#it doesn’t really feel like she learns much from Sakura herself

[atqh16]

I love how much Sarada just basically loves and respects Naruto as a person. Like it was programmed into Sasuke’s genes and he unknowingly passed it on to his child and it got triggered in Sarada just by Naruto being the kind, loving, empathetic person that he is. Sasuke is looking at his kid who’s practically fawning over Naruto and he’s like “same kiddo”. I will carry this fact into every version of them that I write. Just Sarada basically just gushing about how awesome Naruto is after every interaction they have and while Sasuke is a bit emotionally stunted and unsure of how to be a father this is one similarity he has with child that he can absolutely use to bond over with her.

Sasuke should just spend his quality time with his daughter just talking about Naruto over custard taiyaki and she’d be in bliss.

[the-roo-too]

maybe! -> 0.3 the bluebeard’s wife

-you’re really stuck with the coven, no matter how you look at it. and that one witch seems to hate your guts. or does she?

this mana print doesn’t appear noticeable to you, no matter how much you look yourself over. you don’t get to question chaewon nor eunchae about the matter as both witches don’t appear until later in the night.

before they do though, you get to meet a couple more exciting individuals. the first one of them quite literally falls on you as she appears just a couple centimetres above the couch you’re occupying. with a loud shriek, she lands on you, knocking you over with her. she rants something about some spell and sneezing and mentions some other names you don’t recognise, before actually acknowledging your presence.

“oh, you’re the potato’s pick! eunchae said he was really excited you know? last time he was so happy to bring someone over was when that neighbour got a mouse and-“

“uh, i’m y/n. it’s nice to meet you…?” you interrupt her another rant, which she doesn’t seem to mind. her face brightens and she introduced herself too.

“i’m sakura! although it’s mostly kkura around here. oh god, i feel on you!” she only now realises. “i’m so sorry! i was trying that stupid teleportation spell again. you know how simple it is? even eunchae does it freely! god, it’s embarrassing. if my mother saw this back in the day…”

“oh, i get you. sometimes simple things appear really hard.”

“yeah, exactly! that spell is like, the easiest thing after creating light? simple as quantum entanglement.”

“quantum what now?”

“mana print? yeah, it’s normal in this area.” eunchae is the one to finally talk to you after you met sakura. she at first looks taken aback by your lack on knowledge on that matter, but explains it nonetheless.

“it’s the ley lines. we live in a powerful area, you know? to recharge and all.” although the explanation seems acceptable, you still can’t understand why chaewon said it was dangerous for you to leave.

“uh, i don’t know if you got that part, but most of the people aren’t the biggest fans of supernaturals- especially witches for some reason? and priests make those weird campaigns like in medieval europe, go hunt and burn us cause apparently god says so?”

“okay, but i’m not a witch?”

“but you stepped into a area influenced by our presence. the power from ley lines gets kinda twisted here and it sticks to you. we know how to hide it, otherwise the local priests would dump holy water on us- i hear it works like salt on snails- or something equally terrifying.”

the idea of people chasing you with holy water isn’t that bad, but the medieval witch methods don’t seem as applying to you. you ask eunchae if they can just mask your print, cause it shouldn’t be that much of a problem, right?

“no, you got me all wrong. only you are able to hide your mana print.”

to sum it up, you are fucked. apparently hiding the mana print is a thing witches are born with. the first spell that they don’t have to learn.

but you’re no witch.

“well… if you think about it, you brought this upon yourself by helping potato?”

“you’re not helping, eunchae.”

“i know, sorry.” the younger girl lowers her head and ponders for a bit. “i’ll look for the books i had when i was younger. maybe i’ll get something there.”

and she disappears with the cat, leaving you alone to your thoughts.

somewhere in between thinking about your current situation and scoffing at how stupid it is, you fall asleep. a couple times you get woken up by someone speaking, but you don’t stay awake long enough to find out who it is. only the last time, you can make out what the voices are saying.

“should i apologise to her?”

“for bringing her in or being mean.”

“…oh shut up.”

you’re not surprised when eunchae doesn’t bring you good news about the mana print. no matter how you look at it, you’re stuck with the coven. and with the kinda mean witch, chaewon.

she seems to hate your presence, for a reason you can’t really comprehend. first you though she just doesn’t like humans. heck, there are no other humans at their house!

but now… you just don’t know. you got a cozy place on the couch, where potato loves to sleep. every time you wake up, chaewon is giving food to potato and when her eyes find yours, she frowns.

then again, she’s a witch. maybe you’re not meant to understand her.

“my unnie likes you.” you almost snort out water with your nose at the phrase. as you start coughing, eunchae pats your back reassuringly. “i know, i know. she doesn’t want to admit it herself.”

“then… how do you know that?” it’s not that you want chaewon to like you, you’re just curious (keep telling yourself that).

“unnie talks a lot in her sleep.” the younger girl shrugs, as if it was obvious.

“…what am supposed to do with this information?”

“ask her out? duh, i didn’t take you for the slow type..”

and that’s how you find yourself standing above poor sleeping chaewon a couple hours later. eunchae is standing by your side and keeps smiling encouragingly.

“just do it!”

“it’s embarrassing if you’re here to see it!” eunchae rolls her eyes at your whines, yet backs away obediently soon and disappears from the room with a small wink. you almost get a heart attack when she teleports away (damned witches).

you’re alone with the older girl again. looking at her sleeping face. it kinda makes you a creep, doesn’t it?

you lift up your hand to gently touch her shoulder when she starts murmuring in her sleep.

“no… unnie, i don’t like her… no, she’s potato’s!” you stifle a chuckle at the monologue. then your hand makes contact with her shoulder.

the witch’s eyes fly open and she almost twists your wrist with how fast she grabs it. “oh. y/n?”

her grip on your hand loosens a little. “yeah, it’s me.”

“what are you doing here?”

your eyes meet hers and you hold her gaze. “do you like me?”

“what?”

“do you?”

she looks lost in thought for a second. her gaze falls to the floor and as much as she’s sleepy, she’s also thinking hard.

“…yes.” you weren’t expecting her to actually say it.

“huh?”

“can i kiss you?” she doesn’t wait for your response, her lips landing on your softly.

maybe (just maybe), you can get used to living with the witches.

[akirawrites24]

hi, fellow writing blog! I love your stuff it's really good

I was wondering if you could do hcs for how being yanderes would fuck up the phantom thieves wills of rebellion (and personas if that's not too much)? Thank you :)

Shall do. Also I didn’t write for Sumire as I don’t know of what to do for her.

Phantom Thieves x Reader

Fandom: Persona 5

________

Ren Amamiya/Akira Kurusu

He will make sure you are completely isolated from everyone

He will change the hearts of all your friends so they would leave you

Your persona their voice is slowly starting to fade as you accept no one wants you around

Except for him maybe

The Nav still is on your phone, but your uniform is not there anymore when you enter the metaverse

After your persona is fully gone, only he will see you after so long and will make sure you can only depend on him

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you”

Guess who’s palace was formed on that day?

Ryuji Sakamoto

He won’t isolate you, but instead he will try to hang out with you the most

Does he get jealous? Yes, and that jealousy unfortunately ended the lives of many

You are getting suspicious that he has to do something with the dead of the boys around you, but you can’t prove it nor are you fully convinced

Once you find out he is actually behind it, you are heartbroken

The person you trusted the most ended the lives of your friends.

Instead of your persona fading, it became stronger due the anger

“Look dude, I just got angry! You know I get angry right?!

You immediately put his name in the Nav. It’s a hit.

Ann Takamaki

Considering her own trauma with Kamoshida, she won’t do anything harmful

That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t do something though

She will protect you more then the others in the Metaverse, making sure that you won’t be hurt

The others quickly noticed that (meaning: only Makoto, Haru, Ren and Akechi)

You didn’t, you thought it was just normal

She constantly asks you out and most of the times you say yes

After a while, she stops protecting and helping the others

Now that you did notice.

“Oh don’t worry! It’s nothing!”

You had gotten a lot more stronger after infiltrating her palace once you found out about it

Yusuke Kitagawa

It is no surprise that he is stalking you

And he let’s you know too

You got paranoid after the fact that a huge amount of love letters and creepy poems ended up in you mail box

Your persona is trying to calm you down

You feel like you are going crazy, because you are sure you are being followed on the streets now as well

He tries to comfort you in anyway he can, so you are back on the rails and keep your persona

He is taking it too far, but he can’t stop doing it. He just loves you so much.

You never find out about his palace either

He is having doubts if he should send the photos of you as well that he took when you weren’t looking

Makoto Niijima

Wishes that you would see she is in love with you already

Your will of rebellion and your persona don’t get affected, but hers will

You will notice her change in personality, and notice her persona is slowly changing colors and looks too

At some point, she blurted out that she wants to keep you all to herself

She needs help, and you are more than happy to give it to her

You asked her if she had a palace, to no surprise she does

You stole her heart and she went back to normal, so it’s a happy end :)

Futaba Sakura

It’s hard for her to do anything really

Social anxiety and all

She tries to keep a conversation with you, but only you. No one else is going to be present

You actually help HER will of rebellion and persona get stronger

She just wants to live with you and make you happy, no one will get hurt because of it

She is beginning to learn to tell people to back off though

You thought it was cute

The most healthy relationship in all honesty

Thinks of making a body pillow of you-

Haru Okumura

Might be the worst yandere of all

Literally kidnaps you and kills everyone you know in front of you with her axe so you would fear her and won’t try to run away

She would kill you too if you tried so you would stay with her forever

You are scared, and don’t dare to do anything

So yes, you have lost all the will of rebellion and your persona

She also took your phone away, so it's no use

Bad ending for you reader

Goro Akechi

Tries to convince you to join him instead

Gets angry when you don’t

That’s fine, he will just wait until Joker is killed on the 20th of November anyway

He just kidnapped you after finding out that Joker is still alive

You revealed that you already knew about his true nature, to which he doesn’t deny

Considering you are in his palace where he doesn’t see you as a threat, you don’t get to use your persona as you aren’t transformed

You slowly start to lose your sanity with him but hold on

You never do, you died as Akechi was killed in Shido’s palace, so his palace disappeared as well

No one knew what happened to you, you are only declared as missing

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Hello, idea for traveling Hero Sakura in GOS!

After she ditched Kakashi and its been a few years in on her journey... she is starting to miss her patron god but moves on stubbornly, until one day she ends up fighting a terrifying, giant cyclops! Her leg is injured and before it can make a finishing blow, 4 arrows come out of no where. It distracts the beast long enough for a yak to come out of the bushes, scooping her up and running away to safety with her until a strange horn is sounded. The yak then takes her to a strange, young man with long hair and a lightning bolt embroidered into his green travelors cloak, by the name of "Gyatsu."(hi travelor Gai!)

He couldn't defeat the beast either, and ended up retreating. They both heard from the same group of people that this monster has been attacking their village, eating its people and stealing its sheep for its own. (I love Epic too XD)

So the two decide to work together to stop it...only problem: they can't actually talk with one another, they speak entirely different languages XD;;;

But the two are resorcegul and use a game of pictionary to come up with a plan, Sakura utilizes her knowledge of anatomy to deduce the beast's weaknesses, whilst Gai uses his knowledge of hunting and animal behavior, to find a way to trap the beast.

Both end up really impressed by the other's skills, bravery and strength, and after defeating the beast, they travel together for 2 more weeks before parting ways for their individual adventures. Both share a bit of knowledge on the areas they came from, and as much of one another's language they can teach in that time. Their time together is brief but they know their friendship is eternal as they part ways, each using the other's name as they travel to show they are a friend/ ally of the other hero, to get people to aid them in their quests.

Then 8 months later, Sakura runs into her old patron god Kakashi, dragging his brother around by an ankle. At first she thinks he's come back for her but instead he's looking for his reincarnated boyfriend, and asks her to point him in the right direction XD!!!

Still the two end up catching up before parting ways again, maybe Kakashi says how proud he is to see how far she's come, and gives her another gift before they go.

(This probably makes Sakura older than Gai in this Au, is that okay? Gai gets to have his first strong, female roll model to challenge his upbringing where women stayed home, and men went to work. And he's SUPER receptive to it. Down right excited to learn of this village where there are many powerful women who fight along side men like its no big deal! Maybe he'll one day go to this "Tonika" if he can.)

See, i wouldn’t have Sakura ditch Kakashi.

It’s kinda like in the musical where it’s very much Kakashi’s choice after she makes a terrible mistake/doesn’t follow threw with what he tells her to do. She acts like she’s fine with it but she also hates it because she feels abandoned, but Kakashi also realizes she needs to learn to ask for help/rely on those around her who are willing to help

And even though she’s older than Gai i think that’s something she could learn well from him. She needs to take in that lesson of teamwork instead of trying to do everything herself.

Travelling with Gai helps her realize that to be a hero she doesn’t need to do everything on her own

She’s allowed to work with others and rely on others and get help from others

Things Kakashi was trying so hard to teach her because she always tried to do everything on her own, even to the detriment of others, and he finally stepped back when her inability to work with others almost cost someone their lives

Like Kakashi had to intervene to save them and when he tried to talk to Sakura she simply insisted she was fine on her own, So Kakashi decided she could work on her own.

He clearly didn’t need him

But even just a few weeks travelling with Gai shows her that she’s able to rely on others, and after they split she actually starts to implement those lesson’s Kakashi tried so hard to teach her

And that’s when Kakashi comes back.

She gets herself into trouble and instead of thinking ‘i can get out of this on my own’ she calls to the god who has helped her do much and who tried so hard to guide her, and even though he’s on a desperate mission of his own he appears

He saves her (and this did need his intervention because it’s a case of Kakuzu targeting Sakura knowing that Kakashi still has a soft spot for her. She’s against a god and while she’s holding her own well enough she knows she needs help, and calls for it

Travelling with Gai was the first time she ever asked someone else for help, and Gai happily helped her without hesitation

He taught her some of his own skills, asked her to teach him, and just by being who he is really emulated that idea of teamwork that Kakashi wanted her to learn

[murasakiirohana]

MUSE PROFILE:

real name — Ino Yamanaka

single or taken – Single

Age - Default: 20s

abilities or powers — Yamanaka Clan Abilities, Medical Ninjutsu, Sensory

eye color — Blue with a dark blue around the edges (yes, I stick with her pre-shippuden eye design)

hair color — Blonde

family members — Inoichi Yamanaka (Deceased), (unnamed mother, thanks canon) Mother (deceased ; canon divergence)

pets — None. Her flowers are her priority.

something they don’t like —  Bullies, being underestimated, feeling inadequate

hobbies / activities — Gardening, shopping, hanging out with her boys (and her girls!), learning about her clan and their jutsus

ever killed anyone before — That’s a given considering her profession. In AU verses, it depends on what point in the timeline though some she has never killed in.

animals that represent them — A boar. It represents her clan.

worst habits — She will push herself despite her better judgement if the situation calls for it. She is very critical of herself and that often leads to her being very critical towards others around her, though she has gotten better with that as she has grown up. She can be really pushy and even though it is often well-intentioned, it is still not a good habit. After the war, she begins to bottle up her feelings rather than address them because confronting them feels like too much to bear. She buries herself in her work to avoid them.

role models — Her father is her primary role model. She wants nothing more than to make him proud with everything that she does.

sexual orientation — Heterosexual

thoughts on marriage / kids — Aside from the necessity of marrying and producing a child because she is the daughter of a clan leader and part of InoShikaCho, Ino has always dreamed about getting married and having kids. She is someone that is very much in love with the idea of love and wants to have a happy and healthy family to come home to.

style preferences — She wears her hair in the signature high ponytail of the Yamanaka clan members. When working, she wears her typical purple crop top, purple apron skirt with a grey skirt underneath, mesh on her arms/knees, bandages around her thighs, and black sandals. Off duty, she usually wears loose t-shirts and capris pants. She loves getting the chance to dress up though and will go all out when she gets that chance. (this is my post-war re-design)

someone they love — She loves all of her friends wholeheartedly, but Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sakura will always carry special places in her heart— each for their own reasons. She doesn’t know what she’d do without them. They mean the world to her.

approach to friendships — Ino is someone that will seek out friendships when her interest is sparked. She likes to seek out friendships and has no qualms being the first to approach though often people gravitate towards her too. Once she has formed a bond, she is absolutely loyal and protective of that individual. She will do whatever she can to help them and to push them to be the best that they can be because she believes that is the best thing she can do for her friends.

favorite drink — She likes lemonade during warm days and hot tea during winter.

favorite place to spend time at — Her flower shop, the fields that Sakura and herself used to roam in their childhood, the Nara and Akimichi residences— just anywhere that she can be around the people or things that she loves and that bring her comfort.

swim in the lake or the ocean —  The ocean. Ino is definitely a beach type of girl.

their type — Appearance wise, she is definitely partial to guys with dark hair and/or intense eyes. She to be attracted to people that are intelligent and that are ambitious, but she is ultimately drawn to anyone that will rise to the occasion when they are needed to step up.

camping or indoors — Depends on the day.

[maoam]

if you ever get the time, i highly recommend that you go through the official naruto fanbooks since ive heard that they have many cool sasunaru easter eggs which arent really discussed much among the sns community, my japanese isnt as good so if you ever find something cool please share on your page as well alright?

you can see their japanese scans here (scroll to the bottom of the page)

https://narutoversity.wordpress.com/databooks-and-fanbooks/

I don't know if I care about the fanbooks, considering they aren't comparable to the manga, also their creators make many silly claims like this one:

"First-rate chakra control and brainpower!! Braver than any man, charming as a maiden!!

As a ninja, she still doesn’t have any remarkable feats under her belt, but even Kakashi acknowledges her latent ability. Chakra control, Genjutsu, her display of knowledge during the Chuunin Exams: she’s shown shining potential in a fairly wide array of competences. Should she develop them, she might become a threat even to the great Sasuke! She’s also the one in Kakashi’s team who reins in the two hot-headed types that are Sasuke and Naruto, like an older sister looking after a mischievous little boy."

As me and sneezemonster15 have talked about, Sakura is all book smarts and can't put any of that information into practice. And Kishi wrote her that way. Brainpower? Wish she could use some common sense sometimes. And since when does she reign Sasuke and Naruto in? Sasuke is the one who is constantly roasting her for being lazy and not learning jutsus. And she pipes down for any negative comment from him.

"A woman’s hair is her life. Yet she cuts her hair off in order to change herself!!"

Now this is just stupid and sexist.

"She probably exemplifies what an ideal young woman would be like."

I hope the hell not that Sakura isn't what an ideal young woman is like. Shallow, self-sentered and cruel?

"Sasuke dead…?! Her heart was torn between her shinobi’s duties and pure love."

Lol I remember SS claimed Kishi called Sakura's love "pure" because of this line written by the book creators. Except Kishi called Sakura's love selfish in one of the manga entries. 自分勝手な 恋な, (jibungattena koina) which means selfish/self centered/egoistic love. It’s a negative word.

"Sakura herself doesn’t really know how she feels about Naruto. Her great love is Sasuke, but it should be noticed she also looks Naruto’s way… We can’t talk about love for the moment, but who knows?! It might happen."

Shipping bait that made narusakus think their ship had a chance.

"Hinata’s fighting ability was found lacking by the Hyuuga Clan. But her latent potential is quite conspicuous, so development is to be expected in the future."

🤣🤣🤣

"To find that Itachi is interested only in Naruto surprises Sasuke. This seems to state that the value of his existence falls below Naruto’s. Thoughts of denial give birth to jealousy."

What's funny though is that even these books acknowledge Sasuke was feeling angry due to Itachi when he challenged Naruto, not because he was jealous of Sakura lol. But of course SS pick and choose what they like about these books.

Also all those stats... no way Sakura has higher intelligence than some other characters. She always makes the dumbest decisions during battle.

"She tries to get involved but there is no room for her. In front of their heated glares, she does not exist."

Finally some good line hahaha.

"Sasuke left Konohagakure. Sakura’s heart did not reach him. Naturally lonely and peace loving, for Sakura, the loss of one teammate causes her great pain.

Thus, if that person is someone she loves, the pain is greater. So she shouts out her love which goes unheeded, squeezing the words out of her throat. It’s as if this is her imprisoning destiny."

Something that SS also love to ignore when referring to their precious fanbooks.

A lot of these lines in the book just seem like them writing whatever that sounds nice, and would make fans buy the books. Like the line how no one who confronts Sasuke has a chance of living, despite us knowing it's not true lol

[lightweaving]

KakaKarin for #7 (extra points if it’s crackfic heh)

i tried. i really, really tried to make it crack. But this one seized me by the heart and refused to let go, so buckle in for angst! (also the brainrot was v real so i posted it here and i'm definitely going to continue it)

Walls

Length: 1.9k

Prompt: “Are you this touchy with all your friends?” “...No.”

Summary: Karin needs some help passing her psych eval.

“In the last 6 months, how often have you felt restless, agitated, frantic, or tense?” 

“All the time!” Karin snapped. “I had no idea what Sasuke’s plan was, I had no idea what that Madara fellow wanted from him, from us, the world was going to shit – what’s the point of all these questions anyway?” 

Kakashi sighed, lowering his clipboard. He wished he could be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Being in a meeting with those wizened old crones, Homura and Koharu, sounded more appealing. “It’s important,” he repeated. It felt as if he aged ten years every time he repeated that phrase. It was important. Sakura was right. If there was one thing they had all learned from the Fourth war, it was that shinobi could not simply shrug off their emotional wounds and go about their lives.  This was necessary. 

He just wished it could be someone else dealing with Karin. 

His shoulders sagged as she continued her tirade about how they were all wasting her time – how she had places to go, people she needed to meet. He was never going to trust Sakura or Shikamaru again. They’d given him an innocuous looking proposal about shinobi mental health to sign, and hadn’t bothered telling him about the all-important clause: that in the event a suitable counselor could not be matched to the shinobi, the Hokage themselves would be required to take on the case. 

He sighed again and rolled his shoulders. “Unfortunately,” he said, cutting her off, “if you want your clearance back, you have to pass this evaluation. And you’re going to need to continue attending these sessions until you’re fit to pass.” 

With a hiss, she leapt over his desk and landed on him, straddling his lap. Her hands twisted in his ceremonial robes. Kakashi gulped, relieved that he hadn’t sent his ANBU guard off an errand to find him a highly specific stone or some other nonsense today. At least he’d have a witness in case someone walked in to find Karin on top of him like this. “Then just say I’m fit!” she bellowed. “It’s not like you want to be here either. I can feel it. Your chakra’s flickering so much it’s giving me a damn headache.”

“Sakura will never let me hear the end of it if I just let you off,” he replied. It was true, but wasn’t the entire truth. He could have revoked the clause that required him to do this duty. He would have, if Sakura hadn’t fixed him with a look and told him that Karin had no one else in the world who cared. That if she was in danger of hurting herself, there was nobody who could catch the signs. “Well, it doesn’t have to be that bad,” he tried. 

“Doesn’t have to be that bad? I have to answer all these questions about my feelings and about my eating and my sleeping and,” she leaned back to wrench the bundle of papers Kakashi had been referring to and shook them in his face, “my sexual activity! I’m not talking about these things to some old pervert like you!”

Kakashi would probably have been more offended if he didn’t have the case notes from all her other previous assigned counselors documenting that she’d called them all perverts too. “Sakura insisted,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. 

“Are you the Hokage or not?” she shrieked. “Just tell her I cried about what a shitty childhood I had and I’m all better now. Or order her off your back, send her on a six-month mission or something!” 

He wasn’t going to bother explaining to Karin why it was a bad idea to send one of Konoha’s most eminent medics out on a six month-long mission. But it did give him an idea. 

“We’ll do it this way,” he said. “Just meet me to train. Once a week. After some time, I’ll tell Sakura that you’re provisionally cleared to resume your duties. Then from there, we’ll give it some more time, and then I’ll clear you fully. That sound good?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Once a week,” she repeated. “And how many of these… sessions do I have to go through before I get even that provisional clearance?” 

He shrugged. “Hard to say. It does have to be good enough for me to get Sakura off my back. But if you show up properly and on time, I should be able to get that for you after about four weeks?” Obito would have laughed himself silly watching this scene. At how Kakashi was setting expectations about punctuality after all his years forcing people to wait on him. At how Kakashi was the one trying to make someone confront their emotions. Karin sniffed. 

“Fine,” she said. “But you’d better not try anything funny, pervert!” 

Kakashi wondered how she possessed the audacity to say that while she was still on his lap. It wasn’t just Obito – Rin, Kushina-sama, and Minato-sensei were surely laughing their heads off too. 

—

It had been two hours, and she hadn’t shown up. 

Kakashi shrugged, snapping the 10th anniversary edition of Icha Icha Paradise shut. He’d kept Shikamaru waiting long enough, he supposed. He should probably go discuss that tax proposal with him. 

He’d tried. If Karin didn’t show up, that wasn’t his fault. 

She has no one else in the world. 

He was just assuming that she had chosen not to show up. What if she was injured, or unwell? She’d been put on suspension from her hospital duties too, until she got her clearance. Nobody would be expecting her to show up anywhere. It could be days, weeks, before anyone noticed that something was wrong. 

Hatake Sakumo’s corpse had lain cooling in their living room for three days before someone had bothered to come check on them. And that was only because their neighbor had been worried that she hadn’t seen Kakashi out and about. 

Karin didn’t even have children. Who would bother to check on her? 

With a groan, he dragged himself to go looking for her. 

—

She was lying on her kitchen floor, staring at the ceiling. She was still breathing, and he’d noticed her tensing when he’d begun fiddling with the lock on her window, before she forced herself to relax. She was alive and conscious of what was going on around her. She was fine, and he had gone above and beyond what was required of him. He could go. 

But something about that sight – of her lying so still in the dark – made him stop in his tracks.

He’d just go in and get a few words out of her. That would be all. Then he could put in his report that he’d spoken to her and that she’d been unresponsive and he could call it a day. Sakura probably wouldn’t even lambast him too much. She knew well what Karin was like. 

“What do you want?” Karin grumbled as he entered. 

“You didn’t show up to our meeting,” he replied. 

“Yeah, because you wanted to train. It’s not like I’m even a real shinobi,” she scoffed. “What good’s training going to do for me? What, you’re going to teach me to smash trees and the ground? I’m already a medic, right? Might as well make me into Sakura 2.0!”

“That’s not what I –” he began. 

“Isn’t it? She’s dating Sasuke, I used to be on Sasuke’s team. She’s a healer, I’m a healer. Sort of. Her hair’s pink, mine’s red. Go on! Tell me how I’m so much like her, only worse!” 

Something within Kakashi stilled. “Who said that to you?” he asked quietly. 

She sat up, looking at him sharply. “I don’t want your pity,” she snarled. “Get the fuck out of my house. Get out.” 

But she made no move to actually get rid of him. “It’s not pity,” he tried. “I’m just worried –”

“Bullshit!” A can of tuna came flying at him. He plucked it out of the air and set it carefully on the ground. She didn’t qualify for much of a stipend, given that her status was equivalent to a genin’s. A genin who didn’t go on missions, at that. 

“Karin,” he started, before another can flew out at him. Beans, this time. 

“Stop looking at me like that!” she screamed. “Get out, get out, get out!” 

A certainty grew within Kakashi, one he disliked. He flung himself on top of her, pinning her wrists to the floor. “It’s no wonder you don’t have any friends, if you treat them all this way,” he said cruelly. 

Sure enough, her body relaxed. “I have plenty of friends! More than you, but not like that’s real hard. You just haven’t met them because you’re such a shut-in.” 

He somehow kept his sympathy and horror off his face. It would not be well-received. “Prove it.” 

“Huh?” 

“Prove to me that you can make and keep a friend. Be one to me. If you can fulfill this task to my satisfaction, I’ll give you back your clearance. I’ll overrule anyone who says you aren’t fit for duty.”

Her eyes narrowed, as she sifted through his possible motives. “Why you?” she challenged. “Why not literally anyone else in the village?” 

“Because unlike you, I don’t have a built-in lie detector. You should be flattered.” She’d say anything to get out of what she viewed as pity. That was for certain. And unfortunately, any sort of compassion — even of the sort normal humans showed one another — appeared to qualify. 

Her entire face scrunched up. Kakashi absently found himself thinking that her expression looked rather like Pakkun, back when he’d still been young and adorable. “You don’t trust me,” she wailed. 

“I don’t,” he said, keeping his expression as bland as possible. “Training grounds tomorrow, at 3pm. Don’t be late.” As she opened her mouth, he pressed her lips shut with his thumb and forefinger, trusting that she was no longer going to try to fling something at him. “I’m no healer either,” he said. “I’m not going to bother training you in something I can’t do. But you’re of no use to me in the hospital. I want you out in the field. This way, I kill two birds with one stone.” 

She nodded slowly. This was something she could understand, and accept. Overtures of friendship from someone who viewed her as an asset, rather than as a person. It had taken Gai to break through those barriers for him through all those years in ANBU, and afterward. 

But Kakashi wasn’t Gai, and Karin wasn’t Kakashi. He couldn’t bulldoze through those walls with a thumbs up and a smile. He could only go along with them, and let her at least get a sense of independence back. 

Her shoulders sagged further, and Kakashi started to withdraw, knowing that she would no longer protest. 

“You said you wanted me to be a friend to you,” she said slowly. “Are you this touchy with all your friends?” 

‘You started it’ was hardly a befitting response for a Hokage. Neither was ‘it was either that or muzzle you so you’d stop talking’. His face heated, and he was thankful for the mask that would conceal the flush that was surely spreading across his face. “...No,” he said finally. 

“I knew it!” she shrieked. “Fucking pervert!” 

[boysplanetrecaps]

The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 2, Phone Calls Home and Judges Table

Hey, National Producer! It's always so nice to see you. Let's dive back into our amazing Produce48 rewatch!

When we left off with this ridiculous project, we had seen many of the trainees recording their evaluation performance for the grade reassignment, and I whispered to you sweetly to tell you what their grades were as we went along, in an effort to subvert MNET editing.

In this post, we'll cover the girls weepy phone calls home, usually to their moms, and then see some of the judges' table. Along the way, we'll find out more of their final grades, too. Get a whole box of tissues and watch along if you like: https://kshow123.tv/show/produce-48/episode-2.html

At 1:48:33, the segment begins. The girls are brought one at a time to a small room. They know what’s coming -- it’s phone call time! They’re handed a cell phone and told they can call one person who they can think of right now. Some of them start crying at the mere thought of it. 

Kim Dayeon, future Kep1er, cries even while the phone is still ringing. She’s only 15, poor kid. We never see any of her audition, but hopefully she will be happy when she finds out that she maintained her B-status. 

We also see Sakura and Lee Gaeun, both calling their mothers. Gaeun’s greeting comes out in a tight squeak.

Huh Yujin, future Le Sserafim, is so overcome that at first she can’t speak. Her mother says hello first in Korean and then in English, suggesting that she doesn’t recognize the phone number Yujin is calling from. Both her Mom and I want to hug her. I still can’t get over the judges moving her down to F! 

Choi Soeun, who auditioned with Question Mark and earlier said that B-class was communicating telepathically, communicates telephonically as well with her mom. We don’t see any of her audition, but later on she is moved down to C-class.  

Park Chanju’s mother helpfully says, “you must have missed me so much. Stop crying.”

Sakura, who has gotten through to her mother, can’t speak. Her mother just keeps asking “Daijobu? Why are you crying?”

Kato Yuuka’s mother asks her, “was there anything that bothered you?” Yuuka auditioned with Funny People, in the furry orange collar. If only Yuuka knew that in a few hours she would be moving up to B-class -- she could have told her mom the good news! 

They seem to be filming Jo Yuri through the tiny window in the door as she tells her mother, “I’m not quite meeting my own expectations.” We didn’t see any of her evaluation performance, but it apparently didn’t go well at all. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t show it, because it was so bad that she is going to move all the way from A to F. As we see later, she just totally froze in place during the recording. Poor kid.

Pretty little Kang Damin, future Queenzeye, who auditioned in the pale yellow shirt alongside “mini-Sunmi” of the flat tummy, gets a pep talk from her mom. We later see a bit of her audition video, in which she’s really throwing herself into it -- she didn’t even need that pep talk! The judges move her up to A class. Good work, Damin!  

Individual trainee Park Jinny -- one of the ex-YG girls and future member of Secret Number -- gets a pep talk from her dad. Hopefully it’ll give her a bit of strength when she finds out shortly that the judges are moving her down from C to F. 

Honda Hitomi gets a pep talk from her mom. She really is a cutey. We’ll see more of her during the judges’ evaluation part.

Shitao Miu, who auditioned with Honda Hitomi to Mister and wore the cap on her belt, says she feels better hearing her mom’s voice, even though mom had scolded her right before she left. She interviews that she realized that she felt thankful toward her mom all along. She’s going to learn soon that she’s staying in D-class. 

Naiki Kokoro, who auditioned in Funny People (wearing green), says that she realized she’s not alone because she has her family.  That’s sweet! And soon she will have her friends in C-class, because the judges are moving her up! 

Then we transition into the parents who laugh at their kids.

The mother of husky-voiced Kim Hyuna asks her if she’s the oldest in the competition, and she says she thinks she is. She’s not -- that would be the multi-lingual Miyazaki Miho, who is 24 -- but at 23, Hyuna is definitely among the oldest. We’ll see more of her during the judges’ evaluation part.

Park Minji, future member of Secret Number, gets asked if there’s anything she wants to eat when she gets home. Minji tells mom that she has plenty of food, and mom scolds her for eating instant noodles. Hopefully mom wouldn’t have scolded her for keeping her status in B class. 

It’s kind of funny how both Park Minji and Park Jinny auditioned with the Chung-ha song Roller Coaster, though separately, given that they were destined to both be in Secret Number together.

Cho Kahyeon, the girl from the Starship group who isn’t Wonyoung or An Yujin, is literally me talking to my mom. Her mom says Kahyeon is good enough to be there but can’t make her debut, because, apparently, Kahyeon is “fat”. Thanks, Mom! Thmom. Kahyeon tells her that she’s on speaker phone, and mom apologizes, but goes on to say that Kahyeon had said that “someone in Gugudan used to be fat” (I assume she’s talking about Kang Mina?), and Kahyeon’s dying of embarrassment that her mom is repeating all this on national tv.  Mom says, this won’t be aired, right? And Kahyeon, who is smart enough to know what’s up, is like “yeah, I don’t know about that.” I wonder if Mom would have been proud to know that Kahyeon stayed in B class, or if she would have scolded her for not moving up? 

Judges Table

At 1:51:26, the judges assemble for the grade evaluation.

The judges talk about how they’re expecting the Japanese trainees to do well at looking at the camera. They watch Gaeun’s and Sakura’s performances -- both great, as you may recall, so they both keep their A status -- then Jeremy is super excited to see Lee Chaeyeon. He actually says “Oh my God!” in English, which is pretty cute.

The judges say that she was sick during the training period and couldn’t take lessons from the teacher, so she must have taught herself. She does great -- singing, dancing, performance. They love her -- Dance Bae says “I want more trainees like her.” As we find out later, she keeps her A status. 

Next is Cherry Bullet’s Park Haeyoon, and Jeremy says “Please do well.” But…

… things don’t go well for my new Cherry Bullet bias. Oh no! She forgets the words, and I think she forgets the steps. Her voice sounds tired and strained. Dance Bae snarks, “I don’t know why I’m even watching this to the end.” It’s a real bummer. Jeremy apologizes to the other judges -- the joke is that he’s from the same agency, FNC  -- and Soyou says “Her strength is in high pitches. I even marked her name” (ie, Soyou had noticed her at the audition) “but she isn’t good.” Oh no!! As we find out later, she gets placed in D class, a huge downgrade from A. 

Next up is Jang Gyu Ri, fromis_9 member, who we saw audition with Chewing Gum (she was the pink one). The judges comment on how pretty she is. 

We only see a bit of her audition, but she doesn’t seem to even try to sing. She must have forgotten the lyrics completely. As we find out later, she gets placed in F class, a huge downgrade from B.  

Next is Kim Choyeon, the fire-eyes girl who we talked about earlier. (If you forgot, she is going to move down from A to C.)

Then Cho Sa Rang, the little 14 year old who sang the song from Annie as part of her audition.

She has a complete brain failure, poor kid. We find out later that she gets moved down to F, a pretty far fall from B. 

Shin Suhyun, who auditioned by herself with the song Playing With Fire and who had voice-over-ed earlier that the Japanese trainees were impressive in their revaluation, also goes blank. The judges roll their eyes. We find out later that she also gets moved down to F.  The show really, really hates this girl. Other trainees also don't do a great job, but the show never misses an opportunity to shit on poor punching bag Shin Suyhun.

Next is Park Jieun, future ex-Purple Kiss, who, as we discussed earlier, really blows it. The judges are getting fed up, saying that all their aces are disappointing them.

Next up is Goto Moe, who had lost her voice in the audition. They’re all excited -- Jeremy says she’s on his “A-list.”

She starts off wrong, but she keeps going, and though she gets kind of shrill and shouty, she’s actually kind of on key. She’s not nearly as nasal as most of the Japanese trainees. The judges find her charming and unique. We find out later that she has been moved up to C-class, which is huge, and I think well-deserved. Nice work, Moe! 

Next is Mogi Shinobu, our living meme girl, who as we discussed earlier, moves up to D.

Then Murase Sae, who we met during her performance of Funny People, in which she wore the worst outfit.

Dance Bae, impressed with Sae’s energy, offers her own kind of praise: “She’s so horrible -- but I want to teach her.” Mary J Lee, who has been working with the D class girls, says “She’s a hard worker.” We later on find out that they have moved her up to C. Good work, Sae! 

Next is dancer Nakano Ikumi, who we discussed earlier. Her energy and enthusiasm, as well as her obvious improvement, moves Dance Bae to ruminate, “I had expected to scold the Japanese trainees a lot today, but I really have no comment. They’re just not experienced.”  See, she’s not a psychopath the way that Psychopath is, you guys. I swear she’s not. Dance Bae adds that the Korean trainees should prepare well because the Japanese girls are coming for them. 

We’re reminded that the girls needed to learn the songs in both languages, and then we see “mini Chung-ha”, little Lee Ha Eun again (we saw her earlier). She seems to rock the Japanese version, proving why she deserves to keep her A status. 

Next up is future Lightsum’s Kim Nayoung, who auditioned with I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend.

She has no trouble hitting the high notes, and just generally seems to be doing great. Dance Bae -- who, mind you, has been teaching her in C class for the past day or two -- says in surprise, “Why is she in C-class?” Jeremy calls her a hidden treasure. We find out later that she had been moved up to A. Great work, Nayoung!

The next few girls are each shown for a few seconds each, as a sort of montage of trainees who can’t remember any of the lyrics to the Japanese version of the song. 

The first in this group is Kim Doah, future Fanatics member and GP999 contestant, who psyches herself out a bit trying to sing in Japanese.

We find out later that she is moved down to C from A. Poor kid! I still like you, Doah. 

Next is Kwon Eunbi, who we discussed earlier.  (She crashed and burned and was moved down to C.)

Then Kim Yubin from CNC school -- part of Dayeon’s group.

She keeps smiling but doesn’t sing a note. We find out later that she gets moved down to D class. 

Next is husky voiced Kim Hyunah, who apparently isn’t showing her vocals here…

… though she must do really well otherwise, because the judges later decide to keep her in class B. 

Next is Kim Dahye from Banana Culture, who we talked about earlier. 

Then it’s Honda Hitomi, the one that we saw a lot of in the dance lessons. The class had high expectations of her -- and she seems to be delivering.

My favorite is Dance Bae asking, “Is she singing in Korean?” I mean, if you have to ask…? But still, gotta respect the hustle. The judges certainly do, and we find out later on that she has been moved to A group. Nice work, Hitomi!  

She’s not the only Japanese trainee to memorize the lyrics in Korean. (I’m still not clear on whether or not they were required to.) 

We see a nanosecond of Imada Mina -- who we discussed earlier -- then a nanosecond of Tanaka Miku, the girl in F-class with the cute bangs who was hanging out with Bibian and Nako when Erii was getting yelled at. It was hard to get a screenshot of her, but she was doing a decent job, and we find out later that she moves up to C class. 

We also see a nanosecond of Kurihara Sae, one of the members of the Never Ending Ferris Wheel group. Like many of her teammates, she’s putting her heart into it. The judges are going to put her in D class. 

We see a fair bit of Iwate Saho’s evaluation. She was in Dancing Hero, and she’s the one we saw learning the choreo from H1-Key Riina in her class. I guess the lessons didn’t really stick. She seems to sort of improvise new steps or something, making all the judges laugh, and though Psychopath says “my heart wants to give her an A,” they ultimately move her down to D-class.  

Then we see a nanosecond each of CNC School’s Yoon Eunbin -- she’s REALLY throwing herself into it, maintaining her place in B class -- and Kang Damin, who we discussed earlier, letting out a cute high pitched “hoo!”.  

After that, there’s Ko Yujin, who auditioned with Lip and Hip and who claims to look a bit like HyunA, and the judges love her. They say she looks like top-5 material to them. 

The judges are going to move her up from C to A, reversing the fate of Kim Cho Yeon, the “fire”-eyes girl who also auditioned with Lip and Hip and went from A to C. 

Then we see Yabuki Nako, who the judges love. We actually get a mini montage of her in dance class, and learn that she’s the other trainees’ pick as most likely to succeed. 

She does great -- vocals, dance, performance, it’s all there. Sure, it’s not the style of singing I love, but darned if she isn’t on key despite jumping up and down the whole time. It’s good. We find out later that the judges move her from F all the way up to A! Sugoi! Congrats, Nako-chan! 

As episode 2 draws to a close, we see the judges leaving judging table to meet with the girls in their respective classrooms, and the editors tease us with a bit of what’s going to happen next.

Jeremy talks to the A class, and is cagey about how many of their grades have changed. I’ll tell you that it’s 8.

Psychopath tells the B class that 17 people’s grades have changed.

Cheetah tells the C class that 18 people’s grades have changed.

Mary J Lee tells the D class that 12 people’s grades have changed. 

Dance Bae tells the F class that 9 people’s grades have changed.

There are 15 girls in D, but only 11 are present, and there are 17 girls in F but only 9 are present. It also looks like Sakura and Miyu aren’t present in the A-class. This is because -- as we learn later -- a bunch of the AKB girls had professional obligations back in Japan. 

What’s really odd about the preview is that it straight up shows us that Lee Gaeun and Sakura have both gotten an A, but then we just see other girls being handed their grades without finding out what that new grade is. They also show a completely, 100% pixelated blob walking down the hallway with a caption letting us know that someone has fallen from A class to F class. Again, what's the point of showing the pixelated blob, MNET? They could just as easily show us a wall with a sign that says "I'm just wasting time."

Sooooo close this time, AI image generator. Soooo close.

Anyway, that’s the end of the episode! Woot!

In the next episode, they’re going to dick around and waste time forever and day without telling you who is what new class, but you’ll already know the fates of at least 53 of them! Because you live in the FUTURE!!!!!1! 

Then they show the ranking of the 96 girls as they stood at the time. I’ll give you a quick reminder of who each girl is and note any rank changes of more than 20 spots (or just notable changes) from the previous ranking. It’s worth noting that all three girls from the polka dotted Celeb Five audition leaped up significantly. Also, all future members of IVE, Everglow, and Le Sserafim are in the top 25.  I bolded names of people you might have heard of because they debuted in groups later on and are still active. (I'm not bolding the Bugaboo girls since that group already disbanded.)

Lee Gaeun - the Pledis queen

Ahn Yujin - future IVE

Kwon Eunbi - future soloist, leaping up from 25th place

Jang Wonyoung - future IVE

Miyawaki Sakura  - future Le Sserafim

Choi Yena - future soloist

Wang Yiren - future Everglow 

Goto Moe - laryngitis girl 

Yamada Noe - gravely voiced Noe, leaping up from 45th place 

Lee Chaeyeon - future soloist, leaping up from 29th place 

Takeuchi Miyu - the other Japanese girl in A, leaping up from 39th place 

Matsui Jurina - the Jurina

Kim Sihyeon - future Everglow

Jang Gyuri - Fromis_9, pink Chewing Gum

Huh Yunjin - future Le Sserafim

Miyazaki Miho - multilingual queen

Kim Minju - a Very Pretty Girl

Lee Sian - purple Chewing Gum

Jo Yuri - yellow Chewing Gum

Na Goeun - future Purple Kiss

Kim Chaewon - future Le Sserafim

Shiroma Miru - Miru-chan, smiley queen, falling hard from 9th place

Kojima Mako - auditioned alongside Juri to Playing With Fire

Iwatate Saho - Dancing Hero, flying up from 46th place

Kim Doah - future Fanatics/GP999

Park Seoyoung - blonde, Number One Chair

Yabuki Nako - went from F to A

Muto Tomu - auditioned alongside Juri to Playing With Fire

Takahashi Juri - future Rocket Punch

Bae Eunyeong - mint Chewing Gum

Murakawa Bibian - little baby doll girl

Yu Minyoung - mint polka dots, A class (for now), leaping up from 86th place

Wang Ke - red polka dots, Chinese, leaping up from 92nd place

Ko Yujin (aka Go Yujin) - “Hyuna lookalike”

Park Haeyoon - future Cherry Bullet, leaping up from 59th place

Cho Kahyeon - other Starship girl, leaping up from 65th place

Nakanishi Chiyori  - from What’s Your Name

Chiba Erii - swollen lip and glitch mode in F class

Kim Minseo - yellow polka dots, leaping up from 62nd place

Kang Hyewon - “purity is all she has” 

Asai Nanami - Sailor Venus

Motomura Aoi - sweet faced Aoi

Murase Sae - auditioned with Funny People

Kim Sohee - future Rocket Punch

Shitao Miu - auditioned with Mister

Hwang Soyeon - flat tummied little Sunmi, leaping up from 90th

Honda Hitomi - little cutey

Lee Yujeong - future Lightsum, CNC school

Park Jinny - ex-YG trainee, future Secret Number 

Yoon Haesol - auditioned with Question Mark

Kim Suyun - future Rocket Punch/Queendom Puzzle

Choi Yeonsoo - YGK+ model

Nakano Ikumi - known for her dancing 

Hasegawa Rena - auditioned alongside gravely voiced Noe

Matsuoka Natsumi - distinctive face, falling hard from 35th place 

Park Minji - future Secret Number 

Shin Su-hyun - solo Playing With Fire

Lee Haeun - “Mini-Chungha”

Mogi Shinobu - living meme girl

Lee Seunghyeon - H1-key Riina 

Aramaki Misaki - Never Ending Ferris Wheel 

Cho Yeongin - auditioned with Lee Chaeyeon

Kim Nayoung - future Lightsum 

Imada Mina - no bangs in Never Ending Ferris Wheel 

Kim Dayeon - future Kep1er 

Sato Minami  - Sailor Mars, Lemon-chan’s mom

Oda Erina “known for her singing” 

Yoon Eunbin - from CNC school, low-key my fave

Park Chanju-  auditioned with Roller Coaster

Park Jieun - future ex-Purple Kiss

Tanaka Miku - auditioned with the Banana Song

Kim Hyuna - husky voiced Hyuna

Kato Yuuka - furry orange collar in Funny People

Kang Damin - pale yellow shirt at audition, auditioned with “little Sunmi”, future Queenzeye

Kim Choyeon - fire eyes girl, future Bugaboo 

Hong Yeji - fell down in her evaluation video

Won Seoyeon - auditioned with Heroine by Sunmi

Cho Ahyeong - auditioned alongside Cherry Bullet’s Haeyoon

Han Chowon - future Lightsum

Asai Yuka - auditioned with Knock Knock

Nagano Serika - auditioned with Mister

Naiki Kokoro - auditioned with Funny People 

Ichikawa Manami - shorter hair, auditioned with What’s Your Name?

Kurihara Sae - Never Ending Ferris Wheel

Son Eunchae - future Bugaboo

Alex Christine - aka AleXa

Shinozaki Ayana - beauty mark under lip

Ahn Yewon - YGK+ model

Kim Dahye - auditioned with I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend, fell from A to C

Cho Sarang - sang Tomorrow from Annie

Tsukiashi Amane - high name tag in Never Ending Ferris Wheel

Choi Soeun - auditioned with Question Mark

Kim Yubin - from CNC school

Lee Chaejeong  - future Alice

Umeyama Cocona - already dropped out

Uemura Azusa  - already dropped out

See you in the next one,

Love, BPR Unnie

[sakura-no-oto]

Fragments

In which Sakura reflects on her childhood

There may be triggering content below: read at your own discretion.

Shoutout to @eccentriccollective for helping me edit this piece.

Screaming. That’s the first thing she remembers when she reflects on her childhood. Endless, muffled screaming that carried through the four walls of her tiny room. It’s hard to picture now; there’s a musty, dingy darkness that arises whenever she tries. She used to cover her ears and burrow under her blankets – she knows because the habit carried through much of her early childhood – an innocent wish that if she simply shut out the noise, it would take the hint and eventually quiet down. A child’s mind is sweet in hindsight but small and unable to grasp the greater scope of the world around it. The screaming never stopped, and she’d had no choice but to live with it.

She shudders now, looking back; what sort of child learns to sleep through another’s dying breath (it’s not your fault, she tells herself. You didn’t know any other way). She feels no better, but it is true enough: up until her third birthday, her world was confined to those four, dingy walls. Flashes of memory suggest a trembling wet nurse would shuffle in to feed her and cloth her and tend to her general infantile needs.

There was more to it, she’d learn later on – the sort of sinister that went hand in hand with the cocktail of needles and bloodwork that left her crying for her father (ironic, she knows now, but again, she was a child). It didn’t matter either way, Orochimaru never came when she called. She wouldn’t learn what reliable meant until she met her older brother.

He wasn’t really her brother – not by blood. He simply showed up one day, toting gentle eyes and a friendly smile and silver hair that glistened like moonlight (at least, she imagined it did; she’d never seen the moon). “Sakura-chan,” her father said one day, pausing in a way that suggested he’d only stopped upon noticing the door was open. She’d looked up from the puzzle or doll or whatever it was she’d been playing with, peering at this boy in confusion and awe. He was a boy, likely nine or ten years old, though to a child of nearly three, that seemed so mature.

  “This is Kabuto,” her father told her, phrasing the name as if it were someone’s best kept secret. Not understanding this, she’d shyly glanced from this boy, this Kabuto, to her father, waiting for an explanation. “Kabuto will be staying with us from now on.” Again, he said it like she was supposed to understand. She doesn’t remember how she answered him. Kabuto told her later, much later, she’d mostly stared and tugged nervously on the ends of her hair (despite her age, it was already thick and hugging her shoulders). She believes that. She wouldn’t find her voice for years yet.

What she does remember is Kabuto stepping towards her. He raises a hand in greeting, his eyes, black as coal but somehow still so bright, smiling along with the corners of his mouth.

“A pleasure to meet you, Sakura-sama.” It’s one of the few times he’d ever call her that. They were family in so many ways but one; let the formalities lie unless absolutely necessary.

  “Hello,” she says quietly and after a moment of debate, lifts her hand in a brief half-wave. At three years old, even she can tell there’s something strange about this meeting. She thinks perhaps Kabuto might be a new nurse, only he doesn’t fit the type she’s seen come through her door. For one thing, his clothes are all wrong. Nurses don’t dress in black and purple.

  He also doesn’t look at her the way they do, with wary, tired eyes that dart around as if something in her room will jump out and eat them (it might – she still doesn’t know where the screaming comes from). Third and most obvious to Sakura is that Kabuto is a boy. Every nurse she’s met has always been female (Sakura wishes she could give her father courteous credit for that, but she’s grown now and understands why he cycled through so many medics: her care was a kind of purgatory between life and the operating table).

No, Kabuto is different. She doesn’t understand it yet, but she will. In just a few weeks’ time, her father stops visiting. Instead, it’s only Kabuto. This is…strange, but no less strange than her life so far. Kabuto still smiles, still looks at her with friendly eyes and talks to her like no one ever has before. She can’t put it into words just yet, but she’s never had a real conversation before. Has she? For all her father’s talk, he’s never had much to say to her (it’s usually a flurry of “how are yous” and “Don’t worries” and “Stop crying you insolent brat or I’ll make you—”) Her father said a lot with very little.

Kabuto doesn’t say much either. He asks the questions all the other grown-ups do and fusses with scrolls and checks her vitals…but he listens too, and Sakura isn’t used to this. There isn’t much to share at her age, but she appreciates it anyway. It will take a little longer to realize, but when she does at last – of course – it couldn’t be more obvious. Kabuto isn’t like her father. He isn’t like the other grown-ups either. Kabuto is a kid. A big kid, but a kid all the same. Sakura has never seen another kid before. Having one around might be fun.

__

The nurses stop visiting. At first, this happens periodically – once a day to three times a week, then so on and so forth until one day, she’s in the dark from the moment she wakes until whenever Kabuto opens her door.

“Sakura-sama,” he says, stepping into her room. “Would you like some—” He doesn’t finish; she bursts into tears, cutting him off. Sakura remembers a lot of tears in her youth. She doesn’t blame herself for it, but that day (or night) was the first time she’d cried in front of her new…what was he to her then? A doctor? A babysitter? (A friend?) She’s never had a friend before—wouldn’t know how to identify one. Looking back, reaching for this sort of friendly, sort of acquaintance as he shuffled into the room, lighting the wilted stump of a candle while awkwardly telling her not to worry, that day might have been where friendship began.

  He hands her a bowl of food and some water, then sits down outside her playpen (cage, it’s a cage) until her whimpering settles down. “It’s okay, Sakura-sama,” he says. “I’ll try to visit more often.” Sakura stays quiet for a time, nibbling on the rim of a weathered canteen. “I don’t like the dark,” she mumbles. She looks up at him, perhaps searching for a cue for whether or not this was the right thing to say. Kabuto meets her eyes for a moment, then glances away. For the first time, she sees something in his face other than casual compliance. “I don’t either.”

Her father comes for her later that night. It’s late – she knows it by the bone-deep fatigue hugging her like a shroud (the word is unknown to her toddler mind, but looking back, it fits). Sakura rarely sleeps well. Though her eyelids droop and she’s buried in blankets, she still sees the lanky figure appear like a ghost beside her bed. At first, a chill snakes through her and she nearly screams (a gut instinct she now wishes she’d heeded in later life). Then, she hears her father’s voice and the fear barking at her throat subsides. “Did I wake you, Sakura-chan?” He asks, but it isn’t that of a concerned parent. There’s a strange, slippery urgency in his voice. She feels goose-pimples pinch her skin and her stomach tightens.

“No,” she answers, and looking back now, she’s thankful he believed her. Three is too tender an age even for the best of spies. Her father sort of smiles at her: once again, it’s missing the warmth she’s come to know as real affection.

“Good girl,” he says, and then he brings his hands together. His blood-stained hands. Her eyes dart to his, but he isn’t watching her anymore. His attention seems faraway and present all at once, casting deep shadows over his face. “Don’t worry,” he says, says it like he has so many times. His fingers begin to move, forming signs she’ll come to associate with genjutsu. Worry? She remembers thinking and this, too, is a faraway thought. What is there to worry about?

Whatever it is, she can’t recall now. The last thing she remembers is her father’s voice and a trickle-down of white feathers, lulling her into a doze.

>>There’s a gap in her memory here: a sleep spell contorts one’s perception of time, and she’s been told her father spared no expense when it came to covering his tracks. She believes it, although the thought makes her pale skin crawl like the monsters that bend to her father’s every whim. Sound Country sits far removed from the other villages: It is a place for those who don’t wish to be found, and more than a day’s journey on foot. How long then, was she left under that spell?<<

Their new home is…quiet. That’s the first thought in her mind as she lays awake at night. Her room is double the size of her old one, and while still dimly lit, she’s free to explore without restriction. She’s asked Kabuto about it once—because he’s come with them, and she’s thankful for that. He smiles politely and tells her she’s a big girl now.

“A big room for a big girl,” he says, and it makes sense in her four-year-old mind. If she remembers correctly, she was proud he saw how much she’d grown. Maybe her father would notice too. He always seemed to pay more attention to grown-ups. Not that Sakura has much frame of reference. There is a catch, though. She learns not long after, the one and only time she wound up lost in a maze of tunnels. Kabuto found her huddled under a torch, her hands over her ears and tears staining her face (the screaming never stopped, she’d learned; it simply moved further away.)

  He puts a hand on her shoulder, waiting until she lowers her arms. “Come on,” he says gently, taking her hand in his. Sakura sniffles and wipes her eyes. There’s an urgency in the air, one she’s not felt since that last night in her old room; she doesn’t question it. Some things speak for themselves. When they return to safety, Kabuto turns and locks the door behind him. He lets go of her hands, then bends at the knee so his dark eyes meet her drying gold ones.

“Sakura,” he says; it’s the first time she’s heard him say her name without the honorific. “I need you to promise me something.”

She tugs on the ends of her hair. “What is it?”

A shadow falls over Kabuto’s face and his black eyes fill with concern. “Don’t go exploring on your own. It isn’t safe.” Though only four years old, she’s able to pair those words ‘not safe’ with the scent of blood. Sakura hasn’t seen it beyond needles and scrapes and bruises, but the smell is burned so deeply in her memory, there’s probably something she’s missing.

  “Okay,” she mumbles. Kabuto’s brow furrows.

“Promise,” he says. Sakura swallows and stiffly nods.

  “I promise.”

__

She hardly sees her father at all. This isn’t really a surprise. To say he qualifies as a ‘hands off’ parent is an understatement: observing, at best, from a careful distance. She can count on one hand the time he’s taken to drop in for a casual visit, and the most affectionate he’s ever been is a polite pat on the head (she cherishes these moments now, but they will stir and fester like sores in adulthood.) Still, he is absent even by his own standards and after a little while, the first seed of resentment will plant roots.  No child likes a change in their routine, and Sakura is no different.

  She tries to tell herself that she’s getting older: she can dress and feed herself, as long as there’s something in the cupboards. If she sticks to the rooms she knows, there’s no need for a nanny at all.  She knows all of this and yet…Sakura is lonely. She wants a companion. She wants a friend (she wants a family).

Sakura isn’t sure when it started; some memories remain jumbled, even after years of backtracking.) At some point, she latches onto Kabuto like a lost little moth. He’s busy too, but back then he was still near enough to check in once a day. The anticipated arrival of her father, who often seemed to forget he even had a daughter, when she did hear him slithering through the long hallways, became anticipation for Kabuto. He never stayed long, not usually, but he’d talk to her or read to her and sometimes he’d bring her outside.

  She has no memory of being outdoors before that time. Obviously, she must have during the migration from her old home to Sound Country, but asleep under genjutsu hardly counts. The first time, it was night, a warm, summer night with the moon a dainty crescent and the stars twinkling like nothing she’d ever seen.  

“Quiet now,” Kabuto murmurs, letting go of her hand. “Don’t go far.” She nods, once and deliberately, waiting with a pounding heart while he opens the wrought iron gate. The night air rushes forward to greet them and Sakura audibly gasps. It’s so…so sweet and warm and light in a way she can’t even describe. How wonderful and tragic that something as simple as fresh air had such an effect on her.

  She remembers an influx of fear after that, clasping her small hands over her mouth. She glances at the older boy with wide eyes: are we in danger now? Kabuto pauses, save for his hair, tousled by the wind. He motions for her to step back and she does, watching as he peers through the opened gate.   A second passes, then another, but time is both endless and meaningless to a child; when he finally eases it closed, she has no idea how long they’ve waited in silence.

  “It’s okay,” Kabuto finally whispers, turning to her again. He smiles and just like that, she knows they’re safe. Sakura drops her arms and takes his hand when he offers again. He leads her away from the entrance and up a flight of stairs. She’s never climbed stairs before, and it takes a few uneasy steps before she gets the hang of it. When she does, her feet move of their own accord; climbing like this brings her closer to the stars, and the ever-present breeze rustling her hair like a new friend ready to play.  

  A moon-lit clearing awaits them at the top; a bed of milky sand that almost glows, and a sea of grass stretching further than the light can follow. That’s the forest, Kabuto tells her. It isn’t safe, either. She must have taken his caution to heart, because not once among those early fragments does Sakura recall venturing into the woods. That would come later, and it wouldn’t be her decision.

They visit the clearing every so often. Sakura likes the outside, she’s decided. It’s quiet and different and a kind of magic only children understand (an escape, she knows now, but advanced terms like isolation and captivity won’t enter her vocabulary for a long time yet). Sometimes they’d chase each other in the dark. Sometimes they’d watch the stars. Other times—so rare, in fact, they stood out among the fog of childhood memories—he’d teach her hand signs. Nothing elaborate, and never for combat (her father would’ve taken his head, she knew). Just a slow, simple walk through the roster: bird, horse, dog and so on. He never showed her how to put them together. She was too young to memorize them, anyway. She only remembers the incident because years later, she’d score higher than nearly all of her classmates at Konoha Academy. A strong foundation starts somewhere, right?

>>There’s another gap here, one she attributes to the clockwork repetition of her day and seamless nights playing outside. Whenever it started, Sakura knows that somewhere between trailing after him during the day and running around on a select few nights, she’d stopped calling Kabuto by name. Instead, she referred to him the way she saw him: as a close friend. As a brother. Her nii-san.

He must have taught her that word: nii-san. A little girl in isolation would have no real concept of family.  A father, certainly. A mother…well, she’d heard the term from her father’s lips, but only in passing (and only when he grew impatient with her: ‘just like your mother,’ he’d hiss whenever she’d recoil from a needle or cower in a darkened room. This, like everything else, she wouldn’t understand for years). Siblings, however, were a strange and faraway concept. Children to grow up around? Play with? Seek comfort in? How was that any difference from friendship?

Kabuto smiled at her and told her something she’d never forget: ‘Family is a blood bond, Sakura-chan. Blood is thicker than water.’ She looked up at him, her golden eyes wide and filled with confusion.

  ‘But you and I don’t share the same blood.’

  Kabuto’s smile never wavered. ‘Well,’ he told her. ‘In our case, it’s the other way around.’

The four year old’s brows came together in a knot. ‘I don’t understand.’

Kabuto smiled, and this, too, felt faraway. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, and then the moment passed; her ruffled her hair and chuckled softly. ‘Just know that I’m looking out for you, okay?’

Smiles are infectious, and despite herself, a little one tugged at the corner of her mouth. Kabuto was all of those things, she realized. If that’s what having a brother meant, then he was right. Water held more closely together than blood. ‘Okay.’ <<

It’s during this gap that Sakura finds favor with her father again. When exactly it occurred, she has no memory; she only knows it happened because she still carries the mark on her shoulder…and she remembers the pain. Burning, blinding agony that tore through her small frame with teeth and claws and unyielding resilience. She knows she cried—she used to wake up crying several times after that, gasping for breath and shivering. Sometimes Kabuto would overhear and check on her, although how he sensed her distress, she’s never quite figured out.

“It’s alright, nay-chan,” he’d murmur, wiping away her tears. Nay-chan, he called her then—called her now, too. Right up until the end. His little sister.

Her father’s archives tell her later that the curse mark healed faster than expected. Something or other about sharing genes, although it offers little comfort in hindsight. He still fooled her into compliance. He still branded her. There’s a chance he considered her, too, before other, more suitable potential host bodies crossed his radar. The thought makes her ill, so she keeps it at bay for now. Without proof, this is all speculation. Just like much of her childhood.

__   Sakura spends her fifth year preparing for the rest of her life.  She doesn’t know it at the time (how could she? She’s barely past toddler-age). She can, however, sense that’s something’s changing. She knows the feeling like a poison that won’t leave her system no matter what she does. It’s easy to look back and point to the eye of the storm, but as a child caught in the middle of it, only one difference jumps out at her: she spends more time with her father and sees Kabuto less.

It isn’t that he’s explicitly gone anywhere. Kabuto is just…busy. According to her father at least, the rare few times she’s brave enough to ask. She knows her nii-san is busy, she’s accompanied him during medical rounds on more than one occasion. What she doesn’t understand is why he’s suddenly too busy for her. She won’t pursue the matter though; Orochimaru is still quick to anger. No time apart will ever change that.

When is it her father’s lies truly begin? Is it before she hears of Konoha? Before casting her first jutsu? There’s no way to know for sure, and Sakura’s decided ultimately, it doesn’t matter.  There was no avoiding this road. What she does remember is a fractured sense of hope and caution warring within her: her father wanted another child? A new playmate for Sakura to brighten her dismal days? She can’t believe it (she wishes she hadn’t). Orochimaru merely smiles. At the time, she mistook it for sincerity.

“That’s right, Sakura-chan. I know you’ve been lonely. Kabuto is so preoccupied these days, isn’t he?” Her eyes widen, but she can’t find the words: could it be she was wrong to doubt her father? Has he known what she’s wanted all this time?

  “What do you say, my dear? Shall we find ourselves another member for this family?”

The prickling sensation on the back of her neck tell her to be careful…but her heart, her lonely, wounded heart, clings to a dream. She’ll have another brother or a sister. She won’t be lonely anymore.

  “How…how will we do that?” Sakura asks meekly. In a flash, her father’s smile grows teeth.

  “Don’t you fret over the details. You’ll learn soon enough.”  Though his voice is warm, there’s a layer of ice behind the words. In the moment, however, Sakura hears only one thing: maybe, just maybe, this is the start of a new beginning. Maybe he’ll finally be the father he’s always wanted. It was harder to let that go than almost anything else.

Her face takes the longest to adjust to. Ironic now, considering she once longed to adopt it permanently: pink hair, seafoam eyes and a healthy complexion. No trace of Orochimaru whatsoever. That’s the idea, she knows, but it’s jarring, seeing a stranger in your own reflection. From the day she was born, she’s looked exactly like her father (wider eyes, and maybe a wider forehead, but those are the only differences).

  She’s sure she asked him why: why change her appearance so drastically, why hide it at all (and was there a way to turn it off?)  His answer was always the same: “You want to make daddy happy, don’t you?”

  She’s grown to hate that word, hate the way he said it: daddy. He’d held onto it as long as he could, wielding it like a weapon that chiseled away at her heart, twisting her bones out of shape until she buckled under his demands. At five, however, Sakura merely nods, wiping away her tears.

“Good girl,” her father answers. He pats her head like he always does and turns to leave. Then he crouches, to her level, and that complacent grin drops from his face. “You must never release the transformation,” he warns, his golden eyes sharpening like daggers. “Do you understand?”

Sakura knows better than to wilt under those eyes. She bobs her head—once and deliberate—and though her voice is small, she answers with unwavering certainty.

“Yes, father.”

>>If he notices the ease with which she mimics his hand signs, he doesn’t say. She’s already proven to be bright beyond her years (his words, not her own). She certainly could have picked them up after a glance. It’s more likely he didn’t care, so long as it secured the transformation jutsu. The thought leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. <<

He grills her repeatedly after that. She only knows because the mantra still disrupts her now and then, marching through her mind like a twisted lullaby. Maybe it is, she thinks from time to time: she used to lie awake at night, staring into the darkness where the ceiling ought to be, wrapping her father’s instructions around herself as a means of comfort. She was looking for an Uchiha. Uchihas were important. They were powerful and all came from the same family. A clan, her father would snap, whenever she fumbled during their lessons. Sakura would wilt and curl her small hands into fists.  

“A clan,” she’d reply meekly, fighting the urge to look away; something in her gut told her doing so would not end well. She’d say no more after that, waiting until the hard lines in Orochimaru’s face smoothed over again.

“That’s better,” he’d continue with a cold little smile. “And why are clans important, Sakura-chan?”

She knew the answer to this one. “Because they have special jutsu.” “That’s right. Do you remember what I taught you about those special jutsu?” Sakura nodded (she’s sure, looking back, that her innocent naivete bled through in her reply).

“They make special friends.” Her father smiled, his thin lips peeling back above sharp teeth.

“Not just friends, my dear, but an excellent addition to this family. Just imagine it; another brother or sister to keep around. You want that, don’t you?” Her stomach rolls to think about it now: keep around and play with were two grotesquely different things. If only she knew now what she does then; at the time, she merely bobbed her head again, and probably smiled back in a small, shy way. Sakura desperately wanted another playmate. She hardly saw her nii-san anymore.

>>She asked him about it once, the final time they spoke before she left. She found Kabuto in the infirmary (lab, it was a lab, she knows that now). He was curt with her at first, probably caught in the middle of some unholy experiment, but when she shriveled in the doorway, Kabuto’s stern face melted to one of concern.

  “I’m sorry, Sakura-chan,” he said, setting down his tools (if there’s anything else questionable lying around, she can’t remember. Maybe that’s for the best). “I didn’t mean to scare you,” Kabuto continues, crouching down in front of her. “I was working.”

“I know,” Sakura says quietly. “You’re always working now.” She searches his face but finds none of the harsh creases so often seen in her father’s. If anything, he looks a little upset. Maybe guilty.

“I know,” he echoes, and with a gentle hand, carefully ruffles her hair. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen my nay-chan. You’ve grown so big. Did you cast this jutsu by yourself?”

Oh, she thinks. That’s right. He hasn’t seen her new face before. Sakura shakes her head.

“Daddy taught me. I don’t like it.”

Kabuto smiles faintly. “You’ll adjust. Think of it as wearing a costume. Remember the games we used to play outside? Like make-believe.” Make believe. She says it again out loud. Put that way, it seems more like a game than anything permanent.

“I miss you,” Sakura says suddenly, small and framed in sadness. “I wanna play like we used to.”

Kabuto’s eyes match the ache in her chest. “I miss you too. I wish things could be different.”

“Why can’t they be?” Kabuto sighs, a soft sound that rolls his shoulders forward.

  “I have too much work to do. Besides, aren’t you leaving soon?”

“Yes, but—but can’t you come with me?” She remembers looking in those black eyes for the answers she wants to hear. Sadly, Kabuto is older and wiser (and better at lying). He takes her small hands in his and gives them a squeeze. “I promise I’ll always look out for you, nay-chan. Alright?”

  Sakura’s brow furrows. “Does that mean you’re gonna go with me?”

Kabuto doesn’t answer. “It’ll be dark, soon. Let’s watch the stars one more time.”

  “Nii-san…?”

“Everything will be alright, Sakura. You can trust me. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He lets go of one hand, and with the other, leads her out of the infirmary. She used to reflect on that last part fondly; lying on the grass, practicing hand signs and watching stars dart about the sky like magic: a final memory to share before venturing off into the wide, wild world. ‘Remember this when you feel lonely, nay-chan,’ Kabuto told her. ‘No matter how far apart we are, we’re always under the same sky.’ (Sakura digs her nails into her arm until she nearly bleeds. One day, she promised herself she’d cut out his traitorous heart underneath the very same sky).

__

She remembers that last night clearly. Orochimaru woke her in the dead of night, rousing her from a heavy sleep with hushed words and an undercurrent of urgency.

  “Right now?” Sakura remembers mumbling in her half-awakened state, too tired to remember her manners.

  “Yes,” her father hisses, glancing at her with cold eyes. There’s more than ice in them now, something Sakura at the age of five didn’t recognize. She doesn’t need to, and scrambles out of bed, looking around her room. Her sleep-addled mind is slower to catch up: they’re leaving? Right now? What about her toys? Her books? What about spare clothes? She tries to ask her father, but he’s antsy and irritable and shoos her out of the room, so close on her heels he nearly tramples her.

  “You don’t need any of that,” he insists, his voice hushed but cutting like a scalpel. Sakura bites her tongue, her false green eyes swimming as they plunge into the darkness ahead. A lonely candle flickers in her father’s hand, but the pitiful flame casts long shadows on the walls that jerk and twitch in time to their every step. Like monsters on the hunt, Sakura thinks to herself: the ghost of a memory snakes across her mind with cold fingers. ‘Don’t go exploring on your own,’ Kabuto had warned her. ‘It isn’t safe.’ She remembers something else as well. She didn’t get to say goodbye.

When they step outside, Sakura’s heart crawls into her throat. The air feels…different, tonight, she remembers that very well. The looming trees, the milky grass, her old friend the moon all yield to the starless sky above, painting their surroundings in almost perfect, inky black. Sakura shivers. For the first time that evening, her step hesitates. Orochimaru notices. He always noticed when it served in his benefit.

“What’s wrong, Sakura-chan?” He asks with clipped sincerity, a cruel little smile meeting her eyes when she finally dared a glance up. She hates him for it now. In the moment, however, Sakura knew only to bite her lip and choose her words carefully.

“I don’t like the dark,” she says quietly. It wasn’t a lie—that would come later. Her father regards her for a moment. Then he kneels before her, the flame dangerously close to their faces.

  “No?” She shakes her head from side to side. Another pause. Orochimaru’s eyes gleam red in the firelight.  “We have a long journey ahead. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

Sakura recognizes the warning in her father’s voice. There’s no backing out of this. No retreating to her room, no hiding under the covers. She lets go of her lip, sucks in a small breath and answers in a small, quivering voice. “I-I can do it.” Her father’s smile splits into a nasty grin that reveals his elongated canines.

  “Good girl,” he says, and then he turns, walking straight into the unknown. “Come now, before the sun comes up.”

This arrangement doesn’t last long. Sakura knows this only because she remembers finishing the journey on her father’s back. The why of it is lost to time, but she doesn’t need a memory to figure out the reasoning. She was still so young then; even the most obedient six-year-olds will crumble under fear. Crying children draw attention, especially at night. That didn’t bode well for stealth.

  “Enough,” her father likely hissed, all but a shadow himself in the lightless forest.

  She huddles under his cloak now, daring glances over his shoulder in haphazard bursts of bravery. At least, she must have, because the wind in her hair, her heart in her ears and the black void swooping up to greet them again and again still keep her up at night (why place so much on her tiny shoulders if he always intended to carry the weight himself?)

__

Time blurs. So do their surroundings. There are no landmarks, no stars to mark their way. For all she knows, they were frozen in place, running in an endless circle until the darkness decided to swallow them up. Ha. More irony. That’s all she’s got to look forward to now. Darkness and isolation. Funny how things come full circle (except it isn’t, it isn’t funny and there are days she’d rather tear her hair out than carry the mess her father left behind).

The Hidden Leaf village is no casual walk from Sound Country; to cover that much ground in a single night meant running nearly non-stop...or her father cast another sleeping genjutsu over her. She wouldn’t put him past him. What she does remember is the way the wind sank and settled as his pace slowed, and the gradual halt in the heart of this aimlessness. Sakura’s own heart wakes up inside her chest, throwing itself against her ribs like a prisoner behind bars; the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Something is coming. She doesn’t know what, but it circles the air around them like a dense cloud now: anticipation. Fear. Trauma, although she’s never been able to fully digest that word. Trauma implies there’s a victim, and she shares too much of the blame for that.

Sakura doesn’t want to climb down from her father’s back. She doesn’t want to let go of him and she certainly doesn’t want to stand out there by herself. Alas, ‘no’ is not a part of Orochimaru’s vocabulary, and so she very carefully, very slowly, lowers one foot and then the other onto the grass. It’s cold; she remembers it because she’s never experienced the sensation outdoors. It’s so much sharper than the stale, suffocating chill she’d feel from time to time at home. Home…at home, her nii-san used to check on her, bring her an extra blanket or something warm to drink. She wonders what he’s up to now. Will they ever see each other again?

  Her father’s voice pulls her out of her thoughts, low but biting like the wind. “This is where we part, my dear. The Hidden Leaf village lies just beyond this forest.”

She remembers the shock that hits her. The dread that pools down to her toes. He was going to leave her? Here? Right now?

  “But I don’t want—"

“Don’t what?” Orochimaru snaps. “Don’t want a new playmate? Did I hear incorrectly, before?”

  “N-No…” Confusion burns her face and guilt gnaws at her stomach when she’s accused of lying. Sakura didn’t lie. She was a good girl. A big girl. Sakura meekly tugs at her hair, her eyes wide and frozen ahead, terrified to look away in case her father sees it through the darkness.

  Silence passes between them. When Sakura begins sniffling, Orochimaru speaks again.

  “There there,” he says, patting her head as though she were a wounded animal instead of his daughter. “There’s no need to cry. This will be over before you know it, alright?”

She can’t tell if he’s warning her or offering comfort.

  “Alright?” Her father asks again, and there it is, that careful teetering on the edge of a blade.

  “Okay,” Sakura says quietly.

  “Good girl,” he says, and then he takes her by the shoulder, pointing her in what must be the right direction. She flinches—she remembers this clearly—and a voice she’ll come to know as her instincts begs her to run, go back, stay with me, I don’t want to be left alone—

Her father’s voice in her ear yanks her out of her thoughts. “Sakura-chan? One more thing. You are not to return to Sound Country without an Uchiha. Do you understand?”

She doesn’t, not really (how could she at that age?) But she wants to be grown up, to be trusted the way her father trusts Kabuto. To be depended on the way her father depends on him. She hears him shuffling again, then a brush of hair that isn’t her own against her cheek. Her father leans in close and when he speaks next his voice sounds like a snake’s. Her blood chills with his parting words: “If you fail me, I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you.”

I’ll have to kill you. She wasn’t familiar with the word itself, but she knew the feeling, knew that tone of voice. It was the same one he’d hissed when the nurses drew her blood. The same one that barked over her desperate attempts to claw out her curse marked when it first formed. A tone that rattled her very core and urged her still-developing instincts to stay quiet and stay small and whatever you do, don’t you dare disobey him. What kind of monster imprints that on one so young?

The terror sinks deep into her bones and will remain that way for the next eight years. It follows her like a second shadow through her time at the academy, chasing her day in and out long after she graduated to Genin status. If she stands still long enough, she can still hear it, creeping around the corner like an echo of too many mistakes, too many bridges burned.

Sakura remembers how hard she tried not to cry that night. How hard she tried to be brave. She listened as her father’s footsteps faded and disappeared. Was he watching from nearby? Waiting, as always, to see if she’d mess up? Probably. The bastard always needed to be in control. A tight line forms between her lips. He likely followed her to the gates as well, congratulating himself when Haruno Kizashi heard her whimpering. By a cruel twist of fate, the man who would ultimately welcome her into his family behaved more like a father than the one who gave her life.

  A shame it hadn’t mattered in the end. Once a snake, always so and like it or not, a snake can’t hide under cherry blossoms forever. No matter how badly she once longed to. Kabuto was wrong: in the end, water mopped up without a trace. It was blood that stained indefinitely. She’d been stained since birth, marred by the sins of a man committed long before her time. Konoha hadn’t forgotten that. Neither had Kabuto.

When Orochimaru breathed his last, she’d expected her nii-san to stay, help her find her way forward, build a new foundation and keep Sound Country from collapsing. She owed it to them, the shinobi who’d carved a life for themselves at her father’s side. No matter what they’d done (what he’d made them do) they deserved a chance to start anew. Kabuto didn’t see it that way. He didn’t care. Her dear brother, her caretaker and only friend for so so long proved himself to be every bit the traitor she once so despised in herself. I should have known better, she told herself, tells herself every time his eyes—his true eyes, pale and haunting and no longer hidden behind layers of lies and jutsu—burned into the back of her brain. This wasn’t his home. She wasn’t…she wasn’t his family. Kabuto could walk away, leave this place and everyone in it without a second thought.

  Sakura wasn’t so fortunate. She’d grown up in these hallways; her childhood bedroom still sat at the other end of the complex, a little dusty, but otherwise untouched by time. This place formed the essence of her very core, and no matter how hard she’d tried to separate herself over the years, that would never change. Besides, she knew long before she’d received word of his death that Orochimaru’s daughter would never be welcomed in Konoha. She’d be put on trial—exiled or worse and what would she do then? How could she explain the mark this place had left (literally in some cases) on her?

  There was nowhere else to go.  No one else to rely on. So Orochimaru’s daughter chose to embrace her fangs, embrace her heritage as heiress of Sound Country. Under her leadership, she decided, they would step out from under the shadows. They would grow and thrive and one day, one day the Hidden Leaf Village and all those she once foolishly considered friends (once considered family) would hear their battle cry.  She’d make sure of that.

[hotarutranslations]

Morning Musume ‘23 【Oda Sakura, Yokoyama Reina, Sakurai Rio】The Difficulties in Joining Alone; How Has Your State of Mind Changed Since Losing Your Genmate?

For the second VOCE x Morning Musume ‘23 25th Anniversary Collab, for this 3rd interview the 3 who “don’t have anyone in their generation” in common are here. Oda Sakura & Sakurai Rio joined alone, while Yokoyama Reina joined with one other but has since graduated. We asked them about their true feelings towards not having “generation mates” who are both friendly rivals and reliable advisors.

–What kind of person is Oda Sakura? Yokoyama Reina: Oda Sakura was my “image of the perfect idol” before joining Morning Musume, she is someone who does everything well to the extent you wonder if she is human (laugh). She may be the one where my impression of her hasn’t changed the most! She’s always caring for the members, she is always making the dressing room bright and exciting, she is a kind person that listens to you talk like “yeah yeah” even if she isn’t particularly interested in the topic. She is so cool, she can even make her hair dance during a performance, but also she has small hands, the gap is too cute, the more you know the more you’ll be captivated!

Sakurai Rio: She is someone who knows everything. She is a reliable senior who teaches me everything in a polite and kind way.

–What kind of person is Yokoyama Reina?

Oda Sakura: To me she’ll always be like my cute and funny little sister, I was surprised to notice she was becoming a caring older sister before I even realized it! I often see her paying attention to Homare and Rio-chan but, it seems that she’ll talk with them privately rather than at work, it seems like she is their real older sister rather than having a senior work relationship. I genuinely think it would have been nice to have a senior in such close contact, she is a really dependable person the juniors can rely on. Also, you can tell that her “Morning Musume Love” is overflowing, it makes me happy.

Sakurai Rio: I use a lot of her MC’s and radio talks as reference. She is a senior who looks around her surroundings often, and has a wonderful smile.

–What kind of person is Sakurai Rio?

Oda Sakura: I think she is a girl who works hard while facing herself! She looks mature and since she speaks clearly she is often thought of being level-headed but, she loves to play around, she doesn’t hesitate to make funny faces; in any case, she is a talkative high schooler. She joined alone so she is alone a lot, so she’s often thought of being a girl who is alright with being alone, but it's not like that at all, she is very friendly and always saying how much she likes the members. I think Rairi is the type of person to be directly affected by the loneliness of the environment of being alone, so I’d like to be there for her.

Yokoyama Reina: Her facial features are that of a cool beauty and she has a solid singing voice, as an eldest daughter she has a mature side, but contrary to the expectations of her being “the reliable one”, she has a lot of cute aspects too. During a performance her facial expressions are constantly changing whether it's a surprised face, happy face, strange face, or looking like she is having fun, you should pay attention to her expressions! I also always get energy from Rio-chan’s expressions. During MC’s she’s said “I think I want to work even harder here,” and she’ll hold solo-meetings to reflect on her performances; she has a mischievous side; she is a very cute girl.

–Did you have a hard time when you joined alone without any generation mates?

Oda Sakura: I’m simply glad I joined alone! I stood out on stage when joining alone, I felt strongly about the advantages of it. I’m glad that my seniors continued to tell me, “That's wrong, that's now how it is, since you’re the most junior, you have to do it,”; I think it was an environment where I could learn a lot. I felt lonely when I noticed that the other members had naturally grouped up in their generations. What kind of presence a generation mate is to me, I can’t imagine those kinds of bonds, and I felt that I’d never be able to feel the presence of generation mates for my whole life. But, since I have a personality where I can really push things too far, if I had started with a generation mate, I think I would have tried to do better than them; if I had done better I think I would have been really arrogant about it, so I’m glad I was alone.

Sakurai Rio: I joined alone and I really didn’t know anything, like about the entertainment world's rules, I didn’t know the basics, I was just relying on my seniors. It was a bit difficult till I got used to it. I had my first tour last September with the fall tour and I experienced a lot in that period, I think I was able to get to know the members more all at once! They aren’t in the same group but Juice=Juice’s Ishiyama Sakura-chan and Endou Akari-chan joined at the same time, and they’re people I can talk to about my worries and things I don’t understand.

–Have your feelings changed after your generation mate Kaga-san graduated?

Yokoyama Reina: Kaga was one year older than me and there were many things I respected about her, and I was spoiled in some ways. Therefore, when Kaga graduated, it felt like it was the true meaning of independence. There is only one person in the 13th generation, I have to lead the juniors, I feel like I have to do things myself!

That is, talking with the fans during commemorative release events and talk events, they’ve often said “ You’ve been fired up since Kaga-chan’s graduation!”. Fans will often notice my changes more than I will of myself, I realized that I’ve changed after everyone told me that. I was super sad at Kaga’s graduation concert, up until now I probably would have been with Kaga during today's shoot so I thought “Huh? Kaga isn’t here,” but, I’m still in contact with Kaga after she has graduated so, all of the fans, please don’t worry!!! (laughs)

–Please tell us what you’d like to do as an individual from now on.

Oda Sakura: I’ve always had cats, and since I volunteer to give milk to foster kittens, I want to do more work related to cats! But, not just with cats, since I love dogs and marine life as well, I’d be happy if I was able to do work related to animals.

Yokoyama Reina: I want to challenge more and more things relating to what I love like radio and soccer. I’m appearing on radio now but I still love radio shows with comedians. The other day, I got to appear on Yonsentoushin-san’s radio show as a guest; I'm a huge fan so I'm really happy about that! I want to challenge myself so I can expand my horizons further and further.

Sakurai Rio: I love museums and my hobby is visiting museums! If I have time, I go to special exhibits at museums. I’m also interested in architecture so I’ve been watching videos that talk about buildings created by famous architects from around the world, and I love looking at the unique buildings around me. In particular, a recent favorite of mine is the Makuhari Messe ceiling! (laughs) Since it was the Hina Fest venue, I’m happy I was able to see the ceiling well ♡. With museums and architecture, and also since I love talking, I’d like to do a location program that goes around to various places. At the same time I want to improve my talking skills to use on variety shows.

–What is one piece of advice you would give to the 17th generation members who will be joining soon?

Oda Sakura: I have no idea how many applied for the auditions but, I think you’ll become a Morning Musume if you were meant to be one so, I want you to come in with confidence like, “it was decided that I’ll be a new member”!

Ask your seniors about things you don’t understand right after joining, it's important to live by refining what you’ve been taught. Like,  ‘Why did they say this’, I think you can grow faster if you always think about what your seniors can do that you can’t; if you just do what you’re told, or if you’re only taught the core of what you’re doing, your brain will stop moving. I think it's important to act while always thinking about what you’re doing so your brain doesn’t stop.

Yokoyama Reina: I think, “Don’t be afraid” (laughs). In any case, in the beginning, you’re nervous because you don’t know what kind of person your seniors are; From the perspective of a senior, we are super happy the moment that you show your true selves! Like how Rairi has come to make silly faces, and how she’s come to talk a lot, I feel really happy about those changes. Since it's obvious you don't know anything from the beginning, I want you to listen, but I don’t want you to feel scared.

Sakurai Rio: I want to say “it's alright”. Now I’m able to show myself to the members, when I joined I was afraid to do anything because it was so new, I did things very carefully. Often the impressions from those around me was that I was “mature” and “calm”; that image became established but, that character is quite different than the real me (laughs). Therefore, I wish I had been more spoiled by my seniors, it's good to be spoiled by your seniors while you can be. Yokoyama-san also said this but, really, no one is scary so, don’t be scared, it’ll be ok!

https://i-voce.jp/feed/2581996/

[gremlinandacrow]

Current Pokemon X Team (And My Interpretations/Headcanons)

Sakura (Fennekin) [Level 27] (He/Him?)

Calm Nature, Very finicky The first Pokemon of the team, but not the “leader”. To Sakura, his trainer leads everyone on the team. He’s also not that bold or brave or hasty to be one. Currently he’s one of two unevolved Pokemon, which is fine with him. Being a Fennekin is all he knows. While he will never admit to it, he fears evolving. It’s a massive change that he wants to prevent for as long as possible. His trainer hasn’t had an issue with Sakura wanting to evolve, which the fox Pokemon feels relieved with.

Faraday (Pikachu) [Level 26] (She/Her) Serious Nature, Proud of her power Formerly an Alpha Pokemon residing in Santalune Forest, Faraday goes with the flow. When she was caught, many of the other Pikachu challenged her as a way to say goodbye. She sees herself as the muscle of the team, or at the very least a mentor and training partner. To her, life is a series of lessons, and she wants to teach any new friends and allies everything she knows! Recently her trainer found a Thunder Stone, but she doesn’t want to evolve just yet. The team is still very inexperienced, so Faraday wants to wait until they challenge a few more gyms!

Indie (Lucario) [Level 27] (He/They) Hardy Nature, Alert to sounds Indie, short for Indigo, is a very reserved Pokemon. They don’t make it a point to stand on the frontlines, rather they have his friends fight with them. The young Lucario’s aura senses are very...Overwhelming, to say the least. It’s partially the reason why they’re so quiet, because they’re unfortunately overstimulated by the aura of their trainer and teammates. Battling somewhat aids him, but Indie still needs to learn and experience their power.

Peony (Floette) [Level 25] (She/They) Quiet Nature, Quick to Flee Out of all the Pokemon on the team, Peony is the least willing to battle. From protecting her flower to being really small, they can make a numerous amount of reasons for not fighting. In a way they’re like Indie, which the two do have a slight bond over. In all honesty, she wants to go back to Route Four and relax in the peony flowers again.

Cascade (Wartortle) [Level 26] (He/Him) Impish Nature, Likes to Relax An easygoing Pokemon, he’s probably the most flexible out of the entire team. If he’s needed for a battle, he’ll fight. If he’s needed as a backup, he’s fine with that. If he isn’t needed for a battle, Cascade will welcome that descision and relax in his shell. He was one of the Pokemon gifted to his trainer by Professor Sycamore, which did somewhat confuse Cascade at first, but he was impressed with said trainer’s prowess. Faraday is a close friend of his, as both love battling more than their teammates and share a love for rainy weather. He carries around an Amulet Coin, treating it as a cool medal for being Faraday’s “best apprentice”

Boreas (Amaura) [Level 25] (He/They, Transmasc) Quirky Nature, Nods off a lot Before joining the team, Boreas was...Hm...They can’t remember. One moment they were experiencing a chilling tundra, and the next he was standing in a weird place with creatures he never saw before. They’re still getting used to their new environment, especially since it’s much hotter than their old home. Their friends Cascade and Indie are helping him out though! The two are teaching Boreas things like “What a PokeDex is”, or “What an Alert Ribbon means”. He’s doing his best, and that’s what matters! Still, it’s really weird how they got here so suddenly.

[nagipops]

KONOHA ELEVEN IN A ZOOM CLASS!

FEATURING: naruto, sakura, shikamaru, ino, choji, hinata, kiba, shino, neji, rock lee, and tenten

WARNINGS: mentions of food

NARUTO

definitely has forgotten that he was unmuted multiple times

or his camera was accidentally turned on

you could just see him sprawled on his bed with a bowl of instant ramen on his lap and a blanket wrapped around himself

EARRAPE SLURPS!! rip headphone users.

sometimes he notices that his camera’s turned on and you can see him freak out and scramble to turn it off

but he accidentally unmutes himself too and so you just hear panicked yelling

his device topples to the floor with a loud crash and he screams so loud istg

the next thing you see is naruto’s face hovering over the camera in fear just before his camera turns off and he’s muted again

the teacher is so confused?? naruto should i call an ambulance

but when he’s not eating in class, he’s sleeping in class

too busy sleeping to leave the zoom at the end of class so he’s always the last one left in the meeting besides the teacher

always asks sakura what happened during the zoom and she is FED UP

SAKURA

enters the waiting room 15 minutes before class is actually supposed to begin

spends the next 15 minutes rearranging her work area, making sure she’s prepared for the day

sits properly at her desk with her hair smoothed down and her face positioned perfectly in frame

if no one else has their camera on, she’s the only one with it on

seriously, she ALWAYS HAS IT ON

and she never leaves the screen somehow

diligently takes notes, uses the “raise hand” feature every two minutes to ask a question

sometimes it can get a bit annoying, even for the teacher

but she almost always gets perfect marks

acts like in angel in class, but after class... no promises, naruto!

SHIKAMARU

this man can barely stay awake during missions, so during a zoom? HECK NAH

shikamaru is literally me,, half asleep during lessons but somehow gets amazing grades

everyone’s either pissed at or envious of him (especially naruto)

obviously does not have his camera on

and rarely ever unmutes

uses the chat feature to answer the teacher’s questions but this man is basically asleep so its so incoherent

“shikamaru, what is a hyperbole?”

in chat: “a hyeprbole is a exsaggerayed phras,e”

teacher definitely thinks he’s cheating on tests

INO

either a) daydreaming about boys or b) checking herself out in the zoom camera OR c) secretly fuming at sakura’s know-it-all behavior

the two girls definitely compete to see who can raise their virtual hand first

"ahem, ahem- sensei? could i answer this question?"

her voice gets all sickly sweet and sakura HATES IT

the two of them totally got caught insulting each other in the private chat

100% the type of student to rewrite her notes after classes with various markers and colored pens and pretty fonts and patterns and whatnot

loves doodling flowers in her notebook during boring lessons!

CHOJI

another strong contender for the Loudest Student award!

not on purpose though, he just forgets that space bar = unmute, and plays some jumping game in another tab (like the no internet dino game!)

also,, rip headphone users

c r o n c h munch munch munch

are you kidding this man's chews are loud enough in person, but with a HEADSET?! hoo boy.

has conked out several times during class

just imagine the name Choji Akimichi with a profile picture of a bag of chips light up with the green box around it with a thunk

the teacher and class is so confused

but then you hear mumbles of "barbeque... chips... barbeque..."

and you realize that the man fell asleep onto his keyboard

he sleeps through the rest of class

HINATA

shy bb has never ONCE turned on her camera

the only time she's ever unmuted was to say "here" during attendance on the first day of school

if the teacher ever takes attendance again, she just uses the raise hand feature

what if naruto-kun thinks my voice is ugly? what if i accidentally turn on my camera? what if the teacher thinks i'm not paying attention? what if-

poor baby is too busy worrying about showing herself on zoom to actually pay attention

actually gets good grades though and her classmates wonder if she’s even there

her zoom pfp is definitely just a purple google “H”

KIBA

has the CUTEST zoom pfp hands down

it’s a selfie of him grinning cheerily with baby akamaru

100% has his camera on the whole time to show off his pup

he loves seeing everyone’s faces on screen melt and aww at the lil big doggo

sometimes akamaru just walks in front of the camera and blocks kiba from view and you just see a massive wall of white fur on screen LMAO

even though kiba’s muted, you can see him and akamaru bickering about who knows what

or even play fighting,, these two get into full on BRAWLS during class

just imagine akamaru shoves kiba into his desk and his camera crashes to the ground overturned so you see the ceiling and the occasional dog tail wagging in the corner

seriously, can the teacher ever catch a break with this class?

the answer is no.

SHINO

his zoom pfp is just a tick.

a singular tick

totally answers questions in chat with proper capitalization and punctuation

shikamaru’s improper answers tick him off

“A hyperbole is an expression that is greatly exaggerated. They are used in order to create emphasis.”

has never unmuted in his life either

he’s so unfazed by everything that goes down in class that it’s funny

if anything the slightest bit RELATED to bugs comes up during class, in 0.00238 seconds this man has an entire essay about them posted in chat, almost like he had it copied and READY to paste

everyone's definitely shocked that there’s actually a human listening behind a tick profile picture

NEJI

a very diligent note taker

seriously, this man writes like a printer; perfectly even handwriting that looks like a font, a million words per minute

everyone asks him for his notes after the zoom because they’re so neat (especially naruto, to neji’s dismay)

he gets excellent grades since he’s so organized and focused

just wishes the zoom would be over so he can work alone in peace

really hates unmuting so he often gives one-word answers in the chat

“Yes” “47” “Present” “Goodbye”

has used a zoom reaction ONCE in his life and he has never wanted to crawl into a hole and perish more

it was a complete accident,, mans was just trying to open the chat to type in his answer, but in a cruel twist of fate he clicked on the 😂 reaction

and he just sat there for ten excruciating seconds in complete and utter shock and shame for ten excruciating seconds as he prayed for it to disappear

tenten would never let him live that down

ROCK LEE

Zoom Reaction Enthusiast

😂😮👍🎉❤️ 24/7

naruto accidentally unmutes himself? 😮

choji falls asleep on his keyboard? 😂

neji answers something correctly? 👍

tenten received the highest score in class? 🎉

akamaru appears on screen? ❤️

unmutes whenever he needs to, but he thinks the little emoticons are so silly and cute

otherwise, he is EXTRA FOCUSED and EXTREMELY DETERMINED to learn all of the things

he’s the first to unmute whenever the teacher asks if the class can see the screen share, hear them correctly, etc.

never takes his eyes off the screen!! he could be missing out on important information

I FEEL LIKE,, i feel like he would totally keep his camera off when he’s muted but whenever he unmutes he would also turn his camera on

so when he says a quick “yes!” his camera turns on but before his camera can adjust properly to the light he mutes and turns his camera back off so his face is just super dark for a split second LMAOOO

tell me im wrong

TENTEN

exasperated by this entire class

thinks her and neji are the only sane ones in the class and it’s true

wants to tell sakura and ino to stop competing and just focus on learning, since they’re the only other girls in the class besides hinata

plus she’s just fed up with all the lazy boys

takes great pride in passing every assignment, test, or exam with flying colors

teachers pet, but the quieter type who stays after every zoom and sends lots of emails regarding assignments and grades and whatnot (unlike sakura and ino who rub it in the teacher’s face)

doesn’t like helping other people besides neji, girl’s got a soft spot for him since they have a mutual respect for each other

but if you’re a handsome prince, maybe she’ll help you out!

if you enjoyed this post, likes and reblogs are much appreciated :) feel free to request here, and make sure to read the rules first! have a lovely day everyone <3

[forbidding-souda]

Can you maybe do sakura,junko,aoi,mikan,and akane with a s/o who has heterochromia?(yellow-ish and blue eyes?)thanks!!:D

Sakura Oogami, Junko Enoshima, Aoi Asahina, Mikan Tsumiki and Akane Owari with a S/O who has heterochromia

-(newly) Mod Byakuya

Sakura Oogami

Definition of a gentle giant!

Her own eyes are blue (very light tho) so she is happy to see that you both share something

Her calm voice will compliment you if you ever feel insecure

You are feeling insecure? Ask her to cook you something! She's a really good cook and might even try to put your eye colors into the plate <3

She loves you as much as she loved Kenshiro, and won't think twice to protect you if someone hurts you for your eyes, she can't loose you!

.

Junko Enoshima

She herself has a rather unique appearance, so seeing your eyes only makes her even more crazier!

She loves to just... stare at them! Be careful, she is always ranting about the despair if you lost one of your unique eyes, so best thing is to let her have her distance from your face.

If you are in the apocalypse and not know about her being the mastermind, she'll send one of her thousand monokumas to go bug you about your eyes, she doesn't really notice it's rude until you either tell monokuma off or straight up try to fight the little bear.

Ether way she won't really get the hint.

She likes them, no, adores them! Empathy is not something developed inside her brain so if she comes off as rude, just ignore it, she's not obsessed with despair for nothing.

In the end, she becomes quite the fan of your eyes, the yellow and blue making such a nice contrast on your face that she just can't help but to keep thinking about how would it affect the atmosphere if one of your eyes went missing.

.

Mikan

OKAYOKAY -cracks knuckles-

Mikan is always learning more when it comes to anatomy and different conditions, so seeing your eyes makes her blush and instantly want to ask you about it

However, her bad imagine of herself will usually stop her, instantly asking you to forgive her if you catch her staring

Once you are her s/o, she might have some courage and ask you if she can look at them!

Her hands will touch your face so delicate as she compliments you, she still can't believe someone as gorgeous as you is with her!

She'll try to learn more about your condition in order to understand how it works and even explain it to you if you ever wonder <3

.

Aoi Asahina

Cheerful happy excited supportive gf time

Ask Sakura, she has blue eyes! She is excited that you have something in common with her, being something that unites you both!

She won't need to write your name down on her hand, just by looking at your gorgeous eyes she'll know from the first moment who you are, not even her mind can interrupt her love for you

If someone ever makes a rude comment or makes you uncomfortable, she will tell you just to ignore them, why listen to those things when instead she can tell you about other things?

.

Akane Owari

She probably wont notice until someone else brings it up or you talk to her about it

It's not something she really thinks much of it, thinking it's just something cool; but doesn't take her mind

Oh, somebody made a hurtful comment about it? They are about to meet her ultimate's strength

Will make small comments if she ever eats something yellow or blue, about how it reminds her of you

Not in a bad way, it's hard for her to remember things so this shows that she cares <3

Overall, very chill about it, if you ever feel insecure she will break her though persona to try to help you, she's not exactly the best at being vulnerable, but she tries if it's just you two

[animeyanderelover]

Hello🐚Can I request Hashirama,Tobirama,Madara,Sakura,Tsunade,Pein,Sasuke,itachi,Obito with a darling who gets bonked on the head and now doesn’t remember them?Thank you 🌻

Why do I feel like some of them would like that?

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, manipulation, s/o suffering from amnesia

Who are you?

Madara Uchiha

🌑He could really curse his darling for being so stupid for having bonked their head because now he has to start where he began. It isn't like Madara doesn't enjoy himself a more stubborn darling, but just as he was beginning to establish the final saying in this relationship and his darling started to learn her place they had to suffer from memory loss. It's extremely frustrating and annoying for the Uchiha because now he can begin at level zero once again.

🌑He even feels embarrassed about it in a way because what is he supposed to tell his clan now? That his own spouse forgot him because they hit their head? Technically it might be his fault because he subdued you to rather harsh training which means he might have caused you to bonk your head on the ground or something else. Not like he would admit that it's his fault, it's much more easier putting the blame on his darling for their own weakness.

Hashirama Senju

🌳The poor, poor guy. His immediate reaction when you ask him who he is would be confusion and at first he thinks you're joking. But the truth starts dimming when he notices that you're not kidding which unnerves him more and more and he tells his s/o to please stop this before some of the doctors interfere and inform him that you might have suffered from memory loss. That's what really breaks his heart because everything was just working perfectly between you two. How could you forget him?

🌳Hashi of course doesn't blame his darling for this, he rather blames himself for not having been able to prevent this from happening. Normally he could get depressed over this situation, but instead he is determined to make you remember again so things can go back to how they used to be. His whole clan ends up helping him with this as well since you're his partner or maybe even already spouse so you have to remember him. Also, if you were somehow working or were doing a specific action that caused you to bonk your head, he won't let you do it again. He's protective, much more after your amnesia and he grows more clingy as well.

Tobirama Senju

🌊He is lost for words for quite a few seconds when he finally pieces together what has happened. He feared that this might happen given that you fell hard enough to suffer a mild concussion, but hearing that he's proven right still hits hard. Similar to Hashirama he starts feeling bad for not having been there to prevent this as well and the Anbu who were watching over you will have to hear something from him for not having done something. Tobirama really tried his hardest in this relationship as well despite his flaws and now it's all gone from your memory.

🌊 He pounders over it for quite a while before he suddenly realizes that he might as well use this chance to start new with you and this time settle for a better relationship than it was before. One without him having to threaten his darling and without him having to force them. Initially he feels a bit ashamed for using such methods, but wouldn't it make life for you easier as well? You could be happier as well with this and he would finally be able to have a normal life with you. He still plans ahead in case your memories come back.

Tsunade Senju

🐌Tsunade would be at a total disbelief that you just lost all happy memories you ever had with her and she places the guilt rather heavily on herself as well. If she would have just been with you at that time or at the very least have done a better job in healing you this all might have been prevented. But no, now you don't know her anymore and that knowledge hurts. She becomes extremely saddened and discouraged afterwards as well, but Shizune quickly remains her that you aren't dead and that your memories might come back. That's enough for Tsunade to get up.

🐌She's right after all, you are still here. And even if your memories don't come back immediately, she'll just make new ones with you in the beginning. As a medic I see her definitely searching for a jutsu with which she can somehow bring you to remember again and that's why Shizune will find her often in her office with a good amount of books in her hands. Such a jutsu might even help other victims as well. Tsuna grows just like Hashirama more clingy and protective afterwards as well because being forgotten by the person she loves most will remain as a terrible memory.

Pain

🌧️I'm surprised that happened merely because you bonked your head rather than it was somehow caused by him, be that due to isolation or an effect of his Rinnegan and maybe Pain thinks that himself as well. But no, instead his darling merely tripped because it was too dark in the tower and hit their head against the hard wall. Konan and him aren't dumb, both of them kind of believe a mild concussion might be possible given the fact that you passed out right after you hit the wall.

🌧️But it's not good that their worries are made reality and the question afterwards really is what can they tell you? Pain might actually play with the thought of completely shadowing the truth about the whole kidnapping thing, though Konan might be against it. Pain still tries to convince her since it would make things just so much easier, you would finally not be as scared anymore and he could finally have a better relationship with you. For once you wouldn't be scared of him. It would allow him to be softer and nicer to you and if Konan does agree, Pain just hopes that you'll never remember what happened before.

Obito Uchiha

🔥How did this even happen in the first place with the man who literally never leaves your side?! No matter how it happened, the moment Obito hears the sudden loud noises, he's instantly there and to say that he had an outburst when he saw them unconciously on the ground is a terrible understatement. And to make things much more worse when they woke up, they couldn't remember. Just as things were finally getting better and you warmed up to him. It's a rather huge blow to his sanity and he feels far beyond responsible that this happened in the first place.

🔥Funny thing is that initially doesn't plan to use this situation against you since he believes that you two had just started finally loving each other. Depending on how much you forgot he might suddenly think that he might as well use this opportunity to push his beliefs on you a little bit more so you can finally fully understand that he only wants the best. The best thing is that even if your memories should come back, by that time you have already developed your own paranoia.

Itachi Uchiha

🍡It's probably the only time he ever feels frustrated with the thought that you might be scared of him all over again. He was expecting it when he took you for the first time, but now he might have to go through all the same fear on your face and your pleas to let him go again. Because Itachi won't lie to his s/o even if he could have the chance, it just goes against him to use what you don't know against you. There is slight hurt on his face when you ask him confused who he is, no knowledge can really soothe the pain of being forgotten by the person you love.

🍡Especially not if considering that he could have done something to prevent it and he really was only lucky that he wasn't on a mission and could instantly aid you the moment he heard the sudden crash. But as frustrating and hurting this is, it happened and all he can really do now is comforting you and your confusion and hope your memories will come back. Itachi might be a bit selfish with this, but how couldn't he after you had finally started liking him? He will still be prepared to start all over again, but he looks forward to you remembering again.

Sasuke Uchiha

💙Depends on whether we're talking about his teenager days or not. As a younger boy his reaction would be much more worse because even if he is hurt, he shows it rather in a small and frustrated outburst over this whole situation, even if you could have hurt yourself similar to how it happened to Madara's darling. I imagine it to be extremely bad for Sasuke if he knew his darling since a very long time and they him because in such a scenario he would be much more sensible to the fact that he has been forgotten. In either case he'll pester Orochimaru and Kabuto over a way to bring your damn memories back.

💙As an adult he would handle this situation more calm and even go as far as playing with the thought that this might happen as a result of you hitting your head. And he'll aplogize for this as well, even if it wasn't technically his fault. He should have been there with you. I still see this Sasuke as someone who would halfway manipulate his darling with the him presented situation. He will tell them for most part the truth about what both of them have gone through together, but he'll leave at least some parts out or change them a bit.

Sakura Haruno

🌸Her reaction bears similarities to the one of her sensei since both of them will share the same disappointment that they weren't able to heal the concussion their darling suffered from this sudden accident of their and just like Tsunade she as well will try to invent or find a jutsu that can heal a memory loss. Her relationship with you was really just working fine with you and there were no problems. So many happy and love-filled memories, all gone in one day because of some stupid accident. Don't blame her for being hurt and sad about this, but she is a stubborn and determined person, she won't give up that easily.

🌸Of course she'll also start spending more time with you so you can fall in love with her once again whilst at the same time trying to make you remember. She goes with you to places you two often visited, shows you photos of you two and everything else. Her friends help her too with stories how you met and other things that they can offer. Chances are that Ino might offer to try somehow bringing her darling's memories with the help of her kekkai genkai back, though I doubt Sakura would be comfortable with letting someone in your head.

[never-mess-with-the-uchihas]

Hello! I’m a Naruto fan and I was looking through your blog and it seems you know a lot about SS ship, so I thought I would ask you about your opinion on some questions I had about Sasuke’s relationship with his family in Boruto.

Now I’m not really a big shipper, and I mostly watch the series for plot, but I have to say that I really didn’t understand some of Sasuke’s interactions with his family in Gaiden. Specifically, the way he kept Sarada at a distance.

I simply don’t understand why Sasuke thought it would be a good idea to not stay in contact with his daughter during his mission (through either sending letters, shadow clones, coming for visits every so often, etc.) I know he said in his conversation with Naruto that it’s because he didn’t want “to create unnecessary anxiety,” but this logic doesn’t make sense to me at all. How could he think that completely cutting off his relationship with his daughter is a better alternative to staying in contact with her, even though that may cause her some worry about his safety?

I feel like Sasuke of all people should have understood the pain and trauma of being kept at a distance from your loved ones, which he experienced in his childhood when Itachi would be too busy for him or his father would neglect him. Having understood that pain for himself, why did he think it was a good idea initially to neglect his daughter and cut himself out completely from her life?

Part of being a parent is being present for your child as much as possible, and I feel like Sasuke really failed in that aspect for a lot of Sarada’s childhood, which he even admitted himself on various occasions. Anyways, I’m glad that he at least makes an effort to connect with her more now and learn from his mistakes. I just don’t understand why he made that mistake in the first place.

Thanks for reading my long question lol 😂

It's alright. I don't mind reading long questions when they actually make sense 😂.

Well, I can understand why Sasuke kept Sarada at distance.

The reason as to why Sasuke keeps travelling (First alone - during his redemption period, then with Sakura during the blank period, and then several years because of his mission) is because of his eyes(Sharingan and Rinnegan). People keep attacking him and his close ones to get his eyes. It's even mentioned in the official novels.

Source: Sasuke Shinden - Book of Sunrise.

The same reason is also mentioned in one of the Boruto-era official Novels. It was either Sasuke Shinden: The Star Pupil, or Naruto Shinden. I don't remember exactly which one.

And I can also understand why he believes that -

He and His eyes were the reason that Sakura was kidnapped as mentioned in Sakura Hiden -

Him being around Konoha was the reason as to why Sarada was attacked -

Him being around Konoha was the reason as to why Sakura was kidnapped by Shin, protecting Sarada.

Though Sakura was strong enough to take down her attackers, both times.

Baby Sarada couldn't have defended herself like Sakura from such strong opponents.

And I guess there were many more such instances when during the 15 years blank-period.

Even Sakura had shown similar concern -

That Sasuke's presence can get Sarada involved in conflicts. Which actually happened.

And also, Sasuke knew that Sakura and Sarada couldn't travel with him, because he didn't want Sarada to live the life of a vagabond, like how he and Sakura travelled for years, before Sarada was born.

Source: Sasuke Retsuden

Besides, Sarada doesn't feel Anxious for Sasuke's absences anymore, because she is able to understand how much his father is sacrificing for the village -

She no longer felt anxious about her father’s absences the way she used to as a child. She understood that the protection he offered them was the reason the village of Konoha was at last at peace. Even so, she couldn’t help feeling sad about the fact that she couldn’t be with her father, even if it was for the sake of his missions. She looked up at his expressionless face with envy.

Source: Sasuke Shinden - Star Pupil.

And her acceptance is also because of the fact that Sarada is a grown up now. A 6-7 year old Sarada would just have been anxious that her father is out there investigating about unknown threats.

Overall I would say that Sasuke wasn't a bad father. It was just that situations were quite unfortunate. Even when he was absent, All he was trying to do was protect his close ones, in the only way he knew how to.

And even though he regrets not being present in Sakura's and Sarada's life a lot -

Source: Sasuke Resuden

- There is nothing he can do about it.

But anyways, what really matters is that Sarada and Sakura know that he loves them, and that their hearts are connected -

- even if they can't be around eachother all the time.

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

So here are things I learned about Parvati that fgo forgot to mention. Also, yeah. Like the second person said, it really does do a disservice to Sakura as well as Parvati by regressing her back to 2006 perception of her just to make Parvati a pure goddess. Btw, Kama's Interlude revealed that BB taught her how to enter people's secret gardens (she did that because Parvati registers to her as the Sakura AI she's based off due to how perfect she is and she has no issue with teaching Parvati such an important skill since she sees Parvati as the embodiment of perfection that she strives for).

i love you guys but I’m gonna turn into the joker irl why do I never get this many consecutive asks about the dude I themed my blog around 🥺

I will throw out that adult Sakura DOES have a design (similar to clock tower rin we see her at the end of heaven’s feel 3) plus there’s also the imaginary round ce which depicts her as an ideal/mature magus similar to rin and shirou

redrop also tend to seem to prefer the teen/adult kama? That’s what most of their art is of at least-if they draw kid kama it’s usually as a chibi or in a joke situation, as compared to the sensual and mature art of the adult kama. It feeds a little into the fandom perception but I think it’s actually more an unwillingness to lewd the child form of an official character they worked on? (Not that they haven’t don’t some unsavory stuff in the past w doujins)

As for parvati and kama getting along-in an ideal world where they actually respected parvati this would 100% be possible without being ooc on either end. 90% of the reason kama is a hater at parvati is bc she’s much more approachable than shiva, so rather than get angry at the actual person who hurt her (shiva) kama is trying to get all that negative emotion out on the other member of that incident, even though parvati had nothing to do with kama’s role as kama was only meant to bother shiva. Indeed, since parvati asked shiva to restore kama and had him turned into ananga it makes sense that they would eventually be able to get along, even if there was a part of kama still upset about dying at first. The problem is ooku has parvati be both an incredibly small player (as kasuga took most of her screentime) AND be incredibly dismissive and unempathetic to kama and what she was feeing, which frankly doesn’t track with what I know of parvati at all. If they really wanted to make that make sense, they could’ve at least worked in the legend where a demon incarnated from kama’s ashes, and depending on the legend either parvati or a goddess closely associated with her (lalita/tripara sundari) destroyed said demon- if they’d also mixed kama with them parvati’s coldness could’ve been excused as her wanting to prevent another 60,000 years of debauchery (this would also retroactively give a decent explanation for why she’s??? Carrying kama’s ashes around???) and kama’s hate would made sense as not only did his involvement trying to get a guy to notice her once get him killed but then a demon born from his corpse was vaporized by her herself! Girl tf!! Butttt that would’ve required effort on the writers part so.

If you can’t tell ooku REALLY irritates me :,)