#maybe not harsh but direct

[jils-things]

to love someone is to heal someone

[panharmonium]

Hi! I love your Naruto thoughts and meta posts with all my heart and I want to ask your thoughts on something that has been on my mind literally since I was 13: what do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura? I went from being a hardcore shipper when I was a teenager, to being against any romantic relationship in Naruto after finishing the anime when I was in my early twenties. Nowadays I'm very into platonic love and depictions of friendship and I think the anime's obsession with forcing the "romantic interest" curse upon the main female character robbed us of... so much. There are a few wonderful moments in the anime where Sasuke and Sakura acknowledge each other, but because she's always "the girl with the crush", her actions are so often interpret as irrational or selfish by the fandom.

Hi @riemmetric!  It's great to talk to you again! Sorry it's taken me so long to answer this; RL has been making demands of me lately and it took me way longer to finish writing this up than I wanted it to (then again, I knew from the minute I read your original ask that my reply was going to get long, so I suppose I should have predicted a delay XD)

It's funny, my sister once asked me to choose between Sasuke or Sakura for an “unpopular opinion” meme, and I ended up doing Sasuke solely because I think the negative fandom opinions about Sakura are so unhinged and divorced from the actual text that I wouldn’t even know where to start.  People are entitled to dislike whatever characters they want, obviously, but there are some fandom takes that are, for me, so obviously rooted in bad faith viewings/readings that there’s no urge in me to discuss them.  That said, since you asked, I’m happy to go into my own thoughts on this a bit, with the disclaimer for other potential readers that I only write about fandom things for my own personal enjoyment, not as a contribution to The Discourse. If you don’t like Sakura, great!  I have no interest in changing your mind. Please consider this a sincere invitation to scroll on by and go enjoy whatever parts of the fandom appeal to you.

In general terms: I love Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship as much as I love all of the relationships in Team 7.  If we’re talking about them specifically as a romantic couple, then I probably fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, because I do like them together in a post-canon (to be clear: non-Boruto) setting, after time has passed and they’ve continued to develop individually and reconnect with each other, but I also wouldn’t exactly call myself an intense “shipper,” in the sense that I have no interest in pulling things out from the text and incorrectly citing them as evidence that Sasuke has hidden romantic feelings for her during the canon period. He cares about her in the canon period, just like he cares about Naruto and Kakashi.  That’s not up for interpretation; it’s the text.  But Sasuke during the canon time period does not demonstrate specifically romantic interest in anyone.  

[A note before people who might ship Sasuke with Someone Else emerge to rail against this statement - please just scroll past and continue enjoying fandom in whatever way is most fun for you. It is cool to ship whatever fanon thing you want; I think that’s great!  But earnestly citing any loving or emotional thing Sasuke does re: various characters in this story (yes, Sakura included) as indicative of specifically romantic love isn’t supported by the text. I know there are always going to be enormous subsets of any fandom who insist that it is, and I'm certainly not going to barge into anyone else's space to complain about that (because other people having fun together is harmless and none of my business), but I'm not obligated to indulge it on my own blog, either.]

Anyway, that said - the reason why I love Sakura and Sasuke’s relationship (from here on out I’ll use “relationship” in a general, non-romantic sense) is precisely because Sakura isn’t just “the girl with the crush.” Sakura has an arc when it comes to Sasuke, and its trajectory moves in the exact opposite direction of “irrational” or “selfish.”  She specifically goes from “the girl with the crush” to “the girl who steels herself and tries to put her personal feelings for Sasuke aside for the greater good” to “the girl who knows she can’t put her feelings aside, but who also knows full well that Sasuke doesn’t reciprocate them, and who still wants to save him regardless, because he matters to her as a person and a friend.”

[I'm putting the rest of this under a cut to save everyone's dash, and also to emphasize once again that this is a personal post on my personal blog which I wrote in response to a question from a personal acquaintance, the full content of which no one is obligated to read. I am not sending this post to random strangers and forcing them to look at it. I'm not even putting it in the character tags. I'm typing it up on my own blog and putting it under a cut. If you already know that you don't like Sakura, but you still click the link/read the post and then feel an urge to comment and complain, I am going to copy-paste this disclaimer and remind you that I specifically recommended that you scroll past and go have fun with fandom in your own way. Thanks in advance for responsibly curating your own fandom experience!]

So, from the top:

1. the girl with the crush

Sakura is, obviously, completely obsessed with Sasuke at the beginning of Part 1.  She’s also deeply clueless about him and his history (bizarre though it is, the story seems to indicate that she initially doesn’t know what happened with his family, the same way young!Obito is initially clueless about Kakashi’s father).  But what I like about Sakura and Sasuke’s Part 1 relationship is how this changes over time.

The critical scene that kicks this off happens right at the beginning of the manga, when she and Sasuke are talking by that bench - she complains about Naruto and blames his behavior on him being all alone/having no family to scold him; and even says she’s jealous that he doesn’t have parents to nag him all the time.  This obviously triggers an outburst from Sasuke, who tells her she has no idea what loneliness means and that she “makes him sick”/she’s “annoying” (importantly, the exact same thing Sakura said to Naruto in anger earlier that day), which in turn prompts Sakura to reassess herself and wonder whether she’s been making Naruto feel this terrible all the time, too:

From that point on, it’s a process of her putting little pieces together.  She still has a MAJOR crush, and she still acts like a twelve year-old, but as we approach the end of Part I, Sakura actually has a more accurate grasp on Sasuke’s current state of mind than Naruto does.  Naruto is initially excited to fight Sasuke on top of the hospital, because he feels like Sasuke’s finally acknowledging him, whereas Sakura is the one who immediately recognizes that something is wrong about this situation.  She is also the one who, after this fight, is concerned that Sasuke is really unwell and might do something drastic like run off in pursuit of the power Orochimaru promised him, but when she communicates this to Naruto, he assures her that this would NEVER happen:

(Sakura isn't convinced, though, because she goes to monitor the exit out of the village anyway.)

I’m not criticizing Naruto for his response here.  I ADORE hearing him say that Sasuke is too strong to need Orochimaru, with such perfect confidence - I love seeing how much respect and admiration he has for Sasuke underneath all their fighting, because that’s the whole reason he’s always baiting Sasuke and yelling at him and claiming “you're not so great!” He looks up to Sasuke; he wants to be like Sasuke; he thinks Sasuke is awesome! (It’s that Obito @ Kakashi behavior, you know?) But the fact remains that he is clueless about what’s actually going on with Sasuke in Part 1, and he remains clueless(ly optimistic) for a long time.  

(Eg, when he catches up to Sasuke during the retrieval arc and Sasuke climbs out of that cursed seal coffin, Naruto waves at him and calls "Come on, let's go!" as if Sasuke has been successfully rescued and is now going to come running home.  Even in Part II, when Naruto hears that Sasuke killed Orochimaru, he beams and immediately says, “So he must be on his way back to the Leaf Village!”  And everyone else in the room is like, “....,” because they know better.  Naruto doesn’t yet fully understand [or doesn't want to accept] the extent to which Sasuke has willingly chosen this path, and it’s not until after Jiraiya’s death/the Pain attack/the Five Kage Summit that Naruto really starts to understand Sasuke more clearly, which is something he himself admits.)

Sakura, in Part 1, has access to more information about Sasuke - she’s there for his first dissociative monologue during the bells test, she’s there for the curse mark’s placement, she’s there for his first violent transformation in the Forest of Death - she is, in fact, the unwitting catalyst for it (“Sakura…who did this to you?”), and her compassion is the reason Sasuke is later able to overcome the curse mark’s influence - so she has a more accurate/complete picture of “how he’s doing,” for lack of a better phrase, whereas Naruto, who doesn’t know about the curse mark in the first place, is still in the dark.  This means that Sakura is able to accurately discern that Sasuke is struggling more than Naruto realizes, and specifically to predict that he’s going to run away.  

(This dynamic is then interestingly flipped in the back half of Part II, since at any point after the Five Kage Summit, Sakura doesn’t have access to extremely relevant [if currently questionable and unproven] details that would in any other circumstance inform her behavior).

Of course, just because she has more info in Part 1 doesn’t mean she has some kind of miraculous insight into Sasuke’s every thought and feeling.  There are parts of her attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village that are as clueless as any of Naruto’s assumptions, and they showcase the kind of magical thinking common to childhood - like when she says that if he stayed with her, she could give him happiness, she’d do anything for him, even help him get his revenge - this idea that she herself can do something to make him feel better, that she can love him powerfully enough to defeat his pain - obviously none of that is rooted in realism.

Is this part of her approach irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered?  Of course it is!  But it’s no more irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered than Naruto’s stated plan to drag Sasuke back to the village even if he has to “break every bone in [his] body!” 

Hating on Sakura for her Part 1 attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village while simultaneously lauding Naruto for his feels like a bad faith misread of what is, to me, pretty clear narrative intention.  The story doesn’t at any point intend for us to see her begging him to stay as a selfish or conniving attempt to get something she wants.  She’s begging him to stay for the same underlying reason that Naruto is: she cares about him.  She thinks he’s making a mistake that will only cause him more pain in the end (she’s right) and she wants to make it so he feels less pain right now (she can’t.  But she doesn’t understand that/isn’t able to admit that, and she’s willing to try ANYTHING that might help).  

It’s critical that this farewell scene is set in front of that same bench from their first important confrontation - she references that day and how angry he got at her, and this time she tells him that she understands his reaction.  She’s learned things and she recognizes how insensitive she was being back then (“I know what happened to your clan, Sasuke”), even though she still can’t fully grasp all the complexities of the situation. She tells him that him blowing up at her back then helped her understand what loneliness actually meant (as opposed to her previous shallow understanding of it), and she challenges him about his choice right now: "So that's it, you're choosing the lonely path?" And when she tells him that she'll be very lonely if he leaves, we're immediately shown a panel of Sasuke thinking of both his friends, with the very clear implication that if he goes through with this, he will be lonely without them, too - that he's still struggling with the idea of leaving them, no matter how hard he tries to pretend:

Sakura at this point knows that Sasuke isn’t interested in her the way she is in him, but she still wants to give him happiness, however fantastical and immature her ideas sound to us (and, I’m sure, to him).  “I’ll do anything, even help you get your revenge/we'll have fun every day, and...and you'll be happy! I'll make sure of it!” - of course, it’s completely childish.  It’s irrational.  It’s ridiculous to think that any of this would ever be effective, but no more ridiculous than Naruto’s belief that he can simply break every bone in Sasuke’s body and keep him in the Leaf by force.

Both Naruto and Sakura are children who have a deeply oversimplified understanding of Sasuke’s situation.  They both still think they can fix him themselves.  They both think they can save him themselves.  They both think they can convince (or force) him to do what they want, what they think is in his best interests.  Both of them don’t yet understand that he has to want to come back, if it’s ever going to mean anything.  Their attempts to keep him in the village are immature and unrealistic, yes.  What they aren’t, however, is selfish, because neither Sakura nor Naruto are doing any of this with the intention of advancing their own interests.  They’re only thinking about Sasuke - how to keep Sasuke safe, how to make Sasuke happy - even when neither of them are taking an approach that will actually work.

Naruto and Sakura are children.  They’re afraid of losing somebody they care about.  Their attempts to prevent that from happening are desperate and messy and ultimately ineffective, but they are also genuinely felt and rooted in a true desire to rescue Sasuke from his pain, which - and this is the single most important thing that should impact our viewing of Part 1 - is something that Sasuke RECOGNIZES.  He doesn’t spend that agonizingly long moment bowed over Naruto’s defeated body so we can pretend he doesn’t understand that Naruto was just trying to help him.  He doesn’t take the time to murmur, “Sakura…thank you,” before laying her out carefully on a bench, just so we can discount it and pretend that he doesn’t recognize and appreciate her genuine intention to make things better for him, however clumsy that attempt might have been.

2. the greater good

If Stage 1 Sakura is "the girl with the crush," then Stage 2 Sakura is a progression to “the girl who decides to put her feelings for Sasuke aside in order to protect innocent people, including (but certainly not limited to) Naruto.”  She’s driven to this decision by interactions with Shikamaru, who all too recently had to grow up fast himself (“We're not kids anymore...we can't allow a war to break out between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud because of Sasuke") and Sai, who risks his new friendship with Sakura and Team 7 in order to speak some hard truths and deliver one of my favorite lines in the whole story: “I don’t know what promise Naruto made to you, but it’s really no different than what was done to me.  It’s like a curse mark.”

(INCREDIBLE.  How can anybody be complaining about a season where Sai gets to say something that goes THIS HARD and Sakura LISTENS and takes DRAMATIC ACTION that actually propels the story forward in a meaningful way - )

[Okay, yeah, brief personal opinion interlude - it is just bonkers wild to me that there are people who complain about Sakura in the Five Kage Summit arc. That entire season is the greatest character arc she ever has.  Literally she has never been more interesting and dynamic than in Season 10; it’s the first time she ever gets to be as deep and fascinating as the boys; what is everybody so worked up about?  Oh, “she lied to Naruto that one time” - Sasuke joined infant-kidnapping baby-murdering human experimentation machine Orochimaru when he was twelve years old in order to (dare I say it????) selfishly pursue his personal goals and yet, somehow, we are still able to root for him.  He abandoned his friends/allies to imprisonment and death (Suigetsu and Jūgo) or outright stabbed them in the chest himself (Karin) in order to (SELFISHLY) get what he wanted, and yet, somehow, we are still able to love him, understand him, and be on his side.  Naruto is canonically not upset with Sakura about her lie after receiving context for the situation and I think we can probably take our cues from him without feeling the need to bring her up on war crimes; please calm down]

[Sorry, I just really love most of Season 10 and think it’s one of the best examples of how good this story can be when every single character gets to do something that matters (as opposed to things being all Naruto, all the time) so I get a little bit worked up over people complaining about some of the best writing Sakura ever gets.  I don’t understand what certain elements of fandom want from her. People complain about her being “useless” and not doing anything that contributes to the story, but then they complain just as much when she does finally get to act decisively and have just as complex/dynamic an inner world as the boys.  She’s “weak” for being unreasonably in love with Sasuke, but when she tries to be “strong” and put her love for him aside and eliminate him in order to protect Naruto and the rest of the world, she’s evil, because she should have been more understanding of his situation (despite the fact that she doesn’t KNOW anything about his situation).  But then when she can’t go through with killing him after all because she cares about him too much despite the things he’s done, she’s not "compassionate" or "kind" or "a good friend," she’s “weak” again. Nothing Sakura does in S10 is more wrongheaded or rash than any of the batshit, buckwild things Naruto and Sasuke have done in the past (and will continue to do in the future), but when Naruto and Sasuke have big feelings or take bold action, it makes them interesting characters, whereas Sakura can’t breathe in anyone’s direction without being minutely scrutinized for moral impurities.]  

Anyway. Back to a more measured response.  

Every single piece of development Sakura has with regard to Sasuke in this season satisfies me so much.  Her initial shock and disbelief at hearing that Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki?  Good, appropriate.  The fact that she starts to acknowledge the reality of what Sasuke’s done sooner than Naruto does?  Also extremely appropriate, very in-character for both of them.  Her taking Sai’s words to heart and deciding that the promise she asked Naruto to make when they were children is causing him to suffer and she has to relieve him of that burden?  Juicy!  AND thematically significant (promises!!!!  the burden that a promise places on a person, especially when it can't be kept - we've seen that before in this story and we'll see it again).  Her anguished pivot from wanting to protect Sasuke to realizing that she has a responsibility to protect the countless innocents who will die because of the war he’s trying to start?  HELLO THIS IS INCREDIBLE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.  Her knocking out the classmates who agreed to help her so they don’t have to share in her burden (and so the only person Naruto will hate when it’s over is her)?  BRUH.  Her being so committed and focused on her goal of saving innocents and protecting Naruto (not just from being harmed by Sasuke/the Akatsuki, but by the possibility that Naruto will someday have to hurt Sasuke himself) that she tries to take everything on by herself and walks into a confrontation that she absolutely cannot win??  INCREDIBLE.  (Literally the first time I watched this, I said, “Finally!!!  It’s Sakura’s turn to go off the rails!”  I laughed with my sister about how Kakashi isn’t even mad, because Naruto and Sasuke have been pulling stunts like this for years and Sakura was way overdue for her own meltdown.)  And then, after Kakashi intervenes in the fight - Sakura barreling back into the battle when she realizes he’s going to take on the burden of killing Sasuke himself in order to spare her and Naruto the horror - “I can’t let Kakashi-sensei bear this burden!”  I love her for that.  

And then, of course, in the end - her not being able to do hurt Sasuke after all.  Despite committing herself to the act, despite forcing herself to put her feelings for him aside, despite resolving to stop him from starting a war and killing innocent people, she can’t harm him.  She cares about him too much.  This, too, is thematically significant - think about Itachi’s “you don’t have enough hatred” - she doesn’t have enough hatred to kill someone she cares about, even if it seems like he deserves it, even if would be the right thing to do to protect others.  She can’t do it, and Sasuke almost kills her for her compassion.  

I love the dynamic this sets up between her and Sasuke, for a few reasons:

1) Personally, I think Sasuke respects Sakura much more for trying to kill him than he would have if she’d just tried to talk him out of his behavior or beg him to come home (a la their original confrontation in Part 1).  This is the first significant interaction he’s had with Sakura in years, and the fact that she does something SO contrary to his memory of her is an important demonstration of the fact that she’s not the same girl she used to be.  Sasuke spends a lot of time after his defection declaring to his old team “I’ve changed; I’m not that person anymore,” but this is one of the moments where he’s forced to acknowledge that his teammates have changed, too.  Time didn’t just stop for them when he left.  While he was turning into someone new, so were they.  They grew up without him, and his old memories of them can’t encompass the whole picture of who they are now.  

(This is a little tangential, but in general, I love the spectrum of reactions that Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi have in this sequence, and the way that all of them are ultimately messages Sasuke needs to hear.  Sasuke - who we know textually regrets what he did here, who apologizes to Sakura for it later - for “everything,” in fact - needs Naruto’s aggressively optimistic open-arms policy, yes, needs that potential, that unconditional possibility of return.  He also needs Sakura’s refusal to let him hurt her friends and start a war that will kill thousands of people, needs her surprisingly ruthless attempt to take him down; needs just as much her failure to do so, because it shows him that she still loves him too much to kill him even as she condemns him.  And he needs Kakashi’s grim line in the sand, needs someone who very possibly won't hesitate like Sakura (despite the horrifying personal cost), someone who will try to reach him but also won't let him escape and become the next generation’s Orochimaru, who won't let him cause untold suffering to untold numbers of people just because a teacher loved him too much to stop him when he had the chance. 

(And then even Kakashi chooses not to deliver a killing blow when he has the opportunity -)

(I know that in fandom people are more likely to be all, “oh, Naruto Good, everybody else Bad,” but I don’t think the narrative frames Sakura or Kakashi as “worse” than Naruto in any way.  The story goes out of its way to make it clear how desperately they don’t want to hurt Sasuke and how much they care about him.  And [this is just my interpretation, so obviously I won’t claim it as fact], I personally think that Sasuke - Sasuke, who, looking back, can see how lost he was then and how tortured he would have been if he’d gone through with many of his plans - would be grateful to Sakura and Kakashi for making an attempt to stop him when he couldn’t stop himself.)

2) On the other side of this, the fact that Sakura wasn’t able to deliver the killing blow means a lot. Sasuke was incapacitated under that bridge; he was completely at her mercy - but she stopped with the kunai an inch from his back.  She couldn’t kill him, even though she knew that he was completely willing to kill her (because he'd attempted to Chidori-assassinate her from behind just a few minutes ago).  That’s huge!  Sasuke is too out of his head right now to process this or understand it, but later, it's going to matter.  She stayed her hand.  She spared his life.  She loved him too much to hurt him, even when he’d given her every reason to take him down.  She hesitated, and he almost killed her for it, but her inability to strike him ultimately gave him yet another chance to come home, another chance to get better, another chance to have a life outside of his pain.  Despite everything, some part of her still hadn’t really given up on him, and that knowledge will matter later, when he’s finally able to acknowledge it.  

The point of all this is to say that I really have no complaints about Sakura and Sasuke’s dynamic in their S10 confrontation.  This season is the point where Sakura fully grows past her “girl with a crush” stage and into her “shinobi must make very harsh decisions” adulthood, but it never means that she doesn’t care about the person she’s trying to take down.  Her ultimate inability to deliver the killing blow remains a dangling lifeline for her relationship with Sasuke, an open door that Sasuke is able to walk through at the end of the story (literally, in fact, when Sakura opens that portal for him and saves him from Kaguya’s desert prison, and figuratively, too, when Sasuke apologizes to her).

3. she only wants to save you

The last stage in their relationship is what Sakura settles into during the war arc.  She started off Part 1 being just a girl with a crush, then tried to harden her heart and put her feelings for Sasuke aside in service of the greater good, but she was unable to actually follow through and kill him, and because of that, what she’s come to accept by the war arc is actually two things: that 1) Sasuke truly is willing to let her die if it furthers his goals, and 2) she wants to save him anyway.  

She has no intention of pursuing Sasuke romantically.  She knows full well that Sasuke isn’t interested in her.  She even knows that Sasuke isn’t really on their side (there’s a great scene where Sai questions Sakura about Sasuke’s return, and she reassures him that everything is fine, and Sai sadly thinks to himself “even I can tell your smile is fake”).  She’s well-aware that Sasuke didn’t try to help her when Madara stabbed her.  She’s well-aware that he left her to die in the lava pit.  She’s also well-aware that none of this is enough to make her stop loving him.  He doesn’t have to care about her - she still cares about him.  She still wants to help him.  She still wants to save him.

This is not hidden, hard-to-parse character development.  It’s explicitly articulated on the page:

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers!  She only wants to save you.

I’m not sure if people look at this last confrontation and unquestioningly take Sasuke at his word (as if we haven’t just read 71 volumes/watched 700 episodes showing us how how painfully distorted his thinking is), or if they stop reading/watching before the end of the scene, or if they don’t understand that Sasuke saying something doesn’t make that statement an accurate representation of reality.  The entire point of this scene is to show us how deeply mistaken Sasuke is about Sakura (and, by extension, the rest of Team 7).  He’s locked into a false pattern of thinking.  His single-minded focus on revenge and destruction has blinded him to the unconditional love his friends feel for him; he’s become so accustomed to using others and being used that he can’t understand or accept that someone would care about him without needing a reason, without needing him to love them back, without needing to receive something from him in exchange.

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers!  She only wants to save you.

Sasuke matters to Sakura as more than a love interest.  He always has.  She does love him romantically, yes, but she doesn’t only love him romantically, and her desire to help him is not and has never been contingent on him returning her feelings, romantically or otherwise.  Sasuke isn’t able to acknowledge that in this scene, but that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to just sit back and agree with his warped perspective.  Kakashi is the one who’s explicitly positioned as the voice of the narrative here.  We, as the audience, are supposed to recognize that Kakashi is the one telling us the truth.

[tangential thing 1: You don’t have to love Sakura's last plea to Sasuke here. It’s not my favorite, either - the best part, other than Kakashi’s speech at the end, is the moment after Kakashi collapses when Sakura’s expression changes from pained uncertainty to pure rage, when she grits her teeth together - when I first saw that, I almost leapt out of my seat like “Oh my god.  She’s finally going to let him have it.  It’s finally happening - ”  I wanted that so badly, and I still think it would have been a more effective writing choice for Sakura’s last words to lean more into her anger at the suffering Sasuke is causing all of them (himself included!) and less into yet another of Kishimoto’s “let me have Sakura articulate what a shame it is that she can’t do as much as Naruto despite the fact that I literally just went through a major reveal sequence in the war to show that she’s caught up to the boys; I can’t make up my mind about whether I want her to progress or not” - it’s extremely frustrating (and it's something he does at the very end of the S10 Team 7 reunion, too, which is the ONLY moment of S10 that falls flat for me).  But at the same time, even if there are ways this sequence could be more satisfying, it doesn’t change the fact that her plea to him is not remotely motivated by a desire to be with him romantically and not anything to condemn her for.]

[tangential thing 2: I do like how she remembers that moment when Sasuke says “Thank you.”  That panel precedes her saying “If there’s even a tiny corner of your heart that thinks about me…” (which I’m sure is one of the things that people like to criticize about this scene, aka “oh she’s sooooo self-centered” etc), but that particular line of dialogue is preceded by that particular flashback panel for a reason: Sakura knows that Sasuke DOES think about her.  He thinks about all of them.  Sakura remembers that “thank you,” and it reminds her that despite everything Sasuke has done and said since, despite all evidence to the contrary, she knows in her bones that his expression of gratitude back then was genuine.  He cared about her once.  He cared about all of them.  She’s trying to reach the part of him that still does, if it exists.]

[tangential thing 3: The fact that Kakashi says “she suffers from loving you,” and it triggers Sasuke to remember his own family - thinking about how much he suffered (and still suffers) from loving them - “Perhaps…those are the ties to a failed past” - the idea that it’s not worth it to have bonds if it means you suffer this much…that it’s too difficult, it’s too painful, and if Sakura and the rest of Team 7 were smarter they would just give it up (all Sasuke knows how to do now is sever potential bonds before they can hurt him; so why aren’t Sakura and the rest of his teammates doing that, why can’t they let it go, why are they making this so hard - ) << yeah, he clearly doesn't care about her/them at all.]

4. the shadow of my family

This has all been a really long way to answer the original question, but the short response to “What do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura?” is “I really care about it,” just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Naruto, just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Kakashi. And I don’t think the story ever asks me to choose between them.

I’m not sure whether it’s the impact of Boruto-era “canon” that gets in the way of other people approaching things this way (I don’t consider sequel material when I evaluate the original story), or if it’s Kishimoto’s frequent disinterest in/disrespect towards female characters, which yes, does sometimes make it harder, or if it's a shipping thing (bane of my existence), or some combination of factors, but for me, taking one member of Team 7 out of the equation hobbles the rest of the story.  I can’t read/watch Naruto while hating one of the protagonists and loving the other three.  It doesn’t work like that for me.  The story wasn’t written that way, and there’s nothing in the text that would cause me to receive it that way.

That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with disliking one of the main foursome (or any character, for that matter) - obviously we're all going to have different preferences, and everyone is free to enjoy or reject whatever parts of a story they want, or to like or dislike whatever characters they want. I know that some people have more fun disregarding canon and doing their own thing, which is fine.  My own personal zone of enjoyment comes from receiving the story as closely to how I think it was intended to be read as I can, and personally, when I look at this particular story, what I see is that all the members of Team 7 clearly demonstrate their love for Sasuke in ways that he himself later recognizes and acknowledges. All of them are driven by their desire to save him and their unwillingness to hurt him. All of them make repeated choices to chase after him when he runs away, to trust him when he hasn't exactly earned it, to give him another chance when he doesn't appear to deserve it. ALL of them, not just Naruto, do these things multiple times throughout the story, and Sasuke owes his life (and thus his eventual recovery) to ALL of them, many times over. Kakashi disobeys Hokage-elect Danzō and breaks the law to negotiate for Sasuke's life with a foreign head of state. Sakura and Kakashi both have opportunities to kill Sasuke in the Land of Iron, and they choose to spare him instead. Kakashi stops Sasuke from killing his only friends at two different points in the story, which would have been a mistake Sasuke couldn't have recovered from. Sasuke would have died in Kaguya's desert dimension if Sakura hadn't saved him (Sakura, who knew that Sasuke wasn't even truly on her side yet, who knew he'd abandoned her for dead multiple times already that day). Kaguya's bone bullet would have killed Sasuke too, if Kakashi, with his intention to die in Sasuke's place, hadn't leapt in front of it (Kakashi, who also knew that Sasuke wasn't fully on their side yet, who also knew that Sasuke had abandoned him for dead earlier that day). Sasuke and Naruto would have BOTH died in the Final Valley if Sakura and a severely injured Kakashi hadn't chased after them to heal their injuries.

Remove any one member of Team 7, and Sasuke never makes it home. Without the combined efforts of all three of his teammates, he doesn't survive.  That’s the way it should be, thematically, for a story whose first and most foundational premise was the importance of teamwork, and since Sakura was just as essential to that framework as everyone else, I’m just as invested in her relationship with Sasuke as I am in his relationship with everyone else.  You can’t remove one leg from a four-legged stool without damaging the integrity of the entire structure, and for me, discounting any single member of Team 7 irreparably damages the integrity of the entire story. 

TL;DR: I love all of the Team 7 relationships, including Sakura and Sasuke's, because despite what some segments of fandom seem to believe, the text of the story never gives me any reason not to.

[spicyicymeloncat]

Nightcord Kaito is actually my favourite virtual singer from project sekai. He’s so angry I love him. (I changed his hair to kinda resemble the character from the original Samsa mv)

[stormyoceans]

Monica, do you know what kind of attacks on Sea have been carried out in the last few days? He even has to apologize for something. I don't sit on twt and don't understand what's going on.

 hello, anon!!!

sooo.. i didn’t really want to talk about this because 1) it’s about sea’s private life, 2) i’d rather we all focused on promoting last twilight, and 3) i’ve had to delete so many hateful messages in this past week that i didn’t really want to feed the trolls, but i can tell you just want to be informed about what happened and i think that’s fair, especially since this entire thing should have never been an issue in the first place

to sum it up, basically one week ago an unknown party leaked some pictures of sea and another actress from the industry, which of course started a whole bunch of rumours about the two of them dating. the person responsible for leaking those pictures was very clearly targeting her, not sea, and instead of protecting her, her company basically threw her under the bus so she had to do a whole statement about it and today sea had to address the matter as well

if im allowed to give my two cents on this, whether they were/are actually dating or not, i personally think it’s insane that not only they had to apologize when they didn’t do anything wrong, but that there are also people out there demanding the truth and condemning both of them for ‘queerbaiting’. the fans, the company, the industry.. they don't own an artist's private life, and an artist should not be held responsible for the mistaken assumptions that fans, people who don’t know them personally, project onto them

to quote my best girl gyo from hit show vice versa the series first of her name queen of parallelism romanticism soulmatism protector of true love and mother of nomnoms:

[spxnglr]

Idk my beloveds but, it's on the mind so imma ramble about it. Possible hot take about the RPC under the cut.

If you've made it this far, hi ilu - but yes, sometimes it bugs me about how serious the community can be sometimes??? Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about content, triggers, anything that might affect a person's comfort in any way - that's all valid af, absolutely. But, like, the way folk feel like they have to present themselves, the fact that folk can be unfollowed after a short period of time if they haven't reached out or have become inactive (I'm not even talking about months either, but I've read on some blogs that I can be as little as a week), any rules punishing OCs (y'all know that really gets me irked), the sheer emphasis placed on graphics and formatting, and a few other things that have escaped my mind but chances are I'll remember later. Maybe I'm just showcasing the amount of time I've spent writing on and off on this site, but I don't remember things always being this way, and every now and then I wonder if this community is as inclusive and relaxed as it used to be. After all, many of us do what we do here as a form of escapism from real life, or as a way to channel our passion for a fandom and/or character, or for any number of reasons, and while I do agree that a certain etiquette has to be in place, I sometimes have to contemplate if it's been taken too far in one or two ways.

[hl-obsessed]

Hi! No hate, just curious what you think Louis meant with that reply. I’m feeling kind of hurt and would love a different interpretation. Thanks!

Ok so this is long one, anon.

An this is my letter of complain to the fandom. I'm disappointed in you guys.

(this might be a little chaotic but bare with me)

*

Louis isn't stupid - that's first of all. He knows damn good what he's doing.

Second - we actually know shit. We have no idea what he was actually talking about.

But if we taking this as Larry and Parma ham thing and clearly denying this, then here we go:

_

You talking about how weird it was that he told us day before that he's going to be on for a chat.

Especially when he spent time on social medias yesterday liking and commenting on posts. He could have just start replying to the questions on tt because there are hundreds everyday just waiting for him, and fandom would catch on him being online in seconds and would start asking things immediately. There wasn't actually reason for this unless... it been step up.

Set up that someone form above could monitor things, his every step, every move.

There probably was sheet ready with questions he had to answer. Babygate, denying Larry, usual shit.

Maybe there was one answer for one song he pulled out on tour.

One for 505, one for 7, one for HIM in Back To You. Or one for songs and another ones for lights, one for blue and green, other for rainbow ones.

We think he just did that because he could and wanted to. What if he went for an agreement, that he can do this but he will have to make some comments denying all this in the future.

1 for us and 1 for antis and all the aprrences that they are keeping of him for years.

And you're treating him like he isn't the first victim in all of this. He was put in the closet, he had to sign off contract for kid to protect everything what's important to him and hid it even deeper.

You all getting pissed like he killed your mothers, and you fucking forget that's it's not about you. Larry is him, it's them. It thier lives. He can say whatever shit he wants because it is about him.

And break up with ealnor? You thought this wouldn't have consequences? Third question is maybe exactly for that.

He can do so much that is screaming Larry over and over again, for weeks on tour, and you hanging him for one comment.

True that people only see you mistakes, no matter how much good you do.

You all thinking he's stupid and he get mad to the point he didn't even saw he answered to the wrong tweet.

No one fucking thinks he did it on purpose?

Chicken in parma ham is so important, it always was. What if they made him answer Larry question and he answered wrong one on purpose, because he knew it will get enough or even more attention that way. The Above will check it out on thier list and move on, but he known real fans will know the truth.

That he didn't actually write it under right question on purpose, that he didn't actually mess with original meaning of this.

Great to see that you all are turing against him instead of thinking what he could mean by that.

I was searching for this quote when he said the fans can listen to what he's truly saying between the lines.

He doing so much cryptic shit and you are getting hung up on one fucking thing he said. Thing he probably HAD TO say.

I'll be up for the chat was a warning. I'll be up under supervision. I might say things you don't like but i had to say it. You know me, i know you, and i know you lot know how to read between the lines.

And you're giving him what for that?

There is that saying that there's no difference how they're talking about you, what's important is that they are talking.

Another box checked, Louis is trending on twitter.

You often say how brilliant his mind is and how you love the way he's thinking.

And now what, you think he just straight away get pissed, went stupid with it, and shoot rude comment at one of his fans because of what?

He's public person. He has to keep appearances. He's forced to keep an image they where building for years.

He often says how important we are to him. He wouldn't just lasched out like that on the fan, to silence stupid theories. Especially when this never works.

From time to time there is some comment that seems to be harsh. But you don't just hate him for that, especially when he does so much loud things that says otherwise.

He's tying to protect this. Them. Us. With keeping both sides happy. Can't you see that?

I'm so pissed at you guys right now.

And i'm going to protect this boy to the grave, at all costs.

[milo-is-rambling]

Me looking at my own mood boards like “oh yeah this guy gets it”

[magentamedicines]

I need people to realize that the Jeremy being talked about in the new help wanted achievements is most likely either the Jeremy from the first help wanted or referencing the MCI Jeremy who was stuffed in the Bonnie animatronic I don't think this is confirmation about the Bonnie Bully and definitely not about him being Cassie's dad 😭😭😭

[strixcattus]

Since I guess I'm a person who talks about Bleach right now I may as well talk about the latest (dub) episode given I actually do have a few thoughts about it

First off I suppose I'll talk about Gremmy. And by suppose I mean I was always going to bring this up, no matter how small a slice of the episode actually addresses him, and you cannot escape it. So Kenpachi mentions that everything Gremmy conjured vanished when he died—there's no ontological inertia. His construct-body disappears along with all the blood that was inside it, the platform he summoned crumbles apart (I can't tell if it vanished entirely or if the rubble stuck around, which is another point of consternation)... but, frankly, I feel like the way the lack of ontological inertia is handled is really inconsistent and raises some questions as to how much kiddo's powers really are dependent on maintaining concentration. Kenpachi mentions at one point during the fight that Yachiru's bones returned to normal since Gremmy couldn't "mess with two minds at the same time" and yet that's... not what he does? He's making a concrete construct in reality, not an illusion in one person's mind. The platform, the meteor, Gwenael Lee, etc. were all visible to and could effect multiple people, and Gremmy easily maintained concentration on the platform while fighting Kenpachi with... well, everything else he did. I was going to say that I couldn't think of any point where he had three creations out at once, but Yachiru's bones continued to be cookies even through the first bit of the fight, so.

Furthermore, we have to talk about the meteor. Because kiddo did summon a meteor, and he very much talked as though it did have ontological inertia, going so far as to say that even if Kenpachi somehow killed him, the meteor would still wipe out the Seireitei. This could be explained as him bluffing, except... there's not much point to the bluff? I can't honestly expect that he thought he could demoralize Kenpachi, and he definitely didn't expect him to fight the meteor, and I can't think of another reason to bluff. Kid really was in "if I can't win I'm dragging him down with me" mentality. Maybe (tentative maybe) he figured that the heat from the meteor would still decimate the Soul Reapers (and also the Quincy, his allies, and frankly I can understand any reservations anyone might have about letting him loose on Soul Society), but it still doesn't sit right with me.

Moving on from that essay: we get to see the girls! Kubo may not properly respect women but it's always the girls who have the banter and the dynamics. It started with Hallibel's squad and now we have these five—or four, as Bambietta's missing in this episode.

These girls would, all said, be much happier if they abandoned the Quincy army and went off to be the protagonist squad of a magical girl anime. They have cool transformations! Matching purses! They call their attacks in a more wonderful way than pretty much anyone else in Bleach—and this is Bleach we're talking about. Giselle is clearly having more fun than anyone else (she cheered for her enemy at one point!) but they're all enjoying themselves. Except maybe Candice. Their teamwork leaves a bit to be desired, but hey, at least they seem to be pretty good at not dying even when they should.

Then at last the gang is all here and Ichigo can feel properly betrayed. God do I hope Uryu knows what he's doing...

[gxyhxrror]

Orpheus and Eurydice is so…like how does one not feel like Orpheus w everything they love…like ok if I keep going n know ur there maybe it’ll be fine, except if I actually look back at u & try to be *with* you…it’ll be lost

[jackienautism]

maybe this is just me seeing the mike and sam dynamic as completely platonic ingame but i didn't really read the scene where sam's changing as mike refusing to give her privacy? at first he asks what she's doing and she says something along the lines of "the towel wasn't really great for running around in" as she's digging through her backpack, and then she's like um ??? turn around ??? and he's like "oh, right" and does. so i always took it as him being pretty out of it and not really registering things at the same speed he would normally. considering his motivations up to this point were basically "save jess" and then "avenge jess" and then continue to be that for a while, it doesn't really make sense from a character standpoint to me to read that as like . remotely romantic/sexual on either character's part (sam obviously because she does not like that man LOL)

yeah fair enough, looking back on the scene i can see how you read it that way. just knowing how mike is i just. i wouldnt have been surprised if that was also his intentions yk? it makes me uncomfortable no matter how you spin it, they probably shouldnt have put it in if they only wanted it to be read a certain way

off topic but i recently saw a poll and it was like. "take away one supermassive games character's most important item!" or some shit and one option was "sam and her towel." like. why cant we just be normal. i know its probably some sort of horror trope but that girl is ASS naked running around and its WEIRD to have made that a thing

i see their dynamic as platonic too, mainly bc 1. i dont like mike and 2. i see sam as a lesbian and, regardless, cant see her in a romantic relationship at all? let alone w/ a man

[fowlblue]

———

So it seems I cannot actually respond to this post properly, but, friendly reminder from someone who is actually dealing with the HPAI precautions every day (as someone studying at a wildife rehab center)-

The fact is is that the primary concern for its spread isn't domestic poultry, it's wild birds, especially waterfowl because it spreads through water (through feces/saliva). That's why you're being asked to take down your birdfeeder these days.

No one's trying to 'justify animal agriculture' either- the culling is done for a reason. This disease is highly pathogenic- the HP in HPAI. Symptoms take time to appear and by then it's too late regardless. This isn't just a problem in farms, it's everywhere- wildlife rehabilitation centers (like the one I study at) have to take these precautions too.

This isn't a little disease either- it's a horrible way to go for these birds. It has spread to other farmed animals- it has spread to people. Humans. Sporadically, yes, but isn't that how it always starts? We really, really don't need a highly pathogenic illness being spread by birds.

(Also, to note- while this particular strain is believed to have started among domestic waterfowl (not chickens), avian flu itself began in wild birds.)

This isn't 'incubated' by poultry farms, as this responder claimed. The strain didn't even start with chickens. Fact is that now that wildfowl have caught it (with wild ducks being one of the worst carriers as they can be asymptomatic), it's primarily spreading through that route, because those birds are actually migrating the way they always have, and carrying it with them, instead of staying on those farms. Culling those birds when one carries it is to prevent incubation.

Just take down your birdfeeder anyways. Make your posts about poultry farming if you like, but HPAI isn't a 'vegan time to shine', it's a serious problem. It's killing a lot of wild birds too, including many key raptor and vulture species.

[satoruxx]

thinking about since canonically Geto is more popular with girls than Gojo he’s gotten used to them looking past him to get to Geto but what if Gojo and Geto are out for drinks with the other teachers one night and he gets approached by the reader but he thinks she’s just coming over to ask him for Geto’s number and so he prepares his ‘responsible best friend’ act and then SHE ASKS ABOUT HIM INSTEAD, ALL BLUSHY AND STUFF BECAUSE HE LOOKED LIKE HE WAS GONNA BRUSH HER OFF

AHH I LOVE HIM SM 😔😔😔

pairing: gojo satoru x reader | 1k words summary: fluff, pining, reader is a simp but same, satoru is a good wingman but he needs attention too, au ig bc suguru's alive LMAO, idiots in love? rheya's note: oh my god shut up this is so cute and YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT??? i can just imagine that he's gotten so used to judging whether or not the person is even worth suguru's attention before deciding to pass on his info...and after a while his brain just defaults to thinking that everyone wants suguru but he FORGETS that there are gojo girlies out there (me asf) !! thanks for the ask nonnie babes i love this idea so so much <33

OK SO

it's obvious that there are quite a few women at the bar eyeing the group. young, attractive teachers spending an evening trying to relax and take their minds off of the stress of jujutsu work. nanami is in deep conversation with shoko about something while ijichi quietly listens. further down the table utahime is quietly sipping her drink while mei mei orders another. shoko makes a comment and suguru bursts into unabashed laughter.

the flush of alcohol dusts over each of their cheeks, but satoru remans the only one who has barely touched his glass, the sting of the bitterness a little too harsh for him to enjoy. he opts for instead letting his eyes roam over the faces in the crowd, taking little notice of all the eyes and smiles sent in their direction.

well until he notices you anyway.

you're already looking in his direction curiously, face illuminated by the dim lighting of the bar as your friends giggle around you. when his eyes lock with yours, you immediately tear your gaze away, trying to play it off by immediately delving into conversation, though satoru can tell that there's a flush crawling up your neck now.

he doesn't look away though, too caught up in the crinkle of your eyes and the smile lines that grace your face as you laugh at something. a minute later you're looking back in their direction, and when you catch him staring, you turn away yet again.

satoru glances to his side, knowing that you're probably watching suguru take a sip of his drink and most likely falling for his charming smile.

typical and so predictable.

some time passes like this. you'll look, and turn away, and satoru will watch you do it over and over again. it isn't until a while later that satoru catches your friends pushing your shoulders and giggling, and he knows that they're urging you to come up and ask about suguru. you're shaking your head, the nervousness clear as day as your brows pinch. but eventually you succumb to peer pressure and stand up from your table, taking anxious strides towards him.

and usually, satoru will make a face or turn his back or do something to look as unapproachable as possible. because almost every person who comes up asking for suguru's contact info has been obnoxious as hell.

but you're quite pretty and you look sweet enough, and he doesn't think it'd be right to deter you.

suguru would probably like you too.

so satoru decides to let you try at least, and if you seem to be as nice as you look maybe he'd bridge the gap between you and his best friend.

you make your way up to him, and as soon as he finally gets a good look at you he's thinking you're a lot prettier up close.

dammit.

"hi," you say, face hot as you try your best to maintain steady eye contact with him. you look so nervous, fidgeting with the fabric of your clothes as you attempt to strike up conversation, and he doesn't have it in him to watch you struggle.

"yeah i can give you his number," he says, voice clipped as he tries to hide the disappointment in it. you watch him grab a napkin and begin scribbling something down, confusion clear as he hands you the digits.

"um…?" you look at the napkin and then at him. "sorry, whose number is this?"

satoru balks, lips parting as he mirrors your confusion. "uh…suguru's? the guy behind me?"

realization dawns on your face and you shift your weight from foot to foot.

"oh actually," you suck your teeth nervously, trying to hide behind an awkward little smile. "i came to talk to you."

satoru can only blink, cerulean eyes widening behind his glasses as he stares at you in surprise.

you take his silence as a bad sign, shoulders dropping and embarrassment settling in your frown as you look anywhere but his face. "s-sorry if that's weird. i don't wanna make you uncomfortable or anything so-"

he's grinning before he can stop himself, heart dangerously swelling with affection as he motions toward the empty stool next to him. "not weird at all."

the pleasant surprise on your face makes him bite back a chuckle, and you take the seat. "huh...i wasn't expecting you to be okay with it."

satoru raises a brow curiously, tilting his head. "why not?"

you shrug with a careless grin. "i had a feeling you were gonna brush me off from the moment i first looked over."

satoru winces, and he can practically feel suguru's knowing smirk on his back. he chooses to ignore that for now, eyes trailing over the mirth in your expression, and he can only smile helplessly. "no way in hell."

your laugh comes instantly, sweet and bright, and you take it as a sign to continue talking. satoru listens on, sipping his drink to hide his giddy smile and ignoring the sting of bitterness once again.

honestly, with the amount of sweetness he's just found, satoru would tolerate as much bitterness as he needed to.

[elibean]

i've now seen two posts praising the art direction/specific shots in this bsd ep and i'm *narrows eyes*

credit the episode director, at least....

[reloaderror]

people need to stop complaining about portugal’s gloves the red/hot pink colour scheme is the only thing she did right

[connorsbonez]

DC/DP Crossover Idea #62

After a stinging conversation with Bruce, Damian decides that the best course of action for himself is to pack up and run away since he can’t stay at the Manor and he absolutely cannot go back to the League.

Which…leaves him two choices: either go off by himself or….

Sigh.

• • •

Damian glared at his reflection in a window as he impatiently listened to the dial sound that came from the payphone he stood at. He hitched the collar of his jacket higher as he discreetly glanced around him.

He didn’t have many options left after he decided to leave the Manor and the Waynes’ (it was for the best) if he had, Damian wouldn’t have dared to contact him.

Maybe it was just the anxiety and fear that he would also turn his back against Damian

Finally, just as Damian was about to slam the phone back into its place, a voice spoke. A familiar one that made his face scrunch up.

“Fenton household. This is Danny speaking.”

“Tsk. Hello, Danyal.”

Damian jerked the phone away from his ear as a harsh static sound erupted from it but it disappeared just as quickly as it came, a silence taking over the filled Damian with anxiety anticipation.

“Oh. Hello, Damian. Been a bit hasn’t it?”

A bit is a light way to say it.

“It has.” Damian took a moment to check his surroundings again.

“Uh huh. So, why are you calling me? I didn’t think the heir would wish to speak to the little ol’ spare.” The words in on themselves were harsh and cruel, but there was a lightness to the way Danyal spoke which made Damian’s chest both loosen and tighten simultaneously.

He opened his mouth to answer but couldn’t find himself able to do so, instead making a soft choked sound as he tried to inhale discreetly but it came off too sharp. The phone made a crackling sound as the two brewed in the silence.

“…Damian? Are you okay?” Danyal voice finally broke through hesitantly, a mixture of unsureness and surprise concern hidden in the layers of his tone and the general poor condition this payphone was in. “What happened? Aren’t you supposed to be with Bruce?”

The mention of Bruce Father, Damian couldn’t stop the soft keening sound that escape him. He clasped his hand over his mouth but it was too late, Danyal had heard it.

“Damian- Brother. What the hell happened?” The words were harsher this time but they were not directed towards Damian, who didn’t flush in embarrassment at the moment of weakness as he took a breath to recollect himself.

“The League is gone, Grandfather is dead, and…I did not meet Father’s expectations.” Damian summarized quickly, unsure how much Danyal knew since he hasn’t been with the League in years.

It was silent for a moment. “I see.” Danyal replied in a neutral tone before growing quiet again, the static seemed to return but softer and more in the background.

“Brother, where are you?” Damian could hear the sound of his brother shuffling around as if looking for something and a feeling of relief hope swelled inside him as he swiftly recited his location.