and skilled artist in hip-hop. Though Ty has always been criticized for repetitive content of parties and drug use, like each “Beach House” instalment before this junior effort, Ty expands and dabbles into many forms of contemporary urban music. A sonic experience like no other crossover artist has been able to do, Ty again flexes a perfect duality of being a singles driven artist while still holding true artistic integrity. 

Best Tracks: “Don’t Judge Me” & “Message In A Bottle”

45: Dizzee Rascal - Raskit

Genre: Grime

With razor sharp precision, the veteran UK rapper has brought with him the best Grime record of the year. Over the past few years artists like Skepta and Stormzy have come from across the pond into our lives, but these artists would be nowhere without one of the godfathers of the genre. Nearly 15 years after his world-renowned “Boy In Da Corner” record, Dizzee improves upon that sound infusing modern production styles and a more palatable rapping style to restate his claim as the greatest Grime artist walking the earth

Best Tracks: “Ghost” & “Dummy (16 For The Juice)”

44: Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice

Genre: Hip-Hop

After being freed from an European prison on false rape charges Indiana’s finest gave the people signs of life. Saying that this project is just a little something to hold fans over until the release of his next Madlib collab, Gibbs held nothing back. Speaking on everything from the incarceration, street tales and the fears that come with fame and fatherhood. Everything from introspective, to car knocking anthems, Freddie reminds us that he is one of hip-hops ever morphing figures, unleashing his art over any beat he can get his hands on.

Best Tracks: “20 Karat Jesus” & “Crushed Glass”

43: Belly & Boi-1da - Mumble Rap

Genre: Hip-Hop

Boi-1da has been behind some of the biggest and best records of the past decade from Drake and Kendrick, to Lana Del Rey and Rihanna, and he has for the first time taken over the boards for a full album. This newest project Belly has put forth in his short career as a lead act, and not just a songwriter, shows the XO signee never taking a line off and making a statement that he is here to stay as a solo artist.

Best Tracks: “Lullaby” & “The Come Down Is Real”

42: Sonder - Into

Genre: R&B

Brent Faiyaz, the crooner responsible for vocals on Goldlink’s chart topping hit “Crew”, began his year off with an EP that catches the soul of the nighttime that ensues after the party's over. From the layered and airy production to his remorseful and woeful lyrics that cover the length of the project, Brent and the rest of Sonder create a realm of shadowy emotion that words can never properly describe, but a feeling all to real to everyone.

Best Track: “Lovely”

Sounds Like: JMSN’s “JMSN”

41: JMSN - Whatever Makes U Happy

Genre: Jazz / Soul

JMSN has steadily created one of the best discographies in music today, and that is due to his willingness to experiment and branch into different genres. With a vocal range and tone like no one working today, JMSN can try different production styles and never feel out of place. His latest offer catches the soul of jazz and R&B by mostly being recorded in one take, with an empty room, outside of him and an assortment of talented musicians. His woeful longings and poems dealing with the many levels of relationships is a further step in the direction of the type of artistry that JMSN aims to be a part of.

Best Tracks: “Drinkin’” & “Slowly”

Sounds Like: D’angelo’s “Voodoo”

40: Talib Kweli - Radio Silence

Genre: Hip-Hop

Talib Kweli has never missed a step lyrically. No one has been as consistent since the turn of the century as the Brooklyn native, and now 17 years into his solo career Kweli adds another gem to his discography. Speaking on the struggles of the African-American community in America has always been a strong suit of Kweli, but he has done it this time around with inclusion of artists that are far from his comfort zone with rappers like Rick Ross and Waka Flocka Flame. Whether accompanying their styles or his own, Talib always finds a way to shine and bring a crucial message to lovers of hip-hop.

Best Tracks: “All Of Us” & “She’s My Hero”

39: Migos - Culture

Genre: Hip-Hop

Time and time again the world has counted out the Migos. When the entered the consciousness with “Versace” they were a one-hit wonder. When they continued they were “just rapping fast about nothing”. Now, nearly 5 years later they are the biggest group in all of hip-hop, and most popular hip-hop group in over a decade. This newest project is a dive into the sound they helped create with production from artists like Metro Boomin and Zaytoven who helped create this modern trap sound. Quavo’s club ready hooks, Offset’s energy and aggression, and Takeoff’s killer verses all fall like puzzle pieces right into the ethereal and world renowned sound of modern day rap music. 

Best Tracks: “T-Shirt” & “Get Right Witcha”

38: Jay Worthy & The Alchemist - Fantasy Island

Genre: Hip-Hop

Jay Worthy is a name everyone should get more familiar with. Adopting the West Coast as a transient from Canada, Worthy has been apart of underground rap circles for years, and has reeled in colleagues such as Conway and $ha Hef for his latest endeavour. One of many group projects Worthy has been a piece of this year, none fit his blunted and laid back rapping style as well as this fully-Alchemist produced EP.

Best Track: “Miss You”

Sounds Like: Domo Genesis & The Alchemist’s “No Idols”

37: Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog

Genre: Indie Rock / Lo-Fi

Mac Demarco’s yacht rock, even folk-esk at times, guitar strummings and singing push the vision of a scenic view from a boat in the middle of a lake to your mind. The breeze in your face, the smell of cold beer and new winter coats. For years Mac has created the aesthetic of the lovable slacker, but on his newest record something has changed. Instead of performing from the boat for the crowd to watch, these sounds feel closer and more intimate, becoming less of someone to marvel from afar, and more of someone you feel like a friend of.

Best Tracks: “Sister” & “On The Level”

36: J.I.D. - The Never Story

Genre: Hip-Hop

From the Atlanta collective known as Spillage Village to an artist under J. Cole’s Dreamville label, JID has been a part of some wonderful company. Being around great MC’s along with an energy and skill set that separate him from the bunch of traditional Atlanta artists, JID has pushed his name into the front of the pack of the new artists who ruled in 2017. Bars for days and an ear for production that’s as outlandish as he is makes for a perfect storm of an artist who still isn’t in his final form, but is a scary sight as is.

Best Tracks: “General” & “Hereditary”

Sounds Like: Vince Staples’ “Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2″

35: Majid Jordan - The Space Between

Genre: R&B / Synthpop

The Canadian duo has taken everything they have ever done and tinkered it and improved it into what is the perfect mission statement for the OVO Label outside of Drake. Everything from sleek late night two step anthems, to 80′s revival jams that beg to be screamed in your car. The duo brings in labelmates dvsn and PARTYNEXTDOOR, with the later playing a part in one of the most underrated grooves of the past year. Majid Jordan finds ways to improve and level up in ways no other R&B duo has done in years.

Best Tracks: “One I Want” & “Gave Your Love Away”

34: CyHi The Prynce - No Dope On Sundays

Genre: Hip-Hop

CyHi is one of the many artists who as a fan feared would be trapped by label politics into releasing astounding mixtapes and never putting together a true debut album. With “No Dope On Sundays” CyHi breaks through the paperwork and his drug dealing past into being able to look back on these times and give gems that everyone can appreciate. From black empowerment, advice to hustlers the world over, and becoming comfortable and accepting of religion in his life the G.O.O.D. Music signee puts together the sum of his mixtapes into a cohesive body of work that can be studied like scripture.

Best Tracks: “Nu Africa” & “Get Yo Money”

33: PeeWee Longway - The Blue M&M 3

Genre: Hip-Hop

Atlanta’s hip-hop scene has been around for over 2 decades, and has been at the forefront of the rap world for over half that time. The mainstream acts like Migos and Future are intertwined within the small city with lesser known acts like PeeWee Longway due to Atlanta truly being the biggest small town in the south. PeeWee has been apart of the rap scene for years rising alongside the Patron Saint of Georgia himself Gucci Mane. Years of sharpening his lightning fast flow and street themed lyrics have come to fruition on what is arguably the best project in his deep discography.

Best Tracks: “Creep” & “Rerocc”

32: Lorde - Melodrama

Genre: Pop

Pop music over time has become more and more formulaic. Sing like A, about B, over a beat a C BPM and a hit is born. Pop music hasn’t always been this disposable form of music, and at it’s root it’s about catchy songwriting that plays off as simple, but is secretly layered. This is the type of pop music Lorde has created yet again on her newest LP. She doesn't sing about anything out of the norm (love, parties, loneliness, etc) but it’s the way she sings about it. Her songwriting is as good as anyone in modern music, and far outpaces her pop counterparts.

Best Tracks: “Green Light” & “Supercut”

31: Brother Ali - All The Beauty In This Whole Life

Genre: Hip-Hop

Brother Ali has made a career on crafting stories straight from a diary, and would just as quickly tell you rap about the evils the world holds. For this project Ali leans on piano driven production by underground legend Ant, and with these beats digs into his softer side by gushing comfort and telling playfully cruel stories bookended together by hooks that play in your head for hours. Ali’s finest work to date would not be complete without the occasional flip into his famous sermons about the struggles of the minorities in a country that wishes nothing more than for you to fail, and how they set such a system of failure up.

Best Tracks: “Pray For Me” & “Out Of Here” 

30: Kelela - Take Me Apart

Genre: R&B / Electronic

Sounds of a living breathing world, clashing with synthetic bangs and swells that can be created by none other than an all-star cast of renowned artists create together a pocket for Kelela, an R&B songstress in the making. In her voice you hear to subtle hints of Solange and Janet Jackson, and like Jackson, at any moment Kelela can send out a rush of sound from her body that will make your heart stop and make you want to wail long. Subtle and powerful, heart ache and self-discovery, these dualities are attributes the singer seems to master to early in a career that is just beginning.

Best Tracks: “Frontline” & “Waitin’” 

29: FKJ - French Kiwi Juice

Genre: Fusion Jazz

Of all the albums that were released this year, none are more enjoyable than this electro-tropical project by the French multi-instrumentalist. Every beat takes you into a different garden of sounds and color, yet they all tie together as beautifully as a tropical paradise. Creating an album as pleasant and replayable as this with little vocals is a gift on it’s own, and this is a gift FKJ posses wholeheartedly.

Best Tracks: “Lying Together” & “Skyline”

28: Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory

Genre: Experimental Hip-Hop / Electronic

Vince Staples is the king of nihilism. His newest electronic based LP gives insight to a world we haven't reached yet, but will be at soon. Yet as observant of the negativity festering in the world as this project it is, it doubles as the background music at a house party only our great-grandkids will be able to speak about. Hip-Hop music at it’s core is electronic music with rhymes over top of it, and Vince stretches what we view as hip-hop into a world not as aggressive as Grime music, but more relaxed then electro-rap album like those made by Death Grips and Kanye West. Vince has shown he has no intent on slowing down his creative pushes whether it be gritty street tales or electronic tales of the drawbacks fame gives.

Best Tracks: “Big Fish” & “Love Can Be…”

Sounds Like: Outkast’s “Stankonia”

27: Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors

Genre: Indie Pop / Electronic

Experimentation is a trait of one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 21st century, and Dirty Projectors has enough of that to spare. Oozing with melodic vocal layerings, to the point you can’t tell if a computer program or a real person is singing, that glide seamlessly over pianos and electronic production, David Longstreth shows out yet again as a leading vocalist and main man behind a band that digs so deep that it seems outlandish.

Best Tracks: “Up In Hudson” & “Winner Take Nothing”

Sounds Like: Bon Iver’s “22, A Million”

26: Cosmo Pyke - Just Cosmo

Genre: Indie Rock / Anti-Pop

A teen and his guitar has been the starting tools of revolutions in music since the dawn of recorded music. And like those who came before him Cosmo Pyke brings with him a sound and style all his own. Acts from his home country of England have created music like his before and since the release of this debut EP, but Cosmo’s songwriting is bounds above the rest. Cherry tales of young love and typical slacker appeal meld into a pile of beautiful tunes showing a raw skill within the a star in the making.

Best Track: “Chronic Sunshine”

25: Rapsody - Laila’s Wisdom

Genre: Hip-Hop

From the intro with a flurry of choirs and keys into the outro with a haunting sample loop, Rapsody issues out a flurry of bars that challenge any active rapper. The leader of 9th Wonder's Jamla record label has been hard at work leveling up her skills to stand toe to toe with any and anyone that comes her way. Rapsody separates herself from the lip gloss and leathered up mold that most of today’s biggest female rappers tend to lean towards, and in that separation she fits in with the true emcees of the world rather than those on the quest for pop success. Even though bar for bar she is a problem, Rapsody took tracks like “Sassy” to speak on topics a male artist may not be able to properly deliver, another advantage for one of the Carolina’s finest artists.

Best Tracks: “Nobody” & “You Should Know”

24: Brockhampton - The Saturation Trilogy

Genre: Alternative Hip-Hop

This year rap was heralded as the new go-to genre for what makes up pop music. Streaming has revealed what we within the culture have already known, and with this new claim that rap is the new pop a boy band has come to the forefront of the genre. 2017 saw Brockhampton release 3 astounding albums with a loose concept surrounding the group’s dive into illegal crime and eventual imprisonment that is also loosely followed in their videos. Playing from the first instalment through to the third Ameer Vann, Kevin Abstract and Dom McLennon take the lead with the most time on record, but still making room for Matt Champion, Merlyn Wood, Joba and Bearface to shine and come into their own in front of eyes. Brockhampton took over the year with experimental production styles and an overload of witty auto-tuned soaked verses, giving a new view into what it means to be a hip-hop group.

Best Tracks: “GOLD”, “QUEER” & “BLEACH”

23: Wiki - No Mountains In Manhattan

Genre: East Coast Hip-Hop

New York City has done it’s best over the past decade to reclaim hip-hop music from it’s Southern counterpart, Atlanta. The City’s newest artists have tried their best to copy the sound, but most have failed. In the grimiest parts of the city though, is where artists like Wiki were born. Playing like a love letter to the city here the Ratking leader was born and raised, with at every turn and twist comes a yurp and freshly opened 40. A 16 track dive into the beauty of New York City gives a perspective that has been missing from hip-hop. No bitterness, no pleas for mainstream success, just the sonic version of Wiki’s toothless smile gleaming in the middle of Washington Square Park.

Best Tracks: “Mayor” and “Litt 15”

22: Sinjin Hawke: First Opus

Genre: Electronic 

A one time go to Kanye collaborator, Sinjin Hawke used reject beats and his futuristic vision to create a soundtrack of everyday life 200 years from now in an LP that could double as a score for a Ridley Scott film. Electronic music is the final frontier of music as an artform, and with one of the most ambitious and original compositions over the past decade Sinjin sets himself alongside other visionaries like Flying Lotus, Aphex Twin and Burial.

Best Tracks: “Shimmer” & “Flood Gates”

Sounds Like: Flying Lotus’ “Los Angeles”

21: Kamasi Washington - Harmony Of Difference

Genre: Jazz

Jazz music has been bastardized over decades into elevator music with little more then the occasional true jazz album to pierce the mold. Thanks to Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder label jazz has been able to be reborn and re-envisioned thanks to the likes of the saxophonist Kamasi Washington. Constant intricate changes allow Washington to expand upon previous ideas revealed and hashed out in his groundbreak album “The Epic”. As each day passes Kamasi becomes more and more skilled along with each member of his ever expanding band. As long as time passes, Kamasi’s skill will grow, and so will his ambition to bring jazz back to greatness,

Best Track: “Truth”

Sounds Like: John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”

20: Milo - Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!

Genre: Underground Hip-Hop

Entering into the dreamlike escapade crafted and materialized by the philosophy loving Milo can push away the casual fan. Milo has reared his head yet again coming off and tweaking the formula that crafted his acclaimed sophomore LP “So The Flies Don’t Come”. The beautiful instrumentals and hooks that play more as drunken chants real in a fan of hip-hop music, but the deeper you read into the verses the references and vocabulary are so obscure you wonder if you truly love it. The nose-to-the-sky feeling given off is one that can be to much for most, but pushing back against this can lead into loving a project that is one of a kind.

Best Tracks: “Sorcerer” & “Landscaping”

19: St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION

Genre: Alternative Pop 

St. Vincent’s newest endeavor takes a dive into the power of seduction in different facets of life. The seduction that power can cause in the eyes of other, to the seduction ability one has with someone they know so well. Coupled with her astounding mastery of guitar and different production styles allows a backdrop to the world of seduction within the coastal bubbles Clark resides. Nothing this year sounds like what has been crafted on this tight knit LP, mostly because no one can do what St. Vincent does.

Best Tracks: “Masseduction” & “Sugarboy”

Sounds Like: Prince’s “Under The Cherry Moon”

18: Drake - More Life

Genre: Hip-Hop / R&B

Drake has done his best to try and destroy being labeled anything more specific than an artist. Actor, singer, rapper, producer and tastemaker are all titles that can’t sum up Drake and his creativity. Labeling his newest endeavor a “playlist” and refusing to submit it to the Grammy’s is just another chapter in Drake pushing and bending what labels are. Featuring some of the best records in Drake’s catalog while putting on personal friends and musical inspirations like Sampha, Skepta, Kanye West, Jorja Smith and Giggs all in one verbose package is something that if someone proposed the idea a year ago no one would believe. The Canadian artist has once again melded R&B and Hip-Hop like only he can, while throwing in sprinkles of everything else that makes the 6 God who he is.

Best Tracks: “Free Smoke” & “Teenage Fever”

17: SZA - CTRL

Genre: R&B

Love lost and relationships broken will always be a topic in music. Beaten to death at times, but the greats can find ways to originally tell their story. Though speculation of who the album is about has pointed into some interesting places to raise the profile of the songs, the music speaks for itself. Each and every track is filled with cries of a woman trying to discover herself, and what she is worth.  A album wrapped in equal parts whimsical warmth and modern day R&B sound sets SZA on path to be another TDE powerhouse in mainstream and critical circles.

Best Tracks: “Garden” & “Broken Clocks”

16: Oddisee - The Iceberg

Genre: Hip-Hop

As far as underground hip-hop goes in 2017, and to the sub-genre as a whole, rarely will you come across a talent who values songwriting and hooks as much as they care about being a master of lyrics and experimentation. That is where Oddisee comes in. He has made conscious decisions to avoid crossing into the mainstream, mainly because he doesn't have the want to be famous. “The Iceberg” tells a message the world needs to hear, a message of acceptance and growing up in a damaged world. No other artist has checked off as many boxes as Oddisee, and all his talents are shown to a new level across this newest LP.  

Best Tracks: “Built By Pictures” & “Want To Be”

15: Sampha - Process

Genre: Soul / Electronic 

There is beauty in the simple things. A breezy morning, rain as you go to bed. The beautiful simple things. After a hiatus in the wake of the death of his mother Sampha returned with tear welling songs and ballads that remind you how beautiful minimalism and simplicity can be. One of the most gut wrenching tracks somes in the form a piano ballad dedicated to the love his late mother had given him, and as his pain wells out the gorgeous voice that sounds like none other begs to be repeated again and again.

Best Tracks: “Blood On Me” & “Kora Sings”

Sounds Like: James Blake’s “Overgrown”

14: Thundercat - Drunk

Genre: Psychedelic Jazz

An entry into the mind of the world renowned bassist, “Drunk” plays like a jazzed out Frank Zappa project, with themes varying from a love song about his cat to his love of anime and the city of Tokyo. A sonic expansion from his previous album “Apocalypse”  Thundercat tag teams through the album with his label head and close friend Flying Lotus weaving deeper and deeper into the trenches of this jazz filled paradise. As the album turns from waking up joyously hungover, into returning to the same bottle again, the album title resonates hard into the closing tracks. Drunken journeys into one’s own mind along with a meddling ADHD odyssey is challenging his previous album as some of the most important work in modern jazz, and slowly grows into the victour.

Best Tracks: “Uh Uh” & “Show You The Way”

13: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

Genre: Hip-Hop

The best active rapper out right now is the Compton-bred MC, and though this album cemented a portion of Kendrick’s attributes that he’s always lacked in (album sales & streams) it is still a questionable project by Lamar’s standards. Thought “FEAR” and “DUCKWORTH” are some of the best tracks Kendrick has ever released, the project will not live on through the overall make-up. The concept of the record and the conspiracy theories that circled around it along with astronomical sales will keep this album in West Coast loar. Don’t be confused, this is a very good project with everything you could ever ask from a single artist to meld into one body of work, yet by Kendricks standard, it is a dip in the wrong direction.

Best Tracks: “FEAR.” & “XXX.”

12: The Alchemist & Budgie - The Good Book Vol. 2

Genre: Instrumental Hip-Hop / Underground Hip-Hop

As music evolves more technologically and in structure, gospel music becomes more and more interesting in today’s world. Religion is a tongue and cheek topic for most, but the music when done right is astounding regardless of message. Give these records to the legendary producer Alchemist and the equally exciting and underrated Budgie, along with their Rolodex of super skilled friends, the ceiling is non-existent. A two disc 96 minute odyssey into underground hip-hop weaved together by samples from a lost time in musical history is one of (if not the) best producer lead albums of the past decade.

Best Tracks: “No Mystery God” & “In-N-Out”

Sounds Like: The Avalanches “Wildflower”

11: Tennyson - Uh Oh!

Genre: Electronic

The brother / sister duo has returned with another EP highlighted by the sounds of a futuristic city like nothing you can see in film. A dream world filled with bird chirps, high paced drums, and the clanging together of whatever you can find in the depths of your production software. Limited singing gives way for one to long for the calming voice to return to give another layer of beauty to an already overloaded roster of sound and audio color that is a part of a spearheaded movement of dense and upbeat electronic compositions.

Best Track: “Pegasus.exe”

10: Lil Uzi Vert - Luv Is Rage 2

Genre: Alternative Hip-Hop

You will not find a more fun album to blast at full volume then the newest edition to Lil Uzi Vert’s newest venture. “Luv Is Rage 2” was in purgatory for months by Don Cannon, DJ Drama, and Altantic Records due to the success of the smash lead single “XO Tour Llif3”, and once released the hundred of thousands within the internet community that birthed Uzi went wild, sending the album straight to #1. A sonic carnival, lead by the shoulder rolling ringmaster himself with lyrics of love lost, youthful energy and a dangerous amount of drug use, is a project that will be looked back as a seminal release from this generation of SoundCloud birthed artists, and possibly this era of music in general. 

Best Tracks: “Neon Guts” & “The Way Life Goes”

9: Big K.R.I.T. - 4Eva Is A Mighty Long Time

Genre: Southern Hip-Hop

The great return of Big K.R.I.T. years in the making. A double disc dive into the duality of K.R.I.T’s musical ventures exemplifies his versatility in a way the major label system never properly handled. The first side shows the mainstream crossover ability that always had shown glimpses over his career, while also showing an aggressive and hungry delivery to be considered one of the generation's greats. On the flip side of the album, we are shown into Justin Scott’s (K.R.I.T.’s real name) way of thinking. An inclusion of live instruments and a deeper message accompanied with a dive into the psyche of K.R.I.T. as a man in his past and today. The return of the Southern star show’s a rebirth of a career that belongs to be put next to today's and all of history's greats.

Best Tracks: “The Light” & “Mixed Messages”

Sounds Like: Outkast’s “ATLiens”

8: Open Mike Eagle - Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

Genre: Underground Hip-Hop

Chicago is never out of the news for long, whether it be tales of murder and destruction, or the flip side featuring political change and community outreach. Somewhere in the middle Open Mike Eagle sits doodling a satiristic world to describe it all. An ode to the Robert Taylor projects where Eagle grew up in, along with over 20,000 other people, Mike speaks of himself in many mythical ways whether it be a hero within the building, or the homes themselves. The two features Eagle allowed into his brick and mortar universe were standouts, especially the early verse from the show stealing Sammus. Conceptually it is one of a kind, proving again Open Mike Eagle and the underground which he meddles in, is a land of opportunity.

Best Tracks: “Legendary Iron Hood” & “Happy Wasteland Day”

Sounds Like: Aesop Rock’s “Labor Days”

7: Future - HNDRXX

Genre: Hip-Hop / R&B 

Future has reached the point in his career where he can sit back and watch the world spin around him. Every new artist has a piece of Future in their DNA, and Future could live of his major records and the occasional feature for life. Yet he took the creative risk of making a full R&B album, a project that does have rapping but to a minimal amount in the same vein as early Drake. The soul splitting auto tune melodies speaking possibly of his ex relationships with Ciara and the wife of Scottie Pippen, and the drugs to mellow the pain of lost love and past memories. “Dirty Sprite 2” was an angry and hungry Future, attacking the world, while “HNDRXX” comes off as the yang to DS2’s ying, and shows range but a living legend.  

Best Tracks: “My Collection” & “Solo” 

Sounds Like: Drake’s “Take Care”

6: Jay-Z - 4:44

Genre: Hip-Hop

The President of Hip-Hop himself, Jay-Z shows a further evolution in an already storied discography. Jay has been personal in the past, but never in such an intimate setting. Done in the span of a few weeks with the legendary No ID, these sessions gave us the final product of the most personal a mainstream artist, especially of Jay’s stature. Bringing to light secrets and public questions of Hov’s relationships with his wife Beyonce, tips on building a fortune, his parents, and on-again-off-again little brother Kanye, to finally give his side of each story. The persona of the corner boy turned CEO has almost never shown any vulnerability, and all these decades later these internal feelings finally see the light in the form of a golden standard in late career work.

Best Tracks: “Marcy Me” & “Family Feud”

Sounds Like: Nas’ “Life Is Good”

5: King Krule - The OOZ

Genre: Alternative

King Krule has revealed himself from his self-induced seclusion and has gone back into his most popular musical identity, taking a break from the dubstep and hip-hop laced corners of the internet he took shelter in. On his 70 minute plunge into the mucky bowels of London, Archy brings with him equal parts angst, longing and hazy production to tell tales of relationships and isolation, but mostly focusing on painting a Greek tragedy with words and guitars. Feeling and emotion personified via a hissing and empty void in between each vocal wail, reminding us how raw uncut emotion is the underlying factor in all great art, and Archy Marshall slops and gushes emotion in layers like no other act can.

Best Tracks: “Dum Surfer” & “Biscuit Town”

4: Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 3

Genere: Alternative Hip-Hop

Killer Mike and El-P are the best hip-hop duo since Outkast. With their third project the best group in rap music solidifies themselves yet again as the inventive and aggressive showboaters they are, with a more intense dive into El-P’s synth filled world. El and Mike touch on the capitalistic and ever changing world we are in, playing into the dystopian sci-fi tropes the group has separately gone into many times before. Their first project was an introduction, the second project was the group talking more of the world around them, and with this third time around, the tag team becomes more aggressive than ever while mixing in the best parts of everything they have ever done across thier individually storied careers. 

Best Tracks: “Call Ticketron” & “Everybody Stay Calm”

3: Tyler The Creator - Scum Fuck Flower Boy

Genre: Alternative Hip-Hop

With his 5th full length solo project Tyler has solidified himself as one of, if not the, most influential artist of this generation. In a class with the Kendricks, Coles, K.R.I.T.’s, and Drakes of the world, Tyler has found a way to stand alone. This self produced masterpiece is Tyler's musical dreams and ambitions personified and laced with beautiful guest features that fit in ways that bring to mind more of a band then a solo album with features. Yet as beautiful as the music sounds, the lyrics are focused on loneliness, acceptance, paranoia and depression. Since the beginning Ty has had albums based in an original narrative about a boy speaking with his therapist and the events surrounding it, and to break the mold a whole new layer of vulnerability was added. 2018 was a year that showed Tyler gaining a TV show, a new shoe line, a store in Los Angeles, another sold out self-produced festival, and this 14 track artwork shows us again how important originality is. Nothing can, or will stop Tyler.

Best Tracks: “See You Again” & “Pothole”

2: Daniel Caesar - Freudian

Genre: Soul

Production can be replicated. Lyrics can be replicated. A voice though,  can almost never be replicated. The range Caesar flexes across the 10 track debut LP is breathtaking in ways words cannot describe. Daniels music puts you in a state of mind, a flashback into the worst part of any relationship, but with a sprinkle of hope at the end. From sensual duets, to songs of longing a lyrical range to complement his vocal range is apparent and beautiful. Caesars gospel background comes as no surprise with the amount of soul and pain he can easily place into each run. Leading a pack of young soul and R&B artists, Caesar has a future ahead like none we have ever seen. 

Best Tracks: “We Find Love” & “Get You”

1: Smino - Blkswn

Genre: Alternative Hip-Hop

40 years since hip-hop was founded in New York City the genre has expanded musically from scratched up James Brown records into inclusion of every instrument and production style under the sun. And yet evolution is still eternally coming. Monte Booker, who produced on 16 of the 18 tracks has sculpted an ever tweaking and twitching paradise for Smino to fit his elastic flow and wordplay into every crevice of the intricate electronic based beats. Vocal layering and ad-libs used in ways rare to find in any genre add depth to records instead of being used as corny catch phrases like most utilize them for. Tales of drunken nights and lost lives spoken with Smino’s unique drawl and vocal tone recieve a kind of depth and playfulness combined that gives way to comparisons to Chicago MC’s Saba and Chance The Rapper .The St. Louis scene hasn’t seen much talent since the early aughts when Nelly ruled the world with a platinum fist, but now the city (along with new home Chicago) can claim the innovative minds Smino and Monte Booker.  

Best Tracks: “Father Son, Holy Smoke” & “B Role”

[krissysbookshelf]

Free Ebooks (2/4/17)

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      Who Ate My Sandwich? by Sigal Adler: Uncle Jake thought that quiet days were the best. He’d relax at home with a book and time to rest. Though parties were no pleasure for Uncle Jake, on his birthday, the whole family came with a cake. This year on his birthday there was a football game. Sorry for Jake, watching a re-run just wouldn’t be quite the same.

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  An Echo Through the Trees by Michael Galloway: Chase Krause sets out on a hunt of a lifetime, but it soon becomes the struggle of a lifetime. This is a story of fathers and sons, triumph over circumstance, and a story of letting go.

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  900 Miles to Safford by Eric Rawlings: By forty, Sam Bishop has lost the will to live. He can’t stand another day of pointless paper-pushing. But when Sam tries to jump off a seven-story building, he’s interrupted by the fantastical promises of a deeply troubled stranger. Jack Lucas, a homeless veteran, pleads with Sam to stay alive for one more day and consider a wild alternative to death.

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  The Ultimate Erotic Short Story Collection 94 by Rebecca Milton: Don’t miss this ultimate package deal consisting of 11 tremendously popular Erotic Short Stories for Women by 9 different authors. Whether you prefer romantic erotica, light erotica, or really hardcore stories, you will surely be satisfied as this collection is a mix of the best of the best across many different erotica genres.

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  A Love Journey: Mail Order Bride Collection by Christian Michael: A Western, Historical, Faith-inspired box set including 5 standalone stories of MAIL ORDER BRIDES searching for love in the WILD WILD WEST. Will they be able to conquer what stands in their way, or will God lead them on a path to true love? Download your copy now!

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  The Wild One by Danelle Harmon: England, 1776: When Lord Gareth de Montforte thwarts a stagecoach robbery, he unwittingly finds himself inheriting his dead brother’s fiancee and infant baby in this breathtaking first book in the De Montforte Brothers series by NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Danelle Harmon!

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  Fated Mates (Book 1) by Alicia Montgomery: Private Investigator Alynna Chase thought she’d seen it all, until one night when she encounters the mysterious, seductive Alex Westbooke. He turns her world upside down, revealing her true nature as a Lycan shifter and sister to the most powerful Alphas in the world. She’s almost royalty, and he’s just her bodyguard, but they can’t deny the attraction between them. Will this bring them together or tear them apart?

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  Dragon Hunter (Part 1) by Carina Wilder: Neko is independent, strong, and skilled with a blade. Her job is to hunt the threats that wander London’s streets. But her latest assignment involves taking out the most gorgeous man she’s ever met, the Dragon shifter Lumen. He’s alluring, witty, and impossible to resist. And Neko might just have to rethink her day job.

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  The Intern Installment by Michelle Love: I ran one of the most successful Architecture companies in the world, well-known to everyone in the business. I was involved in every aspect of the daily activities, though one of my least favorite parts was interviewing for interns every year. That changed the moment Elisa walked in the door. She was everything I didn’t look for in a woman: sweetness, innocence, and inexperience.

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  Cat’s Paw by Chandler Steele: After years in a Louisiana prison, Alex Parkin desperately wants revenge against Vladimir Buryshkin, the New Orleans drug lord who framed him. Now free, he’s still a wanted man, both by the Russian mob and by Veritas, a private security firm who claims they’re “on his side.” The Russians cost Veritas operative Morgan Blake everyone, and everything she loved. Now she has a chance to take them down. Even if it costs a certain ex-con his life.

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  Tainted Love: A Totally ’80s Romance (Book 2) by Addison Moore: Can be read as a STANDALONE. It’s September 1985 and Heather Knowles’ senior year is really shaping up to be something. As if being falsely accused of shoplifting in front of her high school crush wasn’t mortifying enough, how about finding out your mother is his family’s new maid? If you love the ’80s, you’ll enjoy each book in the Totally ’80s Romance series.

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  Ryker: Steele Brothers (Book 1) by Cheryl Douglas: Mackenzie Steele assumed she’d be with her husband forever. He’s still her best friend and the father of her children. But when weeks turn into months without intimacy, she realizes she’s too young to feel so old. She wants to feel desirable again, to find the woman Ryker fell in love with twenty years ago. And there’s only one way to do that… by asking him to move out.

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  Shouldn’t Have Asked by Mara Lynne: With her father’s life on the line, straight-A student Angel Mohr is desperate for money. So she turns to the only guy who could possibly help her: the arrogant billionaire, Damien Etheridge. But she knew that to be able to get his help, she has to give up something in return. Damien’s price? Her.

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    The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason: Vampires have always lived among them, quietly attacking unsuspecting debutantes and dandified lords as well as hackney drivers and Bond Street milliners. If not for the vampire slayers of the Gardella family, these immortal creatures would have long ago taken control of the world.

In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy, and this time, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is chosen, on the eve of her debut, to carry the stake. But as she moves between the crush of ballrooms and dangerous moonlit streets, Victoria's heart is torn between London's most eligible bachelor, the Marquess of Rockley, and her dark, dangerous duty.

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  The Mating Chase by Bonnie Vanak: Home from college, where men teased her for being overweight, Beth doesn't fit into pack life at the Mitchell ranch. Because she's forgotten how to shift into a wolf, the pack alpha has ordered her to choose a mate or leave. The only male Beth desires is Dale, a fiercely protective Lupine who loathes the human lifestyle she embraces. She hungers for the handsome shifter's touch, but fears their differences are too vast to overcome.

Dale has waited for four long years for Beth's return. Her scent ignites his desire and her voluptuous body fires his blood. He is determined to awaken her to the sensual world of the Lupine. Although she acts more "Skin" than wolf, he can't deny his overwhelming drive to claim her.

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  Climate Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery by T’Gracie Reese & Joe Reese: Nina Bannister’s good friend, Margo Gavin, has invited Nina to her bed and breakfast plantation house for a few days of rest. Their plans for a quiet weekend will be interrupted by the unexpected arrival of thirty cozy mystery writers—and their cats! The fur begins to fly and a real-life murder occurs in this truly undeniable Climate Change.

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  Deadly Disco in Las Vegas by A.R. Winters: When cupcake-loving croupier Tiffany Black and her friend Ian are asked to investigate an “accidental” death, they quickly find themselves getting embroiled in Vegas’s nightlife… Will they discover the killer before he gets to them first? A light-hearted Tiffany Black mystery.

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  Perfect Crime by V S Vashist: The daughter of one of the most influential men in New York falls for a struggling investment banker. After a torrid affair, they finally get married. Everything seems to head towards a life of joy when the wife vanishes into thin air and the husband becomes the prime suspect.

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  The Third Girl by Nell Goddin: Expat Molly Sutton opens a B&B in a French village, but the calm life she’s looking for is upset by a missing girl…and then murder.

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  Prejudicial Error by Bill Blum: Can you ever put the past behind you? Prejudicial Error is a legal thriller filled with suspense that will keep you gripped until the very end.

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  The Chartreuse Clue by William F. Love: Bishop Francis Regan is a busy man. Wheelchair-bound for some time, he is not always the easiest of men to get on with. But then, as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, he has plenty on his mind… And on his patch, he has at least one rather turbulent priest. Which is how Bishop Regan has come to be involved in a case of murder.

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  Angel Without Mercy by Anthea Cohen: In the hospital of St. Jude’s, nobody likes Marion Hughes… As the night duty’s Superintendent Nurse, Miss Hughes is feared and loathed by all when she goes on her rounds. If there’s one little thing she thinks wrong, no matter how small, she will find it, report it and hold it over your head. When tensions are this high and so many people have so much to lose, it only takes one person to finally snap…

This book is Free on February 4, 2017

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  The Crooked Desert by Denis Hughes: A crook is on the loose…Lone wanderer Steve McCade thinks he’s seen it all until he witnesses a dying man being turned away. The man – Joe Scruple is on his last legs, having been shot just below the heart; McCade knows the man is a goner, but better to die in comfort than on horseback. With his dying breath, Scruple makes McCade promise him something: He must save Alan Frazer from the gallows.

This book is Free on February 4, 2017

Kindle

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  When I Fall in Love by Melissa Storm: James Morgan never really believed in love. That is, until he laid eyes on Deborah Walker at the local soda fountain. He surprises himself by inviting her out for an impromptu night on the town, and she shocks him even more by agreeing. As the night progresses, the two share their past histories and secret dreams, and James realizes that she is the perfect woman for him. The only problem is that he ships off to Korea the next morning. Fulfilling his duty is non-negotiable to James, even if fighting for his country will ultimately break both of their hearts. This book is Free on February 4, 2017

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  All Romance All the Time, A Fiction Sampler For Every Mood by Victoria Dahl, Julia London, and more: Featuring titles from The Closer you Come by Gena Showalter, The Devil Takes a Bride by Julia London, Unfaded Glory by Sara Arden, Flirting with Disaster by Victoria Dahl, Wild Horses by B.J. Daniels, First Time in Forever by Sarah Morgan, One Wish by Robyn Carr, Holding Strong by Lori Foster, Part Time Cowboy by Maisey Yates, In Your Dreams by Kristan Higgins, When We Met by Susan Mallery, Wild Iris Ridge by RaeAnne Thayne, and The Tea Shop on Lavender Lane by Sheila Roberts.

This book is Free on February 4, 2017

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