#no naruto either but he likes the same books as kakashi

[dujour13]

Jumping on board the meme train! Most of these weren't conscious inspirations when Siavash took form but I can see where my little brain was shopping for ingredients.

Howl - the clothes and the radiant smile.

Jake - a very irresponsible but bombastic and musically talented little dog. Also loves adventures and knows how to cook.

Dale Cooper - always friendly, optimistic and brings people together. Just loves a good cup of coffee and slice of pie. Also really off the wall.

Miguel - his guitar and shenanigans. And his bff partner in crime.

Ferris Bueller - the extremely popular and dishonest guy who gets his best friend to take a day off from his troubles and, as if by magic, overcome them.

Eddie Vedder - not for the voice exactly (Sia's a tenor) but the vibe. Really nice guy, heartfelt songs, left wing politics.

Not tagging people because a lot have done this already but I'd love to see more! Here's the template

[aaizawashouta]

Welcome Home

pairing: jiraiya x fem!reader

word count: 2.3k

summary: you're there every time to welcome him home, until the one time you're not.

warnings: smut (18+ minors dni) fingering, p in v, cream pie

Touch and go is how your relationship has always been. You’ve never complained. Always welcoming him home with open arms, ears eager to hear of his travels. The closer he gets back to Konoha the more he can taste your perfume—hints of honey and coconut twirling on his tongue. He’s been gone longer than usual this time. It’s made him antsy. His hands twitch at his side as he walks through the village. He feels almost desperate to get home, something that’s never happened before.

He’s never taken advantage of you, never sought you out for only pleasure. He’s never talked about his feelings, so sure that you understood. Given, you’ve never talked about your feelings either. Jiraiya, the fool that he is, thought all was well. Except for the fact that you aren’t there when he gets home. From the looks of it, you haven’t been there for a while. It’s okay. It’s okay. Everything is fine. He’ll find you eventually.

Everything is not fine. It’s not okay. He’s losing his damned mind trying to find you. It’s been two days. Where could you possibly be? That’s when he sees him. Jiraiya’s eyes narrow as he tracks him, walking along the village without a care in the world, nose shoved deep into the book he’s emerged himself in. It’s not long before he’s caught up with Kakashi. They walk along in silence for a while, Jiraiya’s hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, impatience washing over him.

Finally, Kakashi sighs, dropping his arm. One eye lifting to meet the agitated gaze of the sannin. “Good to see you, Jiraiya.”

“Kakashi,”

“You haven’t talked to her?”

Jiraiya’s eye twitches. “I can’t find her.”

Kakashi hums. “She’s not back from the mission, then.”

It was like a bomb had been dropped on him. Everything he thought he knew about you was wrong. But he’s to blame. He’s the one constantly leaving. He’s the one who keeps you at arms length. If he wanted to know, he’d ask. A lump of uncertainty forms in Jiraiya’s throat. He’s not a fan of the feeling. He doesn’t like you being gone. A shinobi? You’re more amazing than he’d thought, and it irks him. He’s an idiot. The two of you have been at this for, well, years, and he honestly thought that you were a civilian whose whole world revolved around him. He doesn’t say anything to Kakashi. He’s defeated by you and you aren’t even here to witness it.

“You really don’t have a clue, do you?” Jiraiya stares at him, making Kakashi sigh. “Follow me.”

Kakashi isn’t sure why he has the photo to begin with, but he’s glad he has it. Probably something of Naruto’s that he has for safe keeping. He finds it in a stack next to his bedroom dresser. He smiles at the photo before handing it over to the older man.

The two of you are standing together, Jiraiya’s arm thrown over your shoulders holding you tightly to him. His head is tossed back in a boisterous laugh, you can almost hear it echoing from the memory. You’ve got your arm around his waist, body completely molded to him as you watch him. Doe eyes looking up, lips parted in a small lovestruck smile. It’s a snapshot of the pure adoration and love you hold for him.

It’s not something you hide. It’s not a secret by any means. But gods, is Jiraiya seeing it for the very first time.

It’s early when you get home. Eyes burning from lack of sleep, dirt under your nails and in your hair. A nice hot shower is calling your name. It takes you three tries to unlock the door. So set on getting to the shower, you miss the hints of another presence in your home completely. Tearing off your vest while pulling your shoes off along the way, leaving the clothes scattered on the floor on your way to the bathroom. You come to a stop when you see your bedroom door open.

Now you’ve been gone for a month or so, but you do the same routine every time. Every door is shut when you leave. Every time. But the bedroom door is open. Biting your cheek, you move down the hallway to see that the bathroom door is open as well. Why? Who's been in your house? Are they still here? You freeze, senses running wild. If they were still here, they wouldn’t make it far.

The faintest sound of scratching reaches your ears. What, is there a rat in your house? As silent as you can, you follow the sounds. Leading to your bedroom, you slightly push the door open, a flurry of emotions overcoming you. Sitting at the desk is Jiraiya, bent over slightly as he pen scratches at the paper. No doubt furiously writing away for the next installment of his books. Stepping into the room you make your way to him, throwing your arms around his shoulders. He’s solid against you, the warmth of him seeping into you. You nuzzle your face in between his shoulders, more than happy to be home. Happy to finally have him home.

“Hey, kid,” he says with a laugh.

“Hey yourself. Missed you.”

His whole body relaxes at your words. Silently he turns, pulling you in closer until you’re seated on his lap. Thick fingers tangle up into the roots of your hair, angling you just so. You can’t help the moan when his lips meet yours. You aren’t sure how long he had been gone this time around. Only that it was too long and you didn’t like it. Normally you could get missions completed between the times he comes and goes. This had been rough.

“Missed your old man, did ya?”

You can’t help but snicker. “My old man?”

“Well I don’t belong to anyone else do I?” His lips trail up your neck, teasing at your ear. “I missed you too, kid.”

His hands release your hair, only to grip your face, thumbs running softly against your cheekbones. You’re doe eyed as you stare up at him. He hums as he stares back, so lovestruck it blindsides you.

“I love you.”

“Jiraiya,” The words make your heart stop. You never thought you’d hear them, and you’ve always been okay with that.

He doesn’t give you a moment to respond. “Let me show you.”

He stands, your legs instantly wrapping around his waist as he walks over to your shared bed. Your hands roam his body as he pulls off his own clothes. His tongue drags across your fluttering pulse, and when he sucks your skin hard enough to leave a bruise, your fingers splayed open on his broad shoulders, digging into the taut muscle that flexes as he draws you closer. Calloused hands pull at your shirt, the cool morning air drawing your nipples taunt.

His hands slide down your back, holding you close as he leans forward and lays you down on the sea of blankets. You’ve been together too long for you to be embarrassed by the whimper of a moan that escapes you when his teeth tug harder on your nipple before laving the ache with his tongue while his hand palms your other breast, playing mercilessly with the nipple until your back is arching off the mattress, eyes rolling back.

His hand falls away from your breast, and you nearly squeak in indignation until the feel of his calloused fingers slides between your thighs. Fingers dig into the stretchy material of your shorts, your own hands trailing down to free your body of the material. Jiraiya groans, watching you.

“I knew you weren’t wearing any panties.”

“Never do.”

You’ve never given it much thought, but if you had to imagine heaven, this would be it. A sunlit morning, tangled sheets, gentle words, rough hands. An endless loop of intimate moments, of vulnerable confessions, of whispered promises, of sex so intense your mind fractures and pieces itself back together. Your souls touch, they echo across countless lifetimes.

Jiraiya’s thumb teases your clit, rubbing slow, torturous circles that make your legs spasm every time the callous on the side of his thumb grazes the bud of nerves, lighting up every nerve ending in your body like a firework show.

You attempt to tug him closer, to shift your hips forward, to add more pressure, to silently ask him to go faster. Gods, please go faster. But he doesn't oblige. Rather, he pulls your hands off his body and locks them into an inescapable hold above your head, pinned against the pillows — a silent demand to not rush him, to let him take his time. A silent promise to make it worth your while.

When his thumb finds your clit again it's an even softer touch — a whisper rather than steady contact. And somehow, somehow that barely there touch, that torturously reserved brush of his thumb has your eyes flying wide and your back arching off the bed so intensely your breath lodges in your throat.

You tug, trying to get your wrists free, the demand to pull him closer nearly short-circuiting your brain, but his hold on them doesn't budge.

"Mmm, how do you want to come, pretty?" He hums against your skin, biting down on the hickey he's leaving on the swell of your breast before moving his attention to the other one. His thumb keeps a teasing pace on your clit, giving you more pressure and easing off just when the pressure in your lower belly begins to build.

Up, up, up and then gone.

So close, so so close, and then poof.

Gone.

His tongue drags across your nipple before he pulls back and blows a cool breath of air across the glistening nerves, sending a rush of goosebumps across your entire body.

His thumb adds a little more pressure, a little more friction, and you’re sure you might cry. You might actually cry. It feels so good.

Your entire body is tense, nearly about to hit that peak when he pulls his thumb away again.

Your head slams back against the bed, frustration flooding your veins. Your orgasm is trying to break free, to claw its way out of you. Like water receding from the shore before a tsunami, the air in your lungs is gone, the control over your shaking legs, your shaking arms, your shaking hands — towed away from you.

He sucks on your nipple hard enough to fling white dots over your vision like confetti, and even now, you can feel the haughty smile tugging at his lips as he pulls back to watch you writhe under him because he knows, he knows you're too far gone to answer him.

"Like this?" he slides a finger into you and you nearly shatter. Nearly, nearly, nearly. Please.

You can't breathe. You can't think. You can't respond. You shake your head and tug your wrists feebly. You want him. You want him.

He adds another finger and you moan so loud it echoes back to you.

He curses, pulls his fingers away, and as you nearly break into hysterics at the loss of contact, at the loss of the climax that was so close you could nearly taste the endorphins on your tongue, he releases your wrists and wraps your legs around his hips.

"No. No sweet girl, you're going to come with my cock buried deep in your pretty pussy." His words are a promise against your ear and finally, finally he thrusts into you as he murmurs against your lips. "Come on my cock, kid. Let me see how fucking gorgeous you are when you come on my cock. Let me know how much you really missed me."

It's instantaneous. The tsunami hits with the first thrust of his hips and your throat burns with the scream that rips through your room. It's nearly a sob — a sob of relief, a sob of ecstasy, a sob of pure pleasure.

Every nerve in your body is a live wire, lighting up with the kind of mind numbing sensation that pulls you down so deep you can't process anything other than the feel of the waves. Like you’re just under the surface of the ocean, being pulled along with each rise and crash of the tide.

And then you blink and see the brilliant sunlight coaxing you back toward the surface, back to the air, back to reality. And it's only when you break the surface and your lungs unfreeze, helplessly tasting your first breath of air since they froze in your chest, that you realize the sun has been shrouded by a passing storm cloud, and the light, that brilliant light that brought you back is still here, radiating from the man on top of you. His face is nuzzled into the crook of your neck, his hips reaching a crescendo that sends another aftershock of pleasure flooding up your spine and he buries himself deep inside of you and stills, the heat of his climax pulsing inside of you, sliding down your thighs.

The room is silent other than your heavy breathing. Your fingers card through his hair, his lips grazing your collarbones. It’s only when your breathing steadies and your body completely relaxes that Jiraiya scoops you up and heads into the shower.

I love you. He whispers the words again and again as he washes you. Lips pressed against your skin as if he can force his love into you. Your heart soars. Tucked into bed, eyes droopy from exhaustion, Jiraiya hands over the photo. You can feel his gaze taking you in as you run your finger lightly over his laughing face, not even concerned about yourself. He presses a kiss against your temple, mouthing the words with a ghost of a smile.

“I love you too.”

And you don’t know where you’ll go from here. If your path will continue to entwine with his. You do know your heart will never belong to another. He’s opening himself up, learning, and he’s doing it all for you.

[yowyowyaoi]

Gai: Hey, Kakashi … how many tickles does it take to make a jellyfish laugh?

Kakashi, not looking up from his book: Jellyfish don’t have a central nervous system, therefore they wouldn’t feel you “tickling” them. Besides which the act of you touching a jelllyfish, depending on the type, could result in a fatal sting that takes your life before you have the opportunity to even count ONE “laugh”.

Gai:

Gai: You were supposed to say ten tickles, ‘Kashi. Like tentacles.

Kakashi: … sorry.

Lee, in the corner, looking like he’s going to cry: So they can’t feel anything? Does that mean they can’t feel love, either? How sad …

Naruto: But if you can’t touch jellyfish, how are you supposed to get the jelly for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?!

Gai: I think if you wear gloves you can milk it, like a cow.

Kakashi, closing his book and standing up: I’m going to take a long walk and question my life choices. You all stay here and do the same, please.

[rayshippouuchiha]

I've noticed you're happy when people share snippets of things they're writing, so today I want to share with you one of the scenes I'm the most proud to have ever written

To give you a bit of context so it makes sense: Time travel fuckery happens when Naruto uses almost all of Kurama's power to get back in time. What little power was left of the Bijuu merges with his body and gives him orangy-red hair the same color of Kurama's fur so he makes himself pass as Kushina's younger brother when he appears in Konoha around the time young Naruto is 5/6 y/o, going by the name of Uzumaki Kurama to avoid raising any suspicious about two Narutos. Shit happens, he and Kakashi fall in love but are idiots who don't communicate. The scene takes place after Pain's attack and Kakashi dying and coming back to life.

-

The dust has long settled on the destroyed village, and now the moon was high in the sky, watching over Her people in silence.

Tenzō had done an amazing job, Kakashi has to admit. It's thanks to his Mokuton that the people of Konoha have a place to sleep at until the village is properly re-built.

Not him, though. He couldn't fall asleep.

He's not too surprised by the fact that he's awake in the middle of the night. He's used to it. Usually he can fall asleep for an hour or two at some point, but this time is different. He guesses dying and coming back to life will do that to you.

He's not the only one awake. ANBU are patrolling the village. Some of them nod their head at him when passing by, but no one stops to bother him as he stands on top of a mostly destroyed building, away from where the rest of the village is resting.

Kakashi is not on duty. He hasn't been since the day the Sandaime had told him that he was to become a Jōnin Sensei. Yet, tonight he misses the mask. He feels like his head is too full of thoughts, and he needs to put on his ANBU uniform and let that part of him take the lead. The youngest ANBU to have ever been made. The only ANBU with a perfect mission score. He misses not thinking about anything but a mission, his body moving mechanically as his mind takes a step back and rests.

Alas, he can't. He had to give his mask and uniform back all those years ago, leave them in the hands of the Hokage and never take them back.

It's barely past 0300 when someone joins him. Kakashi doesn't hear their footsteps but he does feel their familiar chakra, as bright as the sun and as scalding hot and dangerous as a forest fire.

Kurama doesn't say anything as he sits beside him, and it's in that moment that Kakashi realizes he hasn't seen the man all day, not even when the fight ended and everything went quiet.

Kakashi looks at him, but Kurama isn't looking back. No. He's looking at the village with an expression that Kakashi can't decipher. Oh, but how he wishes that he could. He would give anything to be able to read this man like one of his beloved books.

"I died today," Kakashi finds himself saying, unable, for once, to stand the silence.

"I know."

"I saw my father."

Kurama finally looks at him, and Kakashi can finally see. There's a deep grief in his blue eyes, a grief that looks as old as the man himself.

"How was it?" Kurama asks. He sounds tired, even more than Kakashi feels.

"Meeting him?"

"Dying."

The question hangs heavy in the air, and after a while Kurama looks back towards the village.

"All my life I've seen people either die or leave without me being able to do anything to prevent it. While I was here, I almost forgot how terrible war was for those who survive it," he sighs, then shakes his head. "I know we didn't lose anyone today thanks to Naruto, but..."

But we could have, he doesn't say. But we did, even if only for a short while.

Kakashi finally sits down, and it hits him suddenly that Kurama was probably already around when Uzushio was attacked and destroyed. That he had to witness his home be razed to the ground. His clan, his family, his friends, forever lost. And who knows where those who were able to run away ended up. Did Kurama escape with his parents? With a friend? And where are they, now?

Kakashi already knows the answer to that particular question for sure.

"But we're still here," Kakashi says, a gentleness in his voice he didn't think he was even capable of having. "And, you know, talking with my father made me realize something important."

Kurama looks at him so intently with those deep blue eyes of his, and Kakashi wonders, not for the first time, what is it about this man that makes him want to open up. Hatake Kakashi hates being vulnerable, so why does he want Kurama to know his every secret?

"While I was with him, we talked about a lot of things. I told him about my old team, my students, my mistakes and failures over the years, and," he stops for a moment. Has to look away from Kurama's blue eyes, "I talked about you, too."

There's a surprised sound from beside him, but Kakashi lets his eye rest on the sleeping village stretching in front of them.

"And I realized that, for you, I'd-"

A hand shots out, pressing against Kakashi's lips to silence him. The way Kurama is looking at him now is pained.

"If you're about to tell me that you'd die for me, don't," he sounds even more tired, and Kakashi can see it in the way his body is positioned that he's tense, so much that Kakshi almost fears it might hurt.

Gently, Kakashi grabs Kurama's wrist to pull his hand away from his lips, but instead of pushing it away he keeps it in his.

"I would have, before," he admits. Kurama's hand is warm in his, as he presses it over his heart. He can almost sense its warmth all the way under his jōnin uniform. "But that's not what I was about to say."

He looks at him again, and for the first time in forever Kakashi feels like everything is right in this shitty world they had been thrown in. That everything will be okay, no matter what the world throws at them. And a smile, gentle and small, pulls softly at his lips, hidden under his trusted mask.

For the first time, the little wrinkles forming around his eye are genuine

"I would live for you, Kurama."

[anyon-else]

I Set A Fire to My Soul (I Hope It Ate 'Till It Was Full) (The Red Room pt.9) | You realize after spending two weeks at the compound that existing peacefully actually seems like a plausible way of spending your life. It makes you feel free, a feeling that you're wholly unfamiliar with. It's something you want to get used to. (Marvel AU) – spotify playlist | read on ao3

Pairings | Kakashi Hatake x Black Widow!Reader + Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Orochimaru (mentioned), Kabuto Yakushi (mentioned)

Warnings | female!reader, fluff!!! some hurt/comfort, not much this time around (just you wait though)

Word count | 6.4k

(previous chapter) | (next chapter) | (series masterlist)

At first glance, Kakashi's room was sparse of anything but a few pictures and a small potted plant in the window. It was the opposite of Sakura's room, which was teeming with decor and testaments to things she was interested in before she was taken. Seeing it had been like seeing a version of Sakura that you'd never had the chance to meet. A happier version.

But Kakashi's room gave little away.

You weren't exactly sure what you were seeking from Kakashi, and you almost wished he'd suggest something for you to do. You were standing awkwardly by the door as the man gathered a few books from his bed and set them aside. You eyed the newly-emptied space and wondered if it was too late to back out the door and shut yourself in your room.

But the thought of being alone again made your stomach twist in fear rather than nervousness. This was easy compared to the idea of dreaming of Orochimaru again. You were having trouble coping with the hold that he still had on you in your dreams.

"You can sleep in the bed, if you'd like. I can sleep on the floor, or–"

"No, don't. I'm imposing on you, I shouldn't take your bed too."

You both eyed the rather sizable space on the mattress, and you were sure that Kakashi was turning over the same idea that you were. Sharing a bed didn't seem all that different from sleeping together in the tent, but this wasn't something you were doing out of necessity. This was born out of fear and crippling solitude.

"I...don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

Were you comfortable with Kakashi? It felt like you were, but you couldn't remember when exactly that shift had taken place. On the mission, when you'd accepted that you had to rely on him to watch your back? Or at his house when you spent nights getting a few hours of light sleep on the couch with him.

Admittedly, his bed looked much more comfortable than his couch.

"It's fine," you took a hesitant step towards his bed, glaring at it like it was an obstacle, "I don't mind."

He clearly didn't believe you, but he shrugged, slipped under his covers, and picked his book back up. No expectations or demands, but not a rejection either. It was a new type of kindness that made something in your chest loosen.

You slipped carefully under the covers on the opposite side of the bed, leaving enough room so that you wouldn't shift and touch Kakashi in your sleep.

The mattress sank with your added weight, and you turned on your side to face Kakashi, eyes cracked open. As much as you wanted to avoid looking at him for fear of getting flustered, you still couldn't bring yourself to put your back to someone who wasn't Sakura. This was all so new. Trusting someone enough to keep them out of sight while you slept was one too many obstacles for the night.

But your quick heartbeat wasn't the same as it had been during your panic attack. It wasn't a feeling that threatened to consume you. It was just a reminder that you were in close proximity to Kakashi.

You were starting to accept that there was something about being in his presence that made sleeping through the night peaceful. That something also seemed to make the logical side of your mind shut down.

That night, Kakashi woke up gasping for air.

He knew that being next to you wouldn't give him a one-hundred percent success rate for restful nights, but he'd at least hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with waking from a nightmare in front of you so soon. Maybe after you'd both gotten used to this arrangement (one that he selfishly hoped would last longer than one night).

Obito's face still lingered in front of him, and he shook away the unwanted images of his friends dead, all because he wasn't strong enough to keep them safe.

"You okay?"

He glanced down at you and chuckled at the unfamiliar picture of your eyes barely open and your face pressed against a pillow. He should've figured that you'd be a light sleeper. Next time he'd have to try and control himself after waking up. You hadn't come here just to be burdened by his nightmares.

"Yeah," he sighed, "sorry, I'm alright. Go back to sleep."

He let out a heavy sigh, resting his head in his hands and squeezing his eyes shut. He had to keep it together. At least until you had fully adjusted.

"If you want to talk about it," you said quietly, voice still groggy, "I don't mind."

He laughed, looking down at you with a small smile.

"You don't look happy to be awake right now."

"I can be awake," you shrugged. He started to protest when you shifted, but you waved him off and settled on your side.

"Lay down," you muttered, more of a suggestion than anything else, but he didn't hesitate to do as you asked. "Hold out your hand."

Again, with little hesitation and almost no thought of your motives, he extended his hand until it was midway between you and him. You mirrored the movement, and he froze from shock alone when you hooked your pinkie around his. He wondered if it was just exhaustion that was making you act without thinking, but you seemed a bit more aware now. Maybe you were just becoming comfortable with his presence faster than he'd expected.

"I used to do this with Sakura," you whispered with a fond smile. "She was troublesome. Whenever I messed up and got thrown in a cell overnight, she would always make sure she ended up there with me. There were grates between each cell with just enough space for us to do this. She wanted me to know that I wasn't alone."

Kakashi felt his chest ache at the idea of you and Sakura being imprisoned in the place that was supposed to be your home. The image of Sakura deliberately putting herself there just to do then what you were doing for him now made the gesture feel much more significant. It almost felt sacred.

"It made me feel at ease," you whispered, eyes barely open, "how do you feel now?"

In all honesty, his heart was still racing. But images of bloody bodies and comrades lost weren't haunting him anymore. He gave a hum in response and closed his eyes, focusing on the warm point of contact between you. He felt that warmth spread through the rest of his body and lull him to sleep.

He only slept for a few more hours, but he woke well-rested and found that he had an easier time fending off unwanted memories than the last time he'd jolted awake.

He also felt a strange, unfamiliar weight on his arm.

You hadn't woken yet, but you had moved at some point in the few hours since you'd both fallen asleep. Instead of just holding on to his pinkie, you had grabbed his hand and pulled it towards you, hugging his arm and tucking it into your chest.

He felt his heartbeat pick up again. He sat completely still, afraid that moving would wake you up.

He thought he'd seen what you looked like when you were at peace when you slept during the mission. Even when you spent nights on the couch, you seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Now, you almost looked happy. He swore that he saw a small smile on your face, though that could've just been his mind playing tricks on him.

He thought back to when Sakura was younger and small enough that he could lift her on his shoulders. At that age, she liked the feeling of being surrounded in a hug. He always wondered if it was the reassurance that nothing could get to her that was appealing.

Kakashi had spent his fair share of nights trying to chase away nightmares of her parents' deaths by hugging her close and keeping her tucked under his chin. He couldn't imagine that her nightmares improved while she was in the Red Room. It was likely that you had taken over for him and spent nights keeping Sakura close to try and unburden her of her fears.

Maybe you'd gotten used to having something to hold. Maybe being deprived of that now was taking more of a toll on you than you realized.

He did his best to keep still, but a few moments later, your grip on his arm and hand tightened enough that he knew you'd woken up. He glanced up and met your eyes, though you looked more confused than anything else.

"Mm..." you sucked in a breath, looking down at where you were holding Kakashi's hand. Realization dawned on you at the same moment that you threw it back at him, your confusion morphing into horror, "I'm so sorry. I didn't even realize–"

"It's alright."

"I didn't mean to...make you uncomfortable or anything."

"You didn't."

"Oh," you huffed, turning on your back and staring up at the ceiling, "okay. Good."

He wanted to ask if you remembered waking up last night, either to give you some peace of mind that he'd been perfectly comfortable with you touching him or to determine whether or not it was drowsiness that made you so open to comforting him. But you looked embarrassed enough as it was, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Thank you for letting me stay here," you said quietly, "I appreciate it."

"Anytime."

You nodded, giving him a small, half-hearted smile before you were on your feet and heading towards the door. He sat up and watched you go, searching for the right words.

"I mean it," he rushed out before you could rush out. You glanced back, expression unreadable, "really. You can sleep here anytime you want."

It shouldn't have been this hard to talk to someone, but he felt himself second-guessing all of his words just to make sure they were the right ones. He wanted to figure out how to talk to you in a way that made you feel at peace.

"Okay," you nodded, "thank you."

He didn't expect you to accept his offer, but that night, you were in front of his door once again.

Two weeks later

Sakura woke up far earlier than she would've liked with stiff limbs and excess energy to burn off. Her room had enough space that she could stretch out on the floor and try to loosen up, but she still felt an ache in her legs that she knew was a result of cutting off her training so abruptly after her escape. She had gotten used to an intense daily routine in the Red Room, and while it wasn't the most pleasant form of training, she almost missed starting her mornings with activity.

It had been nearly two months since she was given permission by her doctors to spar. And while she didn't want to bother you to train with her, Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't be as much fun. They didn't know the tricks and techniques that she'd learned in the four years that she'd been gone, and they'd have to take time to get used to her new fighting style. That morning, she found herself itching for a challenge.

Your room was only one door down from hers, and she hadn't pondered much on the habitual silence coming from it day after day since you'd returned. She knew that you were light on your feet, but around her you weren't as careful. You'd never felt the need to hide your presence from her. She helped you get used to the idea that you were allowed to take up space. That you didn't need to conceal your presence like a ghost everywhere you went.

When she opened the door and peaked into your room, she was only slightly concerned to find it empty. In fact, it looked untouched. She didn't even see your small bag of clothes next to the bed where you usually kept it.

Were you out? No, you wouldn't have left without telling her. Maybe you were already in the gym? Did you go for a run? Were you making breakfast? It was five in the morning, no one was up yet and the compound was silent. She could hear her own footsteps echoing in the hallway; she would've heard you if you were wandering around.

She didn't start worrying until she had stopped in all of the main rooms of the compound and found them vacant.

It wasn't like you to disappear without a word. You knew how worried she'd get if you left without telling her, so she was confident that if you had left of your own volition, she would've been the first to know. That left one option: you had been taken. Maybe HYDRA had taken you, or SHIELD had found out that you were staying here.

In her panic, she realized that she needed to tell Kakashi-sensei that you had disappeared. While there were quite a few plausible explanations for your absence, all of them seemed less likely than the worst-case scenarios. Sakura wasn't used to not knowing where you were, and it was making her panic grow by the second.

She sprinted down the hall, mind racing through possible explanations faster than she could keep up with them, and her panic had grown enough by the time she reached Kakashi's room that she disregarded any need for privacy.

"Kakashi-sensei," she gasped as she opened his door, swinging it against the wall with a bang, "I can't find..."

Oh.

"Uh..."

What? What?

You were...in Kakashi-sensei's room. You were in Kakashi-sensei's bed. Kakashi-sensei was in the shower and the door was shut, and you were sitting under his covers like you had slept there. Had you slept there? What was going on?

Sakura felt like she had fallen into an alternate universe.

You were staring at Sakura like she was a ghost. In fact, she wasn't sure she had ever seen that expression on your face before. She had seen worry and fear, but never this mix of shock and embarrassment. She wished she had a camera.

"What are you doing here?" you said through grit teeth after a long silence. You glanced between Sakura standing shocked in the hallway and the closed bathroom door where the shower was still running.

"What am I doing here?" Sakura let out a disbelieving laugh, "what are you doing here? Does Kakashi-sensei know that you're in his room?"

"Wha-of course he does! It's not what you think, nothing is going on, but you need to leave! You can't just walk into people's rooms!" you said. You looked like you were aging years in the seconds that Sakura was standing in the doorway. You glanced back with a groan when the shower cut off, "Go, go, we'll talk later."

You stood from the bed and practically tackled her through the door. She stumbled back with a disbelieving laugh, a mix of shock and glee on her face.

"We will talk about this later," you repeated calmly, though you still looked mortified, "Just...go back to sleep or something. Do not tell the others."

The door slammed before she could say anything else, and it took her about a minute to move from in front of it. Her paralysis lasted until she heard you shuffle back to bed, and it reminded her that you weren't only sleeping in Kakashi-sensei's room, you were sleeping in his bed. She still hadn't quite recovered from the shock, and processing what she had just seen seemed like a monumental task. How had she not noticed?

Sakura nearly sprinted away from the room, rushing down the hall and opening Naruto's door in the same abrupt fashion as she had Kakashi-sensei's.

"Naruto," Sakura whispered, hoping that you hadn't hear her scampering away from Kakashi-sensei's room, "Naruto! Wake up!"

"Huh...wha-? Sakura, wha's goin' on?"

Naruto's face was pressed into his pillow, and he looked like he had no intention of getting up despite Sakura's urgent tone.

"Naruto, come on," she grinned, shaking the boy, "Y/N is in Kakashi-sensei's room."

Naruto shot up at her words, fully awake and staring at her with wide eyes. She nodded when he gave her a disbelieving laugh, grin growing wider.

"No way," he laughed again, and Sakura slapped a hand over his mouth when he opened it again.

"She'll hear you, dummy! We have to be quiet!"

Naruto looked at her wide-eyed, nodding against her hand and waiting patiently for her to deem him ready to be released.

Sasuke's room was a bit more intimidating than Naruto's, and Sakura found herself calming enough to knock quietly at his door. He opened it a moment later, rubbing his eyes and glaring at Sakura and Naruto tiredly.

"It's five in the morning," he grumbled, then perked up, "is something wrong?"

"No," Sakura shook her head at the same time that Naruto gleefully said, "yes!"

Sasuke looked unimpressed.

"Y/N is in Kakashi-sensei's room!"

While Kakashi-sensei had trained his charges extensively in stealth, they seemed to forget all of their lessons as they stumbled down the hall to his room. Naruto couldn't stop giggling as he raced down the hall, and Sasuke looked more shocked that Sakura had ever seen him.

This was new and very exciting territory. Kakashi-sensei had never had a...

A what? A girlfriend? The idea of you being someone's girlfriend felt wrong to Sakura; it was so...normal.

"What do we do?" Naruto whispered, backing away from Kakashi's door like it was a wild animal.

"There's no way this is happening," Sasuke whispered, head in his hands and voice very distressed, "what is going on?"

"This is weird, right?" Naruto whispered nervously, "I mean, we're just...sitting outside of his room."

"We need answers!" Sakura grinned. "This has never happened before. I mean, Kakashi-sensei? No one ever sleeps in his room with him!"

When had this happened? She was wracking her brain to create a timeline of events, but she was coming up empty. Maybe something had changed on the mission.

That would be so romantic.

Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door, and she heard you mumbling something to Kakashi as you approached.

"Hide!" Sakura whispered, though not as quietly as she would've liked. All three of them stumbled to their feet, and Sakura groaned at their luck when Naruto tripped over Sasuke and took both of them down. She grabbed them by the back of their shirts and tried dragging them to their feet and out of sight, but the door clicked open before she could begin moving them at all.

"Jesus," you gasped, backing away from the three with a hand over your chest. Sakura supposed they probably looked like a comedy skit, all tangled up on the floor and looking at you like deer in headlights.

"What?" Kakashi said from out of sight. When he appeared, Sakura almost laughed.

He was wearing a fluffy grey robe that was tied tightly around his waist. His hair was dripping from the shower, and he was maskless.

"No way," Sasuke muttered again, followed by a delighted laugh from Naruto.

There was a long moment when the five of you just stared at one another. Then Kakashi nudged you out of the way, grabbed the door, and slammed it shut.

"What are you doing?" you hissed at him. He was red to the tops of his ears, and he was looking just about anywhere to avoid meeting your eyes. "Now they'll be even more suspicious!"

"I was caught off guard!" he whispered back, voice low enough that the kids would only be able to hear if they were pressed against door. The thought had you glancing at the shadows under the crack of the wood. You narrowed your eyes and kicked it.

"Ow," Naruto shouted, followed by two identical shushes from Sasuke and Sakura. You scowled.

"I'm never going to have a day of peace again," Kakashi grumbled, "they'll never let me live this down."

"Maybe because you slammed the door in their faces. You look like a teenager who was caught by their parents."

"I've never had to deal with this before!" he threw his hands in the air, "even if it's just for nightmares, they'll be insufferable. All of the questions..."

His face fell into lethargic horror at the thought.

"Don't be dramatic," you huffed. You opened the door in one swing and glared down at the three brats falling at your feet. Sakura met your glare with an innocent smile.

"Good morning," she smiled. You glared harder, "it's lovely out today. Wanna go on a walk?"

"No," you grumbled, "I want peace."

"We want answer-mmhp," Naruto shouted over Sakura shoulder, cut off by her hand blindly slapping backwards and landing over his mouth. She held it there and gave you another innocent smile.

"Listen, all three of you. I will say this one time and one time only."

The kids all froze, and you even noticed Kakashi stop in his tracks to look at you.

"I have nightmares, and being next to someone at night helps. That's all."

"Aw man," Naruto grumbled, turning towards Sasuke, "we thought Kakashi-sensei had a girlfriend."

"Hey," Kakashi stuck his head through the door, now fully dressed and slightly less red than before, "all of you go run three miles."

"Wha–, sensei," Sakura groaned, "what were we supposed to think? You were practically naked–"

"Four miles."

"But–"

"Five."

"Fine, fine, geez."

Naruto and Sakura sulked towards the gym, but Sasuke paused and gave you a long glance. It didn't hold any of his previous coldness; now it was just curiosity that lingered in his gaze. Once he was apparently satisfied with his observation, he glanced at Kakashi and tilted his head, then turned and followed Sakura and Naruto down the hall.

"Good morning," you muttered to a wide-eyed Kakashi. He looked like he had gone into overdrive, and you imagined he was picturing the horrors that would come that day as a result of this incident. Five miles wouldn't do much good to deter them from being insufferable.

"Right," Kakashi sighed, "great morning. Once I leave this room, I'll live the rest of my life being tortured."

"Oh, please," you waved his concerns away, "how bad could they be?"

"You clearly haven't spent enough time with all three of them together," Kakashi mumbled, "they feed off of one another. They're evil."

"Dramatic," you repeated, glaring pointedly at the mask that he was pulling over his nose. He shrugged.

When you left Kakashi's room, it didn't take long for you to run into Naruto. He was standing in the doorway that led into the gym, watching Sakura and Sasuke spar disinterestedly. When he saw you next to him, he perked up. It was the first time you'd ever gotten such an enthused reaction from the boy.

"Hey," he looked behind you, presumably for Kakashi, "can I, uh...talk to you?"

Interesting, but not as weird as it would have been if he hadn't just discovered you sleeping in his guardian's room. You leaned against the opposite side of the doorframe and tried to look as open and safe as possible.

"I thought you were supposed to be running?" you asked.

"Nah, Kakashi-sensei's never serious about that stuff," Naruto laughed, and you couldn't help a small smile. Kakashi really was like a father to them, and you desperately hoped Naruto didn't see you and this newfound closeness as a threat to him.

"I just wanted to...ask what your intentions are, I guess? With Kakashi-sensei."

You almost laughed at the question, but Naruto looked dead serious. You glanced at Sakura and Sasuke and saw that they hadn't stopped sparring to look at you and Naruto. So this conversation was likely happening independent of their input.

"I don't have any intentions," you said simply, "what I told you is all there is. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, that's all."

Naruto didn't look convinced, but he moved on quickly.

"We didn't exactly meet on great terms, but I know from what Sakura's told me and from what I've seen that you're a good person. It's just that...Kakashi-sensei doesn't have that many people that he relies on. He has friends, sure, but they're more like...coworkers. He goes on missions with them, so he always feels like he has a responsibility to keep them safe. He doesn't really let his guard down much. I don't know why, but he doesn't act that way with you."

You weren't sure how you felt about being told that you were unique in someone's eyes. For most of your life, you were simply a cog in a machine. There was nothing about you that differed from your fellow Widows. You were basically a copy of the girls who came before.

"He lets his guard down around you. And he does that with us too, but he's our guardian. I think your presence is like...a reassurance that he can unwind without worrying that someone will get hurt. He's always looking out for us, never letting himself rest, so maybe you can take some of that weight off of him. Keep him from taking on too much."

"I think you're overestimating how much he trusts me."

"No," Naruto smiled, and you tried to reconcile the boy standing in front of you giving you rather wise advice with the one who had come poking around your cell when you first met, "he does. I think it makes him nervous how much he does."

"How can you tell?"

"Dunno," Naruto shrugged, "but we spend every day with him. We notice when things have changed. And all three of us have noticed it. He's more relaxed."

Did he seem more relaxed? You supposed that you hadn't known him before, so you didn't have anything to compare it to, but it was hard to imagine Kakashi being even more vigilant than he already was. You wondered just how much stress he was under on a day-to-day basis.

"Please don't leave," Naruto muttered. Your eyes widened, and you had to stop yourself from letting out a shocked laugh, "if you do, it won't just hurt Sakura. It'll hurt him too. I don't think he even realizes that, but it will. And none of us want to see that happen."

"I don't think–"

"It's true."

"Shit–" you jumped away from Sasuke, who had somehow managed to stand behind you and listen in on the conversation without you noticing, "again? Seriously, this shouldn't keep happening. I'm supposed to be a spy."

"Maybe you're distracted because you're talking about Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said with a sly smile. You narrowed your eyes at her.

"Why would I be distracted?"

"Oh, no reason," she shrugged, taking Naruto and Sasuke by the arms and dragging them back to the middle of the gym, "no reason at all."

Distracted. You weren't easily distracted, and Kakashi was low on the list of people who could throw you off balance. Orochimaru and Kabuto were distracting. Kakashi was just Kakashi. He didn't stop you from breathing. He sometimes made it easier.

That wasn't distraction.

You pushed Sakura's irritatingly cryptic words aside and joined Sasuke next to the mats, watching Naruto have a significant amount of trouble taking Sakura down. Both were laughing, and even Sasuke had a fond smile on his face as he studied the match. You noticed that he was paying more attention to Sakura than Naruto, eyes focused on her footwork as she side-stepped her opponent's attack and knocked him to the ground.

"How come," Naruto panted, stretching out the shoulder that he'd landed on when he fell, "I can't keep up with you anymore? It's not fair."

"How do you think I feel? I miss having sparring partners who can actually put up a fight"

"Hey!"

"Kidding, kidding," Sakura laughed, turning away from a sputtering Naruto. "Oh. good morning, Kakashi-sensei. Sleep well?"

"I slept fine, thank you for asking, Sakura," Kakashi spoke smoothly, no trace of his previous embarrassment in his voice, "and you?"

"Oh, it was a bit lonely," she shrugged, "but I suppose you wouldn't understand that problem."

Sasuke snickered, then became conveniently enraptured by the opposite wall when you glared at him.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei could take you down!" Naruto told Sakura, pointing at the man excitedly.

"Of course he could," Sakura scoffed, "I didn't train that hard."

She glanced at you, and in some sudden revelation, her eyes widened and she jumped off of the mats. You let her hurriedly push you onto them in her place with just a bit of resistance and a dead expression on your face.

"Spar Kakashi-sensei!"

You gave her a flat look, wholly uninterested in sparring at the moment. You needed breakfast. You were also in the middle of a good part of Icha-Icha, but you'd been too tired last night to keep reading. You'd been looking forward to returning to it all morning.

"I'm tired."

"No, you're not. You slept great."

"You're such a little shit," you grumbled, glaring at her, then at Naruto and Sasuke with equal amounts of contempt, "all of you."

Naruto was grinning and trying to pull an equally as inconvenienced-looking Kakashi onto the mats with you.

"Don't you three want food? I know none of you can cook."

"Cook after!"

"Maybe I won't want to after."

"We'll go out."

All three were watching you and Kakashi eagerly. Sakura looked conflicted, like she was trying to decide who she should place her bets on.

"Did you three finish your five miles?"

"Of course we did!"

"Pretty quick for a couple of short stacks."

"Hey!"

You snickered, ignoring Sakura's glare.

"Fine," Kakashi said, meeting your unimpressed stare with a smile, "but I expect you to observe carefully. You'll be seeing two different fighting styles, so pay close attention to the strengths and weaknesses of both."

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto groaned, "why does everything have to be training?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Naruto," Kakashi turned his smile from you to the sulking boy, "would you prefer to write me an essay on this instead?"

"No! Not at all, I'll watch very diligently."

"Good," Kakashi nodded, then turned to you, "well, this feels familiar."

"Right," you scoffed, "because last time was just so much fun."

Sakura was looking between you and Kakashi with wide eyes, and you didn't want to imagine what kinds of assumptions she was making about your comment. You ignored her questioning gaze and steadied yourself in front of your opponent, hands raised in a defensive position.

Kakashi still had his hands in his pockets, and in the split second that you wondered if you should attack first, he was gone.

He's quick, you thought with a scowl, though not quick enough that you couldn't detect his presence behind you. You stepped forward just as his leg attempted to kick yours from under you, and you barely missed getting thrown to the ground as you spun towards him.

You heard a mix of shouts from the kids, and most of them were encouragements for Kakashi as you continuously sidestepped his attacks.

But he was the only one attacking. You were just trying to keep up.

He had you cornered, and you let out a frustrated grunt when you felt your foot hit the edge of the mat. Kakashi barely paused, so you settled on a rather crude attack and leapt at him, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him to the ground.

He landed on his back with a surprised grunt, though it didn't take him long to recover. This time, though, you had the upper hand on him. Your attacks were swifter, but they had less power behind them. One technique that was encouraged in the Red Room was to tire an opponent out with fast attacks until they couldn't counter one with increased strength. It was especially useful for stronger opponents like Kakashi, who used more raw strength in his offense.

The match continued for far longer than you would've liked. You'd thought that you'd have an easier time beating him, but you wondered if he would actually manage to take you down. You were on fairly even footing in terms of skill, you'd known that from the beginning, but you knew enough tricks that you thought you'd have the edge on him.

It seemed you'd underestimated his strategies. It must've been a lingering feeling of superiority over SHIELD that rubbed off on you from Orochimaru.

You were even more surprised when, in your momentary distraction, Kakashi reused his move from the beginning of the fight and swept your legs out from under you. You landed with an oof on the mat, head knocking against it and arm aching where your gunshot wound had almost finished healing. You probably shouldn't have been sparring, but curiosity about Kakashi's skill in close combat took precedent over concern for your still-healing injuries.

"If I hadn't gotten shot," you panted, looking up at Kakashi's pleased expression, "I would've won."

"Of course you would've," he said jovially, mood apparently lifted by his victory. He held out a hand, and you took it begrudgingly, allowing him to haul you to your feet.

You narrowed your eyes at the hushed voices behind you and glanced back at Sakura, who was whispering something in Naruto's ear that made him grin and giggle.

"Did you learn anything useful?" you ruffled her hair, pushing her head to the side playfully and sidestepping her when she tried to shove you.

"Oh, sure," she laughed, "lots of things."

Naruto laughed again, and even Sasuke cracked a small smile.

"You guys are weird," you huffed, stretching your arms above your head and following Kakashi out of the gym.

Later that night, after you'd successfully finished your Icha-Icha volume and ranted about it extensively to an amused Kakashi, you were pulled into Sakura's room hastily and rather aggressively on your way back to the gym. You stumbled inside on ungraceful feet, tripping over them as you tried to catch yourself. Sakura offered no help; she glanced out into the hall once you were inside, then closed the door quietly behind her.

"You know, you could've just asked if you wanted me in here."

She shrugged, then leapt into her bed and patted the spot next to her in invitation.

"Can I ask you something?" she said once you had settled in on the empty side. You hummed your assent, sitting up and giving her your full attention when you saw how serious her expression looked.

"Are you...happy here?"

The hope in her eyes was so clear that you had to look away. She wanted you to say yes more than anything, but it wasn't that simple. happiness was never that simple, especially when you had never really thought about your own happiness at any point in your life. It had never been enough of a priority.

Now that you thought about it, you weren't even sure what it meant to be happy. How were you supposed to tell? How could you even give her a truthful answer without knowing it for yourself?

"I...don't know," you told her honestly. Her hopeful expression didn't fade, and she nodded like she had been expecting that answer. "I'm comfortable. I feel safe here."

She smiled, and you couldn't help but mirror it. You hadn't realized how much you missed spending time with Sakura; it had been a while since you'd been able to sit down and talk like this, just the two of you. You realized somberly that it was the first time you'd been able to do it outside of the Red Room.

"You're smiling a lot more," she told you happily. You looked at her, brows furrowed. Had you smiled more? You didn't feel all that different, but you supposed that the person you'd been when you escaped with her was a far cry from who you were becoming. It hadn't even been long, and she already saw that much change?

But now that you thought about it, you saw the change too. Your nightmares were becoming more infrequent, and you no longer felt the constant pull of the Red Room and of Orochimaru's promises. They appeared to you as a distant memory; a thing of the past.

You tried to remember when you'd stopped assuming that you would eventually go back. When you'd accepted that you were no longer a Widow.

You wondered when you had become okay with that fact.

"I'm so happy," Sakura laughed, silent tears rolling down her cheeks, "none of it even feels real."

"What do you mean?"

"This," she motioned towards you vaguely, then towards the door where you could hear Naruto and Sasuke talking to Kakashi from the lounge, "you being here. Everyone being safe. For the first time in almost five years, I'm surrounded by people I care about. And you're smiling so much, I just..."

Her words were becoming more strained, like she was trying to keep herself from bursting into tears. You reached towards her on instinct, and she was quick to lean into you and wrap her arms around your waist. She was crying quietly into your chest, gripping your shirt and muffling the sounds of her cries in the fabric. You buried a hand in her hair and tucked her head under your chin in a familiar set of movements.

"I'm so happy," she cried quietly, pulling you closer and sniffling. You rubbed her back, unsure of how to respond. You felt something swell in your chest; this was the first time that Sakura had cried in your arms because of something good happening. The last time she'd done it, it was because you were leaving. You had been reassigned after your mission together, and her terrified cries often haunted your nightmares.

"I...I think I'm happy," you whispered. She paused; it almost felt like her breathing had stopped. "and I want to stay. I am staying. If...if you and the others will have me."

"Of course," she laughed, though it sounded more like a sob as she tackled you to the bed. You chuckled, wrapping your arms around her and relishing in the lightness in your chest. It was such a new feeling. It was freeing. Maybe that was what happiness felt like.

If it was, it was something that you wanted to get used to.

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Author's note | ahhhh i'm so excited about this chapter. i've had it started for a while so i'm glad to finally get it published. also, i have this series planned to the end, but i'm absolutely love writing it, so would anyone be interested in a sequel series (that i've already begun planning)?

anyways, as always, let me know what you think and leave me some love if you enjoyed!

title is from "Trust" by Lucy Dacus

[sasusakucoded]

Ino: Sakura, Sakura! Wake up!!

Sakura: *forces to open her eyes and tries to sit up*

Ino: Are you okay? *wipes her eyes and forehead* Hey, don't cry..

Sakura: Y-Yeah.. I— I was having a nightmare.. Again..

Ino: I thought so too.. What is it this time?

Sakura: The usual..

Ino: So, it's either Sasuke-kun was trying to kill you or you were trying to kill him.

Sakura: *nods* This time I was the one trying to kill him.

Ino: Sakura, you've been having nightmares for weeks now. You've been sleep-deprived. In fact, you almost don't want to sleep.

Sakura: Yeah.. But I can't help it, Ino. Nightmares and dreams are something we can't control.

Ino: Right.. But don't you think you should ask for some advice from the Fifth Hokage?

Sakura: I don't know if she has time for this..

Ino: Come on, Sakura. Lady Tsunade cares about you more than you know. If you want, I'll come with you.

Sakura: Thanks Ino, but I think I can manage. I'll go tomorrow, I promise.

---

Tsunade: Sakura, hi! Are you okay?

Sakura: Yes, yes. Thanks for accepting this appointment even if it was a late notice.

Tsunade: What are you saying? I'll move schedules for you if I need to.. *stares at her*

Sakura: Thanks, Lady Tsunade. *smiles*

Tsunade: Sakura, I know you're very busy and there's a lot happening but you should still get enough rest.

Sakura: Th-That's actually my problem. *sits down* I'm having nightmares almost everyday.

Tsunade: Are the nightmares recurring? Same thing happens again and again?

Sakura: Yeah.. There are 2 scenarios actually.. The first one.. I— I—

Tsunade: Go on. This is a safe space, Sakura. No one will know about this. Just share it with me.

Sakura: *nods* The first one.. I was trying to kill Sasuke-kun.. The second one, he was trying to kill me. Those two scenarios.. Every night..

Tsunade: *nods* So, your anxiety and fear go high at the start of the nightmare?

Sakura: No.. Not really.

Tsunade: Ah, so when you try to kill him and vice versa, that's the time when the fear goes high?

Sakura: No..

Tsunade: *confused* Enlighten me please, Sakura.

Sakura: It's— It's embarrassing.. I couldn't even tell Ino..

Tsunade: I told you, you can tell me freely.

Sakura: Right. My fear is activated when I'm trying to stab him and the kunai goes through his flesh.. And he dies.

Tsunade: ...

Sakura: Or when he is trying to kill me and I get killed and Kakashi-sensei and Naruto kill him too.

Tsunade: Sakura..

Sakura: Lady Tsunade—

Tsunade: So, basically.. Your nightmare is when Sasuke gets killed.

Sakura: *nods* I know he's an enemy now.. And I should supress my feelings for him like a true shinobi.. And I've told myself that I should not care about him.. But..

Tsunade: But the heart can't lie. Even the unconscious brain can't lie.

Sakura: Yeah..

Tsunade: Fine. I remember I have a book here about dreams. Let me find that.. *checks her shelf* Here.

Sakura: Wow, there's a book about it?

Tsunade: Don't be too excited though. I don't think any of these has been scientifically proven.. Hmm. Nightmares.. Page.. 247.. *flips through the pages*

Sakura: Any remedy, I'll try.. It's really hard these past few days.. I feel useless because I'm tired.

Tsunade: I totally get that.. When you're tired, you just can't do anything right..

Sakura: Yeah..

Tsunade: Hmmm. It says here that you should think of the nightmare more often..

Sakura: What? I always try to avoid thinking about it..

Tsunade: It says here that on the contrary, you should should think about the scenarios more.. But..

Sakura: Okay.. But what?

Tsunade: You should think of a different ending. Like an alternate scenario how you want the nightmare to end..

Sakura: So.. In my case, I should imagine Sasuke-kun being safe.. Or maybe he escapes from me or Naruto or Kakashi-sensei..

Tsunade: Yeah. That should lessen your fear and if the brain responds correctly, it will project those thoughts into your dream.

Sakura: Is there anything more I can do?

Tsunade: It says here to try waking up in the middle of the nightmare. This one, I doubt. It's hard enough to wake up from a dream. How much more from a nightmare.

Sakura: Yeah.. That's harder..

Tsunade: And the last one.. Ask someone with strong genjutsu power to put you under it and change the ending manually.

Sakura: *sighs* Funny how that someone is the cause of my nightmares. *smiles softly*

Tsunade: I'm really sorry, Sakura. I don't think these help at all.

Sakura: No, let me try the first one. I hope it will work. But if not.. Then there's no way but to endure.

Tsunade: Or save that someone with great visual prowess and demand that he fixes your problem. *laughs*

Sakura: That's a good motivation to get him back. I'll take note of it! Thanks, Lady Tsunade. I really appreciate this.

Tsunade: I hope everything will be better. Take care!

Sakura: Bye! *leaves* /thinks/ I'll still try to bring you back, Sasuke-kun.. I'll never let this nightmare be a reality.

[sea-owl]

I'm bored, let's do a ROOT Sakura au.

Like many others, Sakura was recruited into ROOT young. She was taught to surpress her emotions and follow only Danzo's orders. During her training, it became obvious that she was good at manipulation and fooling others into believing she's nothing more than a weak girl.

This manipulation ability led Danzo to decide that he would send Sakura to watch over Naruto and later Sasuke. Having her make sure to tie bonds of loyalty to her so tight they wouldn't even dream of turning against her. Danzon did give her strict instructions that she was mainly to observe, and she would start her web when the time came. Until he says so, she does not interact, and should either boy die, then she would let it happen.

With her mission assigned, Sakura is enrolled into the academy. She would spend most of her days pretending to be a student and then doing ROOT missions during her off time. She was often assigned Sai as a partner if the mission required one.

It was when she graduated from the Academy that Danzo instructed her to start spinning her web around the boys. The team placements were . . . pushed in a certain direction so Sakura was on the same team as her mission assignments.

It took some pushing and prodding to figure what buttons to push, what facial expression gets what reaction. But once Sakura found a flow it made her mission much easier. Sakura doesn't fully understand what endearing the boys to her would do beyond the fact they'll care about what she cares about. No really explained that part to her. Her best guess though is that their emotions would make it harder to betray her, a living thing, than a concept like Konoha.

She's tried to practice the same tactics with Sai while on their joint missions, but it never quite worked the same with him. Like her Sai successfully got rid of his emotions, and their relationship was different than the one Danzo wanted Sakura to build among team 7.

Sakura continues to play the weak girl, the one who needs to be protected. A girl they would never suspect already doing anbu missions. She's thankful Kakashi barely pays attention to her. It makes her double life so much easier to maintain.

There's just one thing Sakura didn't account for. Those bonds she was building with the boys were a two-way street.

Her first slip-up was in the Land of Waves. On that bridge, she followed Danzo's orders to stay out of the fights. If either boy dies, they die. So, what was this feeling clawing in her chest? Why did she want to rush in and kill that masked boy?

When she saw Sasuke lying of the ground, dozens of sebon sticking out of his body, the tears that she cried were no where near fake.

Her second slip up was in the Forest of Death. Sasuke and Naruto were half dead from Orochimaru's attack. Why was she nursing them? It's not like she needs to pass this exam. She actually has strict instructions to fail them so she doesn't gain much attention before the third exam. So why was she doing this? Is it because she wanted to? She liked seeing them get better? It doesn't make any sense. Her mission would be easier if she let their injuries take them out.

When the three Sound genin appeared, Sakura knew she had to put on a different show. While she has strict instructions to not interfere if the boys die she also knows Danzo would have her head if that traitor Orochimaru got a hold of the last Uchiha. That pesky team 10 watching from the side lines also means she can't go all out. Fine feral weak girl act it is.

Sakura's change became even more apparent during that month before the final exams. When she made sure to end that fight with Yamanaka in a tie she knew it would knock her out of the exams and allow her to focus on other missions while the boys trained.

"Ugly, you are unfocused lately."

Sakura felt her eye just barley twitch behind her mask. Damn Sai and that damn friendship making book of his. Sai may have been the closest relationship she had and some would barley call them friends, but there were days where she could punch him.

"You are a lot more expressive lately, too. I like it."

Sakura paused. Expressive? That can't be right.

Sakura's third and biggest slip was during the invasion from Sound and Sand. It was too easy to forget her mission, to easy to get lost the chaos happening around him. Sakura transformed from the Haruno genin to ROOT anbu member. She felt nothing when engaging in combat, no hesitation to end a life. She would do anything to make sure Sasuke and Naruto lived. No hesitation when team 7 attacked the Sand jinchuuriki. Not a second thought when she took that attack to protect Sasuke.

Sakura slipped, and now there were witnesses.

It wasn't a surprise when Kakashi eventually cornered her. "Sakura we need to talk."

"Kakashi-sensei-"

"I heard and read the reports from the invasion. What you did no ordinary genin fresh out of the academy is usually capable of."

"Sensei please."

"Sakura I need you to-"

"I can't!"

"Sakura!"

Sakura stuck out her tougne, the seal fully visible. All arguments die on Kakashi's lips. "I can't sensei."

[atcordare]

TWST characters as things my 16 yo brother has done/still does.

Heartslabyul:

RIDDLE: Gave my mom a lecture because she wouldn't stop leaving lights on around the house.

ACE: I make him fine delicious wonderful delicate magnificent ethnic dishes and he fucking puts ketchup in them.

DEUCE: Currently sitting on the couch watching something on TV but he has a chair on his head.

TREY: 5 minutes straight complimenting a brioche bread I brought home from the market. When I had to go back for groceries two weeks later and he asked me to bring it again and I had to tell him I didn't remember which bread it was he was really disappointed.

CATER: Got rickrolled and immediately made the guys reenact the scene to send it to me in a vid and ruin MY morning too.

LEONA: He's a very heavy sleeper so if he wants to get to his school (7 minutes away from our house BTW) on time, which is at 9am, he has to set alarms every five minutes starting at 6.50am. They're extremely loud and everyone in the house wakes up to them. He doesn't. He stills get to school late, just with all of us mad at him.

.

Savannaclaw:

RUGGIE: Banned from being outside after 8pm because he WILL stop by the kebab place and bring back dinner without anyone asking him and he WILL demand the money back (also inflating the price a bit so he can get some benefits).

JACK: Heard me mention once that I wanted to play Hades so he asked for it on his birthday and gave it to me afterwards.

.

Octavinelle:

AZUL: He's the only one with physical cash at home so when any of us needs to grab some he's the one to lend it. He asks for it back like not even two days later and he will impose fees if you're late.

FLOYD: Sometimes he'll just grab the cats and reposition them. Like they're nicely sleeping and he just goes over, grabs them and leaves them somewhere else. He also doesn't understand when they get annoyed so he can only pet them in front of me and my mom. (EXTRA: had to leave his rowing team because he was too tall for his league's boats)

JADE: Will cut you off and start explaining advanced mathematics if he wants you to shut up.

.

Scarabia:

KALIM: *enters my room* HEY CHECK THIS OUT *starts jumping like with his knees to his chest and doesn't stop until he does a particularly high jump* OKAY CATCH YOU LATER *heads to the living room and starts playing the trombone he hasn't even looked at since he was 9*.

JAMIL: He's constantly mumbling his inner monologue but will get annoyed at you if you do the same.

.

Pomefiore:

VIL: When he was like seven our mom bought knee high boots with a 7cm heel and he stole them and wore them for like a week straight. He can now walk in high heels because of this.

ROOK: *enters my room* Kakashi from Naruto offers you choccy milk. Accept? Deny? *I reply that I shoot him in the chest six times bc I thought he was joking so he throws a choccy milk box at my head* WRONG YOU HEATHEN. *I turn and see him on a Naruto character cosplay-idk which one but definetly not Kakashi*

EPEL: We were at my Mexican extended family's house and we had tacos for lunch. When he heard out grandma in law tell us that we should be careful with the toppings because they were very spicy, he grabbed one of the tortillas, spooned all of the chili and pico de gallo he could get inside of it and ate it just like that. When asked he said he wanted to challenge himself but it doesn't really explain why he had do that another six times especially after making it obvious that he could NOT handle it.

.

Ignihyde:

IDIA: Used to carry an entire manga collection on his backpack every day. Not a short one either it was an entire 20 manga books on his back every day.

ORTHO: The kids at our school didn't like him very much so me and all of my higher grade friends adopted him. He was the token little kid in the 11th grade friend group.

.

Diasomnia:

MALLEUS: Sometimes he gets quiet during conversations when something someone said catches his attention. He will think about it, lose the thread of conversation, and, when the topic has already changed at least a few times, he will give his thoughts without even reminding us the context.

SEBEK: I told him once that he's not good playing Tracer at OW so now every time he plays her and wins he yells at me from his room and says I WON AGAIN USING TRACER!!!!

SILVER: Every time one of our cats meows he replicates the noise. We all do. We don't even notice we're doing it at this point.

LILIA: Constantly playing at a JJBA Roblox Roleplay server and when he loses I can hear him yelling at his 12yo teammates.

[dark-elf-writes]

For the NUPS (Naruto Uzumaki Protection Squad) AU I like to think that it’s either Choji or Shikamaru that find out about Naruto’s massive chakra reserves. I’m more particular to Choji finding out first tho and then bringing it up to Ashoka mainly because I like think that Choji’s clan were allied with Uzumaki’s and while most of the clan doesn’t believe Naruto is truly one Choji still grew up on stories from his Dad and possibly Aunt that Uzumakis have such massive amounts of chakra that control has to start young or from the more chakra intense stages of chakra control. Also would Kakashi or Iruka or maybe Teuchi drop info bout sealing or is that also something Choji brings up and Kakashi/Iruka drop off supplies/scrolls/books about it and occasionally check in on their work? Also I love Naruto being able to recognize who was/is Anbu based off of their chakra and if he’s felt the chakra around him when younger. I also think Genma should drop in on this maybe via extra food or clothing/weapon specifics?

I love the idea of Choji noticing Naruto’s chakra and going to his family. I love the thought of them being like “well I can’t tell you about this one specific kid for Reasons™️ but I did once know someone who had the same name (unrelated I swear)” and giving him the “Caring for an Uzumaki 101” talk passed down through the generations that had be learned through trial, error and a great many explosions. I love the idea of quiet rebellion against a cruel system that allowed a little boy to be forgotten and abused and compliance only as far as what the written word implies and not a single bit more.

Naruto recognizing Kakashi as safe even if he doesn’t fully remember why. Doesn’t remember that he’s always slept better during thunderstorms because they felt like coming home. Doesn’t remember that the howling of wolves was once a lullaby. Doesn’t remember, it trusts all the same. (Then he sees an ANBU walk by that feels incredibly familiar and gets it.)

Genma would love this pack of demons. He could do without them calling him “Oral Fixation-san” but the little shits are hilarious. He comes bearing gifts and really if he befriends the little Nara heir it’s not his fault that the kid is attached at the hip with the very little boy he’s supposed to ignore. It would be rude not to include all of the kids friends after all.

[katastrophic-n3vulaa]

Torn Pages: Chapter 5: Shut Your Eyes, Lest They are Stolen in Your Wakefulness

By: n3vulaa_undercover (Ao3) & BlueCalibriFont (Ao3)

Book Summary: Inumaki tears through reality like it's made of paper, and he and his classmates find themselves in a world not their own. Violence, sleep-deprived Gojo's and shenanigans ensue.

Previous Chapter: Chapter 4: He, Shaker of Worlds (click!)

Next Chapter: Chapter 6: In progress

(Full character list on the Pinned post on my blog, or click here.)

Characters in this Chapter: Uchiha Sasuke, Itadori Yuuji, Inumaki Toge, Uzumaki Karin, Sukuna, (Mentioned: Gojo Satoru, Orochimaru, Otogakure shinobi)

Chapter 5 Word Count: 4876

Chapter Summary:

Inumaki and Itadori execute their escape.

Sasuke gets dragged along for the ride.

They meet a friend.

Chapter Notes:

Blue: Someone should really revoke my Sukuna privileges'. I have too much fun with him.

Kat: no Sukuna makes crack! but your Sukuna privileges will be revoked as soon as you give him a perspective. unless it really calls for it! (also, sorry guys for the amount of POV switches in this chapter. it starts with sasuke, then switches to yuuji, karin at the end, and in brackets, toge has some time to shine with his little, exhausted, annoyed and migraine-induced sarcastic thoughts!)

Chapter 5:

Orochimaru walks out of the cell, a contemplative look on his face that soon morphs into a poisonous scowl. The toxic green of the test tubes paint his face the same noxious hue as the room around him.

“Watch them.” The Sannin spits, before stalking out of the room.

Sasuke stares after the receding form of the snake-like Shinobi. Not much can make frustrate the experienced warrior, and he’s only seen Orochimaru this furious once before- after Kabuto had killed a test subject nearing success. He should probably stay out of his mentor’s way for the coming few days

Walking to the door beside the cell, he enters the room to the side of it, with a wall made of one-way chakra-suppressing glass. He sees the white-haired, unconscious one - hair a similar shade to Kakashi, just lighter, his traitorous brain whispers – curled against the wall and trembling minutely. He's covered in blood, the red liquid dribbling sluggishly from his mouth which have strange marks on either side of his lips, maybe a clan marking he doesn't recognize, and staining the yellow top that seems far too big for him.

The other one, with dull rose-pink hair, almost like Sakura's, no stop- bends over, away from the white one and starts retching. Well, it looks like he’s gagging, he can't really see from this angle. Sasuke activates his Sharingan, and crouches down to see what the pink one is doing. It looks like he’s talking- Sasuke hasn’t yet learned how to channel chakra to body parts to enhance his other senses, so unable to listen in on the seemingly one-sided conversation he settles for watching.

The pink one’s hands go up to his cheek, and they come away coated in bile and semi-digested food. Sasuke catches a brief glimpse of a mouth-like opening, but it smooths into normal skin too fast for him to get a good look at it.

There's a severed finger on the ground now- had Pink-Hair eaten it and then vomited it out? Frankly, he's used to gore and violence now, accepted it as part and parcel of being born into this world. But still, the bloody finger lying in the puddle of vomit is slightly disconcerting.

The pink one pauses for a second, before saying something. He looks upset, angry, and Sasuke has to wonder if he's unaware that there could be people watching him, or if he just wears his feelings on his sleeve like that idiot Naruto. (stop thinking about them, they're not here and they can't help you, they never could-)

Either way, he can't be a very good shinobi if he's that emotional. If he even is a shinobi in the first place.

Pink-Hair suddenly turns around sharply to look at his...teammate? Partner? at his fellow inmate, who Sasuke had previously assumed to be unconscious. The assumption is quickly proven to be false when the injured prisoner shifts and grimaces, seemingly in response to something the other said.

Pink-Hair frowns and opens his mouth again. The white one sighs irritably at whatever he'd been told, before coughing up a lungful of blood. Well, that’s why the front of the red, Sasuke thinks. Sasuke internally winces at the sheer amount of blood the prisoner is spewing- he must have some severe internal injuries. Hopefully he won't die of it, Orochimaru would not be pleased if he came back to find one of his new test subjects dead.

The coughing fit subsides, and Pink-Hair visibly relaxes. So, they're close then- most don't express that kind of blatant, genuine relief for a pawn, or an expendable teammate.

The white-haired one starts making gestures with his hands, and Sasuke briefly tenses, wondering if this is an attempt at a Jutsu, before realizing that it seems to be more a form of sign language. Oh- that makes sense, if he can't so much as exhale too intensely without coughing up his internal organs then the white-haired test subject would need an alternate way to communicate with his friend.

There's a pause, then the white one glares at the pink one, evidently exasperated with his teammate’s(?) inability to understand him. It's oddly reminiscent of how Sakura would look at Naruto when he did or said something particularly stupid. (He needs to stop thinking about them, they aren't important, and they never were. All that matters now is That Man.)

There is a longer pause, more awkward this time - if he’s reading the room correctly - and the white one’s gaze drifts to Sasuke, and he startles badly - how? He shouldn't be able to sense anything through the glass, even Karin can’t- but the white-haired test subject’s eyes soon pass him over to stare at the regurgitated finger.

Oh. He must've overreacted. There was no way the test subject had seen through the glass, he must've just happened to glance in Sasuke's general direction. Pink-Hair outwardly winces as he tracks his friend’s gaze. Sasuke isn't the best at lip-reading, but he can make out a few words presumably being said: "Oh... That... (I?) can explain..." Then, the white-haired teen leans over and picks up the severed finger. Sasuke blinks, taken aback as he watches the test subject methodically peel the flesh off of the now-visible bone. Pink-Hair screeches, loud and surprised, loud enough in fact Sasuke to hear through the partially soundproofed walls, “What the hell?!”

Sasuke has seen a lot of horrific things throughout his life. The gore and death typically associated with being a Shinobi, Orochimaru's twisted experiments- the dead, contorted bodies of his family, sprawled out unnaturally as his older brother stared at him with unblinking red eyes, face covered in even redder blood-.

And yet, there's something innately disturbing in the way that the white-haired teen- because that's what he and the other kid are really, teenagers barely, if even older than Sasuke - clinically scribbles incomprehensible kanji-looking symbols through the dried blood and other old bodily fluids on the floor with a determined, slightly manic glint in his eye. Sasuke can only decipher a few of the glyphs, not nearly enough to understand any cohesive sentences. He thinks they're questions though, even if they are in an unfamiliar dialect.

Pink-Hair has turned away now, looking vaguely nauseous at his companion’s actions. Sasuke doesn't sympathize, but the gory scene isn't pleasant to watch even from this side of the glass, so he does- on some level- understand Pink-Hair’s squeamishness. Sasuke blinks, surprised at the turn his thoughts are taking. He shouldn't be trying to understand test subjects, even if only to pass the time. Understanding will only make it harder to see their dissected corpses, or worse, their motionless bodies floating in eerie green liquid.

After a minute of uncomfortable silence on Sasuke's end, as he tries to ignore the whittling down of the finger-bone and the small, haphazard piles of flesh and blood so that he can focus on what is being written down, the white-haired test subject gets up with a wince and taps Pink-Hair on the shoulder, getting his attention. The other starts to read the kanji and Sasuke does his best to lipread the answers given.

“We... into... creepy lab... some snake... dragged... while we.. out.” “Snake...said...Orochimaru... think...to dissect...” “Don’t know what...cursed energy...weird… sparkly...don’t think...curse?” “...did follow us...didn’t end up...” “...don’t know… I don’t know… I don’t know.”

He should probably practice his lipreading. It would be a useful skill that'd come in handy when eavesdropping, especially if used in correlation with his Sharingan. As it is, he can barely make out the individual words of what Pink-Hair is saying, much less actually connect it all together into cohesive, understandable sentences. He thinks he has an idea of what the first two questions and corresponding answers were- Orochimaru's name was a pretty dead give-away. As for the rest of it, he has no clue. He has no idea what cursed energy is, nor why it's apparently sparkly.

Pink-Hair flops onto his back dramatically, drawing Sasuke's attention back to the two test subjects. “...need to break out." Sasuke thinks he says. The seemingly muttered words don’t make is already exhausted lip-reading skills any better. "...don’t want to be dissected...need to get back to school...-sensei freaks out...blows up another island.”

Blows up an island. Blows up another island? (Another, whole-ass, island, if Pink-Hair isn’t exaggerating- oh shit, he’s given them capitalised names, no longer just the pink-haired one, shit-)

He wants to pretend that he'd lipread wrong, that he'd misinterpreted somehow, but Sasuke has never been very good at denial. There's still a disconnect though, the inherent incredulity that comes with processing the sheer amount of power that must be required to blow up a whole island. He'd been unable to make out the name of the person this power supposedly belongs to, only their accompanying title of ‘sensei’.

They- no, the test subjects (don’t humanize them) are students apparently, ones with a teacher that they at least believe to be powerful enough to destroy an entire island. They'd also mentioned a school, which might be a concern. If they had connections, friends, someone might come after them. Someone like this 'sensei'. Sasuke doesn't much care for what happens to Orochimaru- The snake Sannin is annoyingly durable, more like a cockroach than a snake in Sasuke's private opinion. Yes, it would be inconvenient if Sasuke would have to search for a new mentor, one strong and willing enough to teach him, but frankly he's more concerned with becoming potential collateral damage in any ensuing rescue mission.

He growls in frustration. He has more questions than answers at this point, and most of the answers he does have make next to no sense. What he does know: - There's no way these people are shinobi. For one, they hadn't recognized Orochimaru at all. - They also don't have a visible hitai-ate, crossed out or otherwise. - Even their behaviour, the very way they move, talk and act is un-shinobi-like in a way that Sasuke can't quite pinpoint. (And yet, despite this, they're far to desensitized to gore to be mere civilian.) No civilian Sasuke knows would so easily touch a severed finger coated in vomit and blood, much less write with it. Hell, most experienced shinobi would be at least somewhat nauseated, or at the very least wouldn't default to that as a method of communication. So not civilians, not shinobi, not clearly allied to any nation and students, apparently students which implies that they're still only in training. - There's also the weird markings around the white-haired ones mouth, possibly indicative of an unknown, dangerous Kekkai-Genkai and all of this is without even thinking of the mouth on Pink-Hairs cheek that had thrown up a semi-digested finger-

Hell, Sasuke doesn't even know how they got into the lab in the first place. He hadn't been present during the break-in, and Orochimaru has been frustratingly sparse with details.

Well. The Sannin hadn't really actively chosen to withhold information, so much as he'd been ignoring Sasuke's existence- in favour of these strange intruders. Orochimaru's fixation likely means that Sasuke won't be learning anything useful for the next few days, at least.

Sasuke glares at the one-way glass, scowling at the annoyingly intriguing nuisances behind. He might just help them escape, if only to find who, what they are. It’s about time he got away from Orochimaru anyways, considering the body-transfer is meant to be ready soon.

He growls inaudibly and stalks out of the room. Screw Orochimaru's orders, none of this is going to help him kill Itachi. He slams the door behind him, the resulting bang echoing obnoxiously through the base, likely signalling to the snake that he's abandoned his position. Good, he thinks vindictively, distantly aware that he's reached his ‘quarters’. Let everyone in this miserable place know exactly what he thinks of being ordered around like a dog.

Booms echo through the base; startling Sasuke out of his semi-mediative state (filled with blood-red eyes and burgundy floors- no, don’t go there), as the sound of breaking timber and collapsing buildings follow. Since his- (the) conversation two and a half days ago, Sasuke had harassed Orochimaru into teaching him how to channel chakra to his ears to enhance his hearing. He practically throws chakra up to his ears and starts rapidly shunshin-ing towards the source of the commotion.

He gets there just in time to almost run into Pink-Hair carrying the other prisoner on his back, almost two hundred meters away from the gate. Pink-Hair startles at his appearance, before shifting his partner into a more comfortable position as he tenses, muscles bunching and flexing in preparation to resume running.

Sasuke can't help but balk at the disgusting, wrongwrongwrong chakra that permeates the air around these two. Even with the suppressing glass that had separated him from them previously, he wonders how he hadn't felt it before. He's not a sensor, but the air is so oppressive, so suffocating that he doesn't need to be.

Sasuke snaps back to reality just in time to see Pink-Hair make a break for it at impressively fast speeds (and there's no influx in that horrible, wrong chakra, at least none that he can detect, so how is Pink-Hair moving so fast, especially when encumbered by his friend-). Sasuke activates his Sharingan in a blink, eyes already burning at the chakra output.

As his eyes bleed red, he notices that Pink-Hair isn't trying to engage Sasuke in combat and is instead trying to run past him. A smart move, given that he's hampered by the teammate he's carrying. He's fast, Sasuke will give him that, but not fast enough to outrun Sasuke when he’s using (Shisui’s) the iconic shunshin. He shunshins in front of Pink-Hair, and forces more burning chakra into his eyes, sending out a mild genjutsu to incapacitate Pink-Hair. He has to decide whether or not he'll let these two escape. Right now, he's inclined to kill the both of them on the mere premise of their abominable, suffocating chakra(?), but he might just leave them to Orochimaru, even if only to find out why their auras are so wrong.

He's eying the white-haired boy warily when something tugs on his genjutsu. Sasuke doesn't have a chance to even brace when the curious pull becomes an inescapable black hole and he's unwillingly sent hurtling into Pink-Hair’s mindscape.

He's standing on a lake of blood. It's the first thing he notices, the rippling red liquid that seems too deep for him to be able to stand on. It's not staining his clothes either, not even his boots.

He looks up from the unsettling, impossibly firm red sea beneath him, and he catches a glimpse of four arms, six eyes alight with unholy glee, mouths, too many to count with whitebloodstainedserratedblunt teeth that gleam unnaturally in the darkness, all wrongwrongwrong, before the figure solidifies into something vaguely humanoid, white-robed and banded with ink-black tattoos.

They(no, it) resemble Pink-Hair superficially, same burnt-rose hair, same face, but even without the Sharingan Sasuke would know that this is not the escaped prisoner he'd snared in his genjutsu. This is something ancient, something dangerous. An apex predator, a natural disaster, a never-ending war all impossibly compounded into this unnatural, wrong Thing.

"Well," they rumble, echoing like the metallic screeching of an incorrectly unsheathed katana, the thundering of a volcano on the precipice of eruption, a snarling wolf- and Sasuke can't move, paralyzed by fear and horror and effortless killing intent, more than the Kyuubi and the profound sense of wrong that this being embodies, exudes with suffocating intensity.

"Aren't you just fascinating," they continue, all six of the blood-red eyes (so familiar) fixated on Sasuke. They lean forwards too-fluidly, bleached bull skulls beneath them creaking and cracking in protest. "Oh,” the Thing says (like he just walked into its trap-) “those eyes- are they a common thing in your world? They are just so interesting." The being smiles grotesquely, the shadowy afterimage that he sees from the corner of his Sharingan-enhanced eyes torn apart by the grins of three too wide, too many mouths- "I'd love to pluck them from your skull and study them closer."

Sasuke takes a deep, shuddering breath, and just like that he snaps out of his fear-frozen reverie, taking a step back from the satirically enshrined false deity, desperately trying to reel back his genjutsu, to flee the predator before him and something snaps, and the malevolent shrine fades from his sight as the beings final words reverberate through his entire body. "Until our next meeting then, little Chimanako no Tsukaite."

Sasuke takes a deep breath of fresh air, distantly noting the concerned glances of Pink-Hair (the real Pink-Hair, and not that mockery of a calamity) who looks distinctly unaffected by his genjutsu, and the suspicious squint of his white-haired companion. They are the last thing he sees before his Sharingan extinguishes, eyes rolling back into his skull, and he collapses into blissfully empty darkness.

---

Yuuji sprints from the broken door of the curse hideout that he'd kicked down with extreme prejudice. It’s so bright outside, so offensively dazzling that Yuuji has to squint to see where he's going. Inumaki-senpai is on his back, because Yuuji is being Cautious and Really Doesn’t Want his upperclassman to cough up more blood.

(See, Gojo-sensei, he can be cautious. In fact, he’s being so cautious that it’s capitalised!)

Inumaki-senpai taps his left shoulder twice to get his attention, and he spins to his left to see a really weird looking curse(person?) coming towards them. The curse isn’t very fast, but it looks annoyed. Can curses be annoyed? Well, Sukuna is permanently annoyed with him, but Sukuna is a unfortunate special case. On its forehead, it wears a headband with an unfamiliar symbol engraved on it. Maybe a sign of loyalty? Or something to do with its origin? It doesn't matter.

(Toge taps on his kohai’s shoulder again, a little annoyed that Itadori keeps drifting- but then again, with the oppressive, migraine-inducing, blinding energy, which is definitely not cursed energy, despite the fact that Itadori keeps calling it not-cursed-energy, which is better than calling it sparkly-cursed-energy. A little bit of progress is better than none, he guesses, so he resigns himself to be dealing with a semi-clueless kohai until he can get a pen and paper and write out some basic JSL.)

Yuuji ducks under the very old-fashioned ninja-knife and kicks the curse’s ribs in. The curse flies back, crashing into three other curses, all with the same headband, sending the lot of them sprawling into a wall. Yuuji winces as their weird, maybe-cursed energy flares. He spares a moment of sympathy for Inumaki-senpai, because his upperclassman is much more sensitive to both the maybe-cursed energy and cursed energy in general than Yuuji is. It's something he's rarely grateful for, but now, surrounded by headache-inducing, much too bright maybe-cursed energy that hurts to look at he is very, very happy with his choice of not bothering to learn how to sense cursed energy outside of his natural sensory range.

Yuuji puts on a burst of speed, taking care to not accidentally sprint headfirst into a wall. He'd also rather not run into (haha, Yuuji, funny joke) Orochimaru.

Finally escaping the building he'd been imprisoned within, Yuuji whips his head around, scanning for more attackers (that he really hopes are curses, because the idea of kicking a human’s ribs in makes him uneasy, even if it was self-defense either way) He doesn't see any threats at first, no sign of Orochimaru, the head-band wearing curses, or the diminutive silhouette that had lurked outside their cell. And then Inumaki-senpai tenses, and the air crackles with too-bright power as a figure appears from thin air.

They're young, don't look much older than Yuuji. But appearances can be deceiving, and Yuuji knows better than to underestimate someone based on age alone. His, because they look like a guy, face is bored, slightly irritated as if coming out to recapture Yuuji and Inumaki was beneath him. Yuuji readjusts Inumaki-senpai into a more comfortable position, before digging his shoes into the ground and launching himself at the nearby gate as fast as he can.

He feels the shiny maybe-cursed energy behind him recoil, and reappear in front of him, several times brighter and oddly coagulated around his opponent’s eyes, in a way almost reminiscent of Gojo-sensei's Six Eyes (And yet so fundamentally different that even comparing the two feels wrong). He can just barely make out the red glow emanating from the boy’s irritable glower when something pulls at him and Sukuna stirs. The King of Curses has been passively active since their jailbreak, watching their progress and being as irritatingly useless as always. At least he wasn't actively screwing with them, or talking. Until now, it seems.

His opponent’s eyes go wide, and then disturbingly vacant. Yuuji pauses, concerned despite himself. After an age of Sukuna's dysmorphic, active movement beneath Yuuji's skin the boy gasps, stumbling back, eyes wide and glazed over with fear and blood-red glow nowhere to be seen. He sways for a moment, before collapsing in a boneless heap. Yuuji half starts forward, before stopping, and his heart twist painfully when he looks at the unconscious figure.

Oh.

He looks almost like Junpei.

And maybe Yuuji is projecting, seeing things that don't exist, but that he desperately wants to, or maybe it's the way that the boy’s hair falls, covering one eye, but he looks so painfully like Yuuji's friend in that moment, face still twisted with the remnants of fear that Yuuji's heart aches for him.

What had the boy seen, when his too bright not-cursed energy had flared? Had he seen Sukuna? Had the curse hurt him somehow? He aims the question inwards, but Sukuna doesn't answer, unnatural, ever-present buzz fading deeper into Yuuji's body.

Yuuji can only close his eyes at the brief but intense wave of self-loathing that washes over him unexpectedly. When he opens them, he's made a choice. An impulsive, stupid one that Inumaki-senpai definitely won't agree with and that Fushiguro and Kugisaki would probably beat him over the head for if they were here, but a decision he will stand by, nonetheless.

Inumaki-senpai lets out a soft, surprised protest as he shifts his upperclassman into a more convenient position, and a louder one when he he shoulders the unconscious body of their opponent.

"Okaka!" He rasps, voice strong but still rough, once he realizes Yuuji's intentions. "I know," Yuuji murmurs, still not entirely sure of what he's doing himself, "but- but…" The kid feels like his responsibility, he might've gotten hurt because of Yuuji, because Yuuji was still alive, and he looked like someone Yuuji couldn't bear see die again-

"He's just a kid," Yuuji finishes lamely. "Besides, I don't know what Orochimaru wants with him, but whatever it is, it can't be good. Did you see those eyes?"

He can feel Inumaki-senpai's stare burning holes in his back, but after a moment his upperclassman relents. "Kaisou," he sighs bitterly, and Yuuji winces.

He takes a step towards the gate, towards freedom, the combined weight of Inumaki and the kid too much break into a run immediately when his stomach lurches abruptly and something-

c h a n g e s

Yuuji takes a deep breath and almost unconsciously his shoulders untense. Something feels right now- or at least better, because he's still surrounded by horribly bright maybe-cursed energy. Only now, it feels like he's been unknowingly walking uphill this entire time and the ground has finally levelled out into a flat surface. Inumaki-senpai too relaxes nigh-unnoticeably, breathing a soft sigh of relief. The kid (That he's... kidnapping? Maybe? He's still not sure) on the other hand tenses, and groans something indecipherable in his sleep.

"Tsunamayo?" Inumaki asks slowly. Yuuji assumes he's talking about the shift, so he nods. "Yeah, I felt it too. What do you thin-"

He's cut off by an ear-splitting shriek that comes from one of the buildings behind them, and he unconsciously goes to clutch his ears, only to remember that he can't because he's still carrying two people-

The scream cuts off, finally, and Yuuji turns back to face the buildings.

"It sounds like someone was in pain." Yuuji says indecipherably, staring in the vague direction of the screams source. "Kaisou, okaka." Inumaki replies incredulously, but flatly, as if he's already accepted Yuuji's tendency to recklessly throw himself after people potentially in danger. Yuuji smiles apologetically anyways, even though Inumaki-senpai can't see it.

"I'll get you guys outside of this... compound first. I'll circle back after I found the source of that scream, okay?" Inumaki digs his fingers into Yuuji's shoulder, and huffs. "Shake," he agrees reluctantly, and Yuuji grins, bright and cheerful. "I'll be back before you know it!" he reassures his upperclassman, sprinting out of the gates as fast as he can to find a suitable hiding place

Around what Yuuji estimates to be five-ish miles away from the base, he comes to a stop as a massive cliff is blocking his path. Well, it would be blocking his path if he needed to go further, but he doesn’t, so he walks to a boulder, and drops (gracefully), Inumaki-senpai and the boy.

Inumaki-senpai gets up immediately after, and scratches on the rock, with the finger-bone he still has for some reason, ‘I’ll get him tied up, because he was hostile.’

Yuuji sighs, but knows even if he disagrees, Inumaki-senpai knows more than him, so there isn’t any reason to waste what could be precious time having a semi-one-sided argument with his senpai.

He turns back to the compound and starts running.

----

Karin can hear the explosions of negative energy and chakra alike go off in the main building of Otogakure, the lab and the prison cells. The likelihood of the two t̴̶̵̻̤̯̰͙͚̤͔̼͊̀̍̄̈́͌̍̋͌ŗ̴̶̵̠̜̥̗̗̤͍͓̫̜͍̟̄̅̇̀̀̊̑̔ą̴̶̵̧̦̮̼̞̯̪̈́̐̈̒̄͋̊͠͝v̸̶̷̢̭̣͕̺̯̬̙͔̍͋͗̊͆̾̀́̍͆͋͜ȩ̵̶̵̛͇̹̬̹̓̔̋̑̂͛͌͌͌̐̋̚͝ͅͅl̴̶̴̯͈̙̤̙̄̑̈̂̒͘ḻ̸̶̵͕͍͓̹͙̠̞̣̖̰͍͓̄̄͗͐̿͊̔̆͆̚͝e̴̶̸̢̛̪̳̝̙̯͖͖̜̰͎͊͊̈̂̈́͛͑̈́̐̀́͂͘ŗ̸̶̴̨̡̧̯̲̙̱̤̪̟͈͍͇̈́̀̍͗̉̓̅̐͠s̸̶̵̟̱̖͚̭̖̭̳̪̿́̈́͌͝͝ attacking her was almost astronomically low, so she closes her eyes and opens her Mind's Eye to See the world in its full form.

As she activates the age-old sensory technique, she Sees the lives of a few Oto shinobi flash out of existence as one of the two t̴̶̵̻̤̯̰͙͚̤͔̼͊̀̍̄̈́͌̍̋͌ŗ̴̶̵̠̜̥̗̗̤͍͓̫̜͍̟̄̅̇̀̀̊̑̔ą̴̶̵̧̦̮̼̞̯̪̈́̐̈̒̄͋̊͠͝v̸̶̷̢̭̣͕̺̯̬̙͔̍͋͗̊͆̾̀́̍͆͋͜ȩ̵̶̵̛͇̹̬̹̓̔̋̑̂͛͌͌͌̐̋̚͝ͅͅl̴̶̴̯͈̙̤̙̄̑̈̂̒͘ḻ̸̶̵͕͍͓̹͙̠̞̣̖̰͍͓̄̄͗͐̿͊̔̆͆̚͝e̴̶̸̢̛̪̳̝̙̯͖͖̜̰͎͊͊̈̂̈́͛͑̈́̐̀́͂͘ŗ̸̶̴̨̡̧̯̲̙̱̤̪̟͈͍͇̈́̀̍͗̉̓̅̐͠s̸̶̵̟̱̖͚̭̖̭̳̪̿́̈́͌͝͝, the one with the Akuma no enerugī concentrated inside it, kicks a shinobi into the wall, along with three others.

She can see the other t̴̶̵̻̤̯̰͙͚̤͔̼͊̀̍̄̈́͌̍̋͌ŗ̴̶̵̠̜̥̗̗̤͍͓̫̜͍̟̄̅̇̀̀̊̑̔ą̴̶̵̧̦̮̼̞̯̪̈́̐̈̒̄͋̊͠͝v̸̶̷̢̭̣͕̺̯̬̙͔̍͋͗̊͆̾̀́̍͆͋͜ȩ̵̶̵̛͇̹̬̹̓̔̋̑̂͛͌͌͌̐̋̚͝ͅͅl̴̶̴̯͈̙̤̙̄̑̈̂̒͘ḻ̸̶̵͕͍͓̹͙̠̞̣̖̰͍͓̄̄͗͐̿͊̔̆͆̚͝e̴̶̸̢̛̪̳̝̙̯͖͖̜̰͎͊͊̈̂̈́͛͑̈́̐̀́͂͘ŗ̸̶̴̨̯̲̙̱̤̈́̀̍͗̉̓̅̐͠, the Ɔ̴̸̵̶̴̴̶̴̸̴̸̷̴̴̴̵̵̸̷̸̴̞̫̫̲̱̳̗̼̺̜̩̟͕̞͉̠̩͔̂̏̀̐̈́̇̾̉́͐͆̑̀̀͑̀̿͗̈́͋̑͜ͅͅơ̴̶̶̸̸̶̶̵̴̷̷̶̷̵̷̵̵̴̵̷̶̤̣͇̩̙̜̩̥̟̝̳̠̖̣͔͕͕͖͍̏͋̅̏́͒̌̌̽̀̉̀̽̈̎̓̃͐̚͜͜͠u̸̷̷̵̷̶̴̷̷̴̶̴̸̴̵̴̴̶̵̸̷̧̢̥̗̰͍̗̟̩̟̻͕̜̹̣̳̫̪̯̓͆̋̈͂̓͒̏̋̔͋͐̔̊̑̈́͐̚͜͝͠͝ͅp̸̵̴̶̷̴̸̸̷̴̴̶̴̶̵̷̶̷̸̴̷̡̨̛̛̠̫̤͕̰̪̫̯̘͎̩͇̥͙̪̰͖̬̂̀̈̅́̔̈́̋̈̅̀̃̄͆̽̋̉͜͝͝ņ̷̶̵̷̶̶̵̵̴̶̴̵̶̵̷̷̵̴̸̸̴̡̛͎͈͚̝̲͇̫͎̩̠̰̝̟̦͖̩̗̓́͂̊̃̑̃̍̽̈́̿̏̑̐̒̈́̀̿̿̍͜ͅᴉ̶̵̷̵̶̶̵̷̸̶̴̶̵̴̵̷̴̷̷̷̵̢̢̨̧̧̛̹̦̹̻̗͖̼͇͍̩͓͎̮͔̠̬̑͋̓̈́̈́͌̍̈̒̔̽͋̍͊̆̅͂̆̚͠ʇ̸̷̸̴̸̷̵̵̵̴̶̸̶̸̵̷̸̷̶̶̸̢̧̛̱̗̠̹͖͕̩͓͓̲͕̦͇̪̤̙̬̞̈́̍̃͋̄͒̑̒͒͛̇̿̑́̐́͘̚͜͝͠ ͇̰͈̝͔̘ on the pseudo-jinchuuriki’s back. She then sees a burst of ozone-ash-snake-wildfire-oppressed chakra, who she knows belongs to the Uchiha, shunshin towards the two t̴̶̵̻̤̯̰͙͚̤͔̼͊̀̍̄̈́͌̍̋͌ŗ̴̶̵̠̜̥̗̗̤͍͓̫̜͍̟̄̅̇̀̀̊̑̔ą̴̶̵̧̦̮̼̞̯̪̈́̐̈̒̄͋̊͠͝v̸̶̷̢̭̣͕̺̯̬̙͔̍͋͗̊͆̾̀́̍͆͋͜ȩ̵̶̵̛͇̹̬̹̓̔̋̑̂͛͌͌͌̐̋̚͝ͅͅl̴̶̴̯͈̙̤̙̄̑̈̂̒͘ḻ̸̶̵͕͍͓̹͙̠̞̣̖̰͍͓̄̄͗͐̿͊̔̆͆̚͝e̴̶̸̢̛̪̳̝̙̯͖͖̜̰͎͊͊̈̂̈́͛͑̈́̐̀́͂͘ŗ̸̶̴̨̡̧̯̲̙̱̤̪̟͈͍͇̈́̀̍͗̉̓̅̐͠s̸̶̵̟̱̖͚̭̖̭̳̪̿́̈́͌͝͝.

She tenses for a moment, knowing that although the pseudo-jinchuuriki is weighed down, Uchiha could be mortally injured in this fight. Then, she sees the negative energy of pseudo-jinchuuriki flare, but in sadness and grief. Oh. Recognition. The pseudo-jinchuuriki lost someone that looks like the Uchiha. Then, the Akuma no enerugī flares, and the genjutsu that Uchiha attempted to form on the t̴̶̵̻̤̯̰͙͚̤͔̼͊̀̍̄̈́͌̍̋͌ŗ̴̶̵̠̜̥̗̗̤͍͓̫̜͍̟̄̅̇̀̀̊̑̔ą̴̶̵̧̦̮̼̞̯̪̈́̐̈̒̄͋̊͠͝v̸̶̷̢̭̣͕̺̯̬̙͔̍͋͗̊͆̾̀́̍͆͋͜ȩ̵̶̵̛͇̹̬̹̓̔̋̑̂͛͌͌͌̐̋̚͝ͅͅl̴̶̴̯͈̙̤̙̄̑̈̂̒͘ḻ̸̶̵͕͍͓̹͙̠̞̣̖̰͍͓̄̄͗͐̿͊̔̆͆̚͝e̴̶̸̢̛̪̳̝̙̯͖͖̜̰͎͊͊̈̂̈́͛͑̈́̐̀́͂͘ŗ̸̶̴̨̡̧̯̲̙̱̤̪̟͈͍͇̈́̀̍͗̉̓̅̐͠s̸̶̵̟̱̖͚̭̖̭̳̪̿́̈́͌͝͝, is torn, and the Akuma worms it’s way into the Uchiha’s mind. She focuses on it, expanding her sensory field, opening it to the negative energy. The Akuma is talking, but it is muffled by the distance. Then, the Akuma pulls out of the Uchiha’s mind.

And her Eye burns as the Sky ʇ̵̶̴̴̷̶̶̸̷̴̷̢̪̦̫̳̞̤̘͔͓͌̇̈́̈̃̀͒͑̏͐ǝ̴̶̷̷̶̶̶̷̵̴̵̡͓͍͍͚̳̞̃̏́͗̆̾͐̄̌̚͜ͅͅɐ̷̸̵̵̸̶̸̴̸̵̸̪̱̖̻͇̖͍̮̬̱̓̑̒̊̃͊̔̍̑͝ɹ̷̴̸̶̵̶̵̴̵̸̷̨̡̮̱̯̙̥̪̩͔͂̐̏͌͗͊͊̊̚͠s̶̶̶̵̵̶̶̶̴̴̴̡̜̙͉̰̱̦̗͕̲͂̊̓̿́́́͊̚̕ in two, as the H̷̴̸̸̷̝̭̼͔̗̊͛̈̚͘ǫ̷̷̵̴̷̰̪͕̫́̏͊͋͘u̸̸̸̵̶͎̞̳͉̤͆̑̾̒̚ō̸̴̸̴̵̥̼̬̣̙̍͐́̚ņ̴̸̸̶̸͍̖̪̺̉̉̆̊̔ɹ̴̵̷̴̴̩̥̦͕̟̀̓͌̅̈ǝ̸̵̴̷̸̢̤͇̱̦͌̐̓̈́̐p̷̸̵̵̶̭͈̘̗̹͂͌̀̓̓ ̷̷̵̶̵̭͉̼̳͒͊̀̓͗͜ŏ̶̷̴̷̸̼̥͎̖͖̾̃̊͂ű̸̸̸̷̷̢̢̜̞͚͂̄͑̕ǝ̴̴̵̸̶͖̲̦͕́̈̒̑̚ͅ rips his way into the world, leaving no way to return without a Ɔ̴̸̵̶̴̴̶̴̸̴̸̷̴̴̴̵̵̸̷̸̴̞̫̫̲̱̳̗̼̺̜̩̟͕̞͉̠̩͔̂̏̀̐̈́̇̾̉́͐͆̑̀̀͑̀̿͗̈́͋̑͜ͅͅơ̴̶̶̸̸̶̶̵̴̷̷̶̷̵̷̵̵̴̵̷̶̤̣͇̩̙̜̩̥̟̝̳̠̖̣͔͕͕͖͍̏͋̅̏́͒̌̌̽̀̉̀̽̈̎̓̃͐̚͜͜͠u̸̷̷̵̷̶̴̷̷̴̶̴̸̴̵̴̴̶̵̸̷̧̢̥̗̰͍̗̟̩̟̻͕̜̹̣̳̫̪̯̓͆̋̈͂̓͒̏̋̔͋͐̔̊̑̈́͐̚͜͝͠͝ͅp̸̵̴̶̷̴̸̸̷̴̴̶̴̶̵̷̶̷̸̴̷̡̨̛̛̠̫̤͕̰̪̫̯̘͎̩͇̥͙̪̰͖̬̂̀̈̅́̔̈́̋̈̅̀̃̄͆̽̋̉͜͝͝ņ̷̶̵̷̶̶̵̵̴̶̴̵̶̵̷̷̵̴̸̸̴̡̛͎͈͚̝̲͇̫͎̩̠̰̝̟̦͖̩̗̓́͂̊̃̑̃̍̽̈́̿̏̑̐̒̈́̀̿̿̍͜ͅᴉ̶̵̷̵̶̶̵̷̸̶̴̶̵̴̵̷̴̷̷̷̵̢̢̨̧̧̛̹̦̹̻̗͖̼͇͍̩͓͎̮͔̠̬̑͋̓̈́̈́͌̍̈̒̔̽͋̍͊̆̅͂̆̚͠ʇ̸̷̸̴̸̷̵̵̵̴̶̸̶̸̵̷̸̷̶̶̸̢̧̛̱̗̠̹͖͕̩͓͓̲͕̦͇̪̤̙̬̞̈́̍̃͋̄͒̑̒͒͛̇̿̑́̐́͘̚͜͝͠ ͇̰͈̝͔̘

Distantly, she realises that she is screaming her throat hoarse, and her eyes start to bleed. Distantly, she can taste the fountain of blood coming from her nose drip into her mouth. Distantly, through her near-blinded eye, still glowing white, she can see the Ɔ̴̸̵̶̴̴̶̴̸̴̸̷̴̴̴̵̵̸̷̸̴̞̫̫̲̱̳̗̼̺̜̩̟͕̞͉̠̩͔̂̏̀̐̈́̇̾̉́͐͆̑̀̀͑̀̿͗̈́͋̑͜ͅͅơ̴̶̶̸̸̶̶̵̴̷̷̶̷̵̷̵̵̴̵̷̶̤̣͇̩̙̜̩̥̟̝̳̠̖̣͔͕͕͖͍̏͋̅̏́͒̌̌̽̀̉̀̽̈̎̓̃͐̚͜͜͠u̸̷̷̵̷̶̴̷̷̴̶̴̸̴̵̴̴̶̵̸̷̧̢̥̗̰͍̗̟̩̟̻͕̜̹̣̳̫̪̯̓͆̋̈͂̓͒̏̋̔͋͐̔̊̑̈́͐̚͜͝͠͝ͅp̸̵̴̶̷̴̸̸̷̴̴̶̴̶̵̷̶̷̸̴̷̡̨̛̛̠̫̤͕̰̪̫̯̘͎̩͇̥͙̪̰͖̬̂̀̈̅́̔̈́̋̈̅̀̃̄͆̽̋̉͜͝͝ņ̷̶̵̷̶̶̵̵̴̶̴̵̶̵̷̷̵̴̸̸̴̡̛͎͈͚̝̲͇̫͎̩̠̰̝̟̦͖̩̗̓́͂̊̃̑̃̍̽̈́̿̏̑̐̒̈́̀̿̿̍͜ͅᴉ̶̵̷̵̶̶̵̷̸̶̴̶̵̴̵̷̴̷̷̷̵̢̢̨̧̧̛̹̦̹̻̗͖̼͇͍̩͓͎̮͔̠̬̑͋̓̈́̈́͌̍̈̒̔̽͋̍͊̆̅͂̆̚͠ʇ̸̷̸̴̸̷̵̵̵̴̶̸̶̸̵̷̸̷̶̶̸̢̧̛̱̗̠̹͖͕̩͓͓̲͕̦͇̪̤̙̬̞̈́̍̃͋̄͒̑̒͒͛̇̿̑́̐́͘̚͜͝͠ ͇̰͈̝͔̘ and the t̴̶̵̻̤̯̰͙͚̤͔̼͊̀̍̄̈́͌̍̋͌ŗ̴̶̵̠̜̥̗̗̤͍͓̫̜͍̟̄̅̇̀̀̊̑̔ą̴̶̵̧̦̮̼̞̯̪̈́̐̈̒̄͋̊͠͝v̸̶̷̢̭̣͕̺̯̬̙͔̍͋͗̊͆̾̀́̍͆͋͜ȩ̵̶̵̛͇̹̬̹̓̔̋̑̂͛͌͌͌̐̋̚͝ͅͅl̴̶̴̯͈̙̤̙̄̑̈̂̒͘ḻ̸̶̵͕͍͓̹͙̠̞̣̖̰͍͓̄̄͗͐̿͊̔̆͆̚͝e̴̶̸̢̛̪̳̝̙̯͖͖̜̰͎͊͊̈̂̈́͛͑̈́̐̀́͂͘ŗ̸̶̴̨̯̲̙̱̈́̀̍͗̉̓̅̐͠’s negative energy spike and recede into the distance. Distantly, she can see theƎ̶̷̸̸̴̶̴̶̷̵̴̵̶̶̸̷̸̶̸̸̸̡̧̰̞̭̯̮̹̜̹̤̟͇̥̭̞̝͔́͗̐͒́̓̅͆̽͊̿̐̇̋̏̆̏̊̆̕͜͝ͅͅų̶̸̸̶̴̴̵̸̶̶̸̸̷̷̵̴̴̷̴̶̷̛͙͉̪͈̘̮̱̪͎͎̤͕̼͓̟̯̮̟͂̐̔̔͆̍͋́̏́́͋́͗̓̈́̋̽̒͝ͅͅɟ̸̸̵̸̵̵̴̷̴̸̷̷̴̴̸̵̸̷̶̶̵̢̡̡̧̪̺̣̯̜͈̠͈̼̤̝̟͖̮̱̭̊͑͊͌͋́̍͐̓̀͑̈̈̿̎̒́͒͂̕͘͜ǫ̸̸̷̵̶̶̴̸̴̸̴̸̵̷̶̶̵̶̶̶̴̡̛̠̙̟̹̪̲͖̝̜̬̱̘̰̲̠̘̫̐̃̌͊͂̐̾̀͆͆̔̏̓̀̅͆̀̊͘͘ͅͅɹ̶̴̴̴̸̶̷̶̷̶̵̴̷̷̴̷̸̷̴̷̸̡̡̛̛͈̬̹̘͓̬͖̝̩̞̯̩̖͓̫̲̩̤̝͑̀̐̍́́̓͒̈̐̆̒̐͌̐̚̕̕̚ɔ̵̶̶̷̴̷̸̸̷̴̵̷̶̷̸̴̶̵̴̷̵̧̢̹͕͍̼̰͖̘͔̮̭̙̩̞̥̼̗̣̩͚̄̓̒̓̎̒͛̄͂̄̓̾͋̒̈͗̀̉̆̚͝ǝ̸̸̸̷̴̵̸̸̴̵̴̵̸̸̸̴̴̵̷̶̵̨̧̧̛͉̖͙̦͎̳͈̩̞̘̠̩̩͚͉͈̙͕̏̿͑̀̎̇͒̀̈́̉̏̌̒̏̈̀͋͌̕̕ɹ̴̵̸̷̷̶̶̷̶̴̸̴̶̵̴̴̶̶̴̷̴̨̧̡̜̥̯̱͔͔͍̺̺͚͈̫̞̹̹̤̭͎̃̋͑͂̎͑͑̿̏̽̐̍́͂̑́̋̚̚͝͝ close the tear. Oh, so distant.

---

Yuuji enters the building where the scream came from warily. He turns left at the first hallway, because the right hallway is covered in burgundy, and it’s dry. He didn’t take long enough for blood to dry (he thinks) so that way is the second option.

He is almost immediately greeted with a girl lying on the floor with hair the same colour as the blood coming from her nose and eyes. He leans down to check her pulse- alive. Good. He sees a pair of glasses in her hand, and picks them up as he moves towards her head. There is an eye with a swirl in it, glowing white on her forehead. He goes to touch it, but flinches away when he does, because it’s almost boiling hot.

He is a little confused, because he cannot smell cooking flesh, so it mustn’t be hurting her. He shrugs and picks her up. Sukuna hisses like a cat in his head, Guide.

He decides to ignore Sukuna, because the curse likely wants a reaction.

He turns and walks outside, starting up a quick jog to get back to Inumaki-senpai and the Junpei look-alike.

(His sweet little kohai comes back with another person. פ̷̸̷̷̵̸̴̸̷̷̵̶̶̶̴̸̷̵̵̴̸̢̨̢̛̗̠̺̻̖̯̘̩͈̞̮͔̹̗͕̞̥̘̀̏̿̀̂̍̉̍͋̌̀̾̎̍͊͌̕͝͠͝ņ̵̶̵̷̶̸̶̸̵̴̷̴̷̴̵̷̷̸̷̴̶̢̛͈͔̙̜̬̘͙̖̜̞̺̣͔͇̼͙̠̜̿̂̈́͋̈́̅̿̈͌͂͒̅̿̔̆͌̚͘͜͝͠ᴉ̶̷̵̶̸̵̴̶̵̶̵̷̷̵̶̸̴̴̵̴̸̧̢̛̤̱̹̤͉̗͇͎͉̙̪̹̭͖̯̤͖̪̙͌̄̈́̓͌́̈̀̈́̐̏͂̀͗̈́̎̈́͛͝͠p̸̴̵̸̸̶̶̷̷̴̸̶̵̵̸̶̷̶̴̷̸̨̢͉̙͍̱̣͍͓͚̙̘̺͉̣̦͙̭͔̫̞̾͂͌̔̓̈̈́̔͛̌̐̿̍͛̈́͂̒͘͝͝ǝ̷̴̴̸̶̴̷̸̷̵̶̸̶̷̵̸̷̴̸̴̸̨̹͙̻̘̟͈̙̥̪̯͚̲͕̲̘͕̪̯̩͓̽̀͌̅̾̇̋̍͛̑͑́̓́̏͛̑̓͒͘͝ a forgotten part of his mind hisses. He doesn’t hear it.)

End Notes:

Itadori doesn't have the best understanding of how cursed techiques affect one's body: Inumaki actually wrote on the floor that his cursed technique doesn’t affect his lungs, but his throat and Itadori took that to mean that he can’t breathe correctly because in Itadori’s mind: to breathe equals air through mouth/nose, throat, lungs, and out is lungs, throat, mouth/nose.

(Glossary notes: Chimanako no tsukaite (血眼の使い手) User of blood (i tried to get google translate to say 'user of blood eyes', but it didn't work. just pretend it means that- please. also neither blue or i speak japanese, so PLEASE CORRECT ME))

Kat: sorry for the amount of time this took, i had a funeral to go to and it was far-ish, so i couldn't take my laptop and then i was emotional support for grandparents and cousins. soooo.................. E. Also, you may be asking: am I making Toge a semi-sensor? yes. You might understand later, who knows. (he's not on karin's canon level though, and not even near gojo's. however, for this, i am ramping up karin to a semi-BAMF level though. also don't worry, she's not nearly as annoying as in canon due to Reasons involving Very Important Lore that ends up being an Integral Part of the Plot. Sorry, i'm rambling)

Blue: I want y'all to appreciate how much work Kat put into this chapter. Like all the lore? All the hilarious thoughts in brackets? Courtesy of my fabulous cowriter.

Kat: THANK YOU BLUEEEEEEEEEEEE

Inumaki dictionary for this chapter (from what yuuji can understand, however yuuji isn't a professional inumaki-decoder, so some of these may be a little different): Okaka (bonito flakes): disagree/deny Kaisou (seaweed): reluctant acceptance: Idiot/fine Tsunamayo (tuna mayo): confusion/what was that? okaka, kaisou (bonito flakes, seaweed): stating his negative opinion with acceptance: no, you idiot/ fine, but i don't like it Shake (salmon): exasperated, in this case, like a parent: okay

Chapter 1: Bloodstained Ink (click!)

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[depressedhatakekakashi]

What A Dorky Thing

Pairing: Hatake Kakashi/Nohara Rin

Characters: Nohara Rin, Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura

Words: 2629

For: @skykashi who asked for a pairing I usually wouldn’t write for, but I made an exception for this sweet soul 💜💜💜

Betaed by @haethel <3 <3 <3

Toss A Coin To Your Writer <3

Shifts at the hospital were always unpredictable. Some days were so busy Rin would have to drag herself straight home at the end of the day so she could crawl into bed and pass out. The patients were nonstop and she would consider herself lucky to find five minutes to sit down and eat something.

Other days, Rin was bored out of her mind. There were more doctors than patients, piles of paperwork calling out her name that she didn’t want to even look at after three hours of sitting at her desk reading reports and filling out patient release forms, and the clock was ticking far too slow for her liking. There were missions that she could be doing outside of the village on these days, but instead, she was stuck in the hospital waiting impatiently for the clock to strike six so she could run out the front doors and finally start her day.

Today was that second type, and Rin was practically vibrating in her chair with more energy than any human should be allowed to contain in their body. If it wasn’t for the fact that Sakura had asked her to help her out with her studies she would take a break just so she could go for a run.

“Ugh.” Throwing her head back she sank a little into her chair. “For the first time in my life, I understand why Gai does laps around the village.”

Sakura had the decency to at least try to hide her snicker. It wasn’t a very successful attempt, but Rin appreciated the effort nonetheless. “Do you really think it’s that boring, Sensei?” the pink-haired chunin asked once she had gotten her laughter under control. “I kind of like the quiet.”

“You’re on a team with Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke,” Rin shot back. “Of course you’re enjoying the quiet.”

Once upon a time Rin would have said the same thing. When she was younger and her teammates spent every moment of their day arguing. With age came growth, though, and Kakashi and Obito had slowly learned how to get along. Or, at least they learned to avoid fighting in front of her.

“Well,” snapping her book shut, Sakura sat up on the textbook-covered couch she had claimed as her new study spot, “how about we take a break to talk about something fun?”

An intriguing idea.

“Tell me more.” Straightening herself up, she focused her full attention on Sakura. “What fun thing would you like to chat about?”

Placing her forefinger against her chin, Sakura thought about the question. “How about…” Her eyes lingered on Rin, a smile creeping onto her face after a moment. “Why don’t you tell me the story behind your necklace, Sensei?”

Her hand shot up to her neck, fingers grazing over the locket that sat there at all times of the day. No matter what she was doing the necklace never came off. It was too precious to her to risk misplacing it.

“It’s quite a cheesy story,” she admitted. “Think you can handle it?”

Rather than being deterred, Sakura sat forward and watched Rin with excited eyes. Whether she was genuinely excited for the story, or just thrilled to have some dirt on her jonin-sensei, Rin wasn’t sure. It wouldn’t stop her from telling the story either way. 

Whatever teasing Kakashi was subjected to by his student was both his problem and probably deserved given some of the complaints she had heard about her boyfriend from the three kids who had to deal with his embarrassing antics almost every day. 

“Well, it was my birthday…”

Five minutes to midnight and no sign of Kakashi anywhere.

She wasn’t angry. They had known the chances of him missing her birthday were high when Minato-sensei sent him on a mission just two days before. She was just a little disappointed. All day she had kept an eye out for him, hoping against all odds that he would appear. Yet, no matter where she went, Kakashi was not there to greet her. 

Not at the training field where she met with Anko and Kurenai for some birthday morning training. 

Not at the dango shop where Gai bought her a treat and gifted her a cute little turtle stuffy to keep her company on lonely nights like this. A stuffy she may or may not be clutching against her chest at this moment while staring out into the night from her bedroom window.

And there was still no sign of him anywhere when Minato-sensei, Kushina and Obito took her out for a nice birthday dinner. Obito had made a playful jab at Kakashi’s absence, but quickly shut his mouth when she reminded him that he had missed Shizune’s last two birthdays due to missions.

“Four minutes,” she sighed, hugging the turtle a bit tighter. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Well, you could be.” 

Dropping her stuffy, she curled her fingers into a fist and spun round in her spot ready to punch whoever had just snuck into her apartment. Before the punch could connect, though, a hand shot up and caught her fist.

There, smiling like a bastard who had just successfully spooked his girlfriend, stood Hatake Kakashi. Blood on his vest that a glance over his body confirmed was not his, and a stupid smug look on his face.

“Hello.” His eyes closed, emphasizing his smile a bit more. “Were you trying to punch me?” It figured the one time she watched the window ready for him to show up on the other side, he would actually use the door for the first time in his life. 

“You’re late.” They sat there just staring at each other, Kakashi still clutching her fist even when she attempted to retract it. “I thought—”

“That I was going to miss your birthday?” Opening his eyes he took a moment to examine her. “Do I look like Obito to you?”

Finally, he released his grip on her fist, dropping his hand down into his pocket while she watched. “You completed your mission though, right?” Her eyes flickered back to the blood on his vest. “Everything went alright?”

“The enemy didn’t even see me coming.” She rolled her eyes at the smugness in his voice. It was rare for Kakashi to act full of himself, but when he did it was unbearable. “Close your eyes.”

“C-close my eyes?” She was certain she had misheard him. Surely he wasn’t asking her to stop seeing his stupid fluffy hair and that beautiful smile that was only visible in the depth of his eyes. It was too cruel to be true. “Kakashi…”

“Just for a second,” he promised. “Please.”

She didn’t want to do it. Even a second of not looking at him felt like an eternity, and she had already lost so much precious time with him because of the mission, but she couldn’t say no. If he was requesting this it was important to him.

“Alright.” Giving herself one more precious second to admire the soft look on his face, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Be quick.”

Not one to disappoint, Kakashi acted as soon as her eyes were shut. His fingers brushed against her neck, a light tender touch she forced herself not to lean into. After a moment a small weight dropped against her chest, followed by a chain settling around her neck.

Another second, no doubt to make sure he had put it on right, and Kakashi’s hands left her neck. Though, they came up for just a moment to brush her hair back behind her ear, a chuckle greeting her when she finally dared to lean into his touch.

“Alright.” Retracting his hand, he smiled when Rin opened her eyes. “Happy Birthday.”

Glancing downwards, Rin failed to contain her smile when she saw what Kakashi had clipped around her neck. There sitting perfectly against her skin, was a brilliant gold locket. When she lifted it into her hand she could see the word ‘Love’ engraved in the metal. A single word that contained so much emotion in it.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you.” The cheesiness of his words had her rolling her eyes. Just as Konoha could rely on Kakashi to be efficient and a great leader, she could always trust him to be the worst romantic the world had ever seen. “Open it.”

“Mmmm, what if I don’t want to?” She twirled the locket between her fingers. “What if I want to leave it up to my imagination?”

She could think about a picture of their first kiss tucked away in that little locket, or perhaps one of those rare shots she had captured of Kakashi passed out in her bed. Not a single sign of exhaustion or stress evident on his sleeping face.

Maybe she would think up a different picture depending on how she felt about him that day. A mushy picture of them cuddling up close and laughing when she’s missing him during missions. 

A dorky picture of Kakashi faceplanted into Bull when she needs a good laugh.

Maybe a photograph of Gai carrying Kakashi over his shoulders, chakra exhausted and done with life while Gai looks as energetic as ever when she’s upset with him and needs a reason to smile again. 

“Rin.” Kakashi leaned forward, brushing his nose against hers to capture her attention. “Please? I want to see your reaction.”

Those words did not leave her with a good feeling in her soul. As much of a romantic dork as Kakashi was, he was also a horrible evil troll of a man. 

Her brain screamed at her not to open the locket. It warned her that doing so could only end in disappointment and annoyance. She would heed its warning, but Kakashi was looking at her with big round puppy dog eyes that she simply could not say no to. She refused to believe that there was a power in the world that could say no to those eyes.

How a man who was known for being so ‘cool’ and ‘aloof’ could pull off such an expression she still didn’t know. Somehow, though, she knew it was Pakkun’s fault.

“Alright, fine,” she caved, too weak to even attempt fighting against that look. “It had better not be something dumb or I’m breaking up with you.”

“Right,” Kakashi huffed, eyes watching as she pried the locket open. “As if you would ever— actually, wait maybe don’t look.”

It was too late though. The locket had popped open without any struggle and Rin had seen just what picture Kakashi picked out for her.

The photograph he had decided she would want to look at when they were separated because of their work and she was missing him. 

“Kakashi…”

The worst part of all of this wasn’t the moment her boyfriend looked away from her, or how he snickered when she glared at him. It wasn’t even that he had used her birthday present to be a horrible evil troll of a man.

The worst part, without a doubt, was that he had chosen a picture that would make her smile when she looked at it, if only because it would remind her that she had chosen the biggest dork in all of Konoha to fall in love with.

A choice she would never dare go back on. Not even now. 

When the story was finished Sakura stared at her with wide, hopeful eyes. As if begging Rin to tell her more. “Wait,” she narrowed her eyes when the silence stretched on, “that’s not all there is to tell, is it?”

“Was there more you were expecting?” She feigned innocence, struggling not to burst out laughing when Sakura’s jaw dropped. “I told you how I got my necklace. That’s what you asked about.”

Sakura just stood there staring at her. No words leaving her mouth, no scream of agony, not even a hint of that fiery anger Sakura was so well known for. Just pure, unfiltered shock. 

“Gah!” Throwing her hands up into the air, Sakura stood up from the couch and stomped towards the door. “You’re just as bad as Kakashi-sensei some days.” A comment Rin had heard a few times over the years. “I’m going to take a break and get some lunch. Try not to let all the paperwork overwhelm you, Sensei.”

Paperwork was exactly what she didn’t want to think about. “Have fun!” she called after Sakura. “I’ll just be here wishing the day was over already.” With Sakura gone the day somehow felt even more boring than it had before. Now she didn’t even have the option of talking to anyone.

“Will you tell me?” A smile stretched across her face when something came down on top of her head. A light but warm weight flattened her hair. “I always love hearing about that dork you’re dating.”

Swirling around in her chair she rolled her eyes when Kakashi held up two fingers in a peace sign. “What do I get if I tell you?”

“Well…” Retracting the item from atop her head, he lowered it so that she could get a better look. A furoshiki greeted her eyes, with little paw prints decorating the light green fabric. “I brought lunch.”

An offer she simply couldn’t refuse. Kakashi always made some of the best food she had ever tasted, and her stomach was already grumbling at the mention of lunch. 

“Oh,” leaning forward, he set the furoshiki back down on her desk before reaching up to tuck a finger under the top of his mask, “and I have one more thing for you.”

Tugging his mask down, he closed the distance between them to steal a kiss. A soft, sweet kiss with the taste of dango lingering against his lips. The best kiss she had ever had. Even better than their first kiss, or the good morning kiss they had shared before she ran out of the house to start her day. The best kiss in the history of kisses, in her opinion.

At least, until their next kiss.

Parting after a short moment of bliss, Kakashi smiled down at her, little crow’s feet forming at the corners of his eyes, a stunning display of the joy that had touched his eyes over the years. “So,” he chuckled. “Dorky?”

“Kakashi.” Dropping her head back against the chair, she groaned. Not out of annoyance, but fond exasperation. “You got me a beautiful gold locket for my birthday.”

“Only half as beautiful as you,” he repeated his compliment from the night he had given her that necklace, making it sound just as cheesy as the first time she had heard it. 

“Yes, thank you.” Most people would get bored of the cheesy lines after a while, but Rin couldn’t help but love them just a little, even after three years of hearing them directed at her. “But you also put a picture of Pakkun in it.”

Not her and Pakkun, or Kakashi and Pakkun. Just Pakkun, splayed out on the floor with his eyes shut and tongue sticking out enjoying a nice nap after a long week of running reports back and forth for Kakashi. 

“You love it.” It annoyed her a little that he was right. She did love it, just as she loved every dorky thing he did with her that he would never do with anyone else. 

Hatake Kakashi was the biggest dork Konoha never knew it had, and that was a secret she and a few precious others got to know about him. A secret she would gladly take to her grave if it meant she got to kiss his handsome face for the rest of her life.

[tamelee]

Hi! You said recently that you didn't like the dynamic of Team 7... And honestly it's the same for me. I don't feel any particular attachment to this team, except for Sasuke and Naruto.

But I wanted to know, do you like the dynamic of team Taka in general ? Personnaly, I like this team way more than the original team 7! And while I'm at it, what do you think of Team 7, including Sai?

Thank you for your answer! ^^

(And of course, I love your art, your work is amazing, thank you for everything!❤️)

Hey @fille-de-skroa !! 

Thank you thank you thank you so much for your ask and liking my work ;___;!! 💕💕 I wanted to reply to this earlier, but I had to finish up some studies- sorry! 

And I get what you mean! Well- the primary reason why I’m not about the whole ‘Team 7’-thing is, because it is often an idea that is sold which is: “Team 7 is family!! 🥰” 

It is like you say @fille-de-skroa , there is a disconnect when it comes to attachment in this particular dynamic, but I do understand why some people would want them to perhaps have that kind of relationship. In other media examples perhaps I could give in and say “yeah it’d be cute”, but Team 7? Far from it imo.  

Firstly it is because of Kishimoto’s literary and visual talent to converse the true meaning of what each character is experiencing during the times when Team 7 is mentioned or drawn. Literary talent is ‘common’, however Naruto as a story simply doesn’t make any sense unless you “look beyond the panel” and realize he vividly describes the characters’ inner world and voices outside of text. You can make anything look like a ’Team 7’-moment, but when the entire emotional connection is solely focussed from one character to another and not the team, then the entire context shifts and ‘Team 7’ holds not a lot of meaning. Or at all.  

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all had these moments where they definitely weren’t thinking about the team in an equal manner. And if that wasn’t enough, the scenes surrounding those moments emphasized it. And if that also wasn’t enough.. there is Gaiden. 👀

Don’t get me wrong though, Kakashi cares, but do I think he sees them as his kids? No way. 

In other words, I don’t care for Team 7 at all, because it is just what it was; a team. And imo not a very good one either.

This is what Kishimoto said (it’s in one of his art books sorry for my bad picture), his teams are not ideal, but he prefers more an RPG-type of team. Individuals that work together for the sake of the team. Sure, camaraderie and bonds are important topics in Naruto, but that doesn’t immediately make a team a ‘family’.   

Shikamaru tells the others that Sasuke is a comrade simply because he is a fellow Shinobi from the leaf. Even if he’s not important, nor a very close friend. “This is the way of the Leaf.” Therefore they’ll go after him and form a temporary team. That’s very reasonable, but may I add that after this, Naruto came to know that Sakura already met up with Sasuke and she didn’t even tell her other teammate?  

She knows how important Sasuke is to Naruto, but didn’t even bother to let Naruto, again, her teammate, know anything? Instead she tells Kotetsu and Izumo only because they find her where Sasuke left her on the bench.

Then they walk over to Tsunade, tell her, get some messengers to get Shikamaru out of his house to visit Tsunade, let him in on the situation and only then does he visit Naruto to tell him. Meaning, within that timeframe she also didn’t even bother to see if she could find Naruto as she didn’t even know what would happen with the information about Sasuke. For all we know they would make plans without him. 

Yeah, no, some teammate she is.  

Anyway, why do I bring up Shikamaru? Well, because as straightforward as the decision to save Sasuke is, the same can be said about ‘eliminating’ him when he becomes a threat to the village. 

No matter how you feel about Sasuke personally, Shikamaru is goal oriented with more than an organizational objective. It benefits not just a team, the village, but the Shinobi world in this case. Most teams in Naruto are quite effective when it comes to having a combined goal with individual contribution. But, Team 7 continuously fails to be effective as they all value different things and I’m talking beyond a few missions here and there.

Regardless of personal feelings, this is a prime example of how the Shinobi world works. They do things for the sake of the team/village and yet some teams have had beautiful moments together. Even “off-duty”.  

But not Team 7. Even though a lot of people blame Sasuke and his ‘revenge-phase’ for that (ok), it is still Sasuke that both Naruto and Sakura chase after. And it is Sasuke who is willing to let Kakashi and Sakura die and prioritize the one who could save himself easily.. and it is Naruto who tells him that he understands with a smug look on his face. I mean okay. There are just too many of these moments where this team lacks effective communication, don’t let another contribute freely or let their personal feelings get in the way to truly allow this team to thrive. 

Fine. Team 7 sucks. Big time. 

When it comes to Sai, I think he brought us some interesting moments. First when he met Sasuke and brought up Naruto he pissed him off and immediately was put under a genjutsu (lol) and gave Sasuke an opportunity to let him know that Naruto and him were not brothers, because Sakura told him so. I love that part at Orochimaru’s lair where they come to understand about his lack of emotion, where he tells Naruto, Sakura and Yamato that: 

And that he’s nothing more than a tool for Danzo that otherwise doesn’t exist. But it’s interesting to me, because Naruto’s is pretty.. uninvolved with Sai throughout, don’t you think? Compared to Sakura. They have this long talk about Sai’s bond with his ‘brother’ in which Naruto is just quiet until he’s like: “anyway back to where we came here for: Sasuke.” 

Here Naruto denies as well that Sasuke is his brother (don’t you think it’s funny that Sakura specifically chooses to use that word?) and Naruto goes on the whole limb-shredding tantrum in order to get his friend back. Thanks Sai~ 

When Sai is thinking about a nickname for Sakura she tells him that he can take characteristics into account, meaning that he’ll be honest about the way he perceives her as a character. He constantly witnessed her putting down Naruto, viciously hitting him here and there for no reason and so Sakura’s nickname is: ugly-dog.

Idk, I think his honesty is pretty funny as no one else would’ve ever said it to her face (that she has an ugly personality) even though they both (why Naruto too? Why anyway) got hit for it. 

Sai is like an observer that Kishimoto takes by the hand so he can say “here is another hint for ya!” In addition. Btw, idk if anyone has mentioned it before, but I always found it funny that Kakashi mentioned Naruto alone TWICE after Sai's question and only then said “I think you know why.. Sai” like: “Well, you watch over Naruto, right? You observe his behavior. It’s no use stopping him.. I think you understand, yes?” Where is Sakura in this? :)) 

Sai? Yes. As a team still? No. 

As for Team Taka/Hebi 

I also don’t see them as ‘family’ at all, but as a team dynamic it is much more effective, because generally they agreed since they could all benefit from this collaboration. Sasuke chose them based on diversity of skills, but evidently also personalities as he said this: 

Him = Itachi. "I only formed this team to make sure no one would interfere when I finally found him."

Apart from the fight with Killer Bee I don’t see, at least Sasuke, be emotionally invested in the team though. When issues arise that heavily rely on the teams’ consensus and commitment, he involves them when necessary, but he has his own goals. 

Regardless how his path evolved, even in Gaiden it just looks like they were just useful to Sasuke as intended, but this definitely was different for Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo too. 

Karin remembered Sasuke saving her life and so we all know how she feels about him now. Suigetsu wants Kisame’s Samehada and Juugo wanted to see if Sasuke was as strong as he thought he’d be as Kimimaro’s “reborn”. 

Even saving a life, as Shikamaru explained before, doesn’t always have to be personal and in this case with such clear objectives could be Sasuke repaying the favor for them saving his ass before. (E.g. the Killer Bee battle.) 

But overall, as a team dynamic I prefer them so, so, so much more as well. A simple thank you for completing a mission personally may motivate some people whilst others need bigger challenges, money, success or respect. There is no universal source and I think that Sasuke especially understands that really well as he listened to the criteria for all three of them to willingly work together with him. Selection is very important, but ensuring that the purpose is clear and agreed upon is also. 

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 7

It took another two weeks of work to perfect the technique. Aiko obsessively worked to improve her speed in both initiating and ending the jutsu, and hiding her chakra signature while in it. Her recitation of hand seals was flawless and speedy, and the surface she covered could both be expanded and reduced. In the end, she had to conclude…

"I'm the best water puddle in the whole goddamn village, Kakashi-sensei." Granted, it hadn't rained in Konoha for weeks, so there was little competition on that front. Still…

"I think that I'll be the judge of that."

He wasn't going to take her word for it. She hadn't really expected him to anyways. Pre-emptively, she began transforming the majority of the chakra in her stomach gate.

At his nod, Aiko whipped through the hand seals and sank into the ground. It was a bizarre sensation. Her field of vision sort of extended and flattened so that she could see everything directly above the water surface, but not to the sides or high up. When her jackass of a sensei started dropping twigs and leaves on the surface, she materialized as quickly as she could and flipped backwards.

"Hmm, not too shabby. How are your chakra reserves?" He had re-opened his book at some point, but she knew he was still watching.

Aiko closed her eyes for an instant to check. "They're fine, sensei. Once I managed to figure it out, this technique doesn't really do much to my reserves. Tree walking is much more chakra intensive."

He looked unimpressed. "Have you mastered water walking?" At her cringe, he gave an ominous chuckle. "Well then, you'd better get started on that before I teach you anything else. It would be pretty embarrassing for a water type to not be able to fight on the water. It's your biggest advantage, so you need to get to a point where you don't even think about maintaining it anymore. For all that it doesn't impress in the same way that lightning, wind, or fire do, water is probably the best elemental nature to have in order to control the field. As you are currently a sad little slug of a genin, you need every advantage you can get. I expect to see significant progress on water walking tomorrow. Meet at the usual time."

"So, like ten thirty?" she said dryly.

Her teacher pretended not to hear. "Seven am sharp! Have a good night."

"It's barely noon!" she shouted to the empty space where he had recently been. It didn't really matter anyways, since she started her days at 6 am. She spent forty minutes doing straight taijutsu sparring with Ino before the other girl pranced off to the Academy, then came to training ground seven to do work on either her stamina, aim, or jutsu until her teacher showed up to check her progress with a spar or demonstration. Aiko scowled. 'He's not the most attentive of teachers. He didn't even demonstrate water walking.' No wonder the original team seven had done so poorly under him. It took a certain kind of person to thrive with so little attention, and that type of person wasn't a pre-teen.

It wasn't that Kakashi neglected her training, exactly. The more progress and signs of improvement she had to demonstrate, the longer he spent with her. It made sense, in a way. Why would he waste his time on someone who wasn't dedicated to improving?

'Poor Naruto. That's not your learning style at all.'

She pushed thoughts of her brother and his messed-up future team out of her mind, glaring at her opponent for the day. The stream was barely two feet deep and twice as wide, so at least she wouldn't be getting completely soaked when she inevitably fell in. Delicately, one small sandaled foot settled on top of the water, surrounded by a fan of chakra to maintain surface tension. That went alright. Her control failed altogether as soon as she picked up her other foot.

So she tried again.

And again.

After about twenty complete failures, Aiko stopped and sat on the bank, trying to figure out what was going wrong. Was surface tension not the answer? Was it really just an adhesive effect like what she did when tree walking that she needed, or should she try to stabilize herself with chakra that went down into the water instead of across the surface?

"This would be easier if the water would stop moving," she grumbled to herself.

Then she literally face palmed. Through her palm, she mumbled "I'm an idiot. Of course it'd be easier to figure this out on calmer water first, and then try moving water."

Konoha (being conveniently located in the center of hellishly hot Fire Country) was rather short on lakes, so she ended up making a trip to the onsen. Luckily most people were still at work, and the water was mostly empty. Her progress was much faster here- with still water and barefooted, she figured out that (despite how counterintuitive it seemed to her) all she needed was the adhesive effect. After an hour of work, she had the basic skill down (though a bit wobbly) and had completely drained her chakra.

'I deserve a break.' Aiko sighed contentedly as she completely immersed into the water for the first time… then groaned when she realized that the twigs and leaves that Kakashi had dropped into the Aiko-puddle had apparently nestled in her hair all day. They floated away as she re-surfaced and gave them a disgusted look. The only other person currently in the pool, an unfairly voluptuous older girl with a bottle of apple juice and a book gave an unladylike snort of amusement and spoke for the first time.

"I wondered when you would notice that, kid." The older girl almost had to be a kunoichi. She had a rockin' body, lithe musculature, and thin scars on her hands and arms.

Aiko rolled her eyes in reply. "It's not like it matters." She grabbed the soggy leaves and tossed them over the side of the fence, where they landed with a barely audible plop in the communal pool. The older girl snickered.

"I guess that solved the problem. You're awful young to be trying to water walk, kitten. You really shouldn't play at being a ninja." The woman stretched languorously and ripples gently wavered across the surface of the water.

"And you're awful young to be reading that filthy porn, but I wasn't going to say anything, nee-chan. Isn't that the one with the yaoi threesome?" Aiko drawled in imitation of the other girl's speech. She'd seen Kakashi with the same book not long ago.

Surprised, her companion blinked twice before breaking out into laughter. "Not the answer I expected. I'm Anko, kid. You?"

"Aiko." She examined the older girl in a new light. "How's the book? I asked my sensei once, and he turned bright red and shunshined away". She ran a hand through her short hair, shaking out some of the water. "Didn't see him for two days".

Anko laughed, a surprisingly musical sound. "Nice. It's okay. Full of all sorts of touchy feely crap, so I skip ahead to the good stuff. Politics and sex," she said, sounding more than a little bit satisfied. "The one before was better. The protagonist is a demolitions expert, and also a total hunk. This one is all sneaky infiltration shit- the premise is that the guy has been hired to find out who put a hit out on the princess." She leaned back against the side before glancing around shiftily. "If your prudish teacher asked, I told you that it was shameful and you should never read them."

"I don't think Kakashi-sensei is a prude," Aiko challenged. "I just think he's socially and emotionally handicapped. He really only needs like ten more years of socialization before he learns to stop being so fucking weird all the time." Anko snorted.

"Oy, that bastard's teaching?" She eyed Aiko analytically for the first time. "Hokage-sama must be really desperate for nin if he's promoting babies like you."

Aiko shrugged, not particularly invested in Anko's opinion. "Whatever you say, bitch. I'm okay for a baby genin. I would have stayed in the Academy longer if I could, but they pretty much shoved me out into Kakashi sensei's loving care."

"Sorry to hear that, kitten." Anko took a swig of her apple juice. She caught Aiko eyeing it and gave a sly grin. "I don't share."

"I wasn't asking," Aiko retorted calmly, smiling involuntarily. Anko was a snarky bitch, and she liked that. "What are you up to? Relaxing after a mission or something?"

"Hiding from my boss." The older girl winked. "Ibiki will never look for me here. I swear, he's been trying to drag my ass in to do paperwork on my last five days off. Not today, though. I am going to fill my face with candy, read really nasty porn, and just generally be completely useless all day."

There was a moment of silence. "I'm pretty sure you're my hero." Anko choked, coughing on her juice, losing her cool for the first time.

After she got her breath under control, the older girl pointed at her, not seeming to care that the gesture was rude. "You didn't see that."

________________________________________

"I made a new friend yesterday," Aiko said conversationally. Naruto looked up, not paying attention to his target. His next shuriken was shamefully far from where it should have been. He didn't even notice.

"That's good, I guess."

"Mmhm. She knows tons of really awful curse words and she's going to teach me some of them." Her voice was as bland as if she was discussing the weather. "I mean it, they're really filthy, amazing things I've never considered." She landed a trio of senbon in quick succession, adding to the picture of a smiley face she was constructing. Naruto gave her picture a glance and made a face, scowling at his own unpierced target and the shuriken anywhere from two inches to a foot away from it. ""Mind your wrist. You're flicking it like you would for a kunai and throwing the star off balance."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto sighed, stiffening his wrist obediently. "I don't see why I have to learn a second projectile. The Academy only requires one for graduation."

"Their requirements are lame. You're going to be better than your classmates." She made a nearly-perfect circle for the left eye and made a face at the one needle that hit slightly off target. The other eye was better.

Her little brother sighed, slouching over despondently. "You're so mean to me, Aiko-chan."

"Sounds about right," she mumbled distractedly, considering making a vertical line through the wonky eye and pretending it was her teacher's Sharingan. For all she knew it was lumpy. She'd never seen it in person. Instead of thinking too hard about it, she made the line. Her brother's eye caught the movement.

"That's an ugly face." Aiko rolled her eyes and nudged her brother with a shoulder to force him out of her personal space, completing it with three little dots in the wonky eye.

"Whatever, you big bully. Let's go home. It's getting too dark for target practice." She pulled her needles out of the target, bunched them and wrapped a thin ribbon around the cluster before sliding the whole thing back into her thigh holster. At her side, Naruto gathered his shuriken, giving them dirty looks all the while. "Hey, how is the campaign against Mizuki-bastard going?"

Naruto perked up at the mention his long-term vendetta. "Hey, hey, you wanna help as a favor or an early birthday present? He found the squid a few days ago, so it's just about time for his counter move. I predict that, much like the last four hundred times, he will retaliate by putting me in detention and grading my Monday test down."

If she were a different person, Aiko might have tried to curtail her brother's mischievous nature. His pranks were immature and made people dislike him. But they were just so… so Naruto. The only thing she tried to do was aim him in more appropriate directions (Poor Iruka was a nice guy who deserved a break occasionally). Mizuki, on the other hand, was a gigantic prick. Even if he hadn't been a traitor (she wasn't going to assume he was, what she knew might not be totally accurate) he still had no place around children. It wasn't just Naruto's education that he was damaging. Thusly, he had the privilege of suffering the lion share of Naruto's attention.

"Ah, that's a tricky one. May I suggest something subtle and refined? Do you know what kind of sandals he wears? We'll need to know the size."

"Uh, yeah." Naruto tugged at the collar of his orange shirt (apparently, some things were unavoidable. At least it wasn't a jump suit). "Three pairs, I think. Two are the standard blues, one is black with a wider band. All size 10 from the standard outfitters, minor wear and tear. He takes good care of his stuff." He paused for a moment to cackle, fingers held up into hooked claws.

"Alright. We're going to go buy three 9 ½ pairs of shoes and rough 'em up. I'll make the switch while he's sleeping". She was much better than she'd like to be at creeping on sleeping ninja. "We'll have to have something a little more obvious, so that he thinks he knows how you retaliated. Standard paint job?"

"His house, I think. It's relatively isolated, one story 400 square foot. I think I can paint one side nicely in an hour, but a slap job in probably less than fifty minutes. I hate to do bad work, though." He scrunched up his nose.

Aiko huffed. "Don't be ridiculous, I would never ask you to undermine your artistic integrity like that. What kind of sister do you think I am?" He elbowed her.

"Love you, nee-chan."

"Love you too, nii-chan."

________________________________________

"Sennnnnseeeiiii. Sensei. Seeeeennnnnnseeeeeeei."

"What do you want, foul demon?" Kakashi muttered from behind his book, being careful to keep the pages out of her view. He wasn't going to be responsible for giving a ten year old access to adult materials. He'd teach her to kill, steal, and commit tax fraud, sure. Those were time-honored ninja traditions. But he firmly believed that access to adult materials should be restricted until a ninja was mature enough to realize they could abuse henge to buy it on their own.

He was a little surprised that she hadn't figured that out yet.

"This was my forty-second D rank mission, sensei. I was hoping that since you are so very fond of me, you would consider taking me on a C rank, if you think I can handle one." She leaned in obnoxiously close. "You know, since it's my birthday and all."

Kakashi gave her a wilted look. "Ninja don't have birthdays," he said shortly before turning back to his book. Jiraiya-sama really did write such marvelous love scenes. His heart stopped everytime he got to the part where the clever bodyguard first realized the servant girl he'd fallen for was the princess in disguise under the cherry trees…

His student gave an obnoxious sigh. "Sure they do, you must have had like sixty of them. Surely you remember at least one. If not, maybe I should return you to the Hokage for a newer model Jounin. I'm way too adorable to get stuck with a defective one."

"Ten laps around the village. Go." The cheeky brat actually stuck her tongue out at him before she cheerfully took off. She knew damn well it wasn't really a punishment- she normally ran eight after he 'left'.

As far as genin went… Well, he'd gotten a pretty good one. Then he snorted. 'Of course she's a good nin, with a pedigree like that.' He semi-frequently checked on her training when she thought she was alone, if he wasn't running one of his real missions out of the village. The fact that he couldn't really be taken entirely off the roster was probably slowing her progress, but it couldn't be helped. Her work ethic was fairly impressive and hilarious, as was whatever the hell she was doing to that poor Chuunin Academy teacher. Was it possible to bully a superior, or was 'psychological warfare as a hobby' a more accurate description?

Regardless.

'Would it really be so terrible to take her on a real mission?'

He'd been delaying that for a while. If he'd had a team, they would have been out in the field for quite a while. But taking an apprentice out was different. She wouldn't have any support if he got caught up with an opponent far beyond her level.

She'd been a genin for over half a year, however. Aiko certainly wasn't Academy fresh, and she couldn't do D-ranks for her whole career… no matter how safe that would make her. Minato probably wouldn't have wanted a safe little princess for a daughter. Not when she'd trained as a ninja.

Kakashi sighed, putting away his book. While his loyal little minion (and she really was loyal, wasn't she? This was the first time she'd complained about all that busy work…) was busy running, he ran across town on the rooftop highway and straight in through the window of Hokage Tower. Sarutobi looked up from his enormous stacks of paperwork, mildly surprised and not entirely concealing the ink drying on the side of his face from where he'd used something wet as a pillow.

"Kakashi-kun? What's this visit about?"

He hmmed, feeling a little sheepish for running over on impulse outside of office hours. It was lucky that the Sandaime liked him. "Well, you see, I thought we had a meeting yesterday, so I rushed here right away. I got trapped in my apartment when I lost my keys. They were in the fridge."

"Naturally," the Sandaime said dryly. "I don't believe we had one planned, but since you're here, why don't we talk."

"I was considering taking my genin out of the village on a C-rank," he explained, rubbing his head a little sheepishly. "But I was hoping we could find a nice, safe one. Possibly one ten or less miles out of the village with a secret ANBU escort. I could settle for any Jounin whose name doesn't rhyme with 'Saito Sai,' though. She's awfully impressionable. She's started repeating things I've only heard from Anko before."

The Sandaime covered his face with both hands, amused. "Now, keep in mind that I haven't checked, but I think we're fresh out of those missions. How about a nice, easy escort mission? Standard bandit prevention type work. You know, you've already taken her out once on a more dangerous mission."

"Yes, but I had less time to think about that, and we were certain there was only one opponent." He considered the Hokage's suggestion of an escort mission. Those were pretty long missions- civilians travel slowly. "Sounds risky," he said, more to himself than the Hokage before raising his voice just a little. "You know, I think this was a mistake. She's starting to get really good at finding discarded weaponry on the academy training grounds and the Councilman's kids really like her. Maybe I should let her do that for just a while longer." Yeah. That sounded like a pretty good plan. Escort missions could go wrong, very wrong. The client could be lying, the client could be a drug dealer with a hit out on them and powerful enemies, they could run into missing nin out to collect on his enormous bounty, or someone might see his adorable little genin and want to kidnap her and-

"Kakashi-kun, you're hyperventilating." The old man sighed. "I know it's hard to take a long mission with a fresh genin, knowing that her life is in your hands. But you can't keep her in the village forever. First of all, I think that Kushina might well rise up from the dead to beat you senseless for underestimating her baby."

She probably would.

"It's not that I don't have faith in her," he protested weakly. "It's more that…"

"You don't have faith in yourself as a leader. Kakashi-kun, you haven't lost a subordinate on a mission since… well, only once in your career." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'll have a mission picked out tomorrow. Now go home. I'm going to," he mumbled the last bit to himself.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," he said, not entirely sure if he'd just won or lost.

________________________________________

"You know, when I pictured my ninja escort, I imagined someone a little taller."

"That's okay," Aiko said blandly. "I'm just flattered you spend so much time thinking about me when I'm not around."

"Wait, what?" The civilian boy blinked, but Aiko was already on the opposite end of the group, waiting for orders from her teacher.

They had gotten assigned to a small group of merchants headed to Suna. There was big business to be had transporting grains, sugars, and plant clippings to the desert after they were harvested. Seeing as they were mostly transporting comestibles, it was unlikely that the caravan would be specifically targeted by bandits, but that didn't protect them from standard roadside dangers.

Three different businesses were sending merchandise on this trip. Two of them were family affairs, staffed with younger sons and daughters learning the trade under an aunt's supervision, but the third was sending only a grim-faced hired hand.

A C-ranked mission would normally be staffed with either a three-man Chuunin team, four veteran genin, or a Jounin with three fresh genin. Despite the fact that her sensei was an elite for whom this mission was a total joke, Aiko was still a little nervous that they were technically understaffed. She certainly wasn't the equivalent of three genin.

Despite those misgivings, she knew better than to let the clients sense her nerves. Panicked civilians helped nothing.

Her sensei didn't seem worried at all. 'I wish I could be as calm as he is. Sensei is actually really cool.' Aiko snuck a glance at him. He wasn't reading for once. Maybe he couldn't in front of paying clients?

"I want you to take point. I'm going to be at the rear. Pay attention. There's little risk, but it'll be you who spots any potential ambushes."

Aiko swallowed. "Hai, sensei." She walked to the front normally- she'd gotten a brief lecture about frightening civilians with unnecessary displays of ninja skills two days ago when she got the notice for this mission.

It had been lucky that she'd had so much time to get ready. She worried at her lower lip with her teeth. 'Poor Naruto. He's never been alone this long before…' The rush to get packed and make sure she had all the appropriate gear had kept her busy pretty much the whole time when she wasn't going over procedures. Having never been out of the village for any period of time, she needed all new standard gear for extended travel in addition to special additions for the desert climate she would be suffering through.

For now she was in her normal clothes, but she had an identical (though long-sleeved) set in a pretty shade of yellow that wouldn't be quite so hot as her normal black to change into, as well as a long white scarf for her face and hair. Her sensei still seemed to be a bit baffled by her civilian-esque leggings and tunic, but he didn't tell her that she had to get standard gear.

Kakashi-sensei had even been kind enough to point out just how useful her water natured chakra would be in the desert. It was much easier for her to augment existing water supplies, but it was possible for her to use her jutsu using only the trace amounts of moisture in the environment. It wouldn't be easy, especially in a desert, but she would never need to worry about thirst.

Actually, the discussion had made her feel a little special and stupidly lucky. Water and wind natured chakra types were both incredibly rare outside of their respective countries, as chakra type was affected by genetics and to a smaller extent the environment a child was raised in. Konoha's ninja were generally fire, earth, or lightning type (in that order of probability). Through pure dumb luck, she was one of less than ten water-types in Konoha's active forces.

That didn't mean she was feeling cocky, however. Her jutsu arsenal was currently a bit pathetic, and completely useless for combat in the environment she was headed to. Aiko scanned ahead as the group passed out of sight of the village. She didn't really expect any enemies within their borders, but caution was better than a failed mission.

Paying attention was all well and good, but that didn't mean she wasn't a little bummed about missing so much training time. After she had mastered hiding in a puddle, she had easily jumped to creating the Hiding in the Mist technique and the jutsu that would create a small rain effect. Those two were pretty useless so far, however, because she didn't have the other skills to go with them. Obscuring vision would do little good unless she had both the skills to hide within it and ways of tracking targets non-visually. As was, the mist would harm her performance about as much as it would an opponent, possibly more. The rain wasn't much better- it could be used as a sensory technique or as a method of dispersing poison (or as a prequel to hiding in a puddle or frying some motherfuckers with lightning). She didn't have the skills for any of that, nor a penchant for poisoning. Really, right now it was useful for gardening and not much else.

Aiko pulled herself out of depressing thoughts about her status as a sad, useless little Genin beginner to send out a chakra pulse as a scouting tool. She found nothing, as expected.

'Really, what was I doing asking for a higher class mission?' She hadn't really expected to get one so quickly. In a way it was touching that her teacher had fulfilled her request so quickly. But she really wasn't ready for real missions. At this point, she could only be a burden.

Depressing.

The bird calls in the area were familiar, but the way that their clumsy civilian clients made enough noise to scare them off wasn't. Aiko kept track of how distant the sounds appeared to be at any given time. Apparently she had better hearing for birds than they did for civilians. Her eyes flickered to the side. That was a freaking miracle. Those wagons were loud, and so was the cluster of teenagers who were already whining about the walk.

She didn't quite understand that. It had only been about four hours since they left the outlier village where they had met their civilian clients. For all that Kakashi-sensei teased her about being out of shape, Aiko could run for miles without problems, as long as she could stay hydrated. Minato and Kushina must have been amazing, because they passed on some rockin' genetics. Her mature mind had been enough to pass her off as an academic prodigy, but if she hadn't had serious physical potential too then she wouldn't have been promoted at ten. In the seven months since her graduation, Kakashi had pushed her to almost triple her speed. Individual instruction was an incredible tool for speeding up training. She was relatively certain now that she would be able to beat her old sparring partner… Or at least, she would have been if he hadn't been improving too. She made a face. There was no way he hadn't improved. He would be graduating soon, wouldn't he? He'd started three terms after she had, not a full year, meaning that he was probably closer to being two years older her than one. More importantly, Neji was still probably a total bastard.

Though the snail's pace was killing her and she was bored past the point of tears, Aiko dutifully channeled chakra to her ears for a short period to augment the sense when she noted it had been a while since she made a non-visual check. Nothing strange. Kakashi's hunter specialization meant that he'd had plenty of little tricks to pass on about finding opponents. She was a rank amateur at all of them, but a low-risk mission would probably be the place to improve on them.

Shadows were playing in the forest now. Calmly, she scanned the treetops, branches and underbrush for any signs of movement or tracks. "Well make camp here." Surprised, Aiko turned around to see her sensei indicating a spot slightly off the path. As the group settled and the civilians cheerily started cooking over open fires, Aiko made her way to her teacher. "After we eat, I'll take first watch." He pulled out his book and easily flipped it open to a page in the middle. "Do you want to try your hand at hunting, or should I get a rabbit?"

"I'll do it," she mumbled, wanting to be useful. "Preferences?"

"Hmm, not really." He flipped a page, although there was like, no way he'd read the last one already. "Don't go too far."

She snorted a little rudely. "I'm not going to find wildlife very close," Aiko said quietly.

"Closer than you think." He sighed. "Go on, now."

[rainycitysworld]

Hi!! I love your blog and I was just wondering if I could please request headcanons for how either kakashi and/or shikamaru would react to a reader with a lot of older brothers who are super protective over fem!reader. And how they would win her brothers over! Thank you! :)

Oh thank you anon! This is a super cute request! Both of these are going to be written when they characters are in their early twenties so right before Naruto for Kakashi and right after Shippuden for Shikamaru

Kakashi

Kakashi gets it- he was protective over Rin (and eventually is protective of Sakura) so he understands it comes from a good place and he's actually happy his partner has so many people who love her

You would think being one of the Leaf's most elite ninjas would be enough to instill a little trust, though. Then again people do call him "Friend Killer Kakashi"

Definitely turns to Iruka for help, and Iruka tells him to de-ninjafy himself in front of them and be as non-threatening as possible. Look as little like a killer as possible.

Kakashi thought he was already pretty non-threatening but when he asked Kurenai for advice, she said the same thing. She also told him to lose the porn books.

So Kakashi goes home "de-ninjafys" himself, begrudgingly so. Reminding himself how much he loves his partner every two seconds

Replacing the headband with an eye patch wears a nice shirt and pants instead of his jonin uniform and decided to only keep one kunai and scroll on him.

The mask stays, though, obviously.

He has a couple of uncomfortable dinners with her family like this. Uncomfortable because he is not convinced that they're buying this act and because not being in uniform is weird for him.

But I think after a couple of visits, he starts to get more comfortable and casual. Maybe a few times he forgets to change his headband or has to rush from a mission and is still wearing his vest, so he feels a bit more in his element.

What ultimately happens is they just get to know Kakashi. It might take a while, but once people get to know Kakashi, it doesn't take long to realize he isn't some cold-blooded killer, he's just a guy.

Eventually, I think he'd win them over and even becomes friends with them. Kakashi would never admit this, but he's always wanted a family.

Shikamaru

What a drag

He's dating his girlfriend, not her brothers- why should he care what they think of him? Does he really have to win them over?

It would be moments like this where he really misses Asuma and his father, which just makes the situation harder.

I actually think it'd make him question if he was good enough for his partner.

But ultimately, he decides that's her call to make, not his, so with a big sigh, he gets up and tries to smooth things over.

Her brothers probably just think he's some lazy slacker whose only claim to fame was being in the same class as Naruto.

He isn't entirely sure how to disprove that, so he does the only thing that seems logical- show not tell.

Since the end of the war, he had been working under Kakashi with all the Leaf's non-military expansions, and he's actually pretty proud of his work. The train that connects the villages, trade deals, humanitarian projects who the areas affected by the war, and Sakura's mental hospital for orphans- so he invites his girl and her brothers to a fundraising event.

Usually, he hates these things, but he's gonna get all dressed up and show her brothers that he's just trying to make the world a better place for her to live in, and if that doesn't work, he isn't sure what will.

Kakashi definitely catches wind of this plan and makes sure everyone hypes Shikamaru up the entire evening in front of his girlfriend's family.

And sure- the brothers are impressed, they didn't realize the scope of Shikamaru's work, but ultimately that wasn't what won them over.

After dinner, there was dancing, and even though Shikamaru hates dancing, his girlfriend doesn't, so he very sweetly asked her to dance, and the brothers couldn't help but notice the giant smile on her face the entire time.

[anyon-else]

My Struggling Form, My Willing Soul (The Red Room pt.7) | Sakura is adamant that you stay in the compound permanently, and you're trying to think of any reason why that's a bad idea. You don't expect Kakashi to be the one who convinces you to stay. (Marvel AU) – spotify playlist | read on ao3

Pairings | Kakashi Hatake x Black Widow!Reader + Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, Naturo Uzumaki, Kakashi's Ninken

Warnings | fem!reader, hurt/comfort, fluff, mentions of torture, mentions of abuse

Word count | 6.7k

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"I don't get it. I slept in the woods for three weeks, completely exposed and relying on a near-stranger to watch my back. And in all that time, I barely had any nightmares after the fourth day. I slept better than I have in years. And then I come here, where it's arguably safer, and I've had one every night. How does that make any sense?"

While Pakkun was giving you what appeared to be his full attention, a huff was his only response to your rambling.

It had been a week since Kakashi left to go to the compound, leaving you with an ample supply of instant ramen and a pack of eight dogs to care for. For the most part, looking after them had given you enough to do that you'd avoided being completely alone with your thoughts. However, since you'd been staying at Kakashi's house, you'd woken up at least once every night drenched in sweat and shaking from phantom pains. Each dream was different, but they all involved the same thing. Pain, either inflicted by others onto you, or you onto others.

"What do you think, hm? Got any wise advice for me?"

Pakkun took in a large breath, then let it out in a long, drawn-out sigh. You'd been reading a book from Kakashi's Icha-Icha collection, and the pug had settled for a nap on top of you. He looked irritated that your one-sided conversation was preventing that.

"You look grumpy, but you're very clingy."

Pakkun grumbled, rolling onto his side and settling in for his nap now that your conversation had run its course.

"You're lucky my phone doesn't have a camera. I'd be taking so many pictures of you right now."

Kakashi had given you a burner phone before he left. Sakura had the number, but she rarely got the opportunity to use it with so many SHIELD agents crawling around the compound. Instead, it was Kakashi who generally contacted you, though it was with the same update day after day: no progress.

While you appreciated his effort to keep you updated, he generally texted you late at night after the doctors had finished working. Every night, you stayed up for his update, received it, and then went to sleep.

It was likely this pattern that made Sakura the main subject of most of your nightmares. In some, Kabuto forced the two of you to fight. In reality, you knew that you would've allowed her to win, but this dream-version of you was ruthless. Your movements were robotic, and your expression was cold and stoic as you watched the life drain from Sakura's eyes.

Orochimaru was always there. He watched with a wicked smile on his face each time you killed Sakura. And when you knelt at his feet, waiting for new orders, Sakura was already on her feet again. Then the cycle would repeat.

In other nightmares, Sakura was in the compound. She was with Kakashi and Sasuke and Naruto and she was happy. Then Orochimaru made her watch as he ordered his widows to kill each one of them in front of her. All you could do was look helplessly at the scene, trapped in some subconscious cage and unable to reach her. Unable to help any of them.

Each time you had a nightmare, you were woken up to a wet nose pressed against your cheek. Most nights, it was Akino who would wake you and curl up against your side. Other nights, you woke to Bull panting in your ear and Pakkun grumbling as he settled on your chest.

They seemed used to waking their companions from nightmares. Almost as if they had a routine response to it.

"Does Kakashi get them too?" you asked Pakkun one night. He gave you the same disgruntled look as always. "I'm sure he does. Probably hard not to when your kid is kidnapped."

The days were idle, but you sometimes wondered if you would be happy living like this. There was no larger purpose to it. No goal but to keep the dogs and yourself alive. But you also felt at peace knowing that you were caring for other living beings. You saw why so many people chose it.

It also gave you an excuse to indulge in Kakashi's sizable backyard. When you were in the Red Room, being outside was a luxury that you were only able to indulge in on missions. Having constant access to fresh air felt like a dream.

"C'mon," you called to the dogs, "outside, let's go."

All eight rushed through the door when you opened it, jumping over one another in their haste to race around the yard. Only Pakkun seemed content to sit at your side and rest his head against your thigh.

After a while, Bull wandered towards you and rested his head in your lap, looking up at you expectantly.

"Thirsty?" you asked the bulldog. "Hold on, big guy. I'll be right back."

"Y/N!"

The familiar call of your name made both you and Bull turn towards the source. Bull was quicker to react than you, his thirst forgotten. It took you a moment to start moving so that you could see past the gate.

The voice came from the opposite side of the gate. Pakkun jumped up when he saw Kakashi unlatching it, and he was quickly followed by the rest of the pack. You released a shaky breath when you saw Sakura looking over his shoulder, waving wildly at you with a grin.

You sidestepped Kakashi and the pack of dogs competing for his attention and met Sakura in a tight hug. Something loosened in your chest that you hadn't realized bound itself up. She was safe.

"I missed you," she said happily, the words muffled in your shoulder. You laughed and squeezed her tighter.

"I missed you too," you laughed, pushing her away enough that you could give her a once-over. There weren't any physical changes that you could see, and she seemed relatively unharmed, but that didn't stop fear from growing from its root in your stomach. Why were they here?

"Looks like the dogs are still alive," Sasuke grumbled behind Sakura, followed closely by Naruto. He seemed surprised that all of the dogs were unharmed and presumably well-fed in your hands.

"Of course they are," Sakura shot back, and you noted the guilt that crossed Sasuke's face when he met her icy glare.

Once they had given Kakashi a thorough greeting, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto were given an equally enthused welcome by the pack. They switched between the three with wagging tails, and the kids seemed just as happy to reciprocate. Even Sasuke had a fond smile on his face as he rubbed behind Bull's ears.

"Thank you for looking after them," Kakashi said, taking up Sakura's empty space next to you. The two of you watched the dogs pile on top of Naruto until the boy could barely be seen, but you could hear his laughter from underneath. "I hope they weren't too much of a handful."

"They were good. It was nice," you added as an afterthought. "I didn't realize you were all coming here."

"We sometimes come when we want a break," Kakashi shrugged, "I figured they could use it."

It only took a moment for you to break out of the domestic fantasy that you'd been living in for the past week.

"Did something change?"

Sakura seemed normal. She was moving around fine, and nothing looked out of the ordinary. But yesterday, the update had been the same. No progress.

"The doctors couldn't find anything," Kakashi sighed, "if there had been anything in her system to begin with, they think it probably passed after it had been deactivated. They're guessing that it was some form of the chemical agent that was mentioned in HYDRA's files, but since we're missing so many years of information, they can't know for sure.

"The good news is, since the doctors think that it was a one-time use, we probably have nothing to worry about. The only thing they want us to do is keep an eye on her."

"If there had been anything?" you repeated. That implied the possibility that there hadn't been anything wrong to begin with.

"SHIELD sent a psychiatrist to talk to Sakura, and I told him that Sasuke was the one who found her. He raised the possibility that, since this has been a time of high-stress, Sasuke could have been exaggerating how bad things really were. He suggested that Sakura was just having a psychological episode when she attacked, and that Sasuke misinterpreted it as mind control."

"You've got to be kidding me," you scoffed. When you glanced at Kakashi, you expected to see the same anger that you felt at this assumption, but all you saw was guilt. He wasn't meeting your eyes. "You're not serious."

"I'm not saying that there was nothing wrong–"

"No," you held a hand up, silencing him immediately, "I don't want to hear it. I know what happened. I've told you dozens of times. It wasn't some episode. It was Orochimaru looking at me that night, not Sakura."

"I know you believe that," Kakashi muttered. He winced at his own choice of words, "but you're not exactly...in a good state of mind right now. You've been seeing things for weeks. You attacked me because you couldn't remember that you'd escaped the Red Room and you thought I was an enemy. I'm just saying that there's a possibility that...that Sakura was just having a nightmare and thought the same thing about you. Those kinds of responses to trauma aren't uncommon."

That couldn't be true. That night...it hadn't felt like any of your other panic attacks, and it hadn't felt like a hallucination.

"I know what I saw. I'm...I am not crazy, Kakashi."

"I never said that."

You needed to think. You almost wished you could lock yourself away and pretend that you were still in the Red Room. Things hadn't been pleasant, but they had been simple.

You didn't spare a glance at Sakura as you strode inside, though you felt her eyes on your back. You felt all of them watching you as you retreated back inside.

Anger and guilt fought furiously in your mind, and nausea swirled in your stomach at Kakashi's words.

There had to be some other explanation. You would never forget the look in Sakura's eyes when she wrapped her fingers around your throat. You'd never seen such pure hatred on her face before.

Kakashi and the others had probably been discussing this. They likely came to the mutual conclusion that you were out of your mind and unable to give a proper account of that night.

It made sense. You were an outsider. Even to Sakura, you were a companion that she'd been forced to hold onto rather than someone she chose. But now she had her family back. Kakashi probably told them everything that happened during the mission, from what you'd found about your parents to your episode only four days into the three weeks that you were away.

In their eyes, you were the basket-case who wasted a month of their time because you weren't in control of your own mind. You'd taken their teacher away for nothing, leaving Sasuke and Naruto to try and help Sakura heal without him. And if what they thought was true, it had all been for nothing.

Logically, it should've been a good thing. If what Kakashi told you was correct, it meant that Sakura hadn't been in any danger to begin with. But you couldn't help the dread that kept you huddled on your bed in the spare room, curled into yourself as you replayed Sakura's attack over and over again. This was your life now. Without Orochimaru, you were breaking apart and dragging the others down with you.

You heard someone enter the house a while later, and you weren't surprised to hear Sakura knocking at your door with a quiet request for entrance. She sounded nervous, and knew Kakashi probably told her why you were upset, if he hadn't out right requested that she come talk to you.

"Come in," you sighed, hoping she wouldn't notice how anxious you were.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing she said. You winced; why did you need an apology from her, of all people? None of this was her fault. And if you could just stop being so selfish and worrying only about yourself, she wouldn't have to worry about you either.

"Why?" you forced a small smile, but it only made her frown deeper, "you don't need to be sorry, Sakura. You didn't do anything wrong."

She nodded, but didn't look any more convinced than she had when she walked in.

"I just...I wish I could remember what happened that night. Then maybe I could help us find answers."

That burden shouldn't have been hers to bear. This was your responsibility, and you failed.

"Don't be mad at Kakashi-sensei," she said quietly, eyes cast downwards at where your hands were gripping the sheets. You released the white fabric and locked your fingers together, "he's just trying to make sense of this. We all are."

I have made sense of it, you wanted to tell her, I know Orochimaru. I know that this is something he would do.

But you weren't so sure now. You had been questioning what was real and what was just a product of your panic for weeks now.

You were supposed to be strong for her. She was the one who needed your support, not the other way around. When Kakashi hadn't been there, you'd taken care of her. That wouldn't change just because you were unable to gain proper control over your mind.

"I know," you said, attempting another reassuring smile. This one seemed to work a bit better than the last, as she returned it and let some of the tension drain from her shoulders, "I'm just happy you're safe."

"I'm happy you're safe too," she said with a watery laugh, "and Kakashi-sensei and I were talking. He agreed that, if you'd like to, you should stay here for a while."

Your immediate instinct was to reject this offer on the same grounds as you had the last time, but you supposed that Ino had given you some leverage by making it appear that you were dead. Assuming her ruse had worked, the main issue keeping you from accepting Sakura's offer would be...

"Sasuke and Naruto agreed too," she added. You raised a brow at her, unconvinced that Sasuke had been as willing as she was making it sound. She winced, "it did take some convincing."

"I don't know, Sakura," you murmured. While the thought of what you would do after Sakura was safe had crossed your mind, you always pushed it off as a secondary problem. And while you weren't convinced that Sakura was safe, from what Kakashi had told you, you weren't needed anymore, "I don't think I'd fit in well here."

"Of course you would!" Sakura waved a hand, pushing the thought away. "He won't admit it, but Kakashi-sensei likes you. He was worried about leaving you here for so long."

"I think he might have been more worried about his dogs," you corrected, but her expression didn't change. "You four are a family. I'd only get in the way of that."

"You're my family too," Sakura said firmly, taking your hand from your lap and holding it between hers, "and I want you to be safe. Where else would you go?"

It was a fair question. Since you began planning your escape, it had always been about Sakura getting back home. You'd never given much thought to what you'd do. The only thing that you could come up with was going back to the Red Room, but that wasn't exactly a viable option. You also knew that it wasn't want pulling you back, but the need for familiarity and routine. Despite all of the pain you experienced there, you knew that having a sense of purpose again would be something of a relief.

"I don't know. I'd figure something out," you tried reassuring her. You were an adult; you should've been more than capable of creating a life for yourself outside of the Red Room. Sakura didn't need you anymore; you'd done what you could for her. Staying any longer in your current mental state would only burden her further.

But maybe there was a chance for redemption here. A chance to heal.

"Let me sleep on it," you finally answered. You tried not to let the hope on Sakura's face convince you to stay right then and there; Sakura wasn't the only one you would be living with. You couldn't imagine that the others, even Kakashi, were eager to make you a permanent fixture of their daily lives. Kakashi had seen your mental state first hand; you doubted that he'd so easily put you in close quarters with his students.

"You can be happy here."

That was what she left you with. It was a thought that you ruminated on for hours, long after the others had come inside and gone to their rooms. When you looked at the clock again, hours had passed, and you were still no closer to a decision. Things were moving too fast for you to keep up.

This was new to you. Independence was not one of your strongest traits. It was rare that you'd ever made this kind of decision for yourself.

After another hour of stewing in your frustrations, you wandered into the kitchen for a change of scenery. You weren't going to sleep anytime soon, and sitting in a dark, empty room certainly wasn't doing you any favors.

Instead of the solitude that you'd been expecting to find, you saw Kakashi rummaging around the kitchen with a bowl of instant ramen sitting next to him.

"It's late," you grumbled, "don't you have a bed?"

Kakashi didn't seem surprised to see you awake either, though he also didn't look as frustrated as you felt. You could feel some leftover anger from your last conversation bubbling up. You'd been hoping to avoid speaking with him until tomorrow, especially now that you had two reasons to be avoiding him, but you supposed that this was a fitting way to end an already unpleasant day.

"You of all people should understand what insomnia is like," Kakashi retorted with a short chuckle.

You huffed, turning your attention to Shiba when he sat at your side. His face was the picture of contentedness as you buried your fingers in the thick fur on his head.

"Tea?" Kakashi asked over his shoulder, pouring himself a cup and raising a second in question. You felt some of your anger drain away. You were too tired to be so upset.

"Alright."

There was likely little harm in something so soothing. The only problem was that this appeared to be an invitation to spend more time with Kakashi, which wasn't something you were eager to do. But a conversation about what Sakura had told you did need to happen, and now was as good a time as any to get it over with.

You took the steaming cup that he handed you and followed him to the couch in the middle of the living room. Akino and Pakkun were already lounging on it, and Kakashi lifted the latter up and moved him to the middle cushion so that he could take the left side. Pakkun grumbled at Kakashi, but settled on his lap a few moments later. Akino lifted his head when you settled on the opposite side and rested it on your leg with a contented sigh.

"Sakura talked to you?"

"Yes," you sighed, focusing on Akino's slowly rising and falling back rather than Kakashi's studious gaze on you, "I found it hard to believe that you agreed to let me stay so easily."

"I spent a month with you where you had every opportunity to kill me. You didn't."

"I hope that's not your only criteria when looking for a roommate."

"No," Kakashi huffed, "but like I told you before, I trust you. And you obviously don't have anywhere else to go."

You glared at him despite how right he was. You would be wandering the streets if this opportunity hadn't been offered to you. If that were the case, you'd likely be found by HYDRA too, despite Ino's efforts. Orochimaru had eyes everywhere, but they had become limited within SHIELD in the past year. The offer really was too good to be true.

"So, what? I just become a part of your little group? There's no way Naruto and Sasuke are okay with that."

"They've barely interacted with you. And Sasuke is like that with most people before he gets to know them. Just give them some time."

"Why are you so insistent about this? You said it yourself; I'm 'not in a good state of mind,'" you repeated bitterly, ignoring Kakashi's guilty wince, "you really want me around your students?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but none of us are the pillar of good mental health. All of us have baggage, but we help each other deal with it. That's what makes us such a strong team."

It was all too easy. You escaped the Red Room with little trouble, Sakura was apparently never in any danger of Orochimaru's mind control to begin with, and now you were being offered the chance to have a home. A real home, with people who weren't looking to exploit you.

It was terrifying.

"I thought you'd jump at the chance to stay with Sakura."

"I...of course I want to stay with her, I just..." you buried your face in your hands, looking for the words to articulate your inner turmoil, "I could still bring HYDRA here. Ino said it herself: what she did might not have been enough to keep HYDRA away."

"What's the real reason?"

The silence that followed his words was heavy, and you sat in it uncomfortably while you tried to think of a good way to avoid the question. The truth was, you didn't know why. Maybe you didn't want to taint the good thing that the four of them had. Maybe you didn't know how to survive in an environment that didn't constantly threaten you with life and death decisions. How were you supposed to function in a place that seemed so...so good? You weren't good. You would only poison the life that they had.

"I don't belong here."

"'Belong.'" Kakashi chuckled, repeating the word like you'd told him a bad joke, "how do you think we all ended up together? All of those kids were outcasts. I was too. None of us belong anywhere. That's why we found each other."

It's not the same, you wanted to scream, but really, you had no idea if it was. You didn't know their stories. You only knew Sakura's, and that was certainly the case for her.

Maybe you could consider the possibility that you could be okay here.

"I'm not trying to force you, but you don't have many other options. And I know you've thought about going back to the Red Room, but that's not happening. Not while Sakura has any say in it," Kakashi said, setting his empty bowl on the floor for Shiba. "Or while I do."

It was an afterthought, and it shouldn't have surprised you as much as it did, but it still sent an unexpected shock down your spine. This was all happening too fast. Too many people were entering your life. You could feel yourself becoming emotionally overstimulated as each day passed, but you tamped the feeling down. You didn't need Kakashi seeing another breakdown.

"I wasn't planning on it," you muttered, though he was right in assuming that the thought had crossed your mind. It was a hard thought not to consider when the Red Room was all you had ever known.

"Glad to hear it," he said, taking a long sip of his tea. You followed suit, resenting his ability to be so nonchalant during these kinds of conversation. You weren't sure if you could get more tense if you tried.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"Fine."

"You don't have to lie."

You almost snapped at him. Why would he be the person that you opened up to about anything? But as soon as the thought crossed your mind, your anger dissipated. Aside from Sakura, there weren't many other people that you would talk to.

But that didn't matter. You were fine. At the very least, you were fine enough that you didn't need him psychoanalyzing you.

"I didn't mean to upset you earlier."

"I think I'm going to go to bed," you said, stopping the conversation in its tracks before you had to think about your state of mind on top of the decision you had to make. There were too many things to sort through, and you didn't have the energy to do it right now. Not when Kakashi kept looking at you like he could see right through you.

You gave Akino's head a scratch when he grumbled at you for moving him, but he settled his head back on the pillow that you situated in front of him to replace your leg.

"Goodnight," Kakashi said. You muttered the same, barely loud enough for him to hear, and retreated back to your room. You brought your nightmares with you.

The next night, you didn't fare much better. You woke from a nightmare at midnight, and soon after you heard Kakashi's door open. His soft footsteps moved towards the kitchen, and despite telling yourself that spending any more time with was a bad idea, you found yourself following the sound of the faucet and clinking glasses.

This time, he was sitting on the couch with a book, feet propped on Bull's back. Next to him on the couch was the volume of Icha-Icha that you'd been reading.

On the table in front of him were two cups of tea, steaming and warmly inviting you in.

You stopped to take in the scene, though Kakashi didn't look up at your entrance. Pakkun was on his lap, which seemed to be a common occurrence at this time of night, and the pug lifted his head to watch you as you contemplated whether or not to accept Kakashi's silent invitation.

Pakkun grumbled at you, eyes drooping tiredly. He was waiting for you to move, the little bastard.

You sat carefully on the opposite side of the couch, watching Kakashi like he would pounce at you the moment you let your guard down. He seemed unbothered by the attention, completely consumed by his book.

A bookmark was tucked into the pages of the volume you'd been reading. You remembered leaving it out on his bookshelf where you could easily find it, and you were almost embarrassed that he knew you'd been looking through his things. Still, you opened it to the bookmarked page and hesitantly began reading over the page.

Admittedly, the tea was very comforting.

Pakkun settled his head back on Kakashi's lap when you opened the book. Kakashi didn't move. If you didn't know better, you'd wonder if he had even noticed you sitting down.

Hours later, you were still glancing nervously between Kakashi and the book, though your distraction was becoming more infrequent. Kakashi looked completely engrossed in his novel, and it had been about an hour since either of you had moved past turning the page every few minutes.

You felt your eyes starting to get heavy, but the idea of sleeping was unpleasant at best. You didn't need Kakashi seeing you waking up from a nightmare. Not after he'd already seen it during the mission. But the idea of leaving the comfort of the living room seemed worse than risking having a nightmare in his presence.

Before you had fully made up your mind, your book had already fallen into your lap. When you drifted off, your nightmares were a distant memory.

You hadn't realized how addicting a pleasant night's sleep was until after you'd begun having nightmares again. What infuriated you was that the deciding factor for whether or not you had a pleasant night's sleep seemed to be Kakashi. You tried to think back and deduce what had triggered the seemingly random attachment, but came up empty. There had to be some reason for it, something logical that explained why you rarely had a nightmare when you slept in the same room as him.

Instead of giving you answers, thinking about it just left you frustrated. That didn't mean, however, that you stopped reading with him at night.

After the first couple of days, you fell into an easy routine. Kakashi would get up at around midnight, and when you gave up trying to fight the urge to follow, you'd enter the living room to see a volume of Icha-Icha on the couch and a cup of tea on the table. Each night, Pakkun would lift his head to look at you when you entered the room. You swore that his expression became more smug each time you came out.

After hours of reading with Kakashi, you'd fall into a dreamless sleep. Upon waking, Kakashi would be up and rummaging around the kitchen. Some mornings, a heavy weight in your lap would wake you, usually either Bull's large head on your thigh or Biscuit curling up on your legs.

Sakura generally woke next, though she never questioned your constant presence on the right corner of the couch. Instead, she'd take up Kakashi's empty spot and lay on your shoulder to continue resting.

You were relieved to see that she was already breaking her habits from the Red Room. Even just allowing herself more time to rest in the morning was a victory.

By the time Sasuke and Naruto wandered out of their rooms, Kakashi would have a small breakfast ready for the five of you.

The routine should've been comfortable. It should've been a sign that staying here with Sakura and the others would be good. And the problem was that it was making you comfortable. You weren't sure what to do with comfort. The unfamiliarity of it made you wary to accept it as your new normal.

But Sakura was okay. HYDRA thought you were dead. There was nothing keeping you from staying. You wondered if you'd get used to it if you just gave yourself some time. Maybe your nightmares would disappear completely, and the Red Room would become a distant memory that wasn't constantly trying to fight its way to the surface.

"Why do you come out here?" you asked Kakashi one night, almost a week since he'd come back to the house. You'd finished a volume of Icha-Icha and had been staring at the last page for at least five minutes, contemplating whether or not to say something. It almost felt wrong to break the silence that always persisted throughout the night; even more so when Kakashi looked at you instead of keeping his eyes focused on his book.

"Hm?" he tilted his head.

"You come out here every night," you stated, setting your book down. "When do you sleep?"

"I sleep when I'm tired," he shrugged, "same as you. And I like it out here."

It wasn't the answer you were looking for. What you really wanted to ask was why he'd been so sure that you'd join him every night that he made you a cup of tea and set out a book for you. You wondered when you'd gotten so used to it that you stopped questioning it altogether.

"I haven't had a nightmare in a week," you said instead. You felt like you were treading dangerous ground, and you almost wished you'd kept quiet.

"Oh?" Kakashi set his book down. "Good."

You nodded, though you knew by the tilt of his head that he saw your discomfort. He watched you flip absentmindedly between pages and waited for you to continue.

"I only started having nightmares like this when I met Sakura. Even when we were together, I couldn't figure out how to stop having them" you muttered, closing your eyes to try and stave off your impending anxiety. Sharing these kinds of things was frowned upon in the Red Room, and doing it now was almost painful.

Sakura was the one who taught you how to be open. How to be vulnerable. She guided you while you learned that the way you lived in the Red Room was not the only way to do so.

She'd be proud of you for this.

"I was fine during the mission," you glanced at him, "and I've been fine since I started sleeping out here. It was only when you left that I started having them again."

His silence was more frustrating than it should've been. Was he really going to make you say it?

"I don't get it," you huffed. You should've planned for the conversation better. Though at the moment, it wasn't much of a conversation.

"Neither do I."

Now Kakashi was the one who looked uncomfortable. He had admitted something. You didn't have the full picture, not yet, but it was a start. A start to understanding why you were becoming so dependent on him without wanting to.

"What?" you breathed, finally looking at him while he avoided your eyes. He looked down at Pakkun, who was staring at him with curious eyes.

It took him a moment to gather his thoughts. He looked at the ceiling, maybe hoping that the words he was looking for would be scratched into the paint. When he found nothing helpful, he met your eyes again.

"I've dealt with nightmares for a long time. But when we went on the mission, I stopped having as many. When I went to the compound, I had them every night. I saw Sakura being taken again and again. Some nights I saw..."

He paused and shook his head.

"Now they're gone again. I've been wondering why you seem to be the common factor."

It was hard to believe that he was having the exact same problem as you, and you couldn't decide if your mutual struggle made you feel better or worse. Mutuality would make it harder to break this habit that was beginning to form.

Did you really need to break it?

You silenced the voice in your head quickly. Of course you did. Whether or not you chose to stay, you couldn't live with Sakura and Kakashi forever. Soon or later, HYDRA would catch up to you. You'd seen it before. Runaway Widows rarely made a life for themselves. The idea of independence was often too much for them, and they came crawling back. That was one of the reasons Orochimaru raised Widows the way that he did. He knew that they wouldn't be able to stay away.

You felt that pull too. It kept you up at night.

"You look stressed."

"I am stressed," you said with a laugh, almost in disbelief that you were having this conversation with him, "It'll just be harder to leave if I know that you're..."

"So you decided?"

He asked it so nonchalantly that you almost answered, yes, you had decided. You wanted to stay, but you caught yourself. You hadn't decided. What you wanted was not the only factor you needed to consider. Sakura's safety was more important. It was more important than your own safety, so if leaving helped ensure that she was out of harm's way, that's what you would do.

"Can I say something?"

The fact that he was asking made you wary to give him permission, but you nodded.

"I think you're looking for a reason to leave," he said, "and you're trying to twist this into a bad thing."

"I'm not twisting it," you said with a glare, "I just don't understand why I can only sleep through the night when I'm around you. And even more confusing is why you can't seem to get a good night's sleep without me."

"Maybe you feel safe around me," he shrugged, and before you could negate the statement, he added, "and maybe I feel safe around you too."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Doesn't it?" he shifted, much to Pakkun's chagrin. The pug stood from his lap and wandered towards you, laying down with a disgruntled look in Kakashi's direction. "You protected Sakura in the Red Room for four years, and I've protected her for most of the rest of her life. It makes sense that we would see safety in one another."

It did make sense. So much sense that you wanted to throw the thought away and never revisit it again. The idea of relying on someone this much made a weight settle on your chest. Orochimaru hadn't taught you to need other people. He taught you the opposite. He taught you how to survive despite pain and fear, and eventually, he taught you how to crush those weaknesses. Now you couldn't handle a couple of bad dreams.

"Ironic, considering you attacked me when we first met," Kakashi spoke under his breath, though there was no trace of contempt in his voice.

"I thought you were testing me," you muttered, as if that was reason enough for the second time you'd attacked him.

You didn't understand this. You didn't understand why he was so insistent that you stay.

"Why does it matter to you what happens to me?"

"I think you deserve the chance to be happy. Just like Sakura."

You were so angry. Angry with Kakashi for making you rely on him. Angry at Orochimaru for turning you into this poor excuse of a human being. Angry at yourself for the tears gathering in the corners of your eyes, another sign of your weakness.

Silence crowded the room, and you felt pressed in by it. Tears fell down your cheeks in slow streaks, but you ignored them.

You couldn't keep from flinching when Kakashi reached a hand towards you. He paused, knuckles frozen inches from your face. You eyed his hand like you were waiting for it to form into a fist and strike you; waiting for the familiar ache of a bruise forming on your cheek.

When you met Kakashi's eyes, he moved closer until his knuckles brushed a tear off of your cheek. The touch was lighter than anything you'd experienced, and more gentle than you'd expected. Other than Sakura, no one had ever treated with so much care.

"Ino was wrong," he whispered, opening his hand and brushing his thumb over the wet trail where your tear had fallen. You were frozen in place, forcing yourself to not react to his touch. You wanted to flinch away or push him back on instinct, but nothing was hurting. Nothing felt wrong, "you're not a lost cause."

You had trouble believing that. Kakashi dropped his hand from your face.

"I'm sorry that no one told you that until now."

More tears followed the ones Kakashi had wiped away. This was too much. You were unprepared for the emotions that were swirling in your chest.

"It's too good," you croaked, voice watery, "all of this is too good. I shouldn't be in a place like this. I'm...I'm not meant for it."

"I thought that too," Kakashi said, voice hoarse, "a long time ago. I've done things that I regret, and for a long time, I was convinced that I didn't deserve to be happy. That my penance was to ward off anything good that came my way. But the things that we have been forced to do are not our fault. Our regrets don't define us."

You felt the lump in your throat growing the longer he spoke, and you tried your hardest not to break down in front of him.

"At least try," he murmured, voice quiet and low.

Your words were failing you. You still felt where Kakashi had brushed his thumb over your cheek. If you opened your mouth, you were afraid you'd only break down.

You nodded, and it didn't feel like a betrayal of Orochimaru. It felt like a second chance.

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Author's note | title is from "Through Me (The Flood)" by Hozier

[wind-becomes-lightning]

📓📓📓!! <3333

Put "📓" or some other version of a book emoji into my inbox and I'll explain the plot of a fanfiction that I haven't written but daydream about.

ok right the ever so brainrotting sharingan cult arc of my AU. im gonna try to keep this short because i could rant about it for ages and nobody cares ok.

essentially, Ko, who is ofc a spy, gives information to this cult of weirdo people who want the sharingan, at best the mangekyou, at very very best the sweet rinnegan version.s he tells them there are 3 uchiha grown up alive in the village, one has no eyes, one has the mangekyou and one is the sweet rinnegan boy. what these dudes to with that information is no concert to her.

so they decide: how can we get these adults to come fight us? thats right, we attack their children. and so 3 attacks happen at the same time. ren and takeshi uchiha (sasukes twin boys, both 2 1/2) get attacked in a forest (in which tehy shouldnt have been, but takeshi was adventurous and ren followed). takeshi gets injured greatly, but sasuke swoops in to save his sons(and kill the person responsible). (@queen-tabris) shisui (about 4) gets attackedw hile in the uchiha clan house while his mother is having a nap with his sister (about 2) which draw itachi out, and tho itachi has no eyes he like gets rid of the guy pretty much instantly (@uchiharomance). lastly there is obito, kakashis son, who is alone at home because his father is working and his mother is on mission and his sister is in school. he is 5. he has no way to defend himself until naruto comes in and whoosh saves him.

naruto brings obito to kakashi. there they all meet (Sasuke is there and itachi is there, all talk about what happened.) they realise that the only common denominator is that they are uchiha born children. tho its strange to them how intruders could even make it intot he village (hello ko). kakashi calls saya (anbu fox) and tells her to go out and get sayuri from her mission RIGHT AWAY.

unfortunately sayuri is already by then in deep shit, being completely surrounded by wayy to many enemies for her to handle alone.. so when saya finds her she is locked up somewhere and dying. Saya sends pakkun (Who is with her) and kakashi comes (tho tenzo says its better if he wasnt gonna go in case something is very wrong). either way kakashi is hokage and he does not care so he goes. when they arrive tenzo tells him that it would be good to keep one person alive to question them and kakashi is like yea yea

but then he throws like one look at sayuri and she is dying for real and he kind of forgets about that?? well sayuri uses her last strength to blink away from her captors and into kakahis arms and he scolds her that he told her not to use the mangekyou anymore because she could go blind. she cant even say anything in reply she just passes out. ANYWAY he kills them all. of course

at home its like security is doubled and sayuri is in the hospital for a long long time after that. it does not seem to pop up again but the issue is, how did they even manage to get into the village in the first place?

...... anyway i think a lot about that fic that i will never write.