#ueda saburo v jakkuusagi (naruto)

[tragedyloved]

@musaics / saburo surprises hinata.

"Special delivery~"

He sing-songed, skidding to a halt nearly an inch before her. Any more reckless and he might have ran straight into her, but years of training wouldn't see him making such an amateur mistake.

"Popsicle?" He held out the frozen treat, bright lemon yellow next to his lychee cream. "Ah... you looked like you needed one."

[tragedyloved]

@bestninjaclub // for hinata and saburo

                    “I brought you something.” 

           Saburo searched his messenger back with one hand, finding the rolled paper bag without much trouble. 

                     “Ah, you like gardening, right? Mao is selling seed packets of flowers... These grow into some kind of purple ones.”

[tragedyloved]

“  you don’t have to tell me anything, we can just sit here.  ” //Sakura to Saburo

He hadn't wanted to come back from this mission.

Being ANBU was not something he generally felt pride in. It was a lot of dirty work. A lot of death. The village could speak of peace and prosperity all it wanted, but there were still criminals wishing to do harm. There were still hidden plots that couldn't be erased with a few kind words.

Sakura was the medic on staff when he'd returned to the village. He'd changed out of his uniform, and was only at the hospital on orders. Or else he'd have headed straight home. His captain had said he should go. Had he hit his head? Saburo realized it was because he hadn't said much more than one word answers since returning. His debrief had been a clipped few words. And Saburo didn't really know if he could say much more than that.

So, he was lucky that it was Sakura who had been the one called over for him. Save for a few scrapes and a bruise on his jaw from a rare hit to the face, Saburo was fine. He just... didn't want to go home. Didn't want to see Souma so his brother could spit something nasty in his face. Take his silence as some kind of challenge.

He wasn't sure how long later that she found him again, seated on a bench a little ways off from the hospital. It was late, the stars out, and Saburo stared up at them without moving. A statue. She sat down next to him, expression soft and concerned. She looked pretty under the light of the stars, even with the tell-tale sign of tiredness settling into her shoulders. Saburo watched her for a moment, silent, and then turned back to the stars when she spoke. He hummed softly. It took another beat before he could say anything.

"Arigatou, Sakura."

@gatheringstars

[tragedyloved]

@bestninjaclub​ // for lee & saburo

              Saburo skidded to a halt, stopping a second before running straight into his former classmate. It was one of his rare week’s off, which meant he was doing his usual mail route instead of off on a mission. The parcel in his arms was large. Saburo had to look over the edge to peer at Lee, brows arched. 

                         “Ah... gomen. Joke parcel coming through.” He shifted the package. “You’re lucky. Whatever is in here might be explosive.”

[tragedyloved]

“ don’t you know?  i’ll always come when you call.  ” From Hinata to Sab :’)

@bestninjaclub

He didn’t look up at her, his gaze on his dirty, callused hands. His hair was askew, falling over his shoulders. A bandage peaked out from beneath his uniform. He’d killed a lot of people tonight. Did it preserve the peace of the village as they spoke of treaties and friendly relations in the day time? 

“Hm.”

That was just the kind of person she was, wasn't it? Had he ever been close with anyone like her, before? His former teammates weren't really like that. Takara was a good friend, but she could be terribly unreliable. And Youta. Youta had been cautious, wary, the type of person who would have ran away from the hard things. Or maybe not. Youta hadn't run away from the danger that led to his death.

Those things weren't important, right now, and yet here he was, mulling them over because he didn’t know how to put to words why he had called for her at all. His tongue was weighted with everything he didn’t know how to say. Not even excuses. I’m not always like this, I promise, but she already knew that. Or, I don’t know how to get out of this, but that was too vague. His jumbled up thoughts trapped themselves behind his teeth, choked him in the thickness of his throat. 

Where was the man he’d taught himself to be? Where was the mask he put on to cover up the child who had never really learned how to speak? Saburo had only the child. The child who had followed in Souma’s footsteps, or been pushed and shoved until he learned that if he tiptoed around the mines, he could get by undetected. 

But he always tripped them eventually. Whether it was the narrowed eyes of his cousins and their sharp tongues, or the threat of his brother’s hands around his neck. A kunai stuck in the wall by his head. 

And the other trap: walking out into the village, putting on the mask of his day time self and pretending he was somebody. He was just a ghost puppeteering in human skin. A tool for their hokage to use when necessary.

Saburo lifted his gaze from his hands. His gray eyes sought her face. She was here. She’d come here for him. That made him more of a person than a ghost, didn’t it? 

He couldn’t say anything, still. The words lost somewhere between his head and his chest. Silent, he pulled her into an embrace. I just want to feel like I’m real, was too raw, but he thought she would understand, too.

[tragedyloved]

“  you deserve good things.  ” To Sab from Hinata :")

@bestninjaclub // ten years later

He had been downplaying his feelings again. Not an unusual occurrence for Saburo, who usually didn't speak about his emotions in the first place. But Hinata seemed to draw him into these kinds of conversations simply by being a good listener, by being there with a kind word. He had become accustomed to spending some amount of time with her-- at the tea shop, near the Ueda post HQ where Saburo had showed her a hidden alcove he usually disappeared off to when things were too much, various benches. He wasn't sure how it happened, only he found himself wanting to see her when he could. When she could.

He was recovering from lightning step overuse. The whole of his body hurt, it felt like his nerves were lit with electricity. He should have been laying down, sleeping, but being home was impossible, so he'd done a few deliveries that weren't time constrained.

It was second nature to use his kekkei genkai, though. And even though he could have told her "rain check", Saburo had wanted to see her more than he wanted to hide out in his apartment. He'd wiped blood from his nose, checked himself over in a window. Too pale, and tired, but that wasn't unusual. He let his hair down to assuage the headache. He was fine. He was always fine.

Which came to their little conversation. Saburo admitting he was a tired of feeling isolated. But it wasn't a big deal.

And yet here she was with her simple words. Saburo stared at his hands, glanced up like a shy child through his bangs. She watched him with a small, little sad smile on her face and he realized something right then. Saburo blinked, straightened up in his seat. Again, the tea shop with two mugs between them.

He deserved good things. Could he count her among those things?

"... You always say nice things." To everyone, he was certain. But Saburo could pretend she saved the softest things for him. Like the salve she'd once shared when they were younger. "Hinata..."

He paused, uncertain.

"... would you like to go out with me?" Saburo leaned forward a little. "For dinner. On a date."