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ladykibutsuji · 1 year

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“Treat You Better"

Tsugikuni Brothers x Reader

Chapter 3: Your Mistake Is My Opportunity

Yoriichi x Reader x Michikatsu

MODERN AU

A SERIES

WARNING: Smut Scene, Swearing

I don't own the picture and dividers used.

"f-fuck n-ngh~", Yoriichi was in between of your thighs eating your pussy out while michikatsu is behind you playing with your boobs, circling and pinching your nipples while his heavy breathing hits the back of your neck.

"I-i'm Close" Yoriichi then stopped eating you out as he stood up and wiped his lips with his thumb, "Why did you stop? I was closee" You whined.

"I got tired of playing around, let's take this serious" He started undoing his pants while michikatsu chuckled "Impatient aren't we?" Yoriichi just ignored his older brother while you stared intensely at yoriichi who's undoing his pants, This was your first time seeing the brother's cocks so you were curious and had your eyes focused on him. michikatsu was still behind you and his hands are getting down to your thighs, He started to circle around your clit earning a small whimper from you.

Yoriichi was now only wearing his boxer, You could already see the tip of his cock until..

RING RING

Time: 9:00

You suddenly woke up. "HAH?" You immediately sat up and began scanning your surroundings, You were panting and sweating from your dreams so you rested your forehead on your hand trying to calm yourself down

"Man was that a nightmare? Or a dream com- NO I CAN'T BE THINKING LIKE THAT OH MY GOD" You slapped yourself and got embarrassed of your own dirty thoughts, do you really view the brothers in that way?

You shook off the unbelievable thoughts raging in your head, You immediately grabbed your phone to check the time and it was already 9:04.

"Aw, I fall asleep on the couch while watching the latest episode of Demon Slayer I wonder what did I missed?" You got up and went to the kitchen to make yourself breakfast however when you opened the fridge it was empty, You tried checking the cabinets to see if there are still some Noodles left unfortunately you ran out aswell. You sigh to yourself and decided to go to a grocery to restock your sources.

You are about to go to the bathroom to clean yourself before going to the grocery until a notification pop out your screen.

> NEW MESSAGE FROM MUZAN KIBUTSUJI

—

[Muzan Kibutsuji]

Good morning Y/N, how are you?

[Y/N]

I'm doing great, how about you?

[Muzan Kibutsuji]

I'm good, thank you for asking.

It's been a week since we last saw each other I was thinking if you wanted to go watch a movie with me?

[Y/N]

I'm interested! What is the movie about? 👀

[Muzan Kibutsuji]

You will have to find out yourself.

[Y/N]

Aw:(

[Muzan Kibutsuji]

See you at 3

[Y/N]

Cyaaa

Wait! what about your coat?

—

You waited for his reply but after a few minutes he just left you on read not even bothering to reply, "Wow he really left me on read, guess I'll just have to keep his coat"

It's been a week since that weird incident occured and you got saved by no other than Muzan Kibutsuji, The one your mom and yoriichi despise the most. Of course You didn't told anyone about the encounter with Kibutsuji since you knew that yoriichi or your mother would probably forbid you to get close to him but you couldn't help but want to be closer to kibutsuji after all he is the one who saved you

Fast forward, You are now in the bathroom taking a warm shower while playing your favorite music on your phone. After a long shower you dried your (H/L) (H/C) while brushing it, After it was all dried out you got out the bathroom and walked towards the closet to pick out an outfit, you picked out a white sweater and pants that goes well with your soft white sweater.

You took a look in the mirror to check if it was okay, "Alright! I'm all good" you hummed taking your purse from the table, You sprayed your perfume all over yourself and after that you walked down the stairs to where your shoes are.

You are about to go to the door where most of your shoes are placed when you noticed that your living room's window is wide open

"eh? Did I left it open?" You questioned yourself, you just shrugged it off thinking that you probably must of have left it open since there was no one else in the house but you so who else could open it? You closed the window and went near the door to put on your white shoes with low socks.

As soon as you are done doing your shoes, you walked towards the door to exit your House after you are outside you locked the door behind you with a key and later on stuffing the keys onto your pockets.

'Behind You'

You quickly turned around because of the voice in your head thinking that someone is behind you but nobody was there.

You panicked for a short amount of time then you thought about how much coffee you consumed last night, You assumed that maybe it's just the side effects of drinking too much coffee "Is this the side effects of drinking too much coffee?"

You are about to walk over to the garage until you stopped on your tracks, "I'm too lazy to drive on my own I'll just take the bus", you began walking away from your house to wait for an upcoming bus.

After a few minutes of waiting a bus finally appeared and you entered the bus, observing the bus there was only 5 people including yourself. You sat near the window and took out your phone to prevent yourself from boredom

You wanted to chat the tsugikuni Brothers but things was still awkward for Michikatsu while Yoriichi is probably busy as of now based on his status being 5 hours offline. To entertain yourself from boredom you decided to chat your group of frienfs

—

[Y/N]

Hellooooo

—

No response. All of your friends is probably busy right now so here you are dying out of boredom, you decided to just take a nap but then you remembered you still have one more person to chat Aizetsu

—

[Y/N]

[Aizetsu]

Oh hi, I thought you forgot about me T~T

[Y/N]

Almost did

[Aizetsu]

[Y/N]

I'm just kidding HAHAHA, how are you?

[Aizetsu]

Life is tough my brothers have been bullying me straight for days and my older brother Sekido kept on scolding me even though I didn't do stuff 🥲

[Y/N]

That's tough, Just ignore them. By the way I have a question to ask

[Aizetsu]

Yeah?

[Y/N]

Do you know a man who goes by the name 'Muzan Kibutsuji'

[Aizetsu]

Weird question but yes I do.

[Y/N]

How did you got to know him?

[Aizetsu]

Almost everyone knows him, he's a well known celebrity

[Y/N]

I mean do you have connections with him?

[Aizetsu]

Sort of

[Y/N]

How

[Aizetsu]

My family works under his family, Like my grandfather Urami is one of his men and same goes for my brothers.

Why so curious?

So does that mean you work for him aswell?

[Y/N]

Secret

[Aizetsu]

Secret

[Y/N]

>:(

[Aizetsu]

Don't get mad at me:(

—

You are about to reply to Aizetsu until you noticed that you already reached your destination, so you left him on read

> NEW MESSAGE

(Aizetsu: Seener 😭)

You didn't notice the notification from your phone as you are too busy getting off the bus.

While walking towards the grocery you noticed eyes on you , You look around the area trying to figure out who is looking at you from the crowds.

The crowd was pretty busy and they were minding their own business so you just shook the thoughts off your head thinking that you are just being paranoid.

Unfortunately, Every step you took you couldn't ignore the guts.

Tap

You flinched when someone tapped your shoulders from behind, you immediately turned around in a defensive position "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING M- wait Michikatsu? muichiro?" You calmed down after noticing that it was just your friends who tapped you from behind, you took a deep breath while they look confused from your sudden reaction a second ago.

"Sorry, did I scared you?" Said michikatsu, He was wearing a dark purple with black patterns hoodie and black pants, his hair was well hidden in his hoodie while he wore a pair of sunglasses and mask. Same could be said for muichiro except his hoodie is white and mint green in a pattern of mist.

"Michikatsu you gotta be careful nexttime I almost had an heart attack" you paused for a bit catching your breath "your outfit look silly" You teased, though you knew exactly the reason why both michikatsu and Muichiro are dressed like that since celebrities can't be seen too much in public or else it would be pure chaos.

"My apologies, may I ask what brought you here?" michikatsu inquired while muichiro waved at you, you waved back and answered michikatsu "To shop obviously" You paused after realizing that yoriichi and Yuichiro isn't with them, normally it would be the 4 of them hanging out "What happened to yoriichi and Yuichiro? Why are they not with you?"

"They are busy" He answered, you just let an 'oh' knowing that yoriichi is a busy man especially due to the fact of yoriichi lately trending all over social media, yoriichi is a rising star. While for yuichiro he was some sort of introvert and he prepares staying inside the estate though he is also a rising star since he played a huge role in a famous movie same to where muichiro did aswell.

After having your conversation with the two, the 3 of you decided to do grocery together since they were also there to restock their sources, Michikatsu bought a lot of vitamins while muichiro only bought foods. Currently you are in the Food area picking something out from the retail shelving until you caught a glimpse of someone in a white hoodie looking at you but it suddenly disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"Huh?" you felt chills down your spine so you immediately rushed over to the two with your basket. Muichiro noticed you speeding towards them so he asked you if you are okay and you struggle to talk maybe they might think you are weird.

Regardless of those thoughts, You decided to tell them about your worries because you have been feeling like someone is watching you for a week, you tried disregarding it thinking that you are just overthinking it but you couldn't help but feel that this might be something serious.

"I'm not okay, someone is watching me" You took a deep breath looking around your surroundings, "atleast that's what my instincts told me, it have been like this for a week."

Michikatsu and muichiro stared at each other for a few seconds before returning their gaze back to you, "Are you sure you are not feeling tired Y/N?" muichiro asked, it look like muichiro didn't believe you since you openly talk to him about watching too much horror movie with stalkers in it and he thinks that you applied it in reality however for Michikatsu this seems like a serious matter because you never really talk about these kind of things "I see, if you want I could help you place a couple of CCTV in your house to ensure your safety or hire a guard for you" He offered.

You thought about it for a while and it was indeed a good idea of placing CCTV around your house how could you not think of that sooner but talking about a guard, you aren't really comfortable with having guards around since you wouldn't have too much privacy and you have a 'long history' with guards in your childhood making you despise some of them. "I'm not comfortable with having a guard around me all the time but I'll take your idea into putting a CCTV all around my house."

The 3 of you ended up buying a couple of CCTV to put around your house while muichiro was chatting with someone on his phone the whole time and he seem troubled. As soon as the 3 of you are finished with the groceries all of you got in the vehicle, Michikatsu told you to wait for a few minutes since he forgot to buy something so here you are In car's backseat with muichiro on the other side still chatting someone.

"someone got a gf?"

"no"

"I doubt it, why is your eyes too fixated on the screen?"

"what? Are you jealous because I'm not giving you attention?"

You sighed at his sarcastic response, he didn't even bother take his eyes off the screen so you just assumed that it was something important for him to be so focus on. "if you want attention you could just ask for it" You rolled your eyes at him this guy surely have guts to be jokingly flirting with you well it's not that you mind since you have been friends with him for a long time.

"I definitely do not nee-" you stopped talking when he suddenly put his phone down and his face leaned closer to yours. He did not have his mask on nor his sunglasses since he took them off the moment he entered michikatsu's car. So now both your faces are just a few inches away from each other and your lips almost touching, you could feel his light breathing as he stared at you intensely

You froze on spot as your cheeks became red, he slightly tilted his head still staring at you while he poke your cheek with his finger "you really are beautiful up close." , his compliment made you almost lose your mind so you shoved his face away from you "Y-you are too close and who the hell taught you that" Stuttering and still red from embarrassment you couldn't look him straight into his eyes so you just closed your own eyes "Was it bad? Uzui-san told me it was a good idea.."

"Don't ever take advice from him. Ever."

The both of you got distracted when someone opened the door, Michikatsu was back "Sorry if I took so long" he apologized as he handed you something...(Favorite/Food)? "I know your love for that food so I decided to buy it for you to help you calm down from your problems."

Your eyes lit up as you hummed, you immediately started thanking him and muichiro is just besides you thinking about why michikatsu only got you food but not him. Michikatsu started driving and muichiro is just playing on his phone to kill time while you are eating your favorite food.

After a few minutes of driving, muichiro placed his head on your shoulder while taking a deep breath. "tired?" You asked to which he just hummed in response, you decided to share some of your food with him since he does look tired "Wanna try my food?" you asked while he muttered "sure" so you feed him your food with chopsticks.

Michikatsu who is watching from his rear view mirror was jealous, he was salty because he wished it was him getting fed by you, now he's wishing he didn't brought muichiro along

"I'll drop you off first to your estate muichiro." said michikatsu, muichiro tried to protest "my estate is closer to yours so why can't we just go over to y/n firs-"

"Stop complaining or get out the car", Muichiro who is still on your shoulders just rolled his eyes and you wonder why michikatsu is in a bad mood. You wanted to ask him if he was okay but this definitely does not look like the perfect time.

A few more minutes passed by and you are already at muichiro's estate, before muichiro gets out the car he gave you a light kiss on the cheeks which made you flustered as hell while michikatsu had an annoyed look. as soon as muichiro closed the car's door Michikatsu took this chance to talk things out with you.

"Y/N." He called out to you his eyes still focused on the road ahead of him, "hmm?"

"We need to talk"

???'S POV

Tch, this is too easy.

For the past few hours I have been placing these small cameras in places where I was instructed to put, 'this will ensure her safety' they say.

However I have to hurry up, she might return Any moment now.

"we followed the car she is in, based from my calculations they will be home in about 10 minutes or so. Make sure you hid all the evidence. Pretend you are never there."

"Fuck you, I know so shut your damn mouth"

The guy speaking from the small radio irritates me so much, hell I'd rather get arrested than work with that guy but master wanted me to participate and I couldn't defy his orders.

I double checked all the places where I hid the cameras and made sure that they stay in put. I was about to go exit throughout the window when my eye caught something in her bedroom, Curiosity got the best of me so I approached it.

"What the fuck? Isn't this.."

"Get going, They are approaching"

3RD PERSON POV

"Ouch"

You had your other arm around Michikatsu's shoulders while his hand is around your waist assisting your body to walk, you are having trouble with walking due to what happened earlier, "Sorry I'll be careful nexttime."

"It's not your fault so don't blame yourself I did this to myself", You reached out to your pockets to get your keys, after managing to get a hold of your keys you unlocked the door while michikatsu helped you get to your couch, he gently placed you down and went to the kitchen to get you cold water.

After a few seconds he returned to you with a cup of water on his hand, "You didn't have to"

"It's fine, have it. I'm sorry if you tripped over my foot" Michikatsu apologized again, it was his 10th time apologizing "Heyyy like I said it's fine!"

Gently taking the cup of water from michikatsu's hand you quickly drink it while michikatsu just stared at you with full of admiration

"Oh what about the camera? Should I help you place them?" Thinking about how michikatsu already did so much for you such as paying for your grocery you decided to lie about not wanting to put camera anymore so you wouldn't have to be a burden to him anymore. "ah I changed my mind, having cameras all around my house is weird" At first he raised his eyebrow in confusion since earlier you were so eager to put cameras around your house but he just decided to respect your decision "Alright, but if you need help I'm here'

You just hummed in response, he fixed his hoodie and hair before going out. He wanted to stay for a little longer but he still have other schedules so he had no other choice but to fulfill his duties.

"before I go" His hand grabbed your chin as he leaned closer to your face, "I'm quite jealous of my cousin being able to be clingy towards you" he then kissed you on your lips as you melted at the sensation. The kiss was going deeper and deeper until you snapped out your thohghts Wait this is wrong

Friends don't act this way.

You are not even his Type.

This is wrong

You gently pushed him away while he look confused, "What's wrong?"

"this is wrong, we can't be seen together. Your career might fall apart"

"Nobody is even here, it's just us Y/N", Even though michikatsu already apologized about his cruel rejection words the wounds he left remained, it was the type of wound that one can not heal.

You don't want to get caught like this with Michikatsu, you don't want the media to find out about this, You don't want his reputation ruined because of a mere artist. "Leave at Once."

Michikatsu had an expression of shock, he look like he wanted to say something but seeing you like that...he understands you need space. "understood" Michikatsu exits your house and took one final look at you before leaving, he knew he messed up and he couldn't do something about it so he just sigh in frustration and closed the door behind him.

Tears started falling from eyes as you hated yourself for pushing him away even though you wanted him you love him. But it needed to be done, you wanted him to have the best career so you did what you thought was best.

You decided to take a warm bath to clean your thoughts before going to hangout with Kibutsuji but since you are still struggling to walk you held onto any item and furniture that could support you.

CRASH

You accidentally knocked your own vase while holding onto the table for support, you stared at the broken vase Infront of you and noticed something unusual

"is that a recording device?" You bent down to the broken vase to confirm your thoughts but when you tried to take it a broken piece of the vase got onto your hand so now you got a small injury, you ignored this injury and still took the recording device. You inspect this recording device while sweating

Someone is watching

'Behind you'

You quickly turned around to find no one, the voice in your head is back. you panicked at the thought of someone watching you did they also saw you naked?

You quickly reached out to your phone calling the first person who came across your mind, Muzan Kibutsuji

Ringgg

"pick up...pick up.."

MUZAN'S POV

“all those shitty training and you still can't find it?"

I was scolding akaza for being incompetent until a ringing was heard from my own device, I looked over at the screen only to find her ringing me up. She doesn't usually ring me up randomly so this caught my attention.

"Leave"

"As you wish."

When my subordinate left the room I picked up the call.

(Kibutsuji...you have to help me, Someone placed fucking cctvs all over my house Someone is watching me)

Her voice..she sound like she's scared.

"Oh? Calm yourself down Y/N do you want me to pick you up?"

(Yes please)

(But I have to favor to ask if that's okay..)

"Hm?"

(Can you inspect my house? I don't feel safe)

"Very well"

I hang up on her while a smirk appeared on my face, I don't remember sending anyone to stalk her nor place those CCTV in her house It must be her Mother L/N. What a stupid woman.

Your mistake will be my opportunity.

—

IN THE CORP'S MEETING PLACE

"You found Kibutsuji's coat in my daughter's bedroom?!"

The mother of Y/N L/N was shocked upon seeing the picture of Kibutsuji's coat in her daughter's bedroom, Yoriichi who is also present at the meeting was fuming with rage.

"Sanemi, that is not a nice thing to say to Mrs. L/N" Said by Shinobu Kocho who gave sanemi a dissapointed stare, she knows that y/n getting involved with the kibutsuji is not a good thing but insulting her does no good either

"didn't know your daughter was freaky" The man with spiky white hair said looking unbothered, the other guy with red beads started crying "Poor soul.."

"I went all through that shit just so we could watch over your freaky daughter flirts with our greatest enemy?" Sanemi said in a angry tone, he was annoyed with the fact that he went all through the trouble just to watch over someone who is weak asf and can't even defend herself. "Instead of putting camera all over her room why won't you just tell her to not meatrid-

PUNCH

Everyone got shocked by the sudden action that yoriichi did, the room was suddenly silent and everyone was clearly in shock and disbelief.

The master of the corps just stared at them while Mrs. L/N had her hand in her mouth.

Yoriichi punched sanemi.

Sanemi always had a disrespectful mouth though the member of the corps didn't seem to mind since they got used to it. Even yoriichi didn't even care about sanemi until he started talking shit about Y/N

"Watch your words, You seem to forgot that Y/N is also your superior."

Sanemi was bleeding from his nose and mouth, he look a bit shock aswell not expecting this kind of physical action from yoriichi. He was about to return it to yoriichi until their master stopped them.

"Sanemi."

Sanemi grunts as he contained his anger to not dissapoint his master, he immediately got down on his knees forced to apologize while yoriichi apologized for the mess he caused.

"Master!" kanroji who is in charge of watching over Y/N thru the CCTV was sweating all over "Y/N found one of our hidden cameras!" She paused for a short amount of time trying to catch her breath "Kibutsuji is with her."

"My man, did you poorly hid the cameras or something. That was unflashy" Said by the guy who wore 2 thick golden rings on his upper arms and a tattoo on his other eye. "Shut up."

Yoriichi got pissed off just by hearing the word 'kibutsuji' and your name together in one sentence. He wouldn't let Kibutsuji get to you

"What will our next move will be, Master?" Asked by guy who have a pair of dark blue eyes with long black hair that is Tied into a ponytail.

"I think we made a mistake."

END OF CHAPTER

OFF-SCREEN

• Muichiro noticed that michikatsu gets jealous everytime he makes a move on you so he always does this on purpose just to piss him off

• Starting from this chapter, The corps members will be having a hard time to reach Y/N since she will be living under Kibutsuji's care

• At first, everyone thought that you are in a relationship with muzan which add another reason to why yoriichi wanna blow his brains

• Sanemi is part of your friendgroup and he totally disliked the idea of you getting watched over 24/7 even though he won't admit it. (that's why he tried to protest against it)

• You are not really aware of your friendgroup being in an organization

• After tripping over michikatsu's foot, you fell so badly that you had a minor injury on your leg

#demon slayer #fanfiction #kimetsu no yaiba #kny #demon slayer muzan #michikatsu x reader #yoriichi x reader #demon slayer yoriichi #kny yoriichi #kokushibo

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dunbonnets · 3 months

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BLOOD RED SUN | TANJIRO KAMADO

synopsis. ━━ Blood Breathing stands as a revered and elusive style of combat. Centuries have passed since its mastery graced the ranks of the Demon Slayer Corps, its secrets all but lost to time. Yet, in a remarkable turn of fate, a lone figure emerges — a girl of unparalleled skill, self-taught in the profound ways of Blood Breathing.

Misaki Kobayashi's journey as a Demon Slayer began in tragedy, as the awakening of this ancient power stemmed from a desperate attempt to protect her younger brother from the clutches of a demon. Suffering the ultimate loss, she channeled her grief into joining the esteemed Demon Slayer Corps, driven by a fervent desire for vengeance upon the one who had torn her family asunder.

After passing the Final Selection, Misaki is assigned to a mission in a village plagued by mysterious disappearances of young girls. It is on this mission that she crosses paths with Tanjiro Kamado, another skilled Demon Slayer sent to investigate the same case. At first hesitant to work alongside him, Misaki soon discovers a surprising synergy in their fighting styles and tactics as they stand together to vanquish the demon terrorizing the village.

Despite vowing never to let anyone else into her heart after all she has suffered, Misaki finds herself drawn to Tanjiro in unexpected ways. Through their shared experiences and battles, she begins to care for him deeply. And as they continue to fight side by side, she learns to embrace the light and love that Tanjiro brings into her life, even amidst the darkness of their demon-slaying duties.

content warnings. ━━ canon-typical violence, gore, blood, death, ptsd, explicit language.

status. ━━ story in-progress. sporadic updates.

chapters. ━━ 00/?? (first chapter coming soon)

reading links. ━━ available only on tumblr & ao3.

tag list. ━━ @pepperronys @pseudonym-lux @void-daniella (wanna be tagged? either comment or send an ask or dm!)

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kitty8804 · 2 months

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Historian Butterfly AU: Chapter 3

Shinobu x female oc

Masterlist

It was late at night. But despite the ungodly hour someone was still awake and didn’t look like she was going to sleep anytime soon

Fukuro kept looking between several different documents and took notes as she did so. She was so focused on what she was doing that she literally lept out of her seat and tumbled onto the floor when she felt a hand on her shoulder. But not before she punched the person on the chin.

“Ow…”

“Holy shi-ow!”

Fukuro looked up and saw that the person who startled her was her housemate, Kenta. “Kenta? What are you doing up?”

Kenta held his chin and gave Fukuro a slightly irritated look. “I woke up and wanted a glass of water. Besides, shouldn't I be asking you that? It’s 4:00 am. Why the heck are you still working?”

Fukuro got up and walked into the kitchen. “Don’t act like you’ve never pulled all nighters for research.” She grabbed a mug from the cabinet and was about to make herself more coffee, but Kenta quickly stopped her.

“Oh no. You’re going to bed. You just finished that huge project you had been stressing about. You need your rest.”

“But this is important! I think I’m going to make a breakthrough!”

Kenta took the coffee cup from her hand and put it away. “Your breakthrough can wait until you’re not functioning on coffee and 3 days with no sleep. Besides how important can researching the existence of demons be?”

Fukuro gasped in mock offense. “There is so much more to it than that! It’s about answering the unknown. Exploring every possibility. Understanding why people believed in demons.”

“Whatever you say. But you’re going to bed. Come on.” Kenta began to basically drag Fukuro to her bedroom. “You’re lucky Zoey can sleep through anything.”

“I’m telling you Kenta. Someday my research is going to matter. So I’m going to do all I can now!”

***

Fukuro fiddled with her hands nervously as she made her way to Master Ubuyashiki’s mansion. When Shinobu told her that he had requested to meet with her she was shocked. She had immediately begun to worry that she had done something wrong. Shinobu had assured her that she wasn’t in trouble, but that just made this meeting even more nerve wracking! At least if she was in trouble she could mentally prepare herself. But instead she was left wondering what the heck the head of the demon slayer corps wanted with her! Fukuro knew that Ubuyashiki was incredibly kind from what her Gran Gran and Shinobu told her, but his title was still rather intimidating.

When she got to the mansion all she could do was stare at the entrance, nervously. Am I supposed to knock or am I supposed to wait here? Should I go in or am I supposed to just announce my presence? Is the meeting even supposed to be inside? Is it supposed to be outside? Why didn’t I ask these questions before I left?!

“Excuse me? Are you Fukuro Hitomi?”

Fukuro nearly jumped out of her skin as the voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She let out a small squeak as she quickly looked over at the child that she had failed to notice due to being on the verge of a mental breakdown.

The young girl had pale skin and large, purple eyes. She had white, shoulder-length hair styled into a blunt bob with bangs and sported a red ribbon on the right side of her head. She was wearing a dark blue Hōmongi kimono decorated with purple flowers along with a maroon obi and a pink obiage and juban under everything.

Fukuro cleared her throat, embarrassed that she had been caught so off guard. “Y-yes that’s me!”

Luckily the kid did not react to Fukuro’s awkwardness at all. She gave Fukuro a little bow to show her respect before speaking. “Please follow me. Master Ubuyashiki is expecting you.”

Fukuro nodded and let the girl lead her through the estate. They stopped at a large door.

The girl knocked on the door and raised her voice. “Father, Ms Fukuro Hitomi has arrived.”

“Please come in.”

Without a word the girl opened the door and gestured for Fukuro to walk in. She did, albeit nervously. Ubuyashiki was sitting at a small table with some tea. The kid guided Fukuro to the table and gestured for her to sit down, which she did.

“Thank you Hinaki. You may go now. I would like to talk to Hitomi here in private,” Ubuyashiki said softly.

Hinaki bowed to Ubuyashiki, despite the fact that he could not see it, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Fukuro looked nervously at Ubuyashiki for a moment before frantically bowing her head, despite that he once again could not see it.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Master Ubuyashiki! I really hope that I’m not troubling you!”

“This is no trouble at all Ms Hitomi. It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Welcome to my home. I have heard some interesting things about you.”

Despite how soothing his voice was, Ubuyashiki’s words increased Fukuro’s nerves tenfold.

“O-Oh? Nothing bad I hope,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Please relax Ms Hitomi. I can assure you that you are not in any trouble. I just have some questions for you, that's all.”

Fukuro let out a small sigh as her shoulders slumped. “O-Okay! Sure! Ask me anything!”

“I’m curious where you got that necklace of yours from. Were you aware that it had a compartment with wisteria poison in it? If you pushed the button on the top in a certain way a needle would come out so that you could inject the poison into someone. The person who fixed it was very intrigued by it. I would also guess that’s how the demon that chased you died the night we found you.”

Fukuro fiddled with her necklace and stared at it curiously. “No, I had no idea that it could do that. This necklace was a gift given to me by my great grandmother. She never told me where she got it. She said that the necklace would protect me from danger, but I didn’t realize she meant that literally.”

“Ah yes. Ms Kocho did mention that your great grandmother was a kakushi. That is why you are so interested in demons, correct?”

Fukuro’s eyes lit up at the mention of her great grandmother. “Yes sir. She would always tell me stories about them when I was little. She would tell stories about the Hashira, random missions that she stumbled upon, and even mundane ones about her bonding with her fellow kakushi! She apparently went to the swordsmith village at one point too! The details are a bit fuzzy since I was 6 when she died, ” Fukuro quickly realized she was getting side tracked and cleared her throat awkwardly. “Sorry for rambling sir.”

Ubuyashiki just laughed. “No need to apologize, my child. It is a rarity to find someone with enthusiasm such as yours these days. A shame in my opinion.” He took a sip of his tea. “I am surprised you thought the demon slayers disbanded given your closeness with a family member who seemed to have spent a long time with us.”

Fukuro was glad that Ubuyashiki could not see her because she immediately started sweating bullets. Crap! I mentioned that to Shinobu when we first met, didn't I? I didn’t know I was in the past yet so it slipped! Of course me knowing the demon slayers being disbanded would look weird if I was from this time. Don’t panic Fukuro! Just improvise your excuse! If you can defend your college thesis on the fly then you can handle this!

“I think I just kinda told myself that it was. My Gran Gran never told me the demon slaying corps was disbanded, but I figured that it had to be since I had never seen a demon before and most of my family was convinced that her stories were nonsense. Surely she would just show us the corps to show that she was telling the truth right? Maybe she just didn’t want to put her family’s life at risk? Being involved in the corps at all is a huge risk, even if you’re not on the front lines. That didn’t stop me from trying to prove the existence of demons, my new obsession. Honestly I was very lucky to have never met a demon until 2 weeks ago,” Fukuro explained. Everything she said wasn’t a complete lie, but she definitely wasn’t telling the truth either.

“True. While it is a shame that you never knew for sure about our existence, I can not blame your great grandmother for trying to keep her family safe.” Ubuyashiki put his tea down. “I have one last question for you. How did you try to prove the existence of demons? Ms Kocho mentioned that you did a lot of research, but it would be very difficult to find research on us that isn’t from our library.”

Fukuro let out the small breath that she had been holding. He seemed to have believed her lie and was thankful for the change of subject. She could easily talk about her research. “Honestly? It’s mostly a lot of guesswork and estimations. Instead of looking for information that directly mentions demons or the demon slayers, I research areas where they might have been. I look into areas that have sudden increases in death rates or disappearances that are not easily explained. I then compare these cases with research based on my Gran Gran’s stories. If the results are similar to areas that, in theory, had demons attack in the past, then there was a good chance demons were there. It’s not 100% correct, there can be a number of reasons why people start to die suddenly, but it does narrow down possible demon locations. I then do further research at those locations. That’s actually what I was doing when I was found.”

Ubuyashiki let out a hum. “Interesting. I don’t suppose you have any specific examples?”

Fukuro’s eyes widened in surprise. She quickly racked her brain for an area that would make sense for this time. “Actually, yes I do. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the bandit attacks in the village 3 days north of here, have you?”

“Indeed, I have. A lot of our suppliers and slayers have been avoiding the route because of them. But I’m guessing you think the issue is more than just some bandits?”

Fukuro nodded even though Ubuyashiki couldn’t see it. “Mm-Hmm! The attacks have happened mostly to carts or merchants, which is why everyone thinks they’re bandits. But there are a few things that make me think that the attackers might be demons. First off is the obvious fact that the attacks have only happened at night, with either no or few survivors. The second is that this isn’t usually when bandits are active in the area. This village is along a trade route so bandit activity is common, but this is the off season for most of the products that come through the area. Some research into previous years shows that bandit activity slows down dramatically during this time. Most move to busier areas with more valuable products. Those that stay are usually inexperienced or desperate and tend to be caught pretty quickly. Finally the third reason I’m suspicious is because the valuables of the missing merchants are almost never stolen. The goods are usually damaged, but other than that they’re almost untouched. But the people are always missing or found dead. Bandits would usually run off with the goods. But a demon would care more about their next meal, which would be the people.”

Fukuro realized that she rambled for a while and her cheeks were flushed in embarrassment. “That’s the basics of my thoughts at least. It would be much better explained if I had my notes. Sorry if I just bored you.”

Ubuyashiki didn’t say anything for a few moments. Fukuro suddenly realized that his expression changed and he seems to be deep in thought. “Ms Hitomi, if you had to guess, if these issues are caused by demons how strong would they be?”

Fukuro’s jaw literally dropped. She never expected to be taken so seriously. She’s pretty sure that this was the most interested that anyone had ever been with her research. She quickly shut her mouth and thought for a moment before answering.

“It’s hard to say. I think that if demons are attacking that village then there is probably more than one. Some attacks appeared to have happened at similar times so either the demon has a partner or they have a blood demon art that would allow them to achieve that. Either way I would consider the demon to be moderately strong. Some of the village soldiers have gone missing too, and most are decently skilled. I wouldn’t say this is Hashira worthy, but I wouldn’t send in a rookie slayer either. I’d recommend at least 2-4 people who have been slayers for at least a year. Of course this is all based on speculation, so I’m being extra cautious.”

Ubuyashiki looked like he was about to respond, but his crow suddenly flew into the room and landed on the table. “Ubuyashiki, you have a meeting with the kakushi in 10 minutes!”

“Time must have slipped by. I will be there shortly.” Ubuyashiki told his crow before looking at Fukuro again. “Thank you for giving me your time Ms Hitomi. But I’m afraid that I must cut our conversation short. I do hope we can have another conversation like this again. It was quite interesting.”

Fukuro quickly stood up and bowed her head. “It’s no problem! Thank you for having me.”

“Do you need an escort to show you the way out?”

“No thank you. I remember the way. I’ll leave you to your business then!” Fukuro said as she quickly left the room.

Ubuyashiki looked at the crow perched on the table. “I know you just came back from delivering a message my friend, but I would like you to send a message to a couple of demon slayers.”

***

Two weeks had passed since her meeting with Ubuyashiki and Fukuro had mostly forgotten about it. She was spending her time helping the girls like usual when Ubuyashiki’s crow suddenly flew up to her telling her that Ubuyashiki requested to see her again. So Fukuro was freaking out.

“What did I do? Aoi what did I do?!” Fukuro said as she shook Aoi by the shoulders.

“Will you stop that!” Aoi yelled as she pried Fukuro’s hands off of her. “Stop freaking out so much!”

“How can I not freak out?! It’s only been 2 weeks since I last saw Master Ubuyashiki! Why would he want to see me so soon?! I’m not even a corps member, Aoi! What if I offended him the last time I saw him?!”

“Why the hell would he wait 2 weeks to confront you on that?! You’re overreacting!”

“But what if I’m not?!”

“Is something wrong here?” Shinobu asked as she came from around the corner.

“Shinobu! Thank god! Can you please talk some sense into Fukuro? Ubuyashiki called for her again and she is freaking out!” Aoi said, looking very irritated.

“Alright let’s calm down. Fukuro come with me. We can talk on the way to Master’s place, okay? Let Aoi get back to work.” Shinobu said as she gently took Fukuro’s hand.

Fukuro still looked worried, but she took a deep breath to calm herself. “Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. Sorry Aoi.”

Aoi sighed in response. “It’s fine, just don’t shake me like a rag doll next time,” she said as she grabbed the basket of laundry that Fukuro made her drop and walked away.

“Come on, let’s go.” Shinobu led Fukuro out of the Butterfly Mansion, still holding her hand. But instead of heading to Ubuyashiki’s mansion, they headed to the butterfly garden instead.

“Shinobu? Why are we heading to the garden? Isn’t it a bad idea to keep Master Ubuyashiki waiting?”

Shinobu let out a little hum before sitting them both down on a bench. “Normally I would agree, but I think you need to calm down first.”

“But what if Master Ubuyashiki gets upset? I don’t want to make him-“

“Fukuro.” Shinobu’s voice sounded gentle but firm, effectively cutting Fukuro off. She took Fukuro’s other hand into her own. “Master is one of the most patient and kind people I have ever met. He can wait a couple extra minutes.” She paused and looked at Fukuro for a moment to see if she was going to object. When Fukuro said nothing she continued. “Now can you name 5 things you can see?”

Fukuro looked around. “I see flowers, and butterflies. There are a couple bumblebees too. There’s clouds in the sky…” Fukuro paused and almost panicked by over-thinking the exercise until Shinobu gave her hands a soft squeeze. She locked eyes with her and calmed down a little. “You.”

“Good job. Remember, you can take as long as you need. Now 4 things you can hear?”

“Your voice, birds chirping, and the flowers moving in the breeze. I think I hear some slayers training in the distance.”

“3 things you can feel?”

“The wooden bench, the fabric of my haori, and your hands.”

“Good, 2 things you can smell?”

“I smell the flowers and I think I can smell perfume. Are you wearing perfume?”

“How observant. Yes I am. Now what is 1 thing you can taste?”

“I can still somewhat taste the lemonade that I drank before the crow came.”

“Great. Now I want you to take a deep breath in and out okay?”

Fukuro followed her command and realized that she felt a lot better. She started to feel embarrassed for getting so worked up.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I’m really sorry about that. I just panicked and couldn’t think straight,” Fukuro said, her cheeks starting to turn pink in embarrassment.

“It’s okay Fukuro. Most people would be stressed in your situation,” Shinobu said, finally letting go of Fukuro’s hands. “Does that happen often? While your reaction wasn’t as big, you were very nervous the last time you saw Master.”

“Kind of? It’s pretty normal for me to get a little anxious, but it’s more of an awkward tension than full blown panic. I think I’ve just been on edge lately,” Fukuro said, looking at her necklace and fiddling with it.

“Any particular reason you feel like you’ve been on edge?”

Fukuro bit her lip. She knew she couldn’t be 100% honest. That was part of the reason she had been on edge. But she also felt like she needed to open up at least a little bit in order to make some progress. She took a few moments to gather her thoughts before she spoke. “Where I’m from we tend to act differently than people do in most places. I feel like I need to constantly watch what I say or do because while something might be acceptable back home, it would be very bad if I do it here. I know mostly what I should and shouldn’t do, but knowing it is different than putting it into practice. I hate feeling this way because it feels like I’m lying or putting up an act. I feel guilty, but I can’t do anything about it. I feel like an outsider.”

Fukuro didn’t notice that tears started to form in her eyes. “I miss home. I miss my family. I miss my friends. But I can’t go back. I won’t see them ever again! I wish I didn’t feel this way because everyone has been so great to me, but- ” Fukuro cut herself off as she began to cry. She was honestly a bit embarrassed but she couldn’t stop herself.

Fukuro felt Shinobu’s hand touch her shoulder. Fukuro immediately hugged Shinobu in response. Shinobu immediately returned the hug and let Fukuro cry her heart out. Shinobu just let out some gentle hums until Fukuro had no more tears to cry. Once Fukuro’s sobs calmed, Shinobu finally spoke.

“Fukuro can you look at me?”

Fukuro looked at Shinobu with her tear stained face. Shinobu wiped the tears from her eyes. “You have no reason to feel guilty. It’s okay to miss home. Its okay if you’re still grieving. It’s okay to still feel like you don’t quite belong. But believe me when I tell you that in this past month you have already taken a place in both mine and the girls' hearts. Please don’t feel like you need to be perfect around any of us. I understand wanting to put on a mask in front of others, but please know that none of us are going to hate you if you mess up. I don’t think you realize that you have a natural gift of worming your way into people’s hearts.”

Fukuro almost wanted to cry again because she was so touched. “Thank you.”

Shinobu gave Fukuro a soft smile. “You’re welcome. No how about we go to that meeting of yours? I think Master will start to get worried if we take much longer.”

Fukuro almost immediately launched herself off the bench. “Crap! I totally forgot! Now I look like a mess!”

Shinobu laughed as she stood up and patted Fukuro on the back. “There. There. If it makes you feel any better I think you look very pretty and eye-catching.”

Fukuro just blushed and put her face in her hands.

***

Fukuro nervously messed with her hair. “Are you sure I look okay and not like a blotchy mess that cried my eyes out a few minutes ago?”

Shinobu laughed. “Yes, you look as beautiful as always. Now go! Master has been waiting long enough. I’ll wait out here for you okay?”

Fukuro took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Here I go.”

Fukuro walked up to the mansion. Before she could open the door it opened showing the kid on the other side. She looked identical to the kid from last time, except for the hair piece she wore, which was a yellow ribbon.

“Oh hello. You’re a different girl from last time right? Are you here to take me to Master Ubuyashiki?” Fukuro would be lying if she said the kid did not make her nervous. It looked like she was staring into her soul.

“Yes. Follow me. Master Ubuyashiki has been expecting you.”

Fukuro followed the girl to the same room as last time. Ubuyashiki thanked his daughter and she left. But Fukuro did manage to catch that the girl’s name was Nichika, meaning that she was right when she guessed that this was a different girl than last time. Fukuro once again sat down.

Ubuyashiki was already sitting down with a warm smile on his face. “Thank you for coming to see me Ms Hitomi. I apologize for the short notice.”

“There is no need to apologize. I’m sorry that it took me so long to get here. I ended up being held up with some personal matters.”

“Do not fret about that my child. I promise you that this meeting will be a short one with good news.”

Fukuro tilted her head to the side. “Good news? About what?”

“Remember that village you told me about 2 weeks ago when I asked for an example of how you research demons?”

“Yes. Is that what this meeting is about?”

Ubuyashiki nodded. “Indeed. After you left I sent some demon slayers to the area. It seems that your theory was correct. The deaths in the area were caused by a couple of demons. They were mostly attacking merchants in order to avoid being discovered. Luckily the slayers I sent were able to take care of them. I must thank you. If it wasn’t for you those demons would have killed many more people. It probably would have taken months for us to figure out that there was probably demon activity in that area.”

Fukuro was shocked. Her theory was actually correct! She had never had the chance to prove her theories before and barely anyone took her seriously back in her time. She wanted to squeal in happiness. She barely managed to contain herself.

“I’m guessing that thanking me is not the only reason I’m here right?”

“You are right. There is something else I wanted to talk to you about that I unfortunately was not able to last time we spoke.” Ubuyashiki took a quick sip of his tea before continuing. “I am not sure if you are aware of this, but the reason we had our last meeting was because Ms Kocho requested that you be given access to the demon slayer corps library. She had said that your research skills might come in handy.”

Fukuro was not aware of this. She was shocked but also incredibly touched. Shinobu did that for me? I have to do something to thank her when this is over. I guess she was really serious when she told me she cared about me.

Ubuyashiki continued speaking. “We’ll after what happened it is no exaggeration to say that she was correct. So if you are willing I would like for you to work for the Demon Slayer Corps. You would receive payment of course.”

Fukuro’s mind kinda broke. “What?”

“Our library is full of resources about not just the corps, but of Japan as well. I would like you to use those sources and research to help locate demons in areas that we might overlook. But I also want you to work on locating Muzan Kibutsuji.”

Fukuro’s eyes widened. “The demon king?”

“Yes. I do not want you to feel too much pressure about finding him. The demon slayer corps has never been able to in the past. But I have a feeling that we may finally be able to turn the tide soon.”

Fukuro thought for a moment. This was almost like a dream come true. Sure a lot of the circumstances sucked, but to finally have her work be useful was something she always wanted. But is it really okay to do this? Am I changing the future too much? I already know that the demon slayer corps eventually wins, but I don’t know when that is! But I’m stuck here now. I might as well try to help people while I can.

“It would be my honor to use my knowledge to help serve the Demon Slayer Corps.”

***

So it’s been a long time huh? I’m going to be honest I had plans to discontinue this, but I felt the urge to write again. I’m going to continue to write this story at my own pace when I feel the urge. Updates might come often, they might not. Anyways I have no idea of this is my best or worst chapter so let me know what you guys think. Poor Fukuro has some issues. I really want to emphasize how bad it can be to need to hide who she is while also struggling with missing home. Don’t worry I plan on getting to Shinobu’s issues soon.

#random #how do i tag lol #gay #fanfic #au #alternate universe #demon slayer #shinobu kochou #kimitsu no yaiba #angst #comfort #shinobu x oc #shinobu kimetsu no yaiba #shinobu x reader #original character #fanfiction

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sunnydaleherald · 4 months

Text

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Thursday, May 9

Joyce: Hi! What are you doing? Buffy: There's a lot of weird people outside at night... I just feel better with you safe and sound inside. You must be beat. Joyce: I am. We're a little gallery. You have no idea how much-- Buffy: Well, then why don't you go upstairs and get into bed, and I can bring you some hot tea? Joyce: That's sweet! What'd you do?

~~Angel~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Take Back the Night? (Kate Lockley, NR) by rhodrymavelyne

Ghosts Are Totally Real (Spike/Drusilla, T) by MadeInGold

Trapped Beneath the Rubble (Maggie Walsh, T) by MadeInGold

[Chaptered Fiction]

Moulin Rouge! (Spuffy Edition), Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, T) by BeatriceEveryTuesday

Greatest Love Story - Prelude, Chapter 2 (Angel/Spike, M) by FalseGinger

Secret Obsession, Chapter 21 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Maxine Eden

Maclay Down, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Soulburnt

Waiting for You, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by honeygirl51885

Au-delà de l'objectif de la caméra, Chapter 5 (French language, PG-13) by Miss Kitty

A Ripple In Time, Chapter 24 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by CheekyKitten

The Stars to Hold Our Destiny, Chapter 16 (Crossover with Star Trek, FR15) by Hermionetobe

Accidental Dark Lords and Ladies of Sunnydale, Chapter 8 (Multiple crossings, FR21) by AnimeRonin

Lightning in a Bottle, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by violettathepiratequeen

A Business Arrangement, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Desicat

The Kitten That Killed Slayers, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Desicat

Early One Morning, Chapter 41 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by all choseny

[Images, Audio & Video]

Comic: Not A Date, Chapter 3 by Grief Counseling and Dusty

Artwork:Whatcha Readin', Spike? (nsfw) by Grief Counseling

Artwork:All The Rumors Are True by loveisntbrains

Artwork:Buffy by pocketsizedann

Artwork:Scoobies Sketches by spikes-left-eyebrow

Artwork:Nightmare Willow design [My Little Pony crossover] by wiltinn

Gifset: Cordelia Chase in Homecoming by detectivedawnsummers

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sound Design Remake by Rosethorn Films and Stuff

[Reviews & Recaps]

nope (nope) | Buffy the Vampire Slayer 6x12 "Double Meat Palace" | The Normies Group Reaction by The Normies

Entropy: Buffy 6x18 Reaction by Dakara

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER - S7 EPISODE 4 HELP (2002) REACTION VIDEO AND REVIEW! FIRST TIME WATCHING! by Reel Reviews With Jen!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer | 1x5 "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" | REACTION by Andres El Rey

The Re-Watcher's Council | "What's My Line? Part 1" Buffy the Vampire Slayer S02E09 Spoiler Review by LGRN - Entertainment

[Community Announcements]

Banner Poll (Last Day!) by Seasonal Spuffy

Banner Poll (Last Day!) by Seaonal Spuffy

[Fandom Discussions]

God, Doris the social worker is the fucking worst. by nicnacsnonsense

[In defense of Season 6] by littlenastieswewhispered

[Spirit Guide parallels] by leechjam

Spike or Faith? by multiple authors

Grave by multiple authors

How much bodily damage can a vampire take? by multiple authors

Help me convince my friends to watch Buffy by multiple authors

What are some ridiculous theories you had about the show when you first watched it? by multiple authors

Why didn't Spike find another surgeon to take the chip out? by multiple authors

Love this exhange by multiple authors

I get older, I get madder by multiple authors

What did you guess by accident? by multiple authors

What is that one episode that takes you right back to the 90s/00s and is peak nostalgia for you? by multiple authors

Do you think Dawn and Buffy ever talked about whether or not Buffy met Joyce in Heaven? by multiple authors

What songs, that aren't in the series, do you associate with BTVS? by multiple authors

Spike's flowers for Joyce by multiple authors

The Body by multiple authors

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

#btvs

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the-corvus-luna · 3 days

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The Tsubasa Chronicle 'Problem'

No eye, no heart, no time, no feathers, and..... no show.

It's April 9th, 2005, 6:30 p.m. BLAZE blares loudly on the TV while you sit in a dimly lit room, slurping whatever instant ramen you could find. You catch the faint silhouettes of familiar characters from Cardcaptor Sakura, looking a bit older, along with a few new faces you don't recognize yet... a new journey, a new world.

CLAMP's Multidimensional Masterpiece.

The legendary Yuki Kajiura's compositions bring the story to life. "Song of Storm and Fire" sparks that electric feeling of excitement and tension just before Syaoran kicks into battle. Eri Itou’s breathy voice floats delicately, much like Sakura’s own feathers, adding a sense of ethereal beauty. The animation is fluid and action-packed, just as you'd expect from Bee Train.

What the hell happened? How did an internationally successful anime with 2 seasons, 1 movie, and 2 OVA's that leave the story incomplete.... what the hell?!

To find out to get the full story, you have to read the manga?!

Was it just bad like this guy's review suggests?

Is it really... a bad... anime?

Let's go on a journey about how censorship ruins everything, a broadcasting company's unreasonable demands, and a group of stubborn artists who refuse to have their story modified.

First off, based on my basic research, Japanese TV shows don't have to comply with rating laws like in the US. Before any US show airs, you usually see a rating in the top left corner—common ones for kids’ shows are Y7, meaning they’re appropriate for children 7 years or older. The US rating for Tsubasa Chronicle was TV-PG. But if you know anything about this series, it’s definitely not TV-PG... more like TV-14, and maybe even TV-MA at certain points, depending on your tolerance for darker themes.

Tsubasa Chronicle originally showed on NHK-E, an educational channel, alongside a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen...

While Japan might not have a formal TV rating system, it’s probably safe to assume that NHK would prioritize age-appropriate content. Ultimately, it’s NHK’s decision what airs on their network. For example, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (which, unsurprisingly, isn’t shown on any NHK network) airs around 11:00 p.m. The later time slot allows for more graphic content without much concern.

I can hear you screaming from the void, "TSUBASA CHRONICLE ISN'T EDUCATIONAL!" And honestly, if you’ve watched the anime, it’s not educational in the traditional sense... unless you count four people learning how to cope with massive amounts of trauma in various forms.

But Cardcaptor Sakura was kid-friendly… and someone who looks just like her stars in Tsubasa.

Magic Knight Rayearth was so educational it's anime was funded by a government grant!

I think NHK was expecting them to adapt the anime to be more 'educationally friendly' due to other properties they worked on... joke's on NHK, though.

The first issue I remember hearing was how NHK wanted to censor all alcohol references from Tsubasa.

From this interview from 2005 at around the 9:30 mark, we get to have a rare look at their art studio/research library and most important, the bar. Alcohol is a part of their creative process, and based on the KyotoHoLiC collaboration with traditional sake brewers, it means they have no intention to hide their passion for relaxation... not for NHK or anyone.

Second issue, graphic imagery. When the anime came out, the manga was only to volume chapter 66 - chapter 73 (Tsubasa Onmibus Vol 4)...literally 3 pages into the next chapter is the start of the graphic imagery that eventually leads into violent fights, lots of blood, and death by the end of the series. That's assuming that NHK didn't get a sneak peak at what the story was going to become.

For people who've read the Omnibus, to goes from Piffle World to Recourt to the 'Acid Wasteland'... quite the tone shift when NHK picked up this anime for a kid friendly educational show.

That's why Tsubasa Chronicle was canceled, or at least my general theory. Sadly there's no official reason for the cancelation. CLAMP did run Kobato on NHK-E in 2009, so the censorship and eventual cancelation didn't not burn the bridge between them.

Sadly, NHK did cancel a show that was not only getting a following internationally but also had it's own international merchandise sold at retailers! I will always treasure my US Mokona Modoki Soel plush, matching backpack, and Fai's Staff necklace.

Don't forget, even Gaia Online even had a huge promotional event where players had to track down Sakura's feathers alongside other promotional events such as Magic the Gathering and Hollywood produced movies... and that was in 2007, after the anime series was already cancelled, never able to reach the conclusion.

Do yourself a favor and I'd suggest reading this manga if you loved the anime back in the day, but know that the lighthearted whimsy and sweetness of the anime is a palate cleanser for what NHK deemed they could not put on TV.

I found an unsubstantiated rumor on the fandom page about how the S2 opening was already storyboarded in Character Guide Vol 2., but NHK made them re-do it. I'm trying to track down that PDF so figure out what they cut, but it's a difficult one to find.

I did find a short of someone thumbing through their Japanese copy.

Holy shit! That's the scene in CLAMP in Wonderland 2 that's eluded to, but we never see play out in the anime. NHK made them get rid of their weapons for boxing with shadows? I guess Sakura's image also had to be 'softened' too. Ick.

#tsubasa chronicle #clamp #essay #censorship #tv series #cancelled #retrospective

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literarydemerit · 2 months

Note

I was relistening to the podcast’s My Immortal episodes and I remembered why Tara said “Buffy Rocks” in one of her mid-chapter notes. It’s because there’s a joke in Buffy The Vampire Slayer where one of the character spells out the word bitch, and another character (he’s portrayed as being dumb) replies “bitca?”

Iirc there’s also a main character named Willow in Buffy. So maybe that’s where Tara got the name for Raven’s self-insert character. Assuming Raven didn’t pick it herself.

Yeah! I don't remember if we talked about that on the show at all but I guess we didn't? I never really got into Buffy myself and I don't know if Siobhan ever watched it but I remember looking up the "son of a bitca" thing ages ago because I got that Tara was making a Buffy reference but I never actually saw the episode with that joke in it. And you're probably right about where Willow got her name.

In hindsight I'm kind of wishing we got into the Buffy thing a little on the show because Buffy was such a huge part of 00s fandom culture in general, not just My Immortal, and there was pretty heavy overlap with the Harry Potter fandom. Cassandra Clare, who wrote the Draco Trilogy and later went on to write the Mortal Instruments series, used to "reference" Buffy so heavily that she was basically just writing the exact same dialogue but making Harry Potter characters say it instead. That style of humor was inescapable. Buffy Speak (which obviously the show didn't invent, but it did popularize) has a page on TV Tropes and they have so many examples of this happening in fanfic that there's a whole other page for it. It's a lot less culturally relevant nowadays but it's definitely relevant to a lot of the stories we cover on the show. Maybe we'll have occasion to get more into this in the future sometime?

#literary demerit #askbox #dre759

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fairydares · 2 years

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fuck it, new fic. let's do this.

(there's a 'keep reading' line so don't worry, this isn't too long.)

Title: Chasing Tails (AO3 Link) (Chapter 2) (Chapter 3)

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Rating: E (Explicit) because I'm almost positive there will be eventual smut. I'll be clearer about this as I actually decide what I'm going to write lol. Overarching Warning for Graphic Depictions of Violence.

Categories: 2nd gen fic; adventure, humor, romance, fluff, and angst in approximately that order. i guess.

Pairings: Nalu, Gruvia, Gajevy, Jerza, Miraxus+Fried (don't know what that ship's called sorry), Chendy, Sting/Yukino, Baccana-- next gen has pairings, too, but I don't want to reveal those yet.

Tags/TW's: The first chapter contains UFC/MMA-esque violence as well as some implied street violence. There may be more TW's I need to add later, but I honestly haven't written the whole story or decided everything, so that's all I can give you for now. I'll do my best to tag appropriately as I go.

Summary: It’s been almost 12 years since 17-year-old Layla O'Neil was found living alone on the streets and put in foster care, and she likes to think she’s done a pretty good job of forgetting the past. She doesn’t remember her birth family, the name “Nashi [*1] Dragneel,” or where she heard the absurd stories she told the police who found her. Stories about Wizard Guilds, flying cats, and–most cringey of all–her self-proclaimed status as a “Fire Dragon Slayer.”

But the past becomes pretty impossible to ignore when it confronts her in the form of some middle-aged, pink-haired stalker who won’t stop calling her the ridiculous name she’d nearly forgotten, and trying to convince her to come back to “Fairy Tale.”

Oh, and claiming to be her dad.

Like Layla doesn’t have enough problems! The last thing she needs is some delusional freak following around. Especially one who’s starting to make her want to take his hand…

Yep, this is a Second Gen (and therefore post-canon) fic. The idea took root and just would not let go. I’ll warn you ahead of time that the premise is somewhat dark. That said, I’m the kind of writer who likes (and tries to write) stories with sad beginnings, hopeful middles, and triumphant ends. I don't want to give too much away, but you shouldn't expect major character deaths or anything like that, though their may be some forms of lightly implied abuse.

Feel free to reblog, make your own additions with commentary, whatever. I'm quite lax with stuff like that. Hope this was comprehensive enough, and that you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Dragon-Slaying Aliens

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“That’s correct…a world that exists independently from the one we know. And, unfortunately, a world that’s begun losing its Magic…unlike here, in Edolas, Magic is a finite resource. Without limits on its use, it will one day disappear forever.” -from Episode 78, “Edolas”, (English dub, ~00:09), Carla’s line [*1]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------To say this mission had gone sideways was a big-ass understatement, and even Natsu had to admit it.

It had started well enough. A relatively small mission. Not even S-Class! Puny wannabe Dark Guilds like the one Shirotsume needed dealt with–what was it called? Bony Jewel or something? Anyways, they were a dime a dozen, these days. Hell, Natsu was pretty sure he and Happy took out, like, a billion of them in the past seven years by pure accident. So how the hell was he supposed to know that this time, he’d get blasted to another world–one even Team Natsu hadn’t wound up in?

And he was positive they’d never been here. He may have had a bad memory (something he’d begrudgingly been forced to actively acknowledge as he grew into a man) but he was sure he’d have remembered somewhere that made him feel this bad. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t use his Magic. If it had just been that, this might have been fun. Hell, a lot of the worlds Team Natsu had visited–even Edolas–had been fun.

This one sucked.

If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought he’d been transported to the future–one where FACE had been activated and all the Magic had been dissipated. Because it had felt, truly, like all the Magic was being sucked out of him. When he’d woken up on the forest floor, he’d felt as if he was dying. His lungs had burned with each breath (and not in the good way). His limbs had felt like lead when he tried to rise.

He’d quickly realized that couldn’t be the case, though. Even if the Dragons hadn’t destroyed FACE, if all the Magic had been sucked from Earthland he’d have Magical Deficiency Syndrome. He’d either be down or in forced into his END form.

He’d wandered around the small forest he’d woken up in alone, trying to focus through the stink and noise he was only capable of perceiving through what felt like about a hundred layers of thick blanket, and calling for his best friend as long as he could. It hadn’t been long before he gave up and left; Happy had never shouted back (something he considered fortunate, at this point; hopefully Happy was back in Earthland) his stomach was trying to eat itself, it was dark–and, worst of all–he still couldn’t use his Magic. At all.

Actually, scratch that: the absolute worst part was when a glance at his (as usual) bare shoulder showed him that his guild mark had vanished. It was just gone. So was his scarf, and so was his Mini Communication Lacrima. Obviously, his guild mark and scarf were bigger deals personally, but the Mini Comm was a bigger loss in immediate, practical terms. After That Day, seven years ago, Laxus–now Fairy Tail’s Master–had started putting Navigation Enchantments on everyone’s Comms so that anyone who went missing could be traced. There was a 3D map of Earthland and Edolas visually tracking everyone’s movements in the Master’s Office. It could even find them in Edolas.

Now, Natsu’s was nowhere to be found. No one would be able to find him, wherever he was, and any hopes of contacting them were obviously dead in the water, too.

He was gonna have to find his own way back, somehow. He only prayed his scarf was somehow back in Earthland, and that Happy had grabbed it for him.

As he hobbled down the weird, too-neat walkway he’d found, he had to believe that whatever was preventing him from using his Magic was what kept him from sensing anything beyond the general–the stink, the sound, the pain, the hunger. Normally, with his better-than-normal resilience and enhanced strength, his pain would have mostly taken care of itself by now. Usually, making himself move helped. Now, it seemed to be making things worse.

After finding the pathway, he’d kept shouting for his little buddy a whole bunch of times, but all he’d gotten were several loud verbal confrontations and one physical one. He’d expected to beat the massive brute towering next to the smaller woman beside him–and he had. But it hadn’t been as easy as he’d expected. His movements had been slower than normal. His limbs had felt like lead. His strength had been lesser. Every time he tried to call up his Magic, a wave of dizziness and lethargy had overcome him. It was like he’d feel the rushing up inside of him only to sputter to coldness at the last second; he hadn’t seen so much as a spark since he’d woken up.

In the end, it was only experience and determination which had allowed him to level the much larger man, and hard-earned wisdom which had seen him running from the screeching woman and the gun-wielding, uniform-wearing soldiers her screeching had drawn. Yet the punch he’d taken to the nose had made it bleed and the kick to the thigh had made him limp.

It wasn’t just that his Dragon senses had vanished, making him woozy, making it difficult to stand and excruciating to move. His strength was gone as well. Not even sealstone would have weakened him this much.

He’d wandered, now, for what felt like several hours. The number of Magical Vehicles around were astounding–astounding, and nauseating; just looking at them made Natsu want to vomit. The one good part of having an empty stomach was that he had nothing to give up. He meandered in a stupor, through unbelievably thick crowds, dodging Magic Vehicles and their honking, and glaring down anyone who yelled at him for not understanding something, occasionally barking back to scare them off.

He’d never been so disoriented, and the worst part was that deep down, he knew that there was no one to blame but himself.

Lucy and Happy had asked him, point-blank, if the Quest he’d chosen had anything to do with his search for their long-lost daughter and kitten.

It had. Of course it had.

However, Natsu had denied it. Because if he hadn’t, he and Happy wouldn’t have been able to leave right then. Lucy would have forced him to bring someone else along; she was busy taking care of their son, Luke; the Perve-sicle was already out on his own mission/search for Juvia, and Erza was away, which meant he’d have had to ask someone outside Team Natsu.

No thanks, he’d decided, covering up the fine print on the mission request with his fingers before holding it up to Lucy’s nose.

Now, as he snarled at yet another person yelling at him for being in the way, Natsu was starting to consider the possibility that he just maybe should’ve been more upfront, and even that he should–perhaps–have waited for the stripper to get back before taking on Bony Jewel or whatever alone.

But how the hell was he supposed to have known it would end up like this?! It had been going fine–in fact, it had been going great! A couple opponents had offered a real challenge before their Master had shown up. Natsu had been laying down brick in that fight, too. Yet when the guy had been on his last legs, he’d whipped some creepy, sparkly rainbow skull from nowhere (now that he thought about it…that might have been what the Guild was named for!) and shot one last attack. One so big, Natsu had been unable to dodge–though, of course, he’d made to both block and finish the fight with an enormously powerful Fire Dragon Wing Attack.

Based on his current predicament–he had to assume it hadn’t worked. Even though the skull had shattered in the heat of his flames at the last second, the blast had still hit him. His one consolation was that he was pretty sure his little buddy had heeded his final warning to get back. So he was almost definitely still back in Earthland.

It had taken Natsu several pathetic attempts to stand. Getting here felt like a blur. Now, he had no idea what he was doing. What he should do. Their money had been in Happy’s knapsack, and without his precious nose, finding food was basically impossible anway.

Man…Lucy’s gonna kill me, he grumbled internally, grunting at another group who shouted at him for bumping into him.

Okay, yeah, maybe he should’ve been honest. Maybe he should’ve waited. But how could he do that when the lead was so good? When there was even the smallest chance he might finally find Nashi [*]?

At the thought, his footsteps halted temporarily. He ducked his head, bangs shadowing his eyes. He balled his fists at his sides. The thought of the missing daughter he’d never stopped searching for never got easier to bear.

It was the worst thing that could happen to a parent, to lose their child. Something he wouldn’t have wished on Fairy Tail’s most vicious, evil enemy. He and Lucy understood that too intimately. Still, he didn’t let himself get bogged down, not when it might hold him back, not when it might keep him from finding her. Seven years, she’d been gone. Her, Wendy–so many of their nakama and allies. Time had neither hindered nor halted his search for any of his missing comrades, but especially his little girl. She’d be twelve, now. He’d gotten better with birthdays and anniversaries when he married Lucy. He’d woken up and started crying on April 14th this year, the same as his wife.

Still, even on that day, he’d spoken of her. When he was with Luke, Lucy, and Happy, he talked about it. He talked about how he’d find her and Harley–Happy and Carla’s kitten–how they’d be a family again. He spoke of the future to give it power, just like Igneel had taught him. Just like he’d taught his own kids. Wherever Nashi was, he was sure she must be doing the same; speaking of how she’d find them again, the same as he strove to find her.

But he couldn’t continue his search (covert or not) until he got home. So getting home was definitely at the top of the to-do list. Right after eating.

He kept walking.

Wherever he’d wound up was seedy, dark, yet strewn with lights that made paths across his newly-sucky eyes when he looked at them directly. Gross and smelly, too. The people he’d just bumped into started shouting back at him, something about bumping into someone’s girlfriend, and he huffed irritably. Normally, he’d never back down from a challenge like this, but believe it or not, he was too lost, confused, hungry, and tired to deal with another fight–not when the injuries he’d sustained from the previous one were still hurting this much.

It was humiliating. He’d always been the type of person who refused to back down from a fight, no matter how outmatched he was. These days, a lot of fights were honestly pretty boring for him. Erza would always be scary, and Gray was admittedly pretty strong (if not badass enough to stand up to him, or so he would always insist). He could proudly admit to having achieved (at least) Gildarts-level strength without the clumsiness to make him dangerous.

Now, he was balking out of fights with people who weren’t even using Magic.

There was something viscerally terrifying about how much his injuries were troubling him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t limp without worsening whatever injury that asshole had doled out on his knee. His nose felt bigger than his head.

He stumbled on, brooding.

The guy whose girlfriend he’d bumped into got louder, closer. Obviously, the freak wasn’t gonna let it go. Cursing, he started hobbling more quickly, turning the next corner. To his relief and curiosity, bright lights, loud voices, and a huge crowd–littered with food stands he might be able to beg food from–appeared. He made his way into the thick of it, ignoring the shouts behind him, and ducked and wove between people. It took him several seconds to realize he was still trying to find food by his nose, which barely even freaking worked. Frustrated, he turned his attention to the source of the light, which seemed to focus down on whatever sat in the middle of the crowd.

Curiosity shoving past the numbness and hunger, Natsu pushed his way towards it.

“Ow!”

“Hey!”

“Watch it, freak!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Natsu grumbled. “Watch your damn selves!”

He still felt like shit, but the crowd was oddly invigorating. As he crashed through the thickest (front) lines of the crowd, more lights came on while the darkness behind him fell deeper. Natsu winced, blinking. It took him a few moments to register what he’d stumbled upon: a roundish sort of stage, elevated a few feet off the ground and bordered by some kind of chain-link cage thing. Two corners were open to be entered, but fended off by some big dudes in black suits, holding back the crowd.

“WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” boomed a voice that came from everywhere and nowhere at once, making Natsu flinch again and the crowd start chattering loudly.

Match? Natsu wondered despite his disorientation and exhaustion, thinking of the Grand Magic Games. He shoved aside every stranger who tried to take his place at the front of the audience, looking around with wide, curious eyes, shoving his gnawing stomach to the backburner.

“FIGHT FANS! ARE YOU REAAAADDDDYYYYY??!!! ”

Fight? Natsu thought, perking up, conveniently forgetting his injuries in a burst of excitement. Several people started chattering at the crack of the loud voice that was everywhere and nowhere, making Natsu look around even more fervently.

“BECAUSE THIS LONG-WAITED MATCH-UP IS… ABOUT…TO…BEGINNNN!!!”

The cheering got louder, the shoving got more aggressive, and Natsu got more aggressive right along with it. He’d be damned if he was going to miss a good fight. Besides. He needed to see what the Magic here was like. He was being smart. So ha! How about that, Lucy?!

“INTRODUCING: OUR FIRST FIGHTER!” the voice shouted while Natsu continued to elbow and shove, anticipation rising. Music rang out, a dude’s loud, snarly voice backed up by a bunch of deep bangs and booms which had Natsu trying to decide if what he was listening to was awesome or fucking awful–nope, definitely fucking awful. For the first time, he was glad he couldn’t hear properly since he got here.

A light flashed at one corner, drawing his eye. “UNLIKE HIS OPPONENT, THIS FIGHTER IS WELL-ESTABLISHED IN THE SEMI-UNDERGROUND OCTAGON! HAD HIS PERFORMANCES BEEN FORMALLY JUDGED WHILE THE UNDERGROUND WAS STILL ACTIVE, HE WOULD LIKELY HAVE LONG-BEEN PERMANENTLY DISQUALIFIED! YET, IN SPITE OF A CONTROVERSIAL CAREER, HE HAS REMAINED A STAPLE OF THE SEMI-OCTAGON FIGHTING WORLD FOR TWO YEARS!”

“Er, feels kinda harsh?” Natsu muttered to himself, sweating slightly. Though he didn’t really get what “controversial career” meant.

“WHILE THIS IS NOT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE, DUE TO HIS HISTORY, MANY WILL NO DOUBT VIEW HIM AS REIGNING CHAMP AND DEFENDER! INNNNTTRRROOODUUUCCCINNNG… ‘MAD BULL’ MATTHEW BRON!”

A door Natsu hadn’t even seen was slammed open as if it had been kicked, and an enormous man–even bigger than the one that had managed to tag Natsu just a little bit ago, a man built like that potato head guy from Lamia Scale, and actually bearing a similar-shaped bald head–appeared, yanking off headphones and chucking them over his massive shoulder one of the lackeys who’d followed him out. The much shorter guy jumped, barely catching them and fumbling a lot once he had. “Mad Cow” or whatever grinned maniacally as he stormed for the ring, dark eyes wild.

The response from the crowd was mixed but mostly positive, Natsu quickly noticed as he glanced around. His eyes skated quickly over the group next to him (which was booing, unlike most of the crowd) then returned his focus to the stage-circle thing. He could see well enough, he was glad to note, even if his vision was nowhere near as sharp as it was back on Earthland. Big Guy took his place at the corner of the ring and immediately started pacing, lifting tree-like arms and roaring as he did so. Meanwhile his lackey scurried for the bit of protected corner behind him, trying to shout for his attention and getting nowhere as he continued to pace.

Natsu quickly decided he didn’t like the looks of this guy, intro aside. He was the type of asshole Natsu lived to knock down a peg, and despite his injuries and exhaustion, Natsu found himself appraising the big bastard, hands twitching. Sure, he wasn’t in the best shape, but since when had he been one to turn down the chance to kick some ass? It was more a reflex than anything. For about the billionth time since he’d landed here, he tried conjuring up some fire only to curse internally as all he got for his efforts was a wave of dizziness and a wash of helplessness.

“NOW FOR OUR CONTENDER,” the voice boomed. “SHE’D ONLY BARELY ENTERED THE UNDERGROUND BEFORE IT BECAME THE SEMI-UNDER, BUT WAS ALREADY MAKING WAVES! THIS FIGHTER HAS SPARKED INTENSE DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER WOMEN SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO FIGHT MEN–IN ANY OCTAGON!” More mixed din. Natsu frowned in confusion. Was it for the other fighters’ safety or something? Because someone should ban Erza from contributing to the guild hall violence. Oh, yes. That was a great idea. He’d have to bring the idea up to Gray when he got home.

“BUT IT’S DIFFICULT TO ARGUE WITH HER HANDY VICTORIES!” the voice boomed. “THANKS TO HER NEARLY-UNBROKEN STREAK OF INSANE WINS, SHE HAS BEEN NICKNAMED THE THE ‘PHOENIX’, ‘UNDERDOG’, ‘TENMEN’...AND HER PREFERRED NICKNAME…”

A new song started, and this one was undeniably cool, in Natsu’s opinion. Something hard, fast, and catchy, punctuated by an angry-sounding woman singing something about “not giving a damn” about something or other. The door at the opposite end of the ring swung open. A girl came swaggering out, and Natsu froze.

“THE DRAGONESS, LAYLAAAAA O'NEEEILLLLL!!!!”

It wasn’t his daughter. It couldn’t be. Her name wasn’t Layla. Her name was Nashi. His Nashi would be twelve, and this girl was in her late teens–maybe even her early twenties. The fact that her fighting nickname was “The Dragoness” was a nasty coincidence, but that’s all it was. This couldn’t be Earthland’s Nashi.

But it was this world’s Nashi. Of that, there was no doubt. And Natsu couldn’t make himself take his eyes off her, couldn’t even make himself blink as he stared, ignoring the cheering and booing all around him.

A couple strands of unruly pink hair at her bangs had broken free of their tight braids, as adorable and predictably unpredictable as his little girl’s. They clung to her forehead, bouncing as she strutted towards the monster still pacing, practically frothing at the mouth, and Natsu vaguely registered the sound of several peoples’ alarmed murmuring. If he hadn’t been so distracted, he’d have understood; she was about half the guy’s size and about -50% as insane-looking.

Not scared, though.

And…she looked like Lucy. She looked so much like Lucy that it hurt. He could still remember times when he’d call his little girl’s name, she’d turn around, and he’d gasp–because it really was like an adorable, wild little pink-haired Lucy turning to look up at him, her whole face lighting up like he was the greatest thing in Earthland. The memory choked him up, a feeling he’d gotten used to over the past seven years. He swallowed hard.

But that wasn’t Lucy’s smile. Natsu felt like he had seen that smile somewhere but he wasn’t particularly interested in thinking about it all that deeply, because what mattered was that it was her smile, his little girl’s, big and toothy and unmistakable–a little lopsided, the corners of her lips characteristically curling.

It hit his chest like a shot from Zeref, making him briefly clutch at his waistcoat’s dirtied fabric.

Natsu knew, firsthand, just how similar other worlds’ versions of his loved ones could be to his. Hell, Edolas Lucy had chopped off her hair to make it a little easier to distinguish herself from Earthland Lucy.

That didn’t make it hurt any less to suddenly see another world’s Nashi– Layla, this one was called. That was Nashi’s middle name. It made sense, when you thought about it. Names were one thing that seemed to sometimes differ slightly between worlds, as he’d learned on the 100-Year-Quest [*3]. Her canines were sorta sharp, maybe, but they weren’t Dragon Slayer sharp, like his and daughter’s. Besides. Edo Nashi and Fireball’s canines were a tiny bit sharper than normal, too.

It couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be. Looking at her still felt like being punched in the chest by Erza. Yet he couldn’t stop watching as the music, cheers, and boos faded, she stripped off her sweats (to much catcalling and whistling) to reveal a black sports bra/shorts getup sort of like “Mad Bull’s” shorts, revealing a body packed with much more muscle than any of Fairy Tail’s women would’ve allowed themselves to accumulate. She looked pretty badass, he decided.

The voice that was everywhere and nowhere boomed on:

“NOT ONLY A CHANCE AT THE UPCOMING TITLE ON THE LINE, BUT–POTENTIALLY–THE FUTURE OF MIXED SEMI-UNDERS. TWO CHALLENGERS, SQUARING OFF FOR A CHANCE AT THE SEMI-FINALS. THIS IS A GIGANTIC CULTURAL MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS SPORT… ‘MAD BULL’ MATTHEW BRON VS. THE ‘DRAGONESS’ LAYLA O'NEIL!”

“‘Dragoness’ is fucking right!” Mad Cow or whatever roared while he hugged one arm across his chest, grinning ferally at his much smaller opponent. “Here hoping some man will look at you, fugly?!”

Several people in the audience laughed. Even the announcer chuckled. Meanwhile, Natsu’s blood boiled. On some level, he knew he needed to separate himself from this. From this fight, from this “Nashi.” Especially when he was this powerless to do anything about any of it. But it was impossible to listen to someone say that to another version of his daughter and not have every protective instinct in his body flare, especially when the spectators apparently thought it was fucking hilarious.

However, her grin didn’t even flicker. “Like you’re one to talk!” she cackled. “You look like Popeye fucked Bigfoot!”

Natsu didn’t flinch at the language like many people in the audience seemed to. In fact, he found the disapproving murmurs confusing. The other guy hadn’t exactly been polite, but he hadn’t gotten the same reaction. Still, a solid number of people were laughing their asses off, including the group next to him which had booed Mad Cow.

He also had no clue what the hell she’d just said even meant, but the way Mad Cow’s smile dropped off his face, a handful of people started howling with laughter, and the commentator’s chuckles cut off abruptly was enough to make Natsu grin.

Some random guy in some sort of black, collared uniform entered the arena, signaling to the loud, annoying commentator. Unlike her opponent, no one had followed This Nashi into the arena; she was all alone. So she ran back to her own bit of protected yet empty corner and threw her clothes and a water bottle over the chainlink fence, then ran back towards the middle of the arena. There, she hopped up and down, shaking out her arms. Stretched them above her head.

“OUCH!” The commentator finally seemed to recover, though he sounded somewhat vexed. “WELL, ONE THING’S FOR SURE, THE CHALLENGER CAN TALK GAME…WHETHER SHE CAN LIVE UP TO IT IS ANOTHER QUESTION.”

“God, I fucking hate when Hansis commentates,” the guy next to Natsu muttered, his friends snorting in agreement. Then he glanced at Natsu–only to double take. “Oi, are you related to the Dragoness or something?!” he asked, eyes on his hair.

“Uhhh…” Natsu chuckled nervously, feeling himself start to sweat. He may have been what Erza would (and frequently did ) call an “impulsive idiot”, but he had no clue how to explain that he was the father of her other self. “Something like that.”

“Whoa, seriously?!” The guy’s friend leaned around him to look at Natsu with wide, shining eyes, then continued, “I won’t ask anymore, ‘cause obviously you’re trying to protect your identities or something, but that’s so cool! We’re huge fans!”

“Hmm…” Natsu said, scanning their apparel–t-shirts and hats emblazoned with her face and silhouette–and what looked like homemade signs of her name, written in fiery letters. “I can see that…what is this, exactly?” He asked this while looking around at the lights, spectators, an unfamiliar kind of money being exchanged and counted between several people.

Natsu tilted his head, blinking. “No?” he said.

“The semi-underground tournament?” the only girl in the group said, eyes almost as wide as her friend’s. When Natsu only continued to look confused, she said, “What, do you live under a rock?! You’ve at least heard of MMA, right? Mixed Martial Arts?”

He perked up at this. “Like a fight?! Hell, yeah! How do I get in on this?!” He grinned, cracking his knuckles, his earlier scuffles and empty stomach completely forgotten.

“YOU DON’T!” the entire group shouted, eyes bugging.

The dude who’d first started talking to him huffed, sweating slightly. “The ‘semi-underground’ octagon used to just be called ‘the underground fights,’” he explained loudly, Natsu still having to lean in to catch what he said with his new, bad ears over the increasingly excited din. “It was illegal, but, like, illegal in the ‘everyone knows but won’t squeal’ way, you know?”

Natsu nodded, fully getting this. After all, how many times had soldiers arrested him only for Queen Hisui to let him off with a finger-wag. Of course, his luck on that front had run out seven years ago…

“The feds finally cracked down on it,” the guy continued, “but didn’t prosecute any of the fighters. Now, it’s called the ‘Semi-Underground’...it’s got no weight-classes (which is why the Dragoness can fight big dudes like Mad Bull). All genders are free to compete and fight each other. It’s a bit more for entertainment than pure fighting prowess– that was different, before,” the guy added with a wistful tone. “But still! You can’t just go waltzing into the octagon, you know? Back in the basement where this used to happen, you could’ve gotten away with that, but now you’ve gotta work for it, you know? Seriously, do you live under a rock or something?”

Irritated, Natsu opened his mouth, but his response was cut off when a loud voice–not as loud as the announcer, but still–redrew all their attention to the ring. “Alright, fighters,” the black-collar guy said into a microphone which was smaller and not as loud as the commentator’s, quieting the audience. “We’ve been over the rules. Protect yourself at all times. Follow my instructions. We’re going to have a clean fight, you hear me?” He glared at Mad Bull, but This Nashi was the only one who dipped her chin in recognition. Natsu’s eyes narrowed along with hers when her opponent refused to acknowledge the guy’s words. “Now, touch gloves at this time, and come out ready to do this!”

Both fighters instantly danced away from each other. Black collar guy scowled. Both the commentator and the audience made sounds like “ OOOOOOOH!”

“NO TOUCH!” came the commentator’s gleeful voice, “I REPEAT, NEITHER FIGHTER TOUCHED GLOVES, AND SO FAR, NEITHER ARE REALLY MOVING FOR EACH OTHER–”

“SAY YOU’RE PRAYERS, BITCH!” Mad Cow roared. “YOU’RE DEAD MEAT!”

“BRING IT!” This Nashi roared back, and Mad Cow lunged, swinging in immediately with a big, dramatic overhand hook that would have knocked her out immediately if she hadn’t skated out of its way. It took about three similar exchanges for Natsu to sag in disappointment.

“Oi!” he shouted, utterly let down, “Where the hell’s the magic?!”

“Geez!” the guy next to him laughed. “The fight’s only just started: give them a minute to warm up! Then we’ll get to see the cool stuff.”

“What, they’re not allowed to use it at first or something?” Natsu asked, still staring as This Nashi fended off huge, devastating blows raining down from above and leapt back from the powerful kicks, eyes narrowed and expression tight.

“...Er, what?” the guy asked.

“Magic–duh!” Natsu huffed, flickering wide eyes between the guy and This Nashi, who was now darting backwards around the round-ish ring, still fending Mad Cow off, weaving and ducking with a speed few could hope to match. “You know?! Fire, Ice, Celestial Magic…?

The guy stared at him for a second along with his companions, all of whom were also sweating. It was then that Natsu knew:

Something more was going on here. Something he didn’t understand. This place…wherever he was, it was like Edolas. Not now, but back when he, Lucy, and the others had gone there. Magic didn’t just not exist, here; was some kind of… taboo on it.

“Oh, sorry,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. Trying to keep his voice as quiet as he could over the crowd, he continued, “I didn’t mean to say something that would get you in trouble...”

The group’s only response was to sidle away from him surreptitiously, glancing at him and sharing looks with wide eyes. Natsu was thrown for a loop once more. Ooo- kay, talk about overly-suspicious. Were there guards listening in on their conversation or something? As discreetly as possible, with his hand still at the back of his head, he looked around, eyes narrowed.

Yet…he saw nothing to warrant their suspicion. An unruly crowd…and an astonishing lack of guards. At the Grand Magic Games, there’d always been a ton of guards. Way more than he wanted to be there, honestly. Did this have something to do with the whole “underground” thing?

He looked at the group again, then realized something important: it was him they were looking at nervously. Nervously, and like…he was crazy or something.

It had taken time, but the years had made Natsu wiser–cooler–about situations like this. Even as his stomach sank with the realization that getting home was going to be a much harder task than he’d initially realized, he acknowledged that he’d need to be careful about mentioning Magic here. Dropping his hand, he forced a small smile at them then turned his attention back to the arena, where Mad Cow continued to chase This Nashi around the edge of the arena. Meanwhile, his mind continued to reel, loud to himself and no one else.

“–IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SHE’S CAUGHT IN A CLINCH, HERE, AND THEN OUR NIGHT WILL BE OVER!” the commentator was blaring. It was sort of surprising, how easily he’d been able to tune out when Natsu’s ears were registering so little. “I HATE TO SAY IT–” (Based on the glee in his tone, Natsu doubted that.) “–BUT HOWEVER MUCH OF AN EXTRAORDINARY FIGHTER SHE IS, SHE’S STILL A FEMALE FIGHTER. HER OPPONENT HAS WELL OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS ON HER [*4]. AND, AGAIN, I HATE TO SAY THIS–BUT THERE ARE JUST PHYSICAL BARRIERS NO CHICK FIGHTER WILL EVER BE ABLE TO OVERCOME! RIGHT NOW, THIS IS A DOG FIGHT, AND NOT ONE SHE CAN KEEP SCRAPPING IN! SHE’S NOT GOING TO COME OUT AS THE ‘UNDERDOG,’ THIS TIME–”

“Man, she’s getting her ass beat!” someone from the group broke the awkward silence as This Nashi was swept aside by a blow that caught the guard at her ear.

“Maybe she’ll make a comeback!” another guy said, tremulous but hopeful, as a log-like shin crashed into her stomach.

“She definitely will!” the guy who’d first spoken to Natsu said, though there was a distant note of doubt in his voice as she barely reeled from an arrow-fast straight right.

Despite the awkwardness of their last interaction, Natsu couldn’t help appreciating these people, who were so devoted to this world’s Nashi. He decided to end their night more positively. “Is that what you think?” he asked in a somewhat bored tone, eyes on the girl still gliding backwards, dancing away from the hits and kicks or else blocking them. He felt, rather than saw, the group’s eyes jumping to him, some of them quickly leaping away only to dart back.

“What do you mean?” the first guy ventured when he said nothing else, edging a little closer once more.

Natsu crossed his arms over his broad chest, eyes thinning as Big Boy brought down a hailstorm of fists on This Nashi’s head. His eyes tracked the way a particularly big hit caught her forearm–but only barely, seeing as she’d slid out of the enormous range even as she blocked. Just like he’d thought…

His stomach churned uncomfortably. It was eerie and cruel, how much her movements and the memories aligned–

“OUCH! That hurt, Daddy!” After the exclamation, Nashi began grumbling, vigorously rubbing her forearm where his fist had just him.

“Woops!” Natsu chuckled sheepishly, “My bad!”

Despite the fact that she was still rubbing the arm he’d tapped with a light hit, the little girl who barely came up above his knees scowled.

It was midday, now. In their front lawn; his and Happy’s house, now much larger with the rooms he’d added for Lucy and their kids.

“But–” He grew serious. “–you think your enemies will take it easy on you, Nashi? You think they’ll give you a break because you say ‘ouch’?”

She dropped her arms to her sides and scowled–pouted, really. She was so cute, he couldn’t have kept his lips from quirking into a grin if he tried. Strutting forward, he planted a hand on top of her head, rubbing the unruly locks. He only grinned wider when she turned her scowl/pout up to him. “Sorry, kiddo, but they won’t!”

Lucy would have lost her mind, if she saw the interaction. Natsu could just hear her now: “NATSU, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?! SHE’S FIVE! BE CAREFUL, WOULD YOU? BLAH BLAH BLURGH BLAH– !”

He never really got Lucy, when she acted like that. Nashi was a Dragon Slayer, like him. She could take much more than a normal human, but would never learn that she could if he didn’t show her! Not to mention that Igneel had been way tougher on him, when he was five. Besides, he didn’t want his kid to be some weakling! What father did want that?

Not any good ones, that was for sure. Especially not when their kids had Nashi’s determination and drive.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” he apologized again, still rubbing her head affectionately. “But you’ve got to understand…if I hurt you, it’s because I know your enemies will hurt you the same way…I don’t want it to surprise you. I want you to be able to fight back, still. You do still want to be a big-time Dragon Slayer, don’t you?”

She stared up at him dubiously, but the smile caught on quick. She’d never been able to resist smiling back at him.

“...Yeah,” she admitted finally, feigning reluctance.

He lifted his hand off her head, cupping it around his ear and leaning down towards her. “What was that?!” he shouted. “I couldn’t hear you…what was it you want?!”

“I–pfft–I WANT–” Her small smile turned to a grin–the big, corner-curled grin only his daughter ever could or would achieve. The one that always melted his heart.

“I WANNA BE A DRAGON SLAYER!” she managed to roar through her grin. “NO–I MEAN, I WANNA BE THE STRONGEST DRAGON SLAYER EVER!”

“HELL YEAH, YOU DO!” he roared back, the pride managing to make his chest burst even as he squared up again, preparing for more training. An adrenaline only teaching one’s prodigy could spark electrocuted his system. “IF THAT’S REALLY TRUE, THEN COME ON, NASHI! YOU’VE GOT MORE IN YOU! I KNOW YOU DO!”

“OH YEAH? WELL I DO! I GOT WAY MORE IN ME!�� She dropped into the stance he’d taught her, grinning for everything she was worth. The sun illuminated her smile.

He somehow managed to grin even more widely. “Right, then listen up!” he commanded. “When Dragon Slayers fight, they got one big advantage: they can take a whole bunch of hits–then still get up. So that’s exactly what you’re gonna do.”

“...Huh?!” The little girl’s eyes bulged out of her head. “You’re sayin’ I’m gonna let myself get hit?!”

“Well, not too hard,” he elaborated. “And not too much…you’re just gonna play defense for a while, see?” He moved for her, throwing a fist much more slowly than he normally would have. Automatically, she wove away, eyes wide on his face. His right fist was followed by his left, then a kick–all too sluggish to be real. She easily moved around and blocked all of them. “This way,” he continued, throwing another kick. “You can learn the guy you’re fighting, how step, how they breathe…”

“How they step…how they breathe…” she repeated to herself in a murmur, eyes flickering all over his body as he continued to pantomime a real fight. Natsu couldn’t help but grin. Nashi was a distractible kid, but when it came to fighting, she was always on the ball.

Natsu didn’t mind one bit when Lucy blamed him for that.

“...how they fight,” he finished.

“...how they fight!” she whispered.

He started speeding up his movements. Let her orient before he lit up his fists. She mirrored him, flames igniting her much smaller fists. Their dance became even faster “That’s it, Nashi!” he praised as she leapt back from a kick, only letting it clip her shoulder. “Get into the flow of it! Read my movements! Remember, breathe, and–”

“She’s reading him,” he murmured, voice softer than he’d meant it to be. “Fending him off and waiting for the right moment; his hits are only clipping her.” His hunger was catching up with him again, as was his pain. He ached. He wanted to sleep. And…

…It hurt. It hurt too much. Knowing it wasn’t his Nashi…that just made it hurt more. Each hit, each block, each flash of those brown eyes…they felt like shards of glass piercing his heart.

I can’t stay here, he realized.

“What was that?” the girl in the group asked, venturing closer to him.

His heart was heavy, sinking as he watched the girl. Embarrassment washed over him as he realized that had been a stupid thing to say in the first place. This wasn’t his Nashi. She wasn’t using what he’d taught her because he hadn’t been the one to train her. Hell, she probably wasn’t even gauging her opponents’ movements; she was probably fighting for her life, here.

She would lose.

“Nothin’,” he replied thickly, dropping his arms even as he watched the girl roll away from a rather impressive and extremely long-ranged crescent kick, not even the man’s big toe catching her at all. “I was wrong…enjoy the rest of the fight, guys.” He used the ensuing beat of silence to stare–for just one more second–at the girl. This world’s version of his girl.

Without thinking, he went to heft up his backpack, only to sigh in quiet defeat–the exhale almost visible even in the warm air–as he remembered it wasn’t there; he was just a weakling in this world. That’s why his back (and whole body) felt so heavy.

“Oh, you’re leaving?” the first guy who’d spoken to him said as he turned away, pushing back through the crowd. His tone was an odd mixture of relieved and disappointed. Natsu said nothing, merely waving.

Overhead, the booming voice–which he’d tuned out during the competition–continued to sound off. “–AN ADMITTEDLY UNBELIEVABLE DODGE, BY ,” it said, clearly shocked, as Natsu pushed past a woman who was obviously excited to be moving closer to the arena. “BUT THE NEXT FLURRY OF BLOWS LANDS, ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS SHE’S BLOCKED MOST OF THEM–”

“YOU’RE DONE, BITCH!” roared Mad Cow, so loud that he managed to drown out the commentator–who went silent, anyway. This made Natsu pause, his brows knitting with fury.

It doesn’t matter, he reminded himself. She’s not your daughter. He refused to look back, forced himself to take another step, then another. She’s just some fighter from another world who’s, apparently, out of her league. She’s not–

A loud slam, like a body falling on a mat. “SHE’S DOWN! I REPEAT, ’S DOWN!”

Natsu smirked. “See, dumbass?” he murmured to himself.

“IT’S ALL OVER, FOLKS! SHE’S–”

All of a sudden, a fleshy CRACK rang through the air, followed by an enormous chorus of gasps and cries of surprise from the crowd. A deafening silence ensued.

“... HOLY– UNBELIEVABLE!” the commentator managed. “A KICK FROM THE GROUND–AND O’NEIL'S BACK ON HER FEET! THEY’VE GAINED GROUND FROM EACH OTHER, AND MAD BULL–MAD BULL IS NOW TRYING TO RECOVER!”

Despite himself, Natsu slowed even as he urged himself to keep walking. Even as he continued to force himself not to turn back. Looking back is only a distraction. It’s not Nashi. That is not Nashi. It’s not–

“Man, I really hate guys like you, you know that?”

The seething voice was what made him stop, closing his eyes. There was just…something about it. A growl. A fire. Something that punched right back into his memories:

“Remember, breathe, and keep your eyes on my chest! That way, you can see my whole body at the corners of your eyes!” A combo, one which he pumped more speed and power to than before–throwing her off on purpose.

“Oof!” she grunted as she landed on her butt.

“There, when you fall– that’s when you make your comeback! Now that you’ve watched your opponent, and tricked him into thinking you’re down– now is when you get back up and blow them away! That’s how a Dragon Slayer fights! That’s how a Fairy Tail Wizard fights!” She stared up at him with huge eyes, shining with admiration, and flushed cheeks.

He grinned.

“So?! Get up! Always get back up, Nashi! I’m not asking the impossible of you–you can do this! I know you can!”

“I–I will!” she scrambled to her feet, fists blazing with gold heat as she lunged for him. “I’ll always get back up! No matter what, I’ll–”

His chest seized. He clenched his jaw, knowing he needed to make himself keep walking, but unable to do it. Even as people churned around him, trying to push past him, he found himself shoving them off, refusing to move from exactly where he was. One foot planted in front of the other. Half-hovering. Eyes still closed.

Whatever just happened had quieted the crowd, an anticipatory sort of silence that made him clench his fists, eyes still closed.

And then, Natsu’s world flipped upside down:

“You didn’t even bother to study my previous fights, did you?” Her growl carried across the hushed crowd. “Tch, typical…if you had, you’d know: You’d know I always get back up!”

His eyes flew open.

He whirled back around and watched, wide-eyed and world rocking, as the pink haired girl rose. Rolled her shoulders against her ears, one at a time. The grin was gone, a heavy, intimidating scowl having taken its place as she recovered, getting her feet back underneath herself, her stance back in place. Her nose was wrinkled in fury. Her eyes burned.

Natsu’s lips parted on a gasp as he stared.

Mad Cow scoffed, hunched and rubbing his chin with a hand like a mitt. Natsu guessed that This Nashi must’ve caught him there–probably with a kick, given the size difference. That must have been what made the crowd react with shock. They were recovering now, though, getting louder.

“And why the fuck would I bother to do that?!” Mad Cow shouted, dropping his hand. “I don’t need to! Every guy you’ve faced could’ve beaten you easily if they’d quit acting like even more of a little bitch than you! You shouldn’t fucking be here anyway…fucking birds, knowing dudes will take it easy on you so you can take advantage of it and collect the reward…well I’M NOT ONE OF THEM!” He roared the last part. The bitter fury in his voice was a kind Natsu was familiar with.

“Studying what you can find of your opponent’s fighting style–that’s basic! And you wanna sit here and bitch about how I don’t deserve to be here, you lumpy-headed fuck?! ”

“The FUCK you just call me?!” McCow snarled back.

“YOU HEARD ME, SHITWIT!”

“THAT’S IT!” the man shouted. “I’ve had it! I was gonna take it easy on you, but–”

“THAT’S MY LINE!”

It seemed that was both their limit.

They flew at each other. But now, everything was different, and Natsu doubted that anyone without a trained eye and fighting experience like him could recognize it.

Apparently, the commentator was one such person: “THIS IS–THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” the voice boomed, full of disbelief, as the girl caught the fist rocketing towards her face with a hard elbow, making Mad Cow let out a roar of pain. She kicked away an arm flying towards her head, and launched a sidekick at his now-uncovered stomach–one that landed hard. She built on the damage, bearing down on him as he stumbled backwards, tripping over his own heels. A right roundhouse followed by a left to his head. Despite the fact he was obviously disorientated, he caught the first one– blocked it and tried, unsuccessfully to catch her foot–but not the second, which cracked into his ear and made him stagger, her chasing him and hammering him with surprisingly powerful blows. Each one of her hits accumulated speed and strength.

The commentator picked up again, saying something or other about “striking machines”, but Natsu didn’t hear. His eyes were wide, now, and glued to the girl cracking her shin into her opponent’s nose, teeth bared. The expression on her face…the fire in her eyes…the speed of her hits…her fighting style…it was like he’d begun watching the fight currently happening through one eye and a stream of memories through the other, his breath going still in his lungs–

“–No matter what, I’ll always get back up!” screamed the little girl, running forward and hammering him with fiery strikes, kicks, and even elbows. They’d only just started elbow work. Natsu staggered back with each good combo she landed. He put in the effort to make it look convincing, pride swelling within his chest.

“That’s it! Build on it! Faster…harder! C’mon!”

This Nashi slipped underneath and into one of Mad Cow’s big overhand hooks, the corrected trajectory of his fist barely skidding over her shoulder as her right fist tore up, slamming into his chin. Even as his eyes rolled and he staggered backwards, her expression was so mutinous it was almost funny.

But as good as the uppercut was, it turned out to be a set-up:

“LOOK AT THIS COMBO…CROSS, HOOK–WHOA! AN ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING LEG KICK! CLASSIC MUAY THAI-INSPIRED COMBO FROM TURNING–”

“FUCKING BITCH–!” Mad Cow roared, but his opponent cut him off with a voice like thunder.

“I’M THE BADDEST BITCH YOU’VE EVER MET!”

“I’LL ALWAYS GET BACK UP! I WILL! I’M GONNA BE A GREAT DRAGON SLAYER, JUST LIKE YOU! NO–I’LL EVEN BEAT YOU, ONE DAY!” Nashi took a deep breath, and Natsu grinned, allowing the pause in the fight, because he knew what was coming. The catchphrase both like his and not. Inspired by him, but all her own.

Her fists blazed brighter than ever. The sun illuminated her grin.“JUST WATCH ME, DADDY! DON’T EVEN BLINK! BECAUSE I’VE–”

“–GOT A FIRE IN ME THAT YOU’LL NEVER PUT OUT!”

Mad Cow’s eyes were wild with fear as he desperately swung for another, big lead cross–one which spelled his downfall. The Dragoness leapt off her left leg–her back leg. Her right shin cracked into his already dipping head.

He fell forward and bounced off the mat, limp as a ragdoll, while the audience screamed all around him.

Even as the giant fell still, she made for his prone form, fist raised, but didn’t fight at all when the black-collared man appeared seemingly from nowhere, grabbed her around the waist, and practically threw her away. Instead, This Nashi– The Nashi skipped backwards, smirking, and raised a wrapped fist.

And that was the realization which thundered through Natsu, now gaping up at the victorious, pink-haired fighter stalking towards the edge of the cage: not This Nashi. The Nashi.

After seven, grief-filled years, Natsu Dragneel was absolutely sure he had just found his daughter.

*1. Yes, there will be quotes from the original series (the anime dub, sub, or the manga depending on whichever version I like best) at the beginning of each chapter. HOWEVER. The quotes are not spoilers and are often only tangentially related to my plotline. The one for this chapter, for instance, is specifically about Edolas, but is not actually true of the world where Natsu has landed.

*2. Yes, I know the canon Edolas Nalu child is “Nasha.” I decided on “Nashi”, instead, for reasons which will be explained later.

*3. Sorry in advance, but I pretty much kept what little I remembered/liked from 100YQ and ditched everything I didn’t. Same with the original story, but way more with 100YQ. Idk what it is but even though I’ve read the whole thing, 100YQ has this unique quality where a lot of what happens slips straight out of my mind as soon as I’ve read it. In one eye, out the other. So you’ll just have to roll with me, sorry.

*4. Real-life inspiration for Layla (/Nashi) comes mostly from Ronda Rousey, whose biography I read and happen to have on hand, along with Kaoklai Kaennorsing (especially his fighting style). Those are the two main ones. If you’ve read My Fight, Your Fight, you’ll understand how Layla (/Nashi’s) personality is inspired by her–especially as you go on. I highly recommend looking up the Thai kickboxer/Muay Thai fighter Kaoklai Kaennorsing. He has been called the Giant-Slayer because he did, in fact, defeat opponents who had over 100 pounds on him. Watching his fights is just an incredible experience. Other inspirations include Rose Namajunas, Connor McGregor, and some others. There are also several fictional inspirations including and outside Fairy Tail which I won’t bore you with (some of them I’m sure fellow anime fans will be able to guess lol).

#nalu #fairy tail #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #nashi dragneel #nasha dragneel #gruvia #gajevy #jerza #fan fiction #fanfiction #2nd gen #post-canon #if this is wonky i'll fix it tomorrow. too tired now.#nalu fic

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enchantedquill-40 · 8 months

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Chapter 1: Endless Echoes

The morning sun hung low over Sunnydale, casting long shadows that whispered of the secrets hidden within its quaint streets. Fox Mulder, FBI agent and paranormal investigator, awoke with a sense of déjà vu that sent a shiver down his spine. He glanced at the clock – 6:00 AM. It was the same time as yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that.

Mulder's mind raced as he retraced the events of the previous days, realizing he was trapped in a time loop. The supernatural tendrils of Sunnydale seemed to have ensnared him in a relentless repetition. Determined to uncover the truth, he headed to the local coffee shop, where the day always seemed to begin.

As he entered, he noticed a familiar face – Buffy Summers, the Slayer. Her expression mirrored Mulder's confusion, and recognition flickered in their eyes. Unbeknownst to both, their paths were entwined by a force beyond their understanding.

"Mulder, right?" Buffy questioned, sensing a kindred spirit in this strange loop.

Mulder nodded, "Yeah, and you're Buffy. Looks like we're stuck in the same time warp."

The duo decided to join forces, combining Mulder's expertise in the unexplained with Buffy's combat skills. Days blurred together as they investigated the eerie happenings in Sunnydale. Supernatural creatures, cryptic messages, and a pervasive darkness surrounded them, leaving Mulder and Buffy to decipher the puzzle that bound them to this perpetual day.

Little did they know, the key to breaking the cycle lay hidden in the convergence of their shared experiences, as the town of Sunnydale held secrets that transcended the boundaries of time. As Mulder and Buffy delved deeper into their investigation, they found themselves taking a brief respite at the local diner. The atmosphere was charged with an unspoken understanding of their shared predicament. Seated across from each other in a dimly lit booth, Buffy couldn't help but notice Mulder's intensity.

"Why do you believe in UFOs?" Buffy asked, a playful smirk dancing on her lips as she observed the earnestness in Mulder's eyes.

Mulder leaned back, a small smile playing on his lips. "I've seen things, Buffy. Unexplained phenomena that defy conventional logic. There's a truth out there, hidden in the shadows, waiting to be uncovered. UFOs are just a small part of a much larger mystery."

Buffy raised an eyebrow, intrigued by Mulder's conviction. "So, you're saying you've had close encounters of the third kind?"

Mulder chuckled, "More like close encounters of various kinds. From abductions to sightings, the truth is out there, and it's not always friendly."

Buffy leaned in, her tone shifting to a more serious note. "I've faced my fair share of supernatural threats, but UFOs and extraterrestrial stuff? That's a whole new level, Mulder."

Mulder nodded, his gaze fixed on a distant point. "Sunnydale isn't just a hotspot for vampires and demons. There's something deeper, something interdimensional. I've seen patterns in the occurrences here, like the town itself is a convergence point for the unexplained."

Buffy's curiosity grew as Mulder shared his experiences, each word revealing the weight of his convictions. "You really think breaking this time loop involves something otherworldly?"

Mulder met her eyes, his gaze unwavering. "I do. There's a connection between the loop and the supernatural forces at play in Sunnydale. We just need to figure out how to disrupt it."

Buffy's playful demeanor softened as she considered Mulder's words. "Well, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that the supernatural tends to leave its fingerprints all over the place. Let's follow the breadcrumbs and find the source of this loop."

Their alliance deepened as they continued their investigation, combing through Sunnydale's dark corners. Mulder's unwavering belief in the unexplained resonated with Buffy, creating a camaraderie born out of a shared pursuit of the truth. Together, they faced each day with newfound determination, determined to break free from the temporal chains that bound them.

As they navigated through the town's mysteries, Mulder and Buffy found themselves entangled not only in the supernatural web of Sunnydale but also in the enigma of their own connection. The chemistry between them sparked like static in the air, a subtle tension that neither of them fully acknowledged.

Amidst the cryptic symbols and unearthly occurrences, Mulder and Buffy discovered a hidden chamber beneath Sunnydale, a nexus of mystical energy that seemed to be the epicenter of the time loop. Together, they faced a formidable adversary, a being that reveled in the manipulation of time and reveled in the chaos it sowed.

In the climactic confrontation, Mulder and Buffy combined their strengths. Mulder's knowledge of the unknown complemented Buffy's formidable combat skills. As the battle unfolded, the temporal disturbance began to unravel, reality itself warping and shifting.

In the aftermath, as they stood on the precipice of breaking free, Mulder and Buffy shared a lingering look. The echoes of their shared experiences lingered, leaving an indelible mark on both. The time loop shattered, releasing them from the repetitive grasp of Sunnydale.

As the sun set over the town, Mulder and Buffy faced an uncertain future, forever bound by the strange tapestry of their encounter. The truth may have set them free, but the mysteries of Sunnydale continued to whisper in the shadows, leaving the door open for new adventures and unexplored realms beyond the ordinary.

Buffy and Mulder, standing amidst the remnants of the temporal disruption, exchanged determined glances. Buffy, always ready for action, took charge. "We need to trace our paths, figure out the origin of this loop. Maybe there's a clue we missed."

Mulder nodded, his analytical mind already in motion. "Agreed. Let's revisit the places where the loop started each day. There must be a common thread or source tying this all together."

They retraced their steps through Sunnydale, revisiting the coffee shop, the diner, and the mysterious chamber beneath the town. Along the way, they encountered remnants of their previous loops – fragments of conversations, subtle changes in the environment, and lingering traces of the supernatural.

As they approached the hidden chamber, a surge of energy pulsed through the air. Buffy's instincts kicked in, sensing the residual power that still lingered. "This is where it all began. Whatever's causing the loop, it has to be linked to this place."

Mulder examined the symbols etched into the chamber walls, recognizing patterns from his own experiences. "These symbols are a key to the disturbance. They hold the secrets of the loop, and breaking them might release us from this temporal grip."

Together, they deciphered the symbols, their collaboration blending Mulder's expertise with Buffy's instinctual understanding of mystical forces. A revelation struck Mulder as he connected the dots. "Buffy, the loop is fueled by a malevolent entity drawn to the convergence of supernatural energies in Sunnydale. It's feeding off the distortions it creates."

Buffy clenched her fists, ready for the final showdown. "So, if we take down this entity, we break the loop and free Sunnydale from its grip. Let's do this, Mulder."

The duo faced the entity, a swirling mass of dark energy that seemed to defy the laws of reality. Mulder, armed with knowledge, and Buffy, with her Slayer strength, launched a coordinated assault. The battle was intense, each blow striking at the very fabric of the temporal disturbance.

As they fought, the symbols on the chamber walls flickered and waned. The entity, weakened by their combined efforts, lashed out in a final desperate attempt to maintain control. But Mulder and Buffy stood strong, united in purpose.

With a final surge of power, they overcame the entity, shattering the remaining fragments of the time loop. The chamber trembled as reality itself stabilized, returning to its natural course. Sunnydale, once ensnared in a perpetual day, now breathed with newfound freedom.

As Mulder and Buffy caught their breath, the weight of their shared experience lingered. The town may have been liberated, but the enigma of their connection remained. With a glance, they acknowledged the unspoken bond forged through the crucible of the time loop.

Sunnydale, bathed in the glow of a setting sun, stood silent witness to the duo's triumph. Mulder and Buffy, having unraveled the mysteries of the supernatural, now faced an uncertain horizon, their destinies forever entwined by the echoes of a time loop that had tested the limits of their beliefs and abilities.

Supernatural Investigations

#The X-Files Crossover #fanfic #x files #shorts #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #mystery #Unexplained Phenomena #Mulder and Buffy Team-Up

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raamitsu · 2 years

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updates of what i have finished/almost done:

bleach binge-reading (now at chapter 668 ‼️)

watched [and caught up with] all three seasons of marimashita! iruma-kun ‼️

what im planning to do:

catch up with mha, jjk, and demon slayer manga.

rewatch couples of 00’s anime (has done with digimon adventure 1 + movies, naruto+naruto shippuden and the law of ueki)

#mela x anime & manga list #jobless behaviour yeah i know lol #but one thing for sure is that- these shits are my escapism once i’ve done with busy days

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animemeetsculture · 2 months

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Kaigaku Death: The Untold Story Revealed

Kaigaku Death: The Untold Story Revealed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiHbHJsIQjE Background Music Credit - Doom Style Industrial Metal - Torn Flesh Royalty Free No Copyright Background Music. Karl Casey @WhiteBatAudio Discover Kaigaku's journey to becoming Upper Moon 6 in Demon Slayer! From a street-smart orphan to a demon, explore the dark twists, betrayals, and battles that define his transformation. Learn about his complex relationships and the intricate symbolism in his story, blending traditional Japanese art with modern animation. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more epic explainer videos! What are your thoughts on Kaigaku's path? Drop your theories in the comments! #Kaigaku #UpperMoon6 #DemonSlayer #AnimeExplained #demonslayer #anime #mangacharacter #Zenitsu #demonslayerseason2 #ZenitsuvsKaigaku #AnimeFight #viral #trendingreels #muichirou #zenitsu #demon #slayer #kaigaku #vs #manga #anime #explained #kimetsu #no #yaiba #thunder #breathing #animation #season #agatsuma #backstory #brother #falls #asleep CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Kaku’s Wild Survival Tactics 01:26 - Kaku’s Training Under Jigoro 02:46 - Kaku Becomes Upper Moon 6 & Zenitsu Vs Kaku via Anime Meets Culture https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCih03hNq9BNLyGyHfQe5Riw July 30, 2024 at 03:00AM

#Anime #Animereview #Animereaction #Animetheory #Animenews #Animeanalysis #Animetrailer #Animemoments

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animesavior · 8 months

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“I’ll see you later, Eren.” - Mikasa Ackerman, Attack on Titan: The Final Season: The Final Chapters (Part 2)

The Toonami Trending Rundown for January 6-7, 2024. After nearly a decade on the air with four seasons and 94 episodes, Attack on Titan’s run on Toonami comes to a close with the show airing its final episode. And what a night it was.

In terms of trending, #AttackOnTitan would trend both on Twitter and on Tumblr through the course of the night.

Tune in tonight as Demon Slayer begins the Entertainment District arc with an hour-long season premiere, among other great moments. And we’re just a week away from Lycoris Recoil joining the block at January 20 at 1:00 a.m. Until next time, congratulations to Michigan for winning the National Championship and stay gold as always.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown. For the Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

United States Trends:

#Toonami [Trended with #AttackOnTitan]

#AttackOnTitan [#3]

Tumblr Trends:

#Toonami [#5]

#AttackOnTitan [#9]

If you wish to send me a tip for the work on the trending rundown, donations can be sent to PayPal.Me/DanielLimjoco. All proceeds will be used to help pay for my cable bill and other materials that make this trending rundown possible.

Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

#toonami #adult swim #cartoon network #toonami trending rundown #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin

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dunbonnets · 29 days

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WIND OF THE STORM | AOTxDEMON SLAYER

summary. ━ Orphaned at a young age from a demon attack, Rivai Akkaman was thrust into the harrowing world of the Demon Slayer Corps as he developed the technique of Storm Breathing on his own. Rivai's unwavering determination to avenge his family and wipe out all the demons from the world propelled him swiftly through the ranks, ultimately earning him the esteemed title of Storm Hashira. His experiences have forged him into a formidable warrior, one whose spirit remains unbroken despite the scars of his past.

Kurara Rudoikku's life had always been blessed with happiness and love from the very day she was born. She was sure it would be that way forever. But her life had taken a dramatic turn when her home was attacked by a demon one fateful night. In a moment of desperation, she miraculously awakened an untrained breathing style, allowing her to fend off the demon, but not without sustaining grave injuries.

Fortunately, help arrived in the form of the Storm Pillar himself and without him, she wouldn't have survived her wounds. Rivai had slain the demon and brought Kurara to the Butterfly Mansion for healing, knowing it was her best chance of survival. And it is there, she decides to join the ranks of the Demon Slayer Corps, training under the watchful eye of the Storm Hashira himself.

As Rivai mentors Kurara in the ways of combat and breathing techniques, they both struggle with the growing feelings between them. Each battle fought brings them closer, yet they remain hesitant to cross the line from comradeship to something more profound. Together, they confront not only the demons that threaten their lives but also the complexities of their emotions, navigating the treacherous path of love amidst the chaos of their reality.

warnings. ━ canon-typical violence, gore, blood, death, ptsd, explicit language, etc.

status. ━ story in-progress. sporadic updates.

chapters. ━ 00/?? (first chapter coming soon)

reading links. ━ available only on tumblr & ao3.

tags list. ━ @pepperronys @pseudonym-lux @void-daniella (want to be tagged? either comment or send an ask or dm!)

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maergheritas-moved · 5 years

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S L A Y E R S, a novel by margarita p. g.

CHAPTER 00 - OLIVER

For being under Marco’s wing for a few weeks now, Oliver still hasn’t managed to master “the art of repair” even a little bit. He’s realized, instead, that he really isn’t good at this, that his nimble hands that once, in his younger years, served him for pickpocketing, for dumbkres with his mates, don’t work for handing tiny bot parts. It sucks, really… Marco thought Oliver would be of some use. And Oliver did, too. A part of him, a small part, maybe hoped that this stay would be permanent.

But, like all things in his life, it soon proved to be nothing but momentary. He realized this on a burning hot summer morning, when the sun was high and the sulfur in the air even higher. He was only getting used to the life in Bajo then, trying to find a place amongst the renegades and runaways, and the many generations and cultural legacies found within the ancient walls of his new tiny town. The locals knew him as escurridizo, a nod to his late night appearances literally anywhere in town… he had the ability to slip out of where he was and be somewhere else in what looked like seconds. Lightning speed. Faster than a teleporter. Some people even thought he was one. He very much was not. That much he knew.

Oliver woke up late that June morning, to the high-pitched whirring of centuries-old engines. He had hoped to get some rest after his rendezvous with Rory last night. But, as the heroes in video games would say, duty called. So, he got himself out of bed, put his sandals on, helped himself to burnt toast and already cold coffee, and headed to the taller.

There lay Marco, working on his new project: the restoration of a humanoid bot found by some archeologists a couple of miles from here. It was clearly a very, very old model, and Marco had been promised a very large sum of money if he restored it back to working condition. Maybe the archeologists were planning to take it to a museum or a college or something like that, Oliver thought.

It was very large, probably over three meters tall, and had a masculine shape. To Oliver, it looked like the military droids he saw on films.

The military humanoid death machine thing lay with its stomach part open on the table, and by the smell of coltan in the air, Oliver knew Marco was dealing with the motherboard. It was definitely from the 22nd century, maybe early, when they still put moderboards on the torso and not the head. Marco had his microglasses on, and was very intently working on opening something really really small. There was soft jazz music playing somewhere, which, mixed with the birds chirping and the sound of schoolboys close, painted a picture in Oliver’s head that resembled a time when everyone was still together and life was easy. He let the memory wrap him under.

An order from Marco pulls him back to reality. “Hey, nene,” he says, not even a hello beforehand, “can you check this wiring for me please?”

Without a word, Oliver walked over to the table, where the chemical smell is almost uncomfortable, and looked at the tangle of loose wires on the open motherboard. They were color coded, thank god. To Oliver, non-colored coded wires were the reason God left the Earth. Marcus and him always took hours to set them right. Almost instantly, he got a vague idea of how the circuits should go. They were like magnets, and he could feel where one ended and the other began, the many channels of energy running through the bot’s body, like blood rushing down veins. He had an instinct for this sort of things, a sixth sense, and it was hardly ever wrong. Oliver knew this wasn’t exactly normal, he knew it since he was a kid and could feel the many forces coming onto him way more than other people could, but he was not a might. Or at least, not a bolter (he’d already tried; sparks never came out of his palms). Whatever he was, he never gave it much thought. It would not do him good, especially not in this country.

Trusting his weird instinct, Oliver got to work, ordering Marco what went where, offering clear directions and vague explanations. Marco didn’t mind. To him, this boy was some sort of wizard, and not the “evil” kind. He did the work because he knew how to. If Oliver did it himself, he might as well cause a short circuit so strong it left the whole town with no power for a few hours. Oliver never understood why things like this seemed to happen, he guessed the wires just hated him.

Thus, they fell into a steady rhythm of work, sorting circuits out, monotone actions, with problems coming up as they went along, which they solved together. Oliver and Marco were a good team in that sense, Marco’s vast knowledge mixing with Oliver’s knack for improvisation to come up with increasingly creative solutions. These came naturally to Oliver. No one had ever given him a book on how to life, so everything he’d learned, he learned it by doing. By figuring things out, just like they were at that moment. Maybe he could be of use there, he thought. The idea of having a place to stay, even if he didn’t realize it then, gave him comfort.

Time passed quickly when you were at work, and soon it was time for lunch. Marco called a break, and Oliver lifted his head from the wiring of the bot’s eyes that he was attempting to figure out.

“Hungry?” Marco asked. Oliver nodded. He was, indeed, starving, and had been for a while, but with the task in front of him, it had been a second thought in his mind.

“Alright, then, uhhhh” Marco thought out loud. “Mara won’t be home until tonight, and there’s nothing from last night”.

Bummer, Oliver thought. Would they have something to it until Mara came back? There were days like this, when Aymara, Marco’s wife, was out working twelve hours at the rest stop outside of town. They had to do with whatever leftover there was from breakfast.

“So, we’re eating crackers, then?” Oliver asked, defeated.

Marco’s eye brightened up, his torso straightening up a little. “Actually, I think there’s some money in my bedroom. Go get yourself a mixto or whatnot, kid.”

Oliver practically springed to his feet and rushed to Marco’s bedroom. Indeed, there was money in his dresser, enough to buy two mixtos and maybe a sugary. With that, Oliver rushed out of the house and into the secluded Clovel Street.

The sun burned his skin, and he definitely should not have been out in this weather, but he was hungry and Lala’s tiny shop in the corner was open. There were a few neighbors having tartitas, who said hi to him. He went up to Arpy, the AI assistant, and ordered two mixtos, one for Marco and one for him. They would be ready in ten.

Oliver sat on the counter, watching Arpy put the mixtos in the toaster, and looked out the door, where there was a small stray dog trying to catch a fly. That was when he saw him.

His stare froze Oliver’s blood, made him paralyze all over. There was something about it…. something stomach-turning, revolting, repulsive, wrong. Like the man had crossed all of Oliver’s boundaries. It felt like a violation, but Oliver didn’t know of what. Or even how.

He wanted to run away. As far as his legs allowed him. That’s what his mind told him to do, that the man was a predator just like the MIMIC or the police. But his body told him otherwise. His body told him to stay; he felt a pull to the man like those of his wires, he did not care what fate met him there, what the man might bring him, he just had to go. It was impertinent, urgent. Now.

Yet, he stayed seated, watching his mixtos slowly get browner and cheesier, focusing on repelling that driving instinct within him, that… whatever he was doing to him. Sweat rolled down his brow and the people of the shop were completely unfazed or perhaps even unaware of whatever was going on between him and the man down the street, what strange energetic transaction was taking place Because it felt like that. It felt like electrons pushing down orbitals and moving, shifting, mixing, reacting, exploding. He felt like that: like a nuclear bomb that would go off if the man didn’t do anything about it first. He tried breathing. He tried focusing on anything else, on the smell of the food or the sound of cheese burning or the conversations taking place behind him. Nothing worked.

When his mixtos were ready, he grabbed them and rushed outside, without even saying goodbye. Without thinking, he crossed the street, to the man. It felt eternal. And the man’s eyes…. they followed him. Wide and large and dark, open, focused… they felt, to Oliver, that they were feeding on his energy.

Oliver let out a shaky breath when he got to him. He was at least a head taller than Oliver, could crash him in a split second, and very, very dark. His demeanor was unexpectedly calm. His eyes loosened for a bit, and Oliver was terrified for a half second. Then, his large hand wrapped over Oliver’s frail arm, and he hitched a breath in fear. He could not form words. The energy-sucking man started walking him down the street in double time. How is no one seeing this? Oliver thought.

He wanted to ask so many things, who are you, where are you taking me, leave me alone, I have to get back home, but he couldn’t. If he did, what would this guy do to him? He was scary, villain-level scary. So, Oliver just went along. He got thrown into the back of a white transport. There was a brunette woman on the shotgun seat. Her eyes looked even more threatening than the man’s.

They were kidnapping him. God, they were going to throw im on the sea or on a deep pit and let him die there. Immediately, Oliver started thinking up escape plans. He could still run. The didn’t bind his hands with anything. Dumbasses.

The man got in the car. The woman was clutching her head, as if she had a migraine. They were discussing something, Oliver realized. But they were not talking. They were doing it through looks. Can she communicate with him in some sort of eye language? Or is it telepathy?

After a while, they both settled down and looked at him. Oliver was going to run. But he also couldn’t. Something kept him from running and this time it wasn’t any of their looks.

“Sorry about that” the man said, “it’s pretty terrifying, i know, trust me”

What the hell? Oliver thought. He was apologizing to him?

“I’m Drake, by the way” he said, with a smirk and friendly eyes. Oliver wanted to vomit.

“And I’m Alyx” the woman said. Her eyes were warm and heavy-lidded, and Oliver had a feeling he should stay as far from her as she could.

There was a beat of silence. “Who… Who are you and what… why…?” Oliver tried to speak, tried to form questions, but he didn’t know where to start.

“Um, in short, kid,” Drake said, shifting in his seat. He opened his mouth, closed it again. “Okay, so: We are from the Cali Might Army. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Drake Emerson and she’s Officer Alyx Warren. That’s the important thing”.

Oliver gaped in awe at them. They were the Might Army. He had never met them, no one has, but he has certainly heard of them; in late night horror stories and headlines detailing tragedies. People spoke of them as violent, relentless insurgents who would abuse of their monstrous abilities to overtake the country. They almost seemed too powerful to be real. They couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be real. Is it a prank?

Alyx looked at Drake. “He’s very confused, he’s saying… it’s a prank or something, um…”

Oliver panicked. Immediately he tried to open the door, tried to break the window, anything to get away from this… woman. She was reading his thoughts! Has she always been doing that? He didn’t even feel it, she just walked into his mind without even asking for permission.

Drake reacted immediately, moving to pin him down, stop him. Oliver was on fire, his legs kicking to get away, powerless against Drake’s weight, screaming and panting and crying, he only now realized he was crying.

“Oliver!” Alyx yelled. “Oliver. Please. Please calm down, I don’t want to calm you down, please don’t make me calm you down.” She was as panicked as he was. Oliver just failed to form curses at her and kept kicking. He was not going to calm down. He was going to get away, these people couldn’t mean well. He had to get back to Marco, to the work, have lunch.

But he would never get there.

With Drake Emerson pinning him down and Alyx Warren in his mind, plus the thousand questions that grew by the second, he would never get there. Ever.

After a while, Oliver sat in the car seat, unmoving and breathing heavily, powerless. Alyx and Drake were in their seats, panting. Alyx let out a curse.

“Listen,” Drake said, softly, calm, “we won’t hurt you. Really.”

You already have, Oliver thought. “Then… why are you doing this? Why are you taking me?” he asked over shaky breaths.

“Because,” Alyx started, voice trembling, “You have a very strange ability that no one has ever had before, and you might really, really, be of help for us.”

Oliver wasn’t sure he was breathing anymore.

Alyx continued. “So, you’re coming with us, because, if you don’t, then someone else will take you, and you won’t be safe and neither will the world.”

TAGLIST (ask to be added/removed!): @andromdae @rapunzelles @herondalelucies @posideon @mayaeri @vicisse @pnstaudt @themillionthdraft @ditzysworld @vandorens @partheneos

#mine #wip: slayers #hope yall didnt forget about her #idk if the read more worked...#violetvineyard #also sorry if u didnt wanna be on the taglist cdjnhfnvh #i made it months ago #slayers: chapter 00

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thewritetofreespeech · 3 years

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Could I request the Obey Me guys as well as the Now Dateables?

Perhaps M/C crawling into bed with them wanting to be held and to be touched.

Perhaps a little nsfw added in 🤤😉

note: this is the only imagine/scenario I will do for all 11 boys. cuz I’m a thirsty bitch. the rest of the time we will stick to the rules of HCs only.

Additionally, the plot has been changed slightly to ‘coming to their room at night’. Sorry. If you want NSFW stuff for a specific boy, based on the provided content, I’ll do it but 11 boys is too much even for my thirsty trappy ass.

Obey Me Boys + MC Crawling into Bed with Them

Lucifer

Lucifer sighed over his paper work. Would his turmoil never cease?

Sometimes he felt like he had fallen into a lower level of the Devildom. Like the 13th circle of hell where the preferred torture method for lost souls was endless paperwork. A modern day Sisyphus, only instead of a boulder it was forms.

He heard the door to his room quietly click open & then close. He doesn’t look up from his paper work as he knew who it was. There was only one person, ok maybe two, who would come into his room this late at night without knocking. “What is it [Y/N]?”

“I was um...wait, you wear reading glasses?”

Lucifer frowned and looked up from his paper work now. “Magical reading glasses. For reading magical text.” They were required to read some of the magical scripts he was combing over. “What is it [Y/N]?”

The human squirmed a little when he asked again. Seeming to think over the answer, or more precisely how to explain it. “I couldn’t sleep.” They finally confess. “I was wondering if I could stay in here with you, but....you’re busy.”

Lucifer arched a brow slightly, but then moved some of the papers he had completed to make space for them. “Come on. I won’t be much longer.”

[Y/N] smiled at him and scampered over. Crawling in under the silk sheets, and as close as possible to him with him on top of them as they could. “Thank you Lucifer.”

“Of course, my dearest one.” He replied with a soft smile, leaning down to kiss the top of their head before returning to his work. Renewed in his commitment to get this done so he could spend the night with [Y/N].

Mammon

It was late. It was almost 3:00 in the morning by the time he got home, and it had been a shitty night.

Mammon had been at the casino. Gambling, drinking, dancing, the usual. His luck turned sour around 11:00 and, stupid Mammon, had spent the remaining four hours trying to turn it around. That of course didn’t work so now he was even more broke, defeated, and feeling like crap for his failure; regretting Lucifer finding out and making him feel worse. Fuck it had been the worst night.

He rounded the corner to his room and looked up in surprise to see [Y/N] at his door. “What are you doing here?” His voice seemed to surprise them too as they jumped a little before turning to him.

“Oh I was…coming to see if you wanted to hang out?”

“Hang out?” Mammon repeated with an arched brow. “Ya know it’s like 3:00 in the morning, right?”

“O-Oh…is it? I guess I miss read the time.” [Y/N] began to fidget, then muttered some apology about going back to their room.

The demon reached out and caught their hand before they could get far. “Hey, what’s wrong? Nobody comes out here in the middle of the night without a reason.” Or they were out super late like him.

[Y/N] looked down, then decided to tell the truth. “I couldn’t sleep. So I wanted to see you.”

Mammon blinked behind his shades. He hadn’t been expecting that. Now it was his turn to fidget as he realized out of all the people in the world, [Y/N] had chosen to come see him.

“Yeah well…of course ya’d come to the Great Mammon for help. I uh…guess you can stay in here with me tonight.”

He showered to get the smoke & stink of shame off before crawling into bed with [Y/N]. His little human already drifting off just being in his covers. Mammon wrapped his arms around them and held them close. Maybe it wasn’t the worst night after all.

Levi

Of course he was awake when [Y/N] came to his room. The latest install of Kenji Momotaro: Demon Slayer Warrior Prince had just been released that day, and Levi he been playing it since he had gotten his hands on it. He wouldn’t be sleeping for a while.

When he heard the knock on his door, initially missing it over the sound of his game and tunnel vision, Levi paused for the first time in hours to go see who it was. “[Y/N]-chan?”

“Can…I stay in here with you?” They asked. Catching Levi by surprise. “I can’t sleep in my room.”

The blunette blushed violently, and covered his face. “Y-Y-You….You want to sleep in here with me??”

“Is…that ok?” They asked cautiously. Seeming let down by his reaction.

“No. I mean! Yes! W-What I mean is, I’m not going to bed right now. I’m grinding through my new game so….you might not be happy in here.” Plus, his bed was a bathtub. Which was only comfortable to him.

“Oh. Well…I don’t want to mess up your game. If that’s more important to you.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Levi outburst. Then quickly covered his mouth in embarrassment. “I…I just don’t think you’ll get a lot of sleep in here. I only like my room after all.”

“I like your room.” If Levi turned any redder, he was going to get a nose bleed. “It’s dark, which is nice. Plus the aquariums are really soothing. And…you’re there. I just wanted to be around you since I couldn’t sleep, but I guess that’s silly.”

The demon had to cover his mouth again. This time over threat of nose bleed. He was so red from embarrassment, but also incredibly moved by [Y/N]’s words, that he quickly responded, “you can stay with me.”

He moved aside and let [Y/N] in. Leading them over to his game area where he laid out some plushies as a bed, and pulled out a blanket to cover them. “I-I-I…I’m gonna keep playing since I’m not tired. But I’ll put my headphones on so I don’t disturb you. Y-Y-You can lay down here and i-i-if you fall asleep I won’t mind.”

“Thanks Levi.” He had to gulp at the cute sleepy way they said his name, before they tucked in and he went back to his game.

He couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the game, with [Y/N] so close. Choosing to use his leg as a pillow. Eventually he gave up and leaned back against the edge of his tub, not daring to disturb them and actually getting a good night sleep as well.

Asmo

There were few things that Asmo considered sacred. Love. Vitality. The Louis Vuitton spring collection.

But the one thing he considered sacred most of all, was his beauty sleep regiment.

The Avatar of Lust had a strict sleep schedule to give his body the best rejuvenation possible, and amplify his beauty. Everyone knew about it, and choose to leave Asmo alone; per his wishes.

Which was why it was so frustrating when his rest was disturbed by a knock at the door.

Asmo grumbled under his sleep mask at the light rapping that wouldn’t go away. Irritated by the noise, and now the worry lines whoever it was was putting into his forehead. He pushed his mask up to his hair line and got up out of bed towards the door. “What?!” He said in a not cute, very moody outburst when he opened it. Seeing [Y/N] standing there, startled by his ugly display. “Oh, [Y/N]-kun. It’s you.”

“Y-Yeah. Yeah it’s me. Sorry to wake you, I’ll just…go.”

“Wait [Y/N]! I’m sorry. If I had known it was you paying me a late night visit, I would have been much nicer and answered the door sooner.”

“Well I….couldn’t sleep so…-“Ahhhh~! You couldn’t sleep so you decided to come to me?? How naughty!”

[Y/N] frowned and turned to leave, but Asmo apologized quickly for being cheeky. “Did you want to stay with me tonight? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” He could tell he was right, but the human was second guessing themselves on coming here. “I promise I’ll behave. Really.”

[Y/N] seemed to trust them, and came into the room & into bed with Asmo. He was practically giddy with them being so close, but was true to his word and supplied no funny stuff for the evening. Just rest and cuddles.

In the morning, he couldn’t wait to tell his brothers how he slept with [Y/N] last night. Causing quite the intentional misunderstanding and ruckus over breakfast that day.

Satan

Satan was getting ready for bed. Pjs on, teeth brushed, uniform set out for tomorrow, and on his bed reading one last chapter of his latest book, when he heard the knock at the door.

At first he thought it was a branch hitting the glass of his window. But when he heard it again, he knew it was at his door, and had a very The Raven moment before he went to answer it.

“[Y/N]? What are you doing here? It’s so late.”

“I know, I know,” the replied, scratching the back of their head. “I just…I couldn’t sleep. I tried but I just couldn’t get to sleep, and wanted to see you.” They look up at him with big doe eyes and ask, “can I stay with you tonight?”

Of course, he couldn’t say no. Not with a look like that. Or more importantly, he’d never say no to [Y/N]. Satan offered them a soft smile and nodded before letting them in.

“What were you reading?” They asked, as the climbed into bed first. Watching Satan put his book away for them.

“Oh, just a new fiction series I found. Simeon recommended it to me.” He said as he climbed into bed as well.

“What’s it about?”

He told them the premise of the story, and eventually read aloud the first few chapters to them as they curled up beside him. Falling asleep soon after.

Satan smiled again, and put the book back away, before leaning down to kiss their forehead and curl in beside them. Ready for bed now.

Beel

It was pretty late when he heard the knock on the door. And a miracle he heard it at all.

Belphie was the sleeper out of the two of them, but Beel wasn’t exactly a light sleeper either. Between his workouts, large meals, and having to get up early for his morning workouts, the red head was usually dead to the world when his head hit the pillow. But, still, when he heard the quite knock on the door he woke up.

If he were a thinker like Satan or the others, he would have thought that it was maybe their bond that woke him. Instead he just trudged half asleep towards the door to open it. “[Y/N]?”

“S-Sorry....” They apologize and look towards the ground as Beel looked at them curiously. “I knew you were asleep, but I still woke you up. I’m sorry.”

“Is something wrong?” Beel asked. A bit more awake now that he knew it was them and they seemed distressed. [Y/N] shrugged. “Did you have a bad dream?”

They pause for a while, but then shrug again. He might not be a thinker like the others, but he was smart enough to know what that meant. He reached out to take their hand and pulled them into his room. Leading them over to his bed and pulling them onto it.

“Don’t worry. You can stay here.” Beel said, holding [Y/N] to his chest in a horizonal hug. “I’ll keep you safe. You don’t have to worry while I’m here. Go back to sleep.”

His words seem to do the trick, and [Y/N] feel back asleep. Beel stayed awake a little while longer. Combing his fingers through their hair, before he too fell back asleep.

Belphie

He heard the conversation from the door, but didn’t bother getting up.

The only thing that could break through when he was asleep was Beel and [Y/N]’s voice. So hearing them both woke him up pretty quickly, although it seemed to be handled.

He tried to go back to sleep after hearing you settle in, but it didn’t work. The usually lazy demon kept fidgeting in his sleep, trying to get comfortable, and even counting sheep to try and go back to dream land. Nothing worked. And he knew why.

Belphie got up out of bed, hugging his pillow to his chest, and walked over to the over bed across the room and kicked it. When Beel and [Y/N] looked up at him half asleep he demanded, “move over.” He couldn’t sleep know that [Y/N] was cuddling up with someone else and not him. Especially in the same room.

[Y/N] huffed in their sleep and laid back down, scooching closer to Beel to try and make space. Beel, on the other hand, smile sleepily up as his twin and properly moved over; back pressed against the wall with [Y/N] at his chest to give him as much space as possible.

Belphie smiled back at him, then dropped his pillow to climb in. Instantly falling asleep. Holding on to his twin and beloved [Y/N] for the rest of the night.

Simeon

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Those were the words that Simeon tried to live by

He was just about to slip under the covers happily, when he heard a small knock at the door. It was so faint & small, that he assumed it was Luke needing something. So he quickly went over to answer it without putting his robe on.

“Oh…[Y/N]….” The angel said, feeling his cheeks heat up and clinching for his imaginary robe to cover his pjs, when he realized it was you. “What are you doing here?”

He didn’t mean in the Hall. You were stay in the other dorm for a while as an infestation of some icky, demon creepy crawly, that just loved to nibble on humans was dealt with in the House of Lamentation. Luke of course had been thrilled you were staying with them, insisting that the change be made permanent to keep you away from those rowdy demons. Simeon couldn’t really agree on the demon part, but he wouldn’t be disappointed if you stayed here more.

“I…couldn’t sleep,” you tell him. “New surroundings and all. I was…wondering if I could stay in your room?”

The angel seemed to bristle in surprise at your words. Taken aback, but also in the warm feeling that was spreading through his chest. God have mercy…..

“I don’t know if that would be appropriate.”

“Please?” [Y/N] beckoned. He had to gulp down the lump, and instantaneous urge to say yes, building in his throat. “I just don’t want to sleep alone. I keep thinking about those things in my room back at the dorm. And being around you is so comforting. Just for tonight? I’ll sleep on the couch and everything if that’s a problem.”

“I wouldn’t let you do that.” Simeon insisted. He would never let them sleep on the couch like some vagabond. “Well….alright. But just for tonight. And just because you’re feeling unsettled.” He doesn’t know who he was trying to convince more: them or himself.

He didn’t get much sleep that night. Tense, and trying to remain appropriate even is they slept next to him. But, in a way, it was the best night he had ever had.

Solomon

He always stayed up late. The late to early morning hours were the best time for magic. The witching hour. He was knee deep into his research & spell casting when he heard the knock at the door.

“I..saw the light on…” [Y/N] said when he opened the door. “Are you…going to bed soon?”

Solomon blinked for a moment, then looked down at his pocket watch. Oh, it was rather late. But….“No. I still have quite a bit of work to do.”

The other human sighed, then turned to leave from his door just as suddenly as they came. “Wait. What is it?” He asked, stopping them.

They turn, and seem to debate about answering before, “I couldn’t sleep and was thinking it might be nice to cuddle with you.” Solomon blinked again. In surprise this time. “Stupid, right?”

No, not stupid, he thought. It was just no on had ever asked to cuddle with him before. His body and cool demeanor might be misleading, but he was a very fierce sorcerer. Powerful, and awe inspiring. He had made cities tremble in his young days, and was powerful enough to independently bind one of the strongest demons in hell. Cuddles were not something that one usually thought of when it came to him.

He opened the door to let them in and said, “if you can’t sleep, I can make you a potion.” When that didn’t seem to go over well he corrected with, “or…I could lay down with you for a moment.”

The ‘moment’ turned into the whole evening, because the second his head hit the pillow, he instantly fell asleep. Lulled to dream land by his many late nights, and the warm embrace of [Y/N]. Perhaps there were better things than just getting research done.

Diavolo

He groaned in his sleep. Then rolled over on his side, immediately pulling [Y/N] in when he was in close proximity of them. It was a reflex at this point.

At first, he had tried to keep his distance from the human exchange student. No good would come from it, and it was inappropriate that the future King & patron of the program would be involved with one of the terrestrial candidates. But he couldn’t help it.

Their brightness. Their smile. Their hope for the program and just life won him over and now he couldn’t stand to be further apart from them than a second.

“It’s morning....”

Divaolo groaned and buried his head into the back of their neck. “Five more minutes...”

“We can’t. It’s morning.” [Y/N] insisted. Jutting their hips back against his front; which had the opposite effect of trying to get him out of bed. “If you don’t go, Barbatos will start looking for you. And if he teleports into my room it will be a whole thing.”

That certainly was a metaphoric splash of cold water.

The prince groaned again, and buried himself deeper for a second, before he compliantly agreed and got up. The little full bed in the student dorms joyful of his departure, as it squeaked happily as he tried to leave it.

“Can I come again tonight?” Diavolo asked, as he adjusted his ornate bed clothes. He never slept in them. Like most things in his life, they were all for show.

[Y/N] smiled at him from under their covers and said, “of course.”

His heart swelled at their smile and the promise of later. Surging forward he gave them an impassioned good morning kiss, and told them, “wait up for me.” Before he disappeared in a whirl of black smoke to his own bedroom.

It felt terribly cold now. But he only had to wait until tonight. That he could live for.

Barbatos

The work of a butler is never really done.

There were always things to do. More chores to complete. More tasks to do. Particularly in the life of the royal butler. But Barbatos never complained about his job. He was literally born for it, and took great pride in his work. No matter how small the task.

When he heard the small bell, harking a summons from on of the guest rooms, Barbatos stopped polishing the silver and immediately went upstairs to see what was needed. “You called, [Y/N]?” He asked upon arrival. Calm as ever, and ready to help. “How may I be of assistance?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you up here.” They apologized. “I just….couldn’t sleep.”

Barbatos chuckled a little with a soft smile. “No need to apologize, [Y/N]. You’re a guest here, and a friend of the young master.” As well as a dear person to him. “I’m happy to help with anything you need. Might I make you some soothing nightshade tea? That seems to do the trick for most people.”

“N-No. No I…I was wondering….if you’d just sit with me for a while.” The human looked down at the ornate bed spread. Picking at the embroidery in a nervous manner. “Til I fall back asleep?”

The demon smiled again, and came over to sit on the edge of the bed. Holding them in the most comfortable manner possible with him on top of the covers, and them under them. “That is a simple thing.” He told them softly. “Close your eyes. I shall stay with you until you are asleep, and make sure you are taken care of.”

“Thank you.” [Y/N] said lazily. Already closing their eyes and falling back asleep with him close.

The work of a butler was never really done. But this was a task he was happy to do.

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