#which i need oda to explain to me how his whole “if you follow your dream youll age with grace” bull works with big mum | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

linkspooky · 4 years

Text

Kunikida + Oda: Death of a Good Man

While Kunikida and Oda have never met in canon they are characters with a lot in common. They both essentially play the same role, as the moral center of their respective groups (particularly acting as a conscience for Dazai). They both share the same strengths and weaknesses. However, one lives and one dies. MORE UNDER THE CUT.

1. Relationship with Dazai

Dazai is a character who has trouble seeing himself as a person. That is, he doesn’t see himself as the same as everyone else. (His ability is titled No Longer Human, surprise, surprise). Oda says as much to Dazai, that traditional values like good or evil don’t really mean that much to him.

“Whether you’re on the side that takes lives, or the side that saves them nothing beyond your own expectations will happen. Nothing in this world can fill the hole that is your loneliness. You will wander for eternity.”

...

“Be on the side that saves people. If both sides are the same, then choose to be a good person.” - Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era

It’s not that Dazai is a sociopath, or even unfeeling, it’s just that he is so distanced from his own humanity, and from other people. He genuinely believes he can’t feel the same way as they do. Dazai even described the way he saw himself to Fyodor.

Dazai tells Fyodor that he feels like he’s sperate from everyone else. It’s like he’s the player, and everybody else is pieces on the game board. But, even though he might come up with strategies and move the pieces, he’s not really the one changing things, or affecting other people’s lives because he’s not right there in the middle of things he’s far away.

Dazai even flashes back to Oda and Gide’s final showdown when trying to explain this feeling to Fyodor. Oda his closest and only friend at the time, who he could not reach out to and save. Dazai believes he can’t touch other people, he can’t reach out and save them, because he sees himself as lacking in feelings or a heart. Which is why, Dazai relies on the people around him. Dazai attached himself to Oda when he was in the Mafia, and then again to Kunikida when he was detective agency to essentially act as his heart, his external conscience for him. That’s the relationship he shares with both of them. It’s why the first two light novels are essentially about Dazai, but narrated from the point of view of his partner at the time. Light novel one is about his partnership with Kunikida, and Light Novel 2 is about his friendship with Oda back in the dark age. The connection between them is that both Oda, and Kunikida are good, just men who have tried to understand Dazai in one way or another.

The events of both light novels even mirror each other to an extent. Entrance exam is about Dazai joining the agency, Dark Era is about Dazai leaving the mafia. Entrance exam is about Kunikida failing to understand Dazai, but learning to trust him anyway. Dark Era is about Oda being the only one who fully understands Dazai, but then not listening to him at the end of the story. They both end with a symbolic death, Oda commits double suicide with Gide, whereas Kunikida pretends to shoot Dazai in order to follow his plan.

Dazai’s a master strategist, but he’s not a leader of men, nor does he have any particular ideals he stands for. Dazai was given a position of leadership within the port mafia, and not only did he spend the entire time tormenting his closest subordinate but he didn’t care about the lives of his subordinates the way Chuuya does.

Dazai sees Kunikida as someone having the ideals he does not have, therefore doing what he cannot, and being what he cannot be to others. This is a role Oda used to serve as his one and only friend. However, while they occupy the same spot as Dazai’s most trusted person their relationships with him are very different.

Kunikida is very combative with Dazai and always fighting against him. He personally expects Dazai to be better in all aspects. He scolds him for being lazy and neglecting his work. When Dazai messes with other people or manipulates them, it’s Kunikida who is the first to get frustrated with him. Kunikida also, tends to lack a fundamental understanding of Dazai. It’s a running joke that he’s always a step behind him (he’s the last person to find out Dazai was a mafia member when everyone else already knew). The literal first thing established about their relationship in the first chapter, is that they are constantly fighting with each other. They barely make it through a dinner with Atsushi.

However, Kunikida also listens to Dazai when it’s important. It’s the other way around with Oda, Oda is someone who does fundamentally understand who Dazai really is deep down. However, at the same time Oda doesn’t really try to exert any influence over Dazai until the very end of his life. Their relationship was defined by being distant to one another, and not asking questions.

The reason why Ango and I were able to be by his side was that we understood the solitude that surrounded him, and we never stepped inside it no matter how close we stood.

But in that moment, I kind of regretted not stepping in and invading that solitude.

Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era.

Him, Ango and Dazai could only keep meeting as the Buraiha at the Lupin bar if they pretended to not know anything about what each other did outside of the bar. They’re different in one main aspect, Kunikida fights Dazai, and Oda doesn’t start fighting until it’s almost far too late.

2. Living and Dying for One’s Ideals

One more direct parallel between the two is that Kunikida and Oda are both characters who strive to live up to the ideal they find in a book. Literally. Kunikida obsessively writes out his ideals in his notebook where he has his whole future planned out.

What are ideals? There are innumerable answers to that question. One could say it’s merely a term, or an idea, or perhaps even the soruce of all meaning. But if you ask me, the answer is obvious. It’s the word written on the cover of my notebook. My notebook has all the answers. It is my creed, my master, and a prophet that guides me. At times, it can either be a weapon ro a solution. Ideals. Everything I am is written in this notebook which I always carry with me. My entire future lies within it - Osamu Dazai’s Entrance Exam

Oda picked up a book and loved it so much he wanted to write the ending for himself.

After worrying about it for so long, I came to one conclusion. “Then you write what happens next.” I decided to write about it myself. I would become a novelist, and write a story about why the man stopped killing. But to become a novelist, I needed to sincerely know what it meant to live. So, I stopped killing. - Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era.

Kunikida and Oda are both characters who find their will to live for the future within the pages of a book. Which makes sense as both characters struggle with lofty ideals and a harsh reality. Oda and Kunikida are characters written about the struggle to be a good man, in a world that is not good. To hold ideals, in a world that is not ideal. This once again ties back to what Dazai said to Fyodor, God isn’t perfect harmony, he’s illogical and absurd.

The world isn’t ideal and orderly. It’s extremely, extremely messy. Kunikida and Oda are both characters who strive to be better, and want the world to be better and because of that they fall into conflict. However, Oda lost his fight, and Kunikida is still fighting. Part of why Dazai got so attached to Kunikida is also because he saw Oda’s ideals within Kunikida, and knew that carrying those ideals could crush him so easily.

“Justice is a weapon. It can be used to harm, but it cannot protect and save others.” -Osamu Dazai’s Entrance Exams

The meanings of Dazai’s words are clear when you look at them in the context of what he learned after losing Oda. Oda decided to throw his life away to avenge the children after Gide. He achieved justice then. However, nobody was saved. The children were already dead. Oda himself wasn’t saved. Dazai lost his only friend.

“Something?” I looked at Dazai. “There isn’t anything, Dazai. It’s all over. Everything. Whatever else happens now is meaningless - just like I’m about to do. AM I wrong?” “Odasaku...” Dazai said softly. “Forgive me for the absurd wording but - don’t go. Find something to rely on. Expect good things to happen from here on out. There’s gotta be soemthing...”

[...]

Oda’s march against Gide isn’t just tragic, it’s a deliberate choice. It was a suiide. He’s given several oppurtunities to just walk away, or wait for something else to give him a reason to live and he doesn’t. His final actions hurt more than they helped. Yes, he did save Dazai in a way by throwing his life away, but Dazai also lost the person who could understand him. Oda could have lived. He could have done more if he had lived. Dazai even says so in dead apple, saving people is the more beautiful path, but you have to be alive to see that beauty.

This is also why Kunikida and Oda have such a connection to Dazai. Underneath their struggles to be a good man they are both constantly dealing with suicidal feelings.

Kunikida is far more fragile than he lets on. Part of the reason he attaches himself to ideals rather than people, is because caring about people hurts, and he is so afraid of failing the people in his life (the same way Oda eventually failed to protect the children) that he can’t admit the depth to which he cares about them.

Kunikida struggles to save everyone in front of him, but that’s also because Kunikida is internally someone who is very fragile. He can’t handle the loss, especially losing those he is close to. When Atsushi is hospitalized after his first fight with Akutagawa, he pretends to be unconcerned. When Atsushi wants to save Kyoka, Kunikida tries to persuade him to not save her. Oda and Kunikida are both avoidant characters, Oda avoided ever stepping inside of Dazai’s loneliness, and Kunikida avoids getting close to others because they fear the people they cannot save. Kunikida cares so much and so deeply, that he’s completely shattered when he fails someone.

Every strategy by the detective agency’s enemies relies on crushing Kunikida because he’s the easiest target. When he fails like this he wants to give up. Kunikida and Oda have this dark underside to their actions where they’re fighting continually to be better, but when they fail, they long to throw their lives away and give up the struggle.

Part of the reason they’re attracted to Dazai is deep down Kunikida and Oda both have the same suicidal feelings. Kunikida knows that his ideals will never live up to the reality.

However, secretly he longs to fail so he won’t have to struggle against it anymore.

“I let go of Dazai. I understand what he’s aying. Perhaps righteousness isn’t something you seek in others, but something you search for inside of yourself. Even then... Miss Sasaki is dead, and so is Rokuzo. All I’ve found in my search for righteousness within myself is a sense of hopelessness.”

Osamu Dazai’s Entrance Exam

The question is can you continue to live? Even if you fail over and over again to do better. Even if the things you try to protect all die. Kunikida’s arc so far mirrors Oda’s. The things he told himself he would protect, he failed to. The promises he made, he breaks. He said he was never going to watch a child die in front of him, and then it happens.

He said he was never going to fail to protect the agency again, but then the agency became the victims of the hunting dogs, and Kunikida had to go completely on the run. He said he was going to throw himself away in a big bang against the hunting dogs to show his ideals would never fail, and instead.

He even loses his ideals and his ability to write in the notebook. So, what is the difference between Kunikida and Oda that allows Kunikida to keep struggling where Oda did not. I think it’s not really a difference between them, so much as it’s a difference between Dazai. Dazai’s grown since then and realized his mistakes with Oda, and because of that doesn’t stay at a comfortable distance from Kunikida.

Dazai has grown enough between then and now he’s able to reach people who feel similiarly to him. He understood the suicidal feelings of both Kunikida, and Oda, but he didn’t reach out to Oda until it was too late. However, Dazai has grown to the point where he not only understands Kunikida’s struggle and sympathizes with him, but he’s also able to say the words he couldn’t say to Oda until it was too late.

There’s no such thing as a point of no return. There is no point where everything is already over. Even if you fail to protect someone, even if you fail to protect everyone.

"Anything I would never want to lose will be lost. It is given that everything that is worth wanting will be lost the moment I obtain it. There's nothing worth pursuing at the cost of prolonging life of suffering."

Dazai is still the same person that said this. Deep down that’s what Kunikida and Oda both fear, that after Oda failed the orphans, that after Kunikida could not save an innocent child in front of them, that no matter how hard they fought all of their attempts to protect someone would fail that way. At which point their fighting seemed to become meaningless.

Dazai knowing those feelings has moved past that lament. He still believes that the struggle may be meaningless, but he reassures them that they can keep fighting anyway.

If there’s no great glorious ideal to live for, if nothing we do matters, than all that matters is what we do. The world isn’t good, the world will never be as good as we want it to be, yet Kunikida can still strive to be good in the face of that.

#dazai osamu #kunikida doppo #oda sakunosuke #odasaku #bungou stray dogs #bsd meta #bungou stray dogs meta #bungou stray dogs theory #bungou stray dogs analysis

584 notes · View notes

enn-tea · 3 years

Text

When I was younger, I used to play otome games, which were and continue to be hilarious for their absurdity e.g. getting transported back to the Warring States period and romancing Oda Nobunaga et al. I’d play these with my friends because of the bad storylines, and frankly questionable love interests and we’d spend all our time literally breaking down how bad these stories were, like jfc please actually do something, protagonist. Also in no way feel obligated to read this because this is just...word vomit for my own personal reference haha. Honestly don’t read this. Maybe one day I’ll turn this into some kind of actual essay about the impact on these games on wider culture or something (after I write about why romance in AOT is fine and everyone’s just reading it wrong and actually Isayama is peak romance writer and should write a massive Mills & Boon franchise around uh...some characters). But anyway.

However, amongst all of these was probably the game with the most generic concept was Wizardess Heart, which was this magic school which the protagonist attended. Over the course of two weeks, she would have to be partnered up with a “buddy” and they would help each other with their magic (they also fell in love over these two weeks LOL and quite honestly her best romantic choice was her roommate, which was never an option :( She was, for a while also the only other female character in the school who actually had a personality).

Anyway, the point is - the setting was clearly a riff on certain franchises, the whole system was super basic...but. These stories had no right to be as good as they were. Or perhaps they had every right. Because from the ones I played, they were...genuinely really interesting. Each storyline was a season, and there were three romanceable characters, who all had their own individual plotlines but...tied into one coherent plot, as either a protagonist or an antagonist, which I still find - kind of revolutionary for an otome game haha (I’m not counting Mystic Messenger bc I actually enjoyed getting to set up a bakery and cult investigation).

But honestly? These were within the universe, believable but also super crazy stories. I only ever played two “seasons” fully, because of the ticket mechanic, but the second one has literally stayed with me in terms of really interesting perspective, and the characters themselves because if the first season was mildly crazy, season two was insane and focused on these three characters: Klaus Goldstein (...no comment lmao, I do hate how he’s the figurehead of the game), Serge Durandal (the best character tbh) and Azusa Kuze (a piece of shit and not in a good way, what are the messages this game is telling us). Each season had a mystery as a premise, and the second one was about mysterious animal deaths occurring around the school.

I don’t think I’ll ever really be able to explain Wizardess Heart comprehensively, but the personal lives of these characters? Was crazy. I loved they all had cameos in each other’s storylines and were so tightly linked. Like you have Klaus who does actually have the least interesting plotline, but a shared tragic backstory with Serge (more on that later, because this is literally peak melodrama lmao). You have Azusa who comes from fantasy Japan in that universe, which has been overrun by nature spirits who are taking over because they think humans are overstepping their boundaries, and Azusa has signed a deal with one of them to bring back his dead brother, and in fact is being manipulated by visions of said brother (and even with that in context, he’s still actual trash for other reasons, and I can’t believe the happy end for his route is to get married and have kids with him EW).

My favourite character in this however was Serge Durandal who is also a premium shit-stirrer but never super maliciously haha (apparently I have a favourite character archetype I’m a fan of). Even now he’s literally the best character because he’s such a passive aggressive individual to Klaus (who deserves it). But their shared backstory cracks me up, is kind of sad and ridiculously absurd because they’re both so fixated on the past. I also personally find his storyline interesting from a character progression viewpoint, because he’s the main character’s idol when she starts at the school, but has mysteriously disappeared.

So basically in Klaus’ storyline, he always references this dead friend he’s hung up over (although the “friend” part is debatable maybe haha) and you help him investigate the dead pigeons. Ofc you then find out that polite, charming Azusa is the antagonist of the season and you have to play through the next routes in order to get a better picture of this. But throughout Klaus’ route, this character called Randy March (unfortunate name lmao) keeps on popping up. He’s funny, doesn’t treat the main character as inconvenience (best friend goals right there) but what’s more interesting is how he’s never in the same room as Klaus; as soon as he hears that he’s approaching, he just...disappears. And this continues for the whole of the story until the end, when they finally meet each other face to face, and Klaus reacts badly. Not quite in an upset way, more shocked - but it’s clear that they have a History.

So - cue “Randy’s” route. He is the same as he is in Klaus’ route, and still dodges bumping into Klaus, but then - then, they bump into each other far earlier in his route (one thing I do like about these stories is how the main character does actually have some impact on the plot. It all follows the same storyline, with the same conclusion, but they do diverge because the character happens to interact with different characters and some things can’t happen if she isn’t there for it). Leading up to this, Randy has been very cagey about being the main character’s “buddy” and insists he already has one, and he really, really gets awkward when the main character states that she really idolises Serge Durandal (who in this is like, IDK good at animal magic like the main character).

And then, my god, the reveal. The fact that Randy March is not, in fact, Randy March, but Serge Durandal (which honestly is such a cool name comparatively lol, I named all my other otome protagonists Serge Durandal). And that Randy March, is in fact, the dead friend of Klaus who Serge has been impersonating for literal years. On top of this? Serge was also a best friend of Randy, who was his “buddy” and leading up to Randy’s death, he and Klaus were involved in a rivalry over his friendship (and I’m not joking I do actually think this was some kind of unvoiced love triangle, because both Serge and Klaus genuinely say that they’re attracted to the main character because she reminds them of Randy, they need to get over this before they can actually engage in a romantic relationship with anyone else kthx. Also at some point, Serge actually says he loved Randy in a way that really can’t be construed as entirely platonic, and the main character says it as well, and considering her personality and the way she interprets things, when she says love - she definitely means romantically).

Klaus holds Serge responsible for Randy’s death, as the two were working on a project together which led directly to it. His first reaction on ever hearing Serge’s name is “the murderer” which continues all the way up until the end of the story when they resolve their character arcs (also incredibly satisfying).

Apparently the reason behind Serge impersonating his dead friend is because he felt so guilty and so ashamed and willingly accepted the blame that Klaus placed on him, he felt that if he became Randy, it would basically be like letting his friend experience the life he didn’t get to have, and he’s spent years searching for a cure to revive him. This has taken him to Hinomoto, where he’s become friends with Azusa (drawing him into the storyline) and back to the main setting of Gedonelune. Side note, Azusa, I’m not going to even go into your character because you’re such a piece of shit and I only played through your storyline because I felt compelled to get the full picture.

Ofc, this all links to the main plot - because at this time of year, there’s a whole thing related to a unicorn appearing in the nearby forest. This is a unicorn who has struck a deal with Serge years prior to the main storyline who is Serge’s last hope of reviving Randy, and Azusa finds out about this and wants to bring his brother back etc. and this all culminates in a massive showdown.

Intense.

Anyway, at the end of this, peace returns etc. and there’s a sequel I haven’t actually played but you know what’s perfect about the ending? Serge ends up staying on as a prefect - the same role as Klaus and they have to share a room. I cannot describe how funny their interactions are for the rest of the story and the other storylines they have to live together.

I’m not entirely sure what the point of this was, apart from an exercise in pinning down precisely what I liked about this story but - it’s certainly one that’s stuck with me through a LOT of otome haha.

13 notes · View notes

readerinsertfanfiction · 4 years

Note

hey Nemo! gonna drop a request~ okay so can i get an hc from ikesen(suitors of your choice) where the reader/mc is kinda shocked to see the warlord's paintings look so different from their actual(in game) looks? what are the suitor's reaction- what would they say?

This is a super hilarious idea, Tani. 😂😂😂

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Characters: All suitors, with the exception of Sasuke.

At first you tried to peek. Your eyes covertly glancing over to the warlord in front of you, averting your eyes just as quickly as soon as he shifted. Staring was rude, you knew that, and your reasons for staring would only serve to upset them. You couldn’t help yourself, however. And the more you glanced the more shameless you got, until you just stared at them, your eyes squinting as you started to observe him from every angle.

Nobunaga Oda

“What is it?” he commands from you, his eyes staring you down from his own position. “Do you need a painting?” he grins, giving you a suggestive look before you shook your head.

“Nope, they don’t look like you anyway,” you deadpanned, earning Nobunaga’s interest. “Yeah, unless you recently shaved,” you continued to muse, eyes squinting as you turned your head to the side.

“Do you want me to maintain a moustache?” Nobunaga tries, another suggestive glint catching into his eyes. “Is that what you like?”

To this you shook your head again, your tongue clicking in disappointment.

“No, but it would make your portraits more accurate.”

Hideyoshi Toyotomi

“Uhm, is there something on my face?” Hideyoshi calls for your attention, confusion settling on his face as he blinks at you, eyes following you moving around as you examine him from every angle, a contemplative look on your face.

“Nope, can’t see a monkey in it,” you mused, earning an offended scoff from the male as Hideyoshi straightened his back, ready to speak up as you hummed once more. “Nor a naked mole rat. Geez, the painter must have been in a bad mood, or something,” you continued, a disappointed click of your tongue sounding through the room.

“Care to tell me why I’m being insulted?” Hideyoshi sighed instead, suddenly finding himself exhausted by your behaviour.

Ieyasu Tokugawa

“What do you need,” his tone was sharper than he had intended it to be, but the way you had been staring at him, eyes widening and lips pursing as if something didn’t quite line up was getting on his nerves.

“Your portraits aren’t half as fluffy-looking,” you mused out loud, earning a glare from the blond who clicked his tongue at you.

“Do you want to get on my list?” he warned you sharply, to which you responded by curling into yourself with a pout.

Masamune Date

“Like what you see, lass?” Masamune was amused at your antics, not minding the way you circled around him.

“Much better than your portraits, that is for sure,” you bluntly told the man, not minding the way you had complimented him. This earned a mirthful laugh from the man whose eye followed you, a hand reaching out as he pulled you in closer.

“Do you want to take a closer look?” he suggested, earning a choked sound from you as you struggled not to fall right into his chest.

Mitsunari Ishida

“What are you looking at?” Mitsunari’s question sounded innocently, a gentle smile crossing his lips. Ever the patient man the warlord didn’t seem to mind your staring, even seeming to enjoy it as he joined you into the ogling.

“You have a lot more hair than your portrait suggests,” you suddenly spoke, earning a wide-eyed look from the man as he reached for the top of his head.

“What, really? I don’t think I have lost any hair recently,” he mused to himself, his expression darkening a bit. “Are you sure it was my portrait?” Mitsunari asked, still not quite understanding why he would be drawn with less hair than he actually has.

Mitsuhide Akechi

“Is the little mouse studying my countenance, or are you admiring my profile?” Mitsuhide’s voice tilted into a teasing lilt, earning a flushed expression from you, shame crawling up from your neck as you turned your eyes off him.

“You just look so different,” you mumbled to the man, a pout set on your lips that he couldn’t help but find adorable.

Quirking a brow Mitsuhide’s smile widened, a low rumble escaping his throat. “Different, how so?” he questions, “I can assure you that I’ve had this face my whole life,” he teases, light mockery sounding through his voice.

He knew, alright. After all, it was he who made sure that there was no accurate depiction of his mien recorded.

Ranmaru Mori

“Why are you staring at me?” Ranmaru’s expression grew sullen, a pout protruding from his lips as he blinked at you. He had seen that look on many faces, it was an expression to which he was no stranger, but it upset him to receive it from you.

“You don’t look like your portraits,” you stated, expression turning contemplative as you nodded to yourself. “Still beautiful, though. Just different,” you casually remarked.

“Are you sure you aren’t looking for the word: handsome?” Ranmaru tried, but you didn’t dare to tell him the truth and thus ignored the question.

Kenshin Uesugi

“What?” Kenshin questioned you, his eyes narrowed at your constantly moving figure.

Pausing for a bit you gave the man a wide-eyed look, hands rising in defense as you shook your head. “Nothing, nothing, I’m just…” you fell quiet, searching for the right words, “you’re prettier in person,” you finally settled with, earning a frown from the man.

“Pretty?” his voice was low as he stepped closer to you, a sharp smile drifting over his features as he cornered you.

“Try handsome.”

Shingen Takeda

“Admiring me?” the male quipped at your staring, a wink following after as he leaned over you. Figure towering over you Shingen felt little shame in lowering you down to the floor, enveloping you with his figure.

“Yes,” you exclaimed, before correcting yourself, “I mean, no,” you shook your head, cursing yourself for letting yourself be so easily distracted by the man.

“It is just…” you tried, looking for the right words before finally letting go of a sigh.

“I’m glad that you shave,” you decided to say instead, earning an owlish blink for a moment before his usual smirk reappeared, his face closing in on you.

Yukimura Sanada

“You’re staring,” Yukimura observed, eyes staring right back at you. “Stop that,” he ordered you, a blush spreading across his face.

To this you only giggled at his embarrassment, skipping over as you sat down in front of him, eyes intently trained upon the young man.

“I can’t help it, you’re so handsome compared to your portraits,” you jested, earning another flush from the male who hid his face from you.

“I don’t know what nonsense you’re say--- wait, what do you mean by my portraits?” the male shot, his eyes pulled into a frown as you continued to smile up at him.

Yoshimoto Imagawa

“Why are you staring?” Yoshimoto smiled down at you gently, not seeming to mind the attention you were suddenly lavishing him in.

Feeling yourself flush you quickly turned your eyes away, remembering how impossible it was to stare at the man in front of you.

“Sorry,” you squeaked, though the man bided you a signal, his smile telling you that he didn’t mind it and that there was nothing to apologise for. Relaxing you felt encouraged to continue.

“It is just that you look a lot fiercer in your portraits,” you explained, earning a look from the male, his gentle smile falling for a second before it returned, though with a vengeance in them.

“And is that a bad thing?” he mused to you, his eyes darkening as he leaned into you.

Kennyo

“Ugiy, is it not?” Kennyo told you, thinking that you were staring at his scar. Many did, he did not blame you. The scar that ran across his face, the reminder of the life he had lost and the path he had chosen.

When you shook your head the monk’s face fell, surprise crossing past his expression as you spoke;

“I didn’t expect you to have so much hair.”

To this Kennyo could only grimace. Another reminder of the life he had left behind, but could not abandon entirely.

Motonari Mouri

“Spit it out, what do you want?” Motonari aggressively addressed your staring, earning a flinch from you, an offended look thrown into his direction.

“Nothing, just checking,” you threw back at the man, averting your eyes. It didn’t take long for you to return your gaze at him, once more checking the man out.

“Checking what?” the male smirked, his chin thrown up into the air as he caught you once more.

This time you couldn’t deny it, a sigh escaping you as you shrugged.

“Your portraits are gentler. Ten ten, would not recognise you.”

Motonari would be lying if he had any understanding of what you said, though he could relate.

274 notes · View notes

beneaththemasks · 4 years

Text

Beast, Fifteen, Dead Apple and Fyodor´s ability put togheter

The first time I watched Bungou I didn't pay much attention to be honest and that lead me to committing a big mistake and that big mistake is what brings me here today.

This is a theory I´ve been working on for a long time now.

Before anything else I have to tell you that this is something I came up with entirely by myself, I don´t know if anyone has already written something similar to this, so any similitude is pure coincidence.

DISCLAIMER: this contains spoilers from the manga and light novels and is quite long, so read at your own risk.

Any hateful comment will be simply ignored, this is just something I'm sharing with you because it makes sense to me and I want to know what you think.

Please excuse my english if it gets bad at times since it isn't my first language.

Let´s begin:

I´ll start talking to you about some guy named “Randou” who was presented in the light novel ''Fifteen” as the responsible for the mafia´s predecessor return and the Arahabaki incident.

For those of you who don´t remember him, here´s a picture.

Ok so, you might wonder why I'm bringing him up.

If he was supposed to be a forgettable face from the beginning, another extra character in the story, then why didn´t I forget him? Why do I mention him before anything?

The answer is simple: I can forget a face I´ve seen once or twice but not one I´ve seen thrice.

“What do you mean? we only saw the man one time”

You´re totally right, however that wasn´t the case for me.

Confusing his face was the big mistake I made and the one that lead me to building this net of theories and clues that I'm putting together right here right now:

Even though the first time we see Fyodor´s face is at the ending of the second season and then again in Dead Apple, I remind you that I wasn't paying attention at all (like literally guys I already told you about how I would call tachihara “bad tanizaki” just because they looked the same to me). Due to my lack of attention, after finishing the “cannibalism” arc. and becoming more familiar with Fyodor´s face it occurred to me that he was the same guy involved in the arahabaki incident.

Why? because I can so I did.

My brain automatically assumed these guys were the same person just because they were dressed as if they were going to sleep on the top of the Everest for a whole month and because their faces were equally sad...

Of course, when I finished the anime and started reading the manga I was totally confused when Dazai asked Fyodor what his ability was, since I thought him and Randou were the same person, therefore I thought they shared ability.

After that I had to rewatch the whole anime and then realized how high I was when I watched it the first time.

But even when I managed to get the whole story right I still couldn't stop thinking about Randou, he was still a mystery, but more than the man himself, his story and the order in which they were presented by Kafka were somehow strange.

So after reading “Beast'' I came up with a few theories about the book being canonically in that alternate universe, because for me, even if Beast was supposed to be just a spin off written to promote the release of Dead Apple, it couldn´t be that and only that.

I just can´t accept that “Kafka wrote a 200-page novel to promote a movie that had nothing to do with it when he was asked to just write a 50-page short story” because he just felt like doing it. I knew from the deep bottom of my heart that he was not the kind to write just for fanservice.

So I came up with this idea: “What if the release of Beast and fifteen are more important than we think?”

Despite the first time we see fyodor´s face being at the end of the second season, the first time we see him meeting Dazai, is during dead apple. However, he seems to be just an extra character, someone who doesn't seem to add much to the story at first sight (except for when he turns Shibusawa into a big dragon).

But if we think about it, the same happens with the mentioning of the book in “Beast” and with Randou´s appearance in “Fifteen”.

In these three stories, the book, Randou and Fyodor are like an app running in the background of your cell phone, they are responsible for some kind of event and or incident that we cannot see now but that eventually will go out to light.

These are all very small hints, but that's why it is important, the smaller the better.

We can´t forget that Kafka has always been a mastermind of hiding evidence in plain sight.

He wrote and published 3 stories at the same time that have nothing in common and then used them to promote each other. He decided not to wait any longer nor release them earlier because they´re relevant to each other even when they don't seem to be. They are like a building in the middle of the city, we see it but we never get the chance to observe it because of all that's happening around it.

But as far as we know Randou dies at the end of fifteen. How could he possibly be related to Fyodor if they never met?

The importance here is not his death or them meeting, maybe not even Randou himself but what happened before his entrance to the PM and after his death.

As far as we know, Randou used to be an european spy tasked to investigate a powerful entity of power in japan and sent to steal it. However, during that mission he was betrayed by his friend who tried to kill him but is Randou who ended up killing him instead.

Nevertheless, in the story we never get to know why his friend betrayed him nor what is that so called “source of energy” that the japanese government has been secretly guarding.

never

know

until now (?)

Towards the end:

What if that “source'' is actually the book itself and his friend tried to kill him to keep it for himself and escape with it?

Even more important:

What if Randou, after killing his friend, decides to steal the book but forgets about it and it´s power after losing his memory in the Arahabaki incident?

These explanations can perfectly fill a void we never even noticed was there: Randou dies without remembering that he has a very important item with him, which is the reason for which he was once chased by the GSS (an agrupation that is connected to the Guild who we already know was searching for the book as well) and the same Dazai could have stolen after the Port Mafia kept his belongings when he died.

Please please pleaaaaaaseeee finish the idea.

After writing for 2 days, tying knots and untying them, reading and rereading, remembering details and searching for others i couldn't remember, this is my final conclusion:

Fyodor´s ability could be nothing more and nothing less than the book itself.

The proof of that being:

-All we know is his ability “Crime and Punishment” is presented as a perfect complement to one another. When he explains why Sibusawa´s mist didn't affect him he says “it´s because crime and punishment are good friends” which can mean that for one to appear, the other has to do something, that is to say, he has to commit a crime to receive punishment.

-We can assume that as someone whose objective is to free everyone from the sense of morality (as Gogol explains) he's the one to decide whether he commits a crime that deserves punishment or better said, his ability “the book” that can only function following the rules of karma.

-He probably doesn't need to communicate with the outside at all and is trying to deceive Dazai since the plot is going according to his plans and to how he planned to write the story on that single page.

-We know he has a page since the beginning and he also knows everything that´s written on it (for example that sigma´s existence was written on it 3 years before) but it's never mentioned how he got it.

-He literally joined the Guild to search for that book (´cause it belongs to him).

-Despite everything, Dazai is not worried about his plans either (he says all he has to do is observe him) because he's confident that everything is gonna turn out in his favour (you can see the little bitch didn't mind sending Akutagawa to his own death) since he stole the book from Randou long ago.

-What Dazai could've done with the book is nothing more and nothing less than creating the “Beast” universe after leaving the PM just to give Oda a proper farewell and because since he discovered the real power of that book he decided the best was to hide it.

However none of them can reveal any of this for obvious reasons.

Well I´ve nothing more to say, this is all I have for the moment.

I know some of these ideas sound very complicated and even excessive, however in the end everything fitted perfectly to me (and I swear I came up with 3 different theories before putting this one together).

If you managed to read this far, thank you very much :,)

If you feel like commenting something feel free to do so :)

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd manga #bsd light novel #bsd dead apple #bsd beast #bsd fifteen #dazai osamu #fyodor dostoevsky #asagiri kafka #harukawa 35 #long post #as you can see I have no life and a lot of free time #bsd spoilers

40 notes · View notes

radbutsafe · 4 years

Note

ALL FUCKIN 35 OF THEM SKLNWESDJFPXO

I SHOULDVE EXPECTED THIS FROM YOU

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

A three! I think I’m mid range cause I ain’t terrible but there is still shit I gotta improve and grow in my writing

2. Why do you write fanfiction?

to manifest what canon won’t give me and to write more! (though yes it is mainly about the smooching and the— I’ll stop there LOL)

3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

Hm! My weird research details? I’m that “fun fact, did you know...” in my fics sometimes LOL! I plan on giving a penthouse for erina in a fic and I went through penthouse listings in Japan for floor layouts and locations💀 my research gives me inspo and depth to stuff I think I lack in comparison to others sometimes.

4. Are there any writers that inspire you?

In terms of fellow fic writers, one of them I can’t name here but she’s an inspiration with her exceptional gift for prose period and her lovely skill at comedy! I want to be as funny as her when I write, I love her ironic situational humor. Other fic writers are @takoyakitenchou, @royaldragonsevgisi15 who I always love sharing ideas with and motivate me to create more! For non-fic writers it would be V.E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, Oda, and Horikoshi! The last two may be mangaka, however they are writers as well to create their stories! The depth these creators have given their worlds and interesting characters theyve given life to are all what I aspire to be like!

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?

so far uh?? hm everything I’m currently writing are wips lol!! im proud of my wip that has been nicknamed ‘soma panics’ that is a multi-chapter fic that spans like probs 20 plus chapters maybe

6. What element of writing do you find comes easily?

dialogue! it’s so much fun! and character thoughts. I’ve said to people I may be better suited for script writing

7. What element of writing do you struggle with most?

I think it’s description, of like setting and showing action. also an expansion of my vocabulary LOL

8. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write?

erina! I think it’s because canon has shown us many of her different faces and range of emotion.

9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write?

SOMA!! chill ass mofo whos more carefree compared to the common shonen protagonist! for other shokugeki characters I’m not sure just yet because I haven’t flexed my fingers enough for the rest of them.

10. What’s your favorite genre to write for?

I guess I should say romance cause that’s what I mostly write LOL!

11. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most?

sorina and I try to get them to smooch eventually KEK and yeah it’s..usually romantic fluff lmao

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

HONESTLY ALL OF THEM but “soma panics” is my brain child

13. First fandom you ever wrote for?

pretty sure it’s digimon....

14. What’s your favorite fandom to write for?

currently shokugeki no soma!!!!

15. What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve ever written for?

uhhhh I guess SNS? LMAO fandoms...all have their quirks to them.

16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?

characters cuddling!!!! or getting the urge to smooch!!!!

17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for.

unrequited love GOOD FUCKIN BYEEEEEE

18. Wildest fic you’ve ever written?

I have plot ideas thst can be wild potentially but so far nothing fits this criteria so far that I actually have written.

19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between?

depends on the fandom, but if written well, all of it!

20. Gen fic or shippy stuff?

shippy 100% like I said I like smoochin

21. Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!)

romantic is...*drumroll* SORINA! platonic, soutaku and erina and alice!

22. Do you listen to anything while you write?

Sometimes! There are times songs will be on loop and times I just shuffle a playlist. and if I’m writing in random bursts it’ll be with no music but it really does depend lmao I think music is when I’m forcing myself to write?

23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

completely independent ideas, I’ve realized in the past prompts shoot me in the foot often unless I luckily figure something out. but I’m often driven by my own sporadic self interest with shitty ping ponging attention

24. One-shots or multi-chaptered works?

multi-chap I guess cause I can post without being finished LOLLL but tbh can I really answer? I haven’t finished anything.....

25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!

I can’t answer this question imo because I haven’t finished a fic yet so technically stuff could all fit in the one fic?

26. Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?

MYSTERY AND CRIME! I love the genre and I have plot ideas once a blue moon but I can’t dive in because I want to make details that work and reduce plot holes where suspension of disbelief isn’t as needed. I need to study it more (I need to study all the details for any of my fics imo to be confident sometimes LOL)

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?

I don’t think I can say one comment was the nicest because I’ve gotten comments that have given me quite the smiles to my face many times! I know this is a cop out but it’s true!

IS WHAT I WAS GONNA SAY UNTIL REINA SENT ME THE FOLLOWING ON DISCORD LIKE TWENTY MINS AGO:

and also rad. i am never this vocal about my emotions like EVER but this needs to be said your fics are obviously far from perfect, as are mine and everyone else's. but the thing about your works is that they're so well-sanded that it's impossible to find any rough edges or faults in them in terms of cohesion to a plot. your cast is never OOC and the amount of effort you devote to developing your takes on the characters as accurately as possible is unimaginably awe-inspiring.

BITCH I WANNA CRY 😭

28. How well do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing?

I’d like to believe I take it often well to try and improve because that’s always my goal. if someone is rude lol that’s not constructive snd is unhelpful. If I disagree with criticism I’ll explain why !

29. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out?

Not yet, but I have some plot ideas I think will let me test this.

30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?

F L U F F.

31. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them!

elliott fuji, a japanese-american award winning photographer who is erina’s boyfriend in ‘soma panics’ which..causes soma’s panic LOL he’s 30 with slightly wavy black hair. I still haven’t pinpointed his personality just yet...he kind of humble brags for sure an artsy fucker and flirts maybe I’ll make him a lil shy though. he teaches sometimes, and becomes an adjunct photography professor in Tokyo so he can be with erina.

32. Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less.

a cook is unfashionably late in realizing his feelings.

33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?

I am a slow. so slow. motivation who is she? I also write out of order, unfortunately a bit too often.

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

this should be for the fic ‘soma panics’ it’s either megumi or satoshi talkin to him rn, I’m leaning towards satoshi

“You thought she would always wait for you, didn’t you Soma-kun? To always welcome you home.”

Soma drags his palms down his face and groans. He doesn’t like this at all. He doesn’t shy from confrontation but this is a whole different ballgame. Soma doesn’t play any ball.

“I guess..?” Is his reply, because he thinks he isn’t sure how to answer that.

“You guess?”

Just being questioned again is enough to crack Soma’s pathetic facade as if it was dropped chinaware and he lets out the longest sigh.

“No.”

Coming home means coming home to Nakiri Erina too.

Nakiri Erina is his forever.

this is @takoyakitenchou’s excerpt she’s most proud of that I’ve written, which is also from you guessed it, the long fic soma panics

SOMA: I am, I mean I will be, I swear I will always come home to you, not spend as much time abroad, once I’m done with work I’ll come right back. I’ll make sure to message you. Nakiri, I’m in love you with you. Maybe for a really long time. You know how I say I dedicate my food to you? My dad—my dad said that the key to become a good chef is to find someone to dedicate your cooking to. A special someone. For my dad it was my mom, you know? For me it’s...

(this is a good piece of dialogue tbh so I am also proud of this)

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

I’ve mentioned it throughout this but the WIP I’ve nicknamed ‘soma panics’ is something I’m super excited to write, but it’s going on slowly...and almost completely out of order. out of all of my writing it showed off that particular habit of mine, along with “what is this, a shoujo manga?!” though the latter is currently being written chronologically now that I’ve posted chapter one and is pretty solid in direction. it was originally supposed to be a one shot but I got impatient and wanted to post at least something for the sorina / soueri fandom.

however, because ‘soma panics’ (I won’t call it that LOL) is my baby I want to keep true to my rule of refusing to post it until I have a draft of the entire fic finished and I’m satisfied with the main points pretty much. due to my writing out of order, I’m worried I’ll change my mind about scenes or want to reflect things in earlier chapters for later ones etc etc

I joined the SnS fandom extremely late, as season five was airing. I was a fan of the manga five years ago and dropped it because I forgot to check for updates when I caught up 😔 I really want to bang out the different fics and aus for sorina that I have before the fandom fizzles out entirely but tbh I’m writing for myself, I’m manifesting what I want to see and I’ll just share it with all my friends to read if no one else will. cause I’m slow broski I dunno what writing fast even is like LMAO I do really want to write faster though, so I can contribute more and let the words free from the discord dms....

#ask meme #ask rad shit #writing #writing by rad #fanfic #reina girl u put me thru it I swear lol #thank u for sending!!#ur amazing!!!!

14 notes · View notes

ikeservant · 4 years

Note

Hey, so you know the headcannons you did on MC having super strength? Can you do that for Hideyoshi, Shingen, and Kenshin please? (I just found you and I love your writing.)

Ah thank u @fairstival ! Sorry this took so long! I got a bunch of requests at the same time and have been busy with work and other things. I hope you enjoy!

Link to part 1 of super strength mc:

https://ikeservant.tumblr.com/post/622138756445683712/hi-there-i-hope-you-dont-mind-me-asking-you-this

Hideyoshi: He was following you around bc he was suspicious of you being a spy for the enemy. You walked up to two maids trying to lift a heavy dragon statue but clearly struggling and picked it up effortlessly, making him let out a noise of pure shock since that statue would have taken 4 men or so to carry, yet you’re carrying it like it’s a chihuahua. “E-Excuse me. What are you trying to pull?” “I’m taking this to the courtyard. Why?” “You’re going to hurt yourself! Here let me do it.” Thought if you could do it so could he. He was dead wrong. Thought this meant you were dangerous, but when you put yourself in front of Nobunaga as an attacker approached and scooped the attacker up before chucking him like a ragdoll, he realized you could use your strength for good and trusted you. Still VERY protective and nagging like a mother. “Yes yes I KNOW you have super strength, but there’s still a chance you might get hurt.” Would give you an earful if you overdo it and end up blistering your hands or getting vastly outnumbered by bad guys to the point where you probably should’ve asked for help. Both y’all need to realize that asking for help isn’t such a bad thing and don’t burden everything on yourself. Nobody would know you had super strength with the way Hideyoshi dotes on you and talks about you to others as being the most kind lady he’s ever met until they saw you using your muscle power to help pull carts and carry the heaviest items from place to place to help the elderly store owners, showing how strong AND kindhearted you were, which makes him admire u.

Shingen: He kept flirting with you and you were able to tolerate it for a while but then he got too close in your personal bubble. Since you were so nervous trying to politely get your personal space, what was meant to be a subtle little nudge accidentally turned into reflexively shoving him 8 feet back into a wall, stirring up a coughing fit. You felt HORRIBLE and kept apologizing tearfully bc you didn’t want to hurt him. Meanwhile he’s thinking you just punched your way to his heart since you being super sweet and caring while also going into strong mode makes you nice AND dangerous, just like his sweets. You carried him back to the estate since you didn’t want him to strain himself while he’s saying things like “I always thought I would be the one carrying you to safety, but here I am in the arms of a graceful angel.” “I just knocked the wind out of you, remember.” “See? You quite literally took my breath away.” 😉. He thinks it adds to your charm as a person to have extreme physical strength because its like an unexpected surprise while also being a gift from the universe to help you and others. He doesn’t even need to saw down any trees for his carpentry any more. You can just kick right through one and carry it back without a sweat. He’d still insist on helping you carry things even if you can physically handle it bc chivalry isn’t dead and also he wants to lift any burdens no matter how small and if she has a free hand then it’s free real estate to hold.

Kenshin: When you first started to get to know Kenshin at a dining area, you asked him why he didn’t like women. When he said that they were weak, you stood RIGHT UP about to argue his claim when a guard bumped into you. You apologized immediately but the guard decided to be petty, demanding that you pay his food bill. Before Kenshin could step in and intimidate him, you put your arm out to halt Kenshin while challenging the guard. “How about this: we hold an arm wrestling competition. If you win, I pay your stupid bill. If I win, you never bother me again.” The guard accepted, thinking he could easily win. Kenshin was puzzled and thought you were foolish. However, his eyes widened when the match ended in a split second, the guard holding his hand in pain and the table having a cracked indent in it. As they left, the guard was about to say something, but Kenshin gave him a stare that put fear into his soul, making him scurry off for good. Kenshin was intrigued with you and retracted his claim that all women are weak. Since he likes a challenge, he’d challenge you to arm wrestling. You immediately earned his respect and became his target for strength competitions when he was bored. When he found out you were with the Oda forces and put you in the cell, forgetting your strength. You balled your fists up and crashed them down on the horizontal bars, causing the whole set of bars to collapse. Marching up to Kenshin, feet stomping through the floor boards, you told him off and were going to leave but he asked you to stay, explaining everything and his reasoning on doing what he did. You forgave him, reminding him that you’re not frail and he doesn’t have to worry as much about you getting hurt, and also reminding him that trying to restrain you is futile and that as long as you are free, strong, and happy, he should feel secure.

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikesen headcanon #ikesen hc

54 notes · View notes

nad-zeta · 4 years

Text

Match up 🌠

Ahhh your match ups are so thorough and well written I am in love! I'd like to get one for myself if I could bother you🌸 I also hope I'm doing this the right way otherwise I'm so sorry 😭💕

I'm 20, female, dark chestnut hair currently in a short bob/bangs, brown eyes which can sometimes look kinda brick colored, round glasses... I'm 168cm and more thin than curvy.

I'm an INFJ-T with an emphasis on the the turbulent. Kidding- but really I love alone time. I'm a very naturally nocturnal person, I love spending time with people in bursts but I usually can only handle being around calmer people for a longer time. When I'm alone I have a lot of passions I like to work on, studying Japanese, music composition, guitar, playing strategy games, drawing and writing... If I'm needing physical stuff I like to try and self teach choreography from videos when I can. Depression+anxiety have been known to get in the way of these passions for sure- but in the past years I've sought a lot of help+treatment and while I'm not a generally positive person internally- I'm alright 😌💕

When I am with people, I tend to try and be very bubbly and kind- most people know me as a very silly and caring person(but 100% scatterbrained, and a constant worrier- I would lose my head if it wasn't attached to my shoulders). I have a lot of trouble accepting any of that- but I have some very supportive people in my life banging it into my head... I am very easily flustered, and usually end up at the receiving end of teasing. I do pretend to dislike this, and I'm genuinely very flustered but truth be told- it's funny for everyone involved so I'm okay with it~ I do wish I didn't turn red in the face so easily though...

Worrier coming thru here... I don't know if this is too rambly or anything, feel free to let me know- but thank you so much for having these open and doing such great work with them. 💕

Hi, there love! Awwww you make me blush thanks so much for the kind words <3<3! I Hope you are doing well! Here is your long-awaited matchup! Sorry for taking soooooooooooo long..... Hope you enjoy it and have a good day!😊 💕

So I match you with……………. Mitsuhide

The night you saved Nobunaga from the fire; you ran for your life. After meeting Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, all you wanted to do were flee, and you did. You had run away so fast that you almost flung yourself of a cliff… Thank goodness for Yukimura! You were so startled and freaked out luckily there was a friendly face among all the unknowns, and that would be Sasuke. He explained the whole concept of time travel to you and asked if you would like to stay with him. You looked at the bunch of strange men, and they all looked fall less intimidating than the few you had met from the Oda forces. You smiled at Sasuke and gave him a small nod. And so you journeyed your way back to Kasugayama castle with the strange lot.

They were an odd bunch of men, but you had come to really love them and adopt them as your new brothers. The people of Kasugayama castle love your sweet, silly caring personality. You and Kenshin had especially hit it off due to your interests in strategy games. Kenshin had taken his role of overprotective brother very seriously. He will be the one to pull you out of banquets when he sees you getting tired from all the interaction. He is always there to help you and protect you whenever you are in trouble, and he would always send his army of bunnies to comfort you whenever you are feeling sad.

One day you were out in the market shopping for some sake and sweet buns for the banquet that night. You were having a good relaxing time window shopping when some unusual music caught your attention. You followed the music and your eyes widened in awe when you saw a troop of dancers performing. You walked closer to get a better look, and your breath caught in your throat when you saw the most beautiful man you had ever seen, perform a dance. The choreography and music were spot on and almost made you want to dance along to the music with them. You felt absolutely mesmerized watching the white-haired man dance. His eyes locked with you for a brief second and you could have sworn that he gave you the smallest of smiles before he looked away. When the show was over, you were going to congratulate the troop on a beautiful show, but there were way too many women swarming around the men, so you decided to rather make your way back home.

As you were walking back, the white-haired dancer ran up to you and grabbed your shoulder to stop you. “Little mouse it seems you have dropped your coin pouch”. Your eyes widened in horror; it must have fallen during the show, you profusely thanked the mysterious man. Mitsuhide was definitely intrigued by this little mouse he had stumbled upon. He started to tease you and was most amused by the way your face broke out into the most beautiful blush. The two of you had some tea together as a thank you for returning the coin pouch to you. Mitsuhide teased the shit out of you during the whole tea date, not that you minded you found that you really enjoyed his company. After tea, the two of you parted never to see each other again, you had to admit that thought made you feel a little sad on the inside.

One day Yukimura and Sasuke announced that they were going to go to Azuchi to spy on the Oda forces. You low key wanted to go along for the adventure. Needless to say, it took some time to convince Kenshin to let you go, but he couldn’t say no to his dearest sister’s puppy dog eyes. You were so happy and excited that he agreed. You and Sasuke entered into Azuchi disguised as performers while Yuki went disguised as a merchant. You were super excited to be able to use your skills, bringing joy and smiles to all the people around you. You and Sasuke would put on a little performance every afternoon. You danced and played the guitar. And Sasuke performed a one-man play.

As you were dancing during one of your performances, you saw a familiar face in the crowed smirking up at you. “My my little mouse, I never expected to stumble upon you this afternoon, much less witness your beautiful talent”. Mitsuhide invited you back to his Manor for some tea and card games. Which you really enjoyed considering you have been playing strategy and card games with Kenshin, so you definitely gave this sneki boi a run for his money. You really enjoyed the calm aura he gave off; you could talk to him for hours without feeling exhausted. You and Mitsuhide landed up staying up all night chatting and laughing, he was low key surprised when he looked out the window to see the sun almost rising. “aren’t you tired little one”. “Nope, I’m just naturally nocturnal, plus it's in the peace of the night when I get the most work done”. He simply smiled his kitsune like smile at you and offered to walk you back home. On your way home, the two of you stopped and sat down on a park bench watching the sunrise together. The two of you spent a lot of time together after that night. Both of you would always “coincidentally” run into each other all the time and land up hanging out for hours.

Mitsuhide both loved and was concerned for your scattered brain clumsiness. He would constantly worry about you when you weren’t near him. He could swear you would lose your head if it weren’t attached to your shoulders. Whenever the two of you are together, he would insist on holding your hand “can’t let my dearest mouse get lost now, can I”. TBH at this point, Mitsuhide was madly in love with you, he loved your sweet, caring nature. He loves how you could talk his ears off for hours. He also really loves the small doodles you draw on the napkins in the various teahouses the two of you have been to.

He knew you were close with the people in Kasugayama, but he couldn’t help but be attracted to you and feel the need to make you his. One day Yukimura announced that the three of you had been summoned back to Kasugayama, you were honestly so deflated. You had just fallen in love with Mitsuhide, and now you had to go back home. You sat with Mitsu in his manor the day before your departure. He could tell that something had been on your mind. You had told him EVERYTHING. Honestly, he knew of your connections to Kenshin, but he was truly shook when you mentioned that you were from the future. You had also told him that you honestly didn’t want to leave just yet. Little did you know this fox was ten steps ahead of you and had already plotted a plan.

When you said goodbye, Mitsuhide sent you off with the sweetest smile and a small kisses on the forehead, nose and finally lips and promised to see you again soon.

You were back in Kasugayama’s garden playing with the sweet army of bunnies when a small fox appeared carrying a letter. IT WAS FROM MITSU! He had said that we would see you soon. Little did you know the sly fox was in a meeting that very moment with the god of war. They had come to an agreement that Mitsu was allowed to see you, but if he ever hurt you, or if he causes you any tears, Kenshin would hunt Mitsu down and kill him. Mitsu smiled his fox smile and agreed. You were summoned to your brother’s room and boy oh boy were you confused when you saw Mitsuhide sitting there, without Kenshin having a sword at his throat threatening him. Kenshin asked if you loved the fox and when you replied with a small nod. He smiled at you and gave you his blessing. You couldn’t help but ran up to Kenshin and gave him the biggest bear hug thanking him. The second part of the agreement was that the two of you were to attend a farewell banquet for you that night.

The next morning you were off with Mitsu to start your new life together. The Oda forces welcomed you with opened arms. Finally, someone to keep their resident kitsune in check. Mitsu loved you so much and spent every second of everyday showering you with affection. He would always be there for you, especially when you were feeling anxious or insecure. He would wrap you up in his warm arms while soothingly stroking your silky hair. He would whisper words of reassurance in your ears to help ease the anxiety. Your favourite place in the world would be in is his arms. You love how Mitsu even respects your alone time, giving you some space when he sees that you need some time to recharge on his own

The two of you can often be found spending time together, whether it is just the two silently sitting in his room, enjoying each other presence or time spent cuddled in each other’s arms. One thing is for sure, and that is you are truly happy with the sweet kitsune and that you had found your new home

Other potential matches.................... Kenshin

Hope, you enjoyed it, love! 💕@tsuki-no-usagiii

#matchups #ikesen matchup #match ups #akechi mitsuhide #mitsuhide akechi #ikemen sengoku mitsuhide #mitsuhide matchup #submission

24 notes · View notes

ghostlycreatoruniverse · 4 years

Text

Dabi and the awkward black ballon: a narrative comparison between Touya Todoroki and Vinsmoke Sanji

Hello everyone!

I’m really thrilled about this whole situation , I can’t stop coming up with ideas!

This is about Dabi, Hawks and the black balloon. I’m making this post because I’m totally convinced that Dabi hadn’t tell Hawks he was Touya Todoroki. He might have said something that implied it, but I think that this is not all he told to Hawks. I’ll try to cover others possibility in another post, but to consolidate my position I wants to draw another comparison.

This time is between Dabi and Black Leg Sanji from Eiichiro Oda’s great masterpiece: One Piece.

One Piece is a worldwide famous and one of the most important and best sellers manga of this generation. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not: at some point if your life if you like mangas you’re bound to hear One Piece sooner or later.

For those who never read/ disliked it, Black Leg Sanji is one of the main crew character and soon after his introduction he haunted fans with one question: who he really is?

In years hints became gradually more important; however One Piece is full of adventure and emotional moments so you’re bound to forget about it from time to time... just to be reminded that he’s hiding something.

I don’t know what Horikoshi thinks about One Piece, but I think he should know one or two things about it at least . Oda is considered one hell of a mangaka, being able to tie plot lines among the years, so if I were Horikoshi I’d give a look at One Piece to take inspiration. You have to consider this is a good way to avoid having a copycat event in two mangas published on the same magazine.

I’ll explain briefly who Sanji is.

Sanji is the cook of the Straw Hat pirates and he was (almost forcibly) recruited by Luffy before they entering in the Grand Line making him one of the first nakama.

He was introduced with the nickname “Black Leg”, inherited by his boss who raised him like father ( “Red Leg Zeff”). Zeff tried to assault the cruise ship Sanji was working on as a kid, but they both shipwrecked. When they were saved Zeff took Sanji they met Luffy.

In One Piece names are extremely important, but back then readers really hasn’t that feeling and before Sanji, both Nami and Usopp didn’t have a family name. So no one was impressed.

The first foreshadowing something was off happens around Skypeia arc. In fact all the first straw hat pirates (Zoro, Nami and Usopp) were said to be from East blue, thus everyone thought Sanji was too. However after finding a book Nami never heard of, Sanji gave a brief recap adding casually he was from North Blue instead .

A recurring fun gag about him is that when he finally gained his wanted poster an awful drawing of him was placed instead of his photo. Later on another character was introduced: Duval, who is the spit image of the bleak drawing. As funny as it can be, Duval was persecuted for many time, guaranteeing Sanji wasn’t found.

The biggest red herring Sanji gave was around chapters 480+. In front an honourable yet powerful enemy, Sanji was ready to sacrifice his life for his captain’s sake , underlining that he is someone important due to his background.

After that many theories were edited. And this went on for YEARS.

Until, chapter 800+. Around thst arc we finally get to know his full name and backstory. Vinsmoke Sanji was the third male son of a fallen aristocratic family. He had 3 brothers and one sister, an abusive father and a mother who was locked away in a medical facilities. In fact when she was pregnant, her husband forced on her some scientific experiment to turn their kids in the “perfect soldiers” stripping out every sign of humanity from them. She, trying to save her children for this bleak fate, took a medicine to inverse the process. In the end only Sanji was spared and had a kind heart, while she had a chronic illness that few years later killed her. Sanji then was considered a failure by his own father , enough to fake his own death and putting him in a jail. He then escaped to East Blue thanks to his sister who helped him.

Now, Enji seems to be a loving father when compared to Vinsmoke Judge.

Despite Sanji and Dabi’s story being quite similar , what I want to point out it’s the timing.

Oda foreshadowed this for years and gradually. And when the time was about to come, he added even more details to build Sanji’s great revelation. Once it was declared he was a Vinsmoke there was no turning back and all of his past was known in the following chapters. Of course it took some time to develop it all, but Vinsmokes were brand new characters, while Todoroki are very well known, so I expected Touya’s past to be introduced soon after his revelation, like it happened.

My main concern is... why.

Horikoshi chose an approach similar to Oda.

He show us Todoroki siblings one after another. He hinted Touya had a powerful fire type quirk, yet his body couldn’t stand it. He hinted about his death even before Natsuo spoke about it openly, having Fuyumi praying in one panel. In My Villain Academia he inserted baby Fuyumi’s panel. When Dabi was first introduced he spoke like Shoto does and he made clear he wanted to keep his name a secret. We then were reminded that nobody knew who Dabi was, but instead he was thinking about family and hold a personally grudge against Todorokis.

And that’s was fine! It was exactly like Sanji’s and to be expected.

in chapter 267 at the peak of drama the big black balloon happened. I was both intrigued and excited about it because it was something different and new when compared with the iconic One Piece. And so I guessed that we would have to wait a lot of time before knowing the truth. Then chapter 290 happened.

Now, if you compared Sanji’s reveal with Touya’s reveal your noticed that Sanji took years since his first introduction. The most significant and last foreshadowing can be considered his wanted poster, which after Dressrosa arc finally had his picture and full name on it, with the status of “wanted only alive”.

The huge unnerving block balloon was like Sanji’s poster: the moment everyone saw it they thought Dabi said “I’m Touya” as much as everyone said “Sanji’s theory about being some sort of prince/ son of an important family it’s true”.

And it works! Because the moment we knew Touya was Dabi we would have wanted to know how Touya turned into Dabi, as much as what happened to Sanji.

What it doesn’t sound right it why hiding that dialogue with a black ballon in chapter 267 to give us the truth only 6 months later when One Piece took his own sweet time with Sanji.

To me this makes absolutely no sense at all.

But Horikoshi decided differently than One Piece. And illogically.

The only way this would actually makes any sense is if Dabi said something else to Hawks. Or rather: what if he said he was Touya but with another meaning? With last chapters we were overloading with new informations about Dabi/ Touya. So the black balloon isn’t that interesting to us anymore. And conveniently Hawks is out of the games for the moment, so we don’t expect him to say something about it. It might be argued that we don’t need to, not anymore.

However after that sentence which took and entire panel Hawks should have something to say, and he can’t bothered the reader with something we already know.

This comparison ties perfectly with Anakin Skywalker’s: in fact after years it was Sanji’s turned to be talked about. His identity moved One Piece’s story one arc forward.

Instead about Anakin... audience didn’t really need his backstory. It was something you wanted to know, but the story could have worked just fine: you just needed to know Vader was Luke’s father to understand why he saved the Jedi at the cost of his own life.

I thus expect we’ll dig up more into Dabi’s past in the following arcs; no, I’m not delusion: Dabi being Touya won’t move the plot much forward aside from the hero society being totally ruined. And neither will end the Todorokis drama.

The situation is dire, of course, and heroes will have it hard. But still, society needs heroes so they can’t just give up on them. Things will change and won’t change at the same time cause even in the worst case scenario, in which Endeavor and Hawks will stop working and all heroes are fired someone needs to take a stand against Shigaraki.

Touya’s death instead might give another push forward, giving the Todoroki arc a deserved ending.

Bear in mind that this doesn’t mean Dabi can’t die. He totally can. But if into Touya’s death a secret lies this can be useful for upcoming future arcs, even if I doubt Dabi will die here and now.

#Narrative comparison #my hero acadamy #boku no hero academia #dabi my hero academia #one piece #Touya Todoroki #Sanji #Black leg Sanji #Vinsmoke Sanji #plot twists #identity revelation #sanji one piece

6 notes · View notes

xathia-89 · 5 years

Text

Long Lost Sibling - Kenshin

I was still trying to process the past day as I was sat with my husky dog between my legs in the most unladylike manner possible. I had started off in Kyoto, I was there as part of the recruitment team who were attending a job fayre at the local university. Most people wouldn’t think about joining the military to do anything non-combat based, but when you bring my absolutely adorable, albeit mostly useless, k9 partner into things, it’s a good attraction point. I hadn’t kept track of any sign ups or further information requests, I was just there to make sure Shin didn’t go on the hunt for anything sweet based. It was a nightmare enough that the only sugary items I could ever keep around me were the sour candies I was known for, mostly because he couldn’t stand them.

It was a long story as to how I ended up with a k9 partner in the first place, as officially, I shouldn’t have had him. I worked as a vet with additional duties as a dog trainer. I trained Shin, and he passed everything with just about perfect marks. But then he wouldn’t leave me, every person who he was assigned to, kept complaining he wouldn’t listen to their commands or do as he was trained to. So I’d end up reassessing him, and everything would be fine until one of our superiors decided to get a colleague of mine to try. Turns out that Shin had gotten more than a little attached to me, and had worked out that if he didn’t do what he was meant to, then he would be brought back to see me. Strings were pulled, and I made a really strong case for the fact that I could be in the middle of surgery in the battlefield and the enemy could attack, and a ‘one-off’ was made for Shin and me. I hadn’t told anyone how I had named that particular bunch of dogs since I knew they’d just make fun of me for being so obsessed with such an old school era of history. Every dog in Shin’s class had been named after a Sengoku warlord, and Shin was named after Kenshin Uesugi because of the heterochromia which just struck me as something that reminded me of that particular warlord.

I was sat in 1582, in a kimono of all things, in a room in Azuchi castle after saving Nobunaga from the flames of Honno-Ji. I had met every warlord I had studied at school, and I was in awe a little. This just had to be a dream, until Sasuke re-introduced himself as the original reason we had arrived here. Shin practically bowled him over and started licking his face in greeting, a complete 180 from the lead up to the wormhole. He was a ninja, and I’d already summarised that he worked for the enemy judging from his need to enter my room through the ceiling. He gave me a slight smile and said he had to remember that I worked for the military and said that it was likely to be best if we kept it quiet that we came from the future. I asked about dogs in this era of Japan since Hideyoshi had decided that Shin was a wolf who was fully prepared to kill Nobunaga, and the staff still weren’t convinced he wasn’t going to go feral and kill them all in an instant. He reminded me that pets weren’t always that much of a thing for some time before letting me know that he’d try to keep in regular touch after advising me to get to know the warlords around me before our three months were up.

For a few days, everyone kept their distance. It was impossible to track down Hideyoshi to find out what I was meant to be doing as Chatelaine, and all of the staff were still terrified of Shin. Then I spotted Mitsunari in the library and noticed that he clearly hadn’t moved lately.

I tapped the angel on the shoulder, then pulled on his cowlick before resorting to pulling the book out of his hands to get his attention.

“Oh, Lady Natsuki,” his smile would cure anything, I was sure of that. “Is there something I can help with?”

“Yes, we’re going on a walk, it will do you some good,” I replied, already pulling the man to his feet.

“But what about your duties?” He stammered as I linked my arm through his, a blush peppering his cheeks.

“I can’t find Hideyoshi to know what they are, and I could tell from how you were sat that you hadn’t moved in too long,” I snorted. Shin was barking excitedly and bounding ahead of us. “You can show me around the gardens, it’s too nice of a day to be spent hunting out Hideyoshi,” I smiled. “Plus he’ll probably come and find us if he can’t find you,” I added on.

As I predicted, it took about an hour or so, but the vassal was storming through the grounds and practically foaming at the mouth. We were in the middle of a discussion on battlefield strategies, when he dove between us, with an especially heated glared at me.

“I think I won that bet,” I smiled at Mitsunari, who was struggling not to laugh at his Lord’s actions. “You owe me a trip out to the teahouse.”

Shin came bouncing over and started to lick Toyotomi’s face vigorously. It startled the man, and I was struggling to remove the giant puppy from one of the most dangerous men in this era while giggling furiously.

“You haven’t been near any fruits, have you?” I asked, trying to keep my dog out of harm’s way.

“I came through the kitchens, they’ve probably had some in,” the vassal grumbled. “What are you two doing anyway?”

“I couldn’t find you, then I noticed Mitsunari in the library and it looked like he hadn’t moved for a while since there was dust settling around him, so I decided to bring him out for a walk and some fresh air. I then bet him a date to the teahouse that you would find out he’s missing and come out looking for us, while he said you wouldn’t,” I shrugged. “Anyway, did you want one of us for something?”

“Masamune has dinner ready, so I was looking for Mitsunari to make sure he ate something,” Hideyoshi frowned. “And knowing him, there’ll be enough for you as well.”

“Or I could just go and bother the kitchen staff, “I brushed off, “Let me know when you’re free Mitsunari,” I smiled, calling for Shin to follow me to the kitchens.

I was a little surprised to find that I was being summoned to a war council, and even more so to find out that they had realised I was able to help out Ieyasu in the medical department. Mitsunari announced my talents with such an innocent smile that I couldn’t even try to be mad at him. Though Nobunaga did then announce, I was also going as his good luck charm, to which my good mood vanished. I was merely a trophy to parade it seemed, I just had other uses, as well as I, gritted my teeth behind my neutral mask.

It was then another fight with Hideyoshi to not leave my dog behind.

“No, you’re not bringing it with us!” Toyotomi yelled as I appeared to leave.

“He’ll follow me,” I argued, folding my arms as everyone else looked on in amusement. “So he might as well be incorporated into the whole thing because this is exactly what he was trained to do is protect me on the battlefield from any of the enemy sneaking up on me in the middle of surgery!” I snapped, my voice getting progressively louder.

“If he’s just going to follow then you might as well just let her have her way,” Date chuckled as Oda smirked at the scene. I scoffed and ignored Nobunaga’s outstretched hand while mounting behind him on the horse.

I was glad to reach the designated spot and be able to busy myself away from the warlords. Well, I had to stay with Ieyasu, but we never spoke to each other, there just wasn’t a need unless it was to determine if something was missing from the medical kits. Hideyoshi was continually glaring at me, though Shin was doing as I had already predicted and just sat at my feet as we finished sorting out the medical tent that was also doubling up as my tent. At least if it didn’t look like there was anyone else in the camp, then it would make me less of an obvious target. I had to smile at my past memories of being on tour, and that I had thought fatigues were terrible. I had to keep myself prepped in a kimono here, I had been toying with the idea of designing my own outfit and heading for my preferred dress style of trousers, maybe even going for something similar to what Sasuke wore.

I turned my head at the sound of the tent flap lifting and smiled as it turned out to be Mitsunari.

“The battle starts at first light,” his serious tone made my smile dip a little. It was making me want to do anything to change his expression for some reason. “The scouts have already left, and Lord Nobunaga has decided that you are staying here at first with Ieyasu,” he explained.

“I’m sure Ieyasu isn’t pleased with that decision,” I commented.

“He did say he wasn’t here to play babysitter, but I get the feeling you can look after yourself,” he replied.

“I’m glad for the vote of confidence,” I patted his cheek. “Go and rest up, I’ll get something to eat and put this dope on guard duty,” I smiled, ruffling Shin’s fur as his ears perked up at the mention of food.

Seeing how enthusiastic the troops were on their return from the battle made me nostalgic in some ways. I had to admire the warlords for their leadership. In my experience, the generals would sit back and instruct the pawns, while these insane idiots would lead the charge. I was curious about how battle worked, but I was needed too much on the medical front to slip away for some views. Especially once Ieyasu told me he was leaving me in charge of the camp and mounted his own horse to go and join the fight. I was jealous in some aspect that I couldn’t do the same. I was dabbing at a sword wound to Nobunaga’s arm when Date was yelling and mounting his horse in a fury.

“Hold up!” Hideyoshi yelled, pulling on the reigns of the horse as we all emerged to the scene. Shin was sniffing the air in curiosity, and I wasn’t sure what was going on.

“My scouts are missing,” Masamune snapped. “I need to go and find them,” he growled as I was struggling to now restrain a very determined husky dog from leaping through the gates.

I fell face first onto the floor as Shin barked excitedly and dashed off quicker than I could react. I heard them shouting my name before I was hitched up by the obi onto Date’s horse as he thundered up to me. I was grateful that he didn’t turn around, instead of catching up to the dog in time for us to see two horses galloping towards us. Shin couldn’t contain himself and started yapping happily at the feet of the man I didn’t recognise. Sasuke was on the horse next to the unknown male, but there was definitely battle in his eyes.

Masamune was shocked as I pulled a short sword out from my sleeve and blocked his attack on the other male as the ninja stopped his Lord from doing the same.

“No wonder you took off without a second thought lass,” he muttered, though his glare was now on the snowy-white haired male astride the horse opposite. “What have you done with them?” He snapped.

“What are you talking about? You’ve taken ours,” the other male accused as I shared a look with Sasuke.

“Are you missing some scouts as well?” I asked, interrupting the inevitable from Date.

“Some ninjas,” the astrophysicist replied.

I dismounted the horse, much to Masamune’s displeasure, I had the feeling he was enjoying having me that close to him. I then managed to wrestle Shin back into my arms after a long battle, and some bribery as I pulled a few dog treats out from my obi.

“I have an idea,” I announced to the warlords. “Masamune, go and get some clothing that belongs to our missing scouts, Sasuke, if you could get the same from your missing ninjas,” I smiled. “I think Shin should be able to track them.”

This had always been a party trick at Azuchi, so Date looked surprised to see me effectively proposing a game at such a time.

“It’s not a game this time,” I promised. “I’ll wait here, with my dog and sword and you two go and fetch the things,” I smiled.

Sasuke had already left by the time I finished my sentence, and I gave Masamune a look as the other warlord dismounted his horse to get a closer look at my utterly inappropriate dog. It was a tense silence as Date galloped off, I had no idea who I was with, but Shin was obsessed with the man as the dog leapt from my arms and knocked him flat on the floor before licking his face enthusiastically.

“I am so sorry!” I gasped, trying to pull the husky off the warlord.

“What kind of wolf is this?” He grunted, finally sitting up as I managed to get Shin under my control.

“He’s not a wolf, he’s a dog,” I corrected him. “He normally hates people, so I don’t get why he’s so friendly with you,” I apologised as Shin started licking my face. “Yes, you’re a giant puppy and useless at times like this,” I snorted, fussing the dog a little roughly.

“Who are you anyway, and who brings a woman onto the battlefield?” The man frowned, eyeing me up and down.

“She’s their healer,” Sasuke interrupted. “And this is Lord Kenshin since I know he wouldn’t have introduced himself,” the ninja smiled and dismounted to put himself on our level.

He looked surprised as I bowed politely to the warlord while Masamune arrived back at double pace.

I collected all the scraps of fabric and got Shin’s attention with the last dog treat I had in my obi, ignoring the comments from Date about what I had hidden on my person. Then I bolted after him as he dashed through the forest. I left the men in the dust, I could keep track at first, but dogs have a much better stamina than humans as I made sure to keep track of the blips of white and the visible dog tracks that he left as he tore through the woods.

I was hoisted up again by the obi, though I was surprised to see it was Kenshin this time on his horse as I issued the directions of the fleeing dog. There wasn’t any need for further discussion as we practically fell over the husky who was loitering on the outskirts of a clearing. He knew how to stick to the shadows as we waited for Sasuke and Date to catch up. The missing ninjas and scouts were all tied up, while they had men guarding them.

“Kennyo’s men,” Masamune muttered from our hiding spot. “Natsuki, stay here,” he grumbled before dashing straight in for a fight.

Kenshin was following the mad man instantly before I shared a look with Sasuke, and I promptly ignored the one instruction I’d been given.

Most of the former monks were facing Kenshin and Masamune, as I took them out by the backs of their knees and ankles. I figured there was going to be a lot of questioning to be done, and it was impossible to ask the dead what the plan had been.

“Natsuki!” Date scolded me as I took out a man aiming for his head.

“I took your advice and ignored it,” I laughed, swinging my blade across the side of a man’s knee who thought I could be an easy target as Shin dragged him to the floor by his arm before I kicked him in the jaw to put him down for a nap.

“How are we getting them all back then?” I paused, looking at the underlings that were now all tied up as the ninjas and scouts were looking intrigued about the rescue party.

“Well, which camp are we taking them to is the best question,” Date replied, stiffly eyeing up Uesugi.

“I believe yours is closer than ours,” he formally replied. “The woman will ride with me,” Kenshin instructed.

“The woman has a name,” I sarcastically added on.

“Natsuki is an Oda Princess, she’s not about to ride with an enemy warlord,” Masamune argued.

“How about I ride with Kenshin, and Sasuke goes with you,” I interrupted. “Masamune will lead the way, and we will take up the rear.”

“I like it when you get bossy lass,” Date chuckled, and gave me a peck on the cheek before I could slap him away.

“It’s an appropriate compromise,” I stated and glared at the one-eyed dragon as the ninjas and scouts arranged themselves accordingly before I went to hoist myself onto Kenshin’s horse.

He surprised me as I was then sat firmly in his arms when I had gone to sit behind him. “I’d like to keep you where I can see you,” he firmly said.

“My short swords are up my sleeves,” I shrugged but offered no physical resistance as we set off. Shin was trotting along at the side of us, looking very proud of himself for some reason as I was pondering if I had any more treats in my tent.

“Natsuki!” Hideyoshi was already running up to us with a telling off of the century all prepared for me.

“What rule did I break that I wasn’t aware of this time?” I snapped as Kenshin helped me to dismount.

I paused as I got my first good look at the enemy warlord in some light, and I felt the camp held its breath along with me. Uesugi was wide-eyed while facing me.

“Natsuki, you look just like Kenshin,” Mitsunari broke the silent spell that had been woven.

Hideyoshi had me in a headlock, while Shin was now attacking his legs while I was struggling and trying to punch him where no male liked to be hurt. Mitsunari was pulling on his Lord as Kenshin had his arms around my waist. Nobunaga was stunned to see the chaos as Masamune was trying to figure out where to get involved, and Sasuke was trying to restrain my husky.

Uesugi wouldn’t let go of my waist as we all went flying in different directions. Shin was growling at Hideyoshi as the ninja had gotten him pinned to the floor finally while Mitsunari and Ieyasu had Toyotomi restrained with his arms held behind his back.

All of the Oda forces were staring at Kenshin and me with slack jaws.

“You really can’t tell me they aren’t related,” Hideyoshi growled.

“There’s a resemblance, yes, it doesn’t mean I’m a spy,” I snapped back, still trying to get out of Uesugi’s hold. “Since when have I done anything to warrant your hostility?”

“She’s had every opportunity Hideyoshi, and she’s done nothing but prove her worth,” Nobunaga gave a warning to his vassal. “Kenshin,” Oda’s tone made me freeze but caused the man holding me to look his enemy in the eye finally. “You had a sister that went missing a long time ago.”

“Natsuki,” he breathed, as my dreams flickered through my head. A young boy with the same mismatched eyes as mine, holding his hand out and telling me to come home while we were stood in a meadow under the moonlight. A slightly older version was scolding my stance as I picked up a short sword, and then correcting it diligently.

“I believe there is some catching up to be done by you both,” Nobunaga shrugged. “Until we leave the battlefield, then I believe there is an adequate amount of time to do so.”

“She’s an Uesugi Princess, she returns with me,” Kenshin corrected him as I came to my senses.

“I’ll go where I like thank you both,” I interrupted. “Now, seeing as both of you had soldiers captured by Kennyo, wouldn’t it be safe to say you both need to work together to get him before you two start arguing again?”

“I hate it when she has a point,” I heard Hideyoshi mutter under his breath.

Mitsunari couldn’t stop checking on Natsuki from a distance at the very least. She had been sat with Kenshin next to a fire all morning, just talking to him as the rest of the camp gathered itself together. There had been moments where it seemed that the soldiers were taking their time just to give the Princess some more time with her brother. In broad daylight, and seeing them next to each other, it was more than a little obvious.

“Mitsunari?” Hideyoshi frowned. “You’ve been watching them a lot.”

“I can’t figure out this feeling,” the vassal admitted to his Lord. “I don’t want to let her go anywhere. My chest feels heavy just to see her with another man in such close quarters.”

Toyotomi paused and hung his head. “That’s love, Mitsunari,” he smiled weakly at the silver-haired male before patting him on the shoulder.

Nobunaga was insistent that I ride back to Azuchi with him, and in his arms instead of behind him. He gave me a look that said I wasn’t going to persuade him otherwise, though it was just so I could sleep since I had been up most of the previous night. Shin was starting to lag behind, so one of the aides snuck him onto one of the carts carrying some of the medical supplies. He was tired since he didn’t try to get back off once, and instead just went to sleep as Oda tapped me on the nose and told me off for fighting sleep.

The Uesugi-Takeda forces would be arriving in Azuchi once they had regrouped and resupplied themselves at Echigo. And I was going to have a hectic time as the mediator.

War councils were officially my least favourite things. I had run out of sour candies to go with my sake, though unfortunately for my brother, I had found that pickled plums were nearly as good and the only adequate substitute so far. Both of us reached for the last one in the middle of one of Mitsunari’s reports, and then locked eyes.

“I’ll fight you for it,” I smirked.

I could hear the bets being placed as I parried off Kenshin’s single blade against my dual short swords. I ducked under his arms, but neither of us seemed to be getting the upper hand as I was going to sneak attack from Shin to get the advantage.

“Hey,” I frowned, leaning over to an empty bowl, and a very innocent looking husky. “Ugh, he had it,” I pouted, losing all interest now in the fight and sheathing my swords.

“If anyone thought you two weren’t related, then we should just refer to this moment in time,” Sasuke smiled.

He had spent a lot of time with me explaining the wormholes, I had fallen through one to get to the modern era, and they had been trying to ‘capture’ me for a while as dates and experiences were plotted on a map where I had been deployed to. Something had obviously decided I wasn’t where I needed to be to grow up safely, Kenshin hated the sound of the future when it had all been explained to him as well, but he said that he was glad I was safe after all this time even if it hadn’t been him who had been protecting me.

Kennyo had sent spies to Azuchi recently, though Shin had been very busy with me on patrols. He knew what scent to go after, and had me running to corner some of Kennyo’s followers up trees. The barking would alert the guards, and they’d bring plenty of rope. The dungeons were getting pretty full, and it was going to be soon that the former Abbott came to investigate.

I found it endearing that Mitsunari would like to accompany me on these patrols. He was constantly asking about where I grew up and seemed to understand the concept of wormholes a lot quicker than I did as I explained how I had arrived at Honno-Ji.

I wasn’t expecting him to kiss me just on the outskirts of the woods. It was so fiery and passionate, I couldn’t comprehend how the man could appear so composed with all of that going on underneath. He looked slightly embarrassed until I pulled the collar of his coat, so he was back on my level for a second one.

My short sword was out before we finished the kiss and stopping my brother from slicing Ishida in half. I gave Kenshin a judgemental look as Mitsunari was trying to establish what was going to happen next.

“Kennyo’s on the move, so I came to find you to tell you to pack,” Kenshin grumbled, glaring at Mitsunari as I started laughing. “And Oda agreed that you’re riding with me,” my brother glared.

“I’m not going anywhere until you turn around and stop threatening Mitsunari,” I argued, promptly turning my brother about to stop the warlord from getting distracted. “We deal with Kennyo first, then you can go back to murdering Nobunaga,” I grinned, enjoying the feeling of having a proper family for the first time in a long while.

“Nobunaga isn’t the one kissing you,” Kenshin shortly replied, hooking my arm through his and dragging me off as I waved and smiled broadly at the silver-haired angel who was struggling to keep up in the rampaging path that my brother was leaving.

Gossip was the only thing that moved quicker than my angry brother. The maids were all winking at me as we passed them, especially as Mitsunari came trailing after us as the castle was preparing to go to war. I was grinning like an idiot, and I knew it as I made sure I had everything I would need before going to see if Ieyasu needed any help with the medical supplies.

It was endearing me that Kenshin was acting in such an overprotective manner, it was a rivalry that only the vigour that Hideyoshi protected Nobunaga with could compete. Mitsunari would often end up staring at me as we travelled to the planned camp, and then I’d end up under a haori, or Kenshin would turn his horse around to fake needing to talk to Shingen or Sasuke. And it was blatantly obvious what was going on to the warlords around us. Once we set up camp, and light had broken, then it was a two prong attack on Kennyo with the objective of capturing him rather than killing, which did surprise me. Then again, I assumed the kitsune of the Oda forces would have some questions for the former Abbott. I was naturally to stay at the camp which I couldn’t resist doing an eye roll towards, which Masamune was laughing about while Hideyoshi was glaring at us both. Then Kenshin pointed out that I didn’t have any armour, Nobunaga didn’t appreciate the retort that it was only because I hadn’t been given any.

Shin had attached himself to my brother nearly as much as he was to me. When both of us were in separate places, it wasn’t that uncommon to have a husky running riot as he couldn’t decide who to try and ‘protect’ more. He whined as I had to practically push him out of the camp to go with Kenshin, though as soon as they shoved a rag with Kennyo’s smell on it, he bolted and the warlords followed on their horses.

It was mostly a waiting game until someone broke into the camp and set off the minimal guards that had been left.

“Princess!” Was my sole moment of warning before my swords locked into contact with a staff.

I wasn’t given any reprieve, and the man was trying to batter me into the ground using sheer force. I wasn’t as strong as he was, but I wasn’t as strong as any of the warlords. I was nimbler, and I was used to fighting against men who had the physical advantage. My trick was to use their own power and swings against them. It was my speciality to find the chinks in their armour as my dog came bounding through the campsite, barking his head off.

If I hadn’t been locked in battle and swinging one of my swords up to try and get Kennyo in the side, then I would likely have been laughing at the warlords’ expressions of disbelief. Instead, I was dodging the next blow that was aimed for my head as I swung myself out of the front line of his attack, and Shin finally joined in as the warlords made sure that Kennyo couldn’t escape the camp at any point before coming to my rescue.

“I think I need some training,” I grumbled as Ieyasu patched me up. My kimono was torn in more than a few places, and both Mitsunari and Kennyo were blocked the majority of anyone from seeing me, so I imagine that it looked indecent to them.

“I’m certain that you shouldn’t even be here,” Kenshin frowned. “Nevermind fighting off anyone like that,” he scoffed.

I was surprised to see Mitsunari wearing a similar expression to my brother as I glanced upwards. “Look, at least get me fitted for some armour if you’re going to insist on bringing me anywhere,” I argued. “And let me design something that’s easier to move about in then a kimono,” I grumbled bitterly.

“She’s got a point,” Ieyasu interrupted before either of them could say anymore. “She’s never been here by choice, and fighting is attracted to her, probably because of who she is. so get her outfitted properly and get her armoured and she’ll be able to protect herself, so no one else needs to do it for her.”

“I’m certain that Masamune would help me regardless of what either of you say,” I beamed brightly before I was promptly dragged back to the tent to get changed by Mitsunari while I laughed maniacally.

#kenshin uesugi #mitsunari ishida #ikesen #ikemen sengoku #Ikémen Sengoku

43 notes · View notes

neverwatchedonepiece · 5 years

Text

652-654: "The Last - and Bloodiest - Block! Block D Battle Begins!", "A Decisive Battle! Giolla vs the Straw Hats!" and "Beautiful Sword! Cavendish of the White Horse!"

“Complication?”

YOU ARE A CELESTIAL DRAGON!!

Or is he...?

Shins of Steel

Usually leave the huge reveals to the end but I can’t wait to talk about this major plot point, since it’s knocked a dent into my immovable “All Celestial Dragons Are Wet Lettuces” viewpoint. It’s like I smugly posted a “Change My Mind” meme and Doflamingo cracked his knuckles and proved me wrong.

Or did he?

After opening with Rebecca and Cavendish in the Colosseum (more on that later), the story veered back to Law, Doflamingo and Fujitora. I thought, “This is nice. Haven’t seen Law in a while. Let’s see what the rascal is up to.”

He was pretty much where Oda had left him: running like hell from a chuckling Doflamingo. And he was still reeling from Doflamingo’s deception.

“I have no interest in your past!” Law proclaimed. Which was totally unfair because I was definitely interested. “The only people who can use the World Government to deceive us are Celestial Dragons!”

“So what?” Doflamingo answered.

At this point I figured Doflamingo somehow had them in his pocket. That Doflamingo was so wealthy and well-connected he could even manipulate them.

There was a flurry of attacks. Doflamingo pulled a Sasuke vs Orochimaru in the chuunin exams: wired up Law and pinned him to a tree. He was like, “You can’t buy any more time, Law.”

“You said it’s complicated before,” Law said, (buying time). What do you mean?”

But Doflamingo is not so easily led into talking.

“If you wanna chat, hand over Caesar and his heart first.”

“Caesar... no, those SMILEs are that important to you? I guess they are,” Law laughed. “Without the SMILEs, Kaidou’s gonna kill you and it’s all over for you.”

A different sort of attempt at buying time, as Law’s shit-talking made Doflamingo lose his temper and attack. Law shambled his way out of the literal bind but Doflamingo was too quick. It was lucky Fujitora was there because Doflamingo was ready to kill and loot for Caesar’s heart.

Boom went the gravity. Law was pinned to the ground beneath crushing force. (I think I’ve said this before but Fujitora’s power is... it’s just great.)

Doflamingo was like, “Wtf, Fujitora? I almost had him, you party pooper!”

Fujitora, who has played this entire situation suspiciously by-the-book, just said, “Gotta stop you right there, Heavenly Yaksha. I am here to arrest, not execute. Soz.”

Doflamingo had a quiet seethe to himself, then said, “FINE! But I need Caesar’s heart back.” Once Doflamingo stringed the heart into his hands, he cheered up a bit. The odds seemingly in his favour, he was more willing to talk. “By the way, you seem quite curious about that complication I mentioned. You wanna hear about it?”

At this point, I was thinking, “Law, if you do not say yes, I will start flipping tables.”

Luckily, Doflamingo was now in a talkative mood.

“A long time ago - it goes back eight-hundred years, Law - twenty kings from twenty countries came together at the centre of the world and formed one giant organisation. The World Government. The kings who created it decided to move to Mariejois and live there with their families. The Nefertari family of Alabasta refused, so there were nineteen, to be exact. The descendants of those creators who still live there and reign over the world are known as the Celestial Dragons. It means, however, that those nineteen countries lost their royal families eight-hundred years ago. In those countries, they elected new kings out of necessity and new royal families arose. In the case of my country, Dressrosa, the new royalty was the Riku Family. And the old family who moved to Mariejois as the creators of the world was the Donquixote family.”

THE DONQUIXOTE FAMILY.

“But, but, but....” I thought. “Weren’t all Celestial Dragons useless, dangerous spoiled brats like St Charloss and What’s-His-Face who washed up on Fishman Island?” Doflamingo is hyper-competent. How could this be?? Muh prejudices!

I guess that explained the Heavenly Yaksha nickname. Heavenly is similar to celestial, right? I suppose Vergo’s warning to Law, re. lack of knowledge on Doflamingo’s past also makes sense now. Law was technically pitting himself against a Celestial Dragon who can pull World Government-level strings.

Not only that, but it seems the situation really is complicated.

Because Doflamingo had a bit more to say.

“So you’re called a Celestial Dragon, Doflamingo!” Law raged.

“I was. But not anymore. What is bloodline? What is destiny? I don’t think there are many people who have lived such a chequered life as mine. I wish I could tell the story of my life before I met you, over drinks. But I don’t have time for that. I’ve got to do something about the Strawhats in Dressrosa. I know there are quite a few people who underestimated them and got hurt.”

THANK YOU, ODA!

The plot gods have answered my plea. But these answers have raised only more questions.

1. Doflamingo used to be a Celestial Dragon. Not anymore. What happened? Did he abandon the rank willingly or was it taken from him? The whole “What is bloodline? What is destiny?” stuff is highly suspicious. Makes me think Doflamingo is not a fan of the Celestial Dragons.

2. The Riku Family. They were the ones who took over. They were elected fair and square. Everything seemed to be fine. Until Doflamingo came back to claim the territory his family abandoned eight-hundred years ago. Why return to Dressrosa? The answer to this question is probably tied up with point one.

3. The Nefertari were Originals. Even back then, the future Celestials must have been total moonfruits because the Nefertaris were like, “Ehhhh, nah, you guys go and have a good time on your island.” Imagine being stuck with those losers for eight-hundred years? No thanks.

4. Not underestimating the Strawhats. Doflamingo is smart. He has seen these new whippersnapper pirates topple too many Big Names and institutions to ignore the threat they pose to his territory. I actually cheered when he said this. A villain who can lay aside ego for the sake of the task at hand. I suppose Doflamingo does have the benefit of hindsight. Crocodile never had that luxury.

After that, there was a funny scene with Caesar and a heart-swap (Law still has his heart! Those heat-seeking Karma missiles are locked on Caesar. (LOCK ONNNNN!)) Fujitora also heard a KABOOM of thunder from the direction of the sea, even though the weather was perfectly calm. Law knew that would be Nami. The Strawhats were heading his way.

This was not a good thing.

Amid the chaos, Law made a desperate bid for freedom. Doflamingo pursued. He tried to lure him away but unfortunately, Doflamingo is smart.

Which leads us nicely to...

Debatable, But Okay...

(Side note: I loved how Toei segued seamlessly from Doflamingo’s sinister villain reveal laughter to Brook’s cheerful deceit laughter in 653. Did me a big lol there.)

And at first it seemed like Brook had found a new pal on Sunny. Not only that... he had betrayed the Strawhats? Surely not?

Had Soul King placed his art above his solid gold friendships with Nami and Chopper? Why was he hanging with Giolla? This was an outrage!

Giolla wanted to surprise Law (and gain Donquixote points) by picking up Caesar in Sunny instead of the Strawhats. Oh, what an excellent day it had turned out to be. Her latest art transformation depicted the tragedy of Dressrosa so perfectly! And it would only take ten more minutes for Nami, Chopper and Momonosuke to become part of her art and suffocate.

Like a total rookie, she babbled her plan to Brook, who smiled (if he could smile) and nodded and played the perfect gentleman. In the background, the others wailed and lamented Brook deserting them for art.

“May I play a song to celebrate?” he asked.

“Of course!”

“Then could you turn my violin and bow back to normal, please?”

Oh, Brook, you absolute legend. As soon as Giolla made that fatal error, Brook said, “You see this violin? There’s a cane sword inside. I already cut you.”

Suddenly, Brook was the hero! (Brook is always the hero.) Imagine doubting him, Nami and Chopper, you silly sausages!

There was a bit I didn’t like much that followed when they bickered over who would cuff Giolla. Nami demanded that Brook or Chopper did it, which was ridiculous because they are Devil Fruit eaters. If they touched those cuffs, their strength would sap and Giolla could overpower them. Nami, you should have done it. Doesn’t matter if you think you’re a coward or you view yourself as weak, you should have taken one for the team there. Not cool.

They spent so much time bickering, Giolla woke up and they missed the opportunity to restrain her. They were forced into fighting. Which was actually kind of good, in the end. Nami, Chopper and Brook used their heads to outsmart Giolla’s Giant Picasso Form and fire a Gaon Cannon bolt. Then Momonosuke shanked her from behind when she was down. Nami finished her off with a thunderbolt.

Teamwork, amirite?

Unfortunately, Fujitora heard the thunderbolt and told Doflamingo. So when they sailed round to Green Bit to collect Law and Caesar, Chopper saw the horrendous sight of Doflamingo approaching at speed through his binoculars.

I hope he recovers soon.

Who Says Zoro Can’t Compromise?

Once again, the Strawhats have split up. Usopp and Robin have reunited with Franky at the King Riku Army HQ beneath Flower Field. Zoro originally left with Wicka to check in on Sunny and rescue the others from Giolla, but met Sanji and Foxfire on the way.

Wick was like, “Who dat?”

In keeping with the Legendary Heroes names, Zoro introduced Sanji and Foxfire as Spiral-Brows-land and Topknot-Land (lmao)

Zoro updated Sanji on the dire situation on Sunny. Of course, Sanji was intent on rescuing Nami and the others, so Zoro stayed behind with Foxfire to find Luffy.

Then Violet appeared like a ninja from the shadows to tell him Giolla had hijacked Sunny. How did she know this?

Turns out she has a Very Useful Power.

Clairvoyance. It usually means seeing into the future, but it can also mean gaining information about a person, including their location, through extra-sensory perception. Nice. For Violet, this means she can see things within a 4000km radius, top-down, as a bird would. She is a walking surveillance satellite and can see everything going on in Dressrosa. She guided Sanji to Sunny and updated him on what was going on in Sunny.

Like I said, a Very Useful Power.

But, since it is a Very Useful Power, the Donquixote Crew are not pleased that she’s betrayed them. Back at the palace, a new character called Gladius is Very Upset. Since he despises and wishes death upon people who cannot follow plans and are not punctual, I’m guessing Violet has used up her two strikes already and is dead to this hilarious weirdo.

(Why does his hair explode?)

Violet eventually picked up Sunny and informed Sanji the dreadfully bad news that Sunny had been struck by lightning. She was puzzled when Sanji did not react as expected. Instead, he boosted with fury to the ship, where, I expect, he was surprised to find Doflamingo doing the exact same thing.

“Watch this, Law!” Doflamingo laughed. “I will viciously slay your allies right before your eyes!”

Doflamingo sure knows how to turn the thumb screws and punish people, doesn’t he?

But Sanji was like, “NOT TODAY, SATAN!”

He smashed shins with Doflamingo.

And I cheered.

Sanji, you have just gained all your cool points back. I forgive you for being distracted by Violet.

(Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that Bartolomeo recognised Zoro and totally splooshed on sight.)

Rebecca and Cavendish: You Beautiful Legends!

Now Doflamingo has spilled some of the beans on his past, his treatment of Rebecca is odd. If he wanted to get rid of the Riku Family, he could have easily killed her years ago. It’s almost like he wants to drag their memory and reputation thoroughly through the mud. If it’s a propaganda campaign, it makes sense. Keep the people blind to what’s been going on by dangling the scapegoat in front of them. But this is a cruel and unusual punishment. It’s almost like he actually *hates* the Riku family. Or am I reading way too much into this?

In the first scene of 652, Rebecca walked out into the ring. The way Oda had the crowd behave - reduced to shadows, red-eyed, shrieking, inhumane shapes - might be a dig at the sorts of people who love blood sports. Animals and humans risking their lives to entertain uncaring humans and prop up gambling industries.

The insults they hurled at Rebecca were harsh. “Drop dead, Rebecca!” “Foul blooded!” “Today’s your execution day!” “The shame of Dressrosa!” And the worst one, for some reason, “Set her on fire! That’ll make her pyro grandfather happy.”

Ooft.

Well, it was pretty disgusting, and I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

Enter Cavendish on his Farul, his white horse.

Ohhhhhh, he was not happy. Not happy at all. He heaped abuse on the crowd and called out their rank hypocrisy.

“ENOUGH! I don’t care why you hate her so much but she’s a young woman who stands in the ring putting her life on the line. You guys are not risking yoru lives so you have no right to jeer at her. If you really want to kill her, take a weapon and come down to the ring yourself! The voices of people who have no guts are nothing but irritating noise! I have my reasons for entering this competition, but even so, I cannot stomach it. The lives and deaths of warriors are not a show!”

Well, Cabbage just earned himself some major cool points there. I was like, “YOU TELL ‘EM, CABBAGE! NO MERCY!”

Even Luffy agreed. “Oh, Cabbage spoke up and said the right thing. I’m impressed!”

Well.. sort of.

“Still don’t like him, though.” (Lmao, Luffy.)

Cavendish’s impromptu speech had an interesting effect on the crowd. They still hate Rebecca but instead of focusing their abuse on her, they decided they would use all that energy to support Cavendish, instead.

It’s a win-win situation. Rebecca can kick-ass in peace and Cavendish, well, since the crowd started chanting his name, he had a tear-filled, “YOU LOVE ME! YOU REALLY LOVE ME!” moment.

He’s already contemplating his media strategy.

Classic Cavendish.

When Doflamingo’s here, and you feel the end is near.

Diarrhea. Diarrhea.

103 notes · View notes

forallyourikemensengokuneeds · 5 years

Text

Courting the princess

She sat alone in the darkest of her room thinking and pondering about her time here. She had made so many new friends that it surprised her as it seemed, at least, to her that she had more people who cared about her here then she did back in the present. She had to ask herself did she really want to go back? He would be coming soon for her answer; she knew that much. She had no clue what it would be like when he did.

He waited until the castle was entirely dark and the last sentry had made his rounds for that part of the castle. It would be clear for about three hours, and they could talk if she weren't already asleep. He didn't know how to tell her his news; however maybe he wouldn't have too. He hated having made up his mind to stay here and knowing she was probably going back. He knew he wanted to stay with her or close by he just didn't have the words to tell her that. The fact was if she wanted to return to the future he would give up his finely laid plan to stay and he would go back with her.

She heard the quick but soft rap on her ceiling tile and smiled to herself, "Come in or down." She watched with amazement as he fell through the tiny space and landed on his feet. He looked at her as she was sitting in the corner and his usual stoic expression softened slightly.

"Glad to see you awake.", he said softly.

"I was just thinking about you," she said.

"Oh?", he asked.

"I know the time is nearing for the wormhole, and you would be coming to tell me we have to leave.", She looked at him as he moved closer. "You're not going, back are you?", she asked as she looked at him she saw a slight flicker in his eyes that gave it away to her.

"That depends on you.", he said.

"Me?", she asked.

"Have you decided if you're going back?", He asked softly as he sat knee to knee with her. She wanted to answer, but instead, she studied the man in front of her. He was waiting patiently, or in fact, he was a ball of nerves waiting for her answer. He had been her link to the future and her first faithful friend who had been selfless in his dedication to her and their friendship, even to the point of risking his own life to visit her as he was doing right now. She realized in an instant and wondered if he even knew.

"Are you?", she asked hesitantly, trying to probe the more profound question she wanted to ask.

"Please don't ask that just yet. I want to hear your answer first.", he said almost too soft to hear.

"I think I have made up my mind.", She said, and he held his breath waiting. His ninja skills didn't help him with this. He was so wound up that he was nearly out of his own skin. "I want to stay......"

He blew out the air that held his lungs in a vice and felt better then he had in a long while, he met her eyes and realized she wasn't done. "With you.", Her soft voice said as she looked back. Her eyes gave everything away.

"With me?", he asked, it was more then he could have ever hoped for, so he, of course, doubted it.

"If you are staying so am I," she said, "If you are going back I will go too."

"Why?", he asked.

"Really?", She asked now with a half-smile, "I don't think I have to explain. With that reaction, you felt the same, didn't you? You were waiting for me to decide but the fact is if I chose the opposite you would have gone along with it and followed me."

"You know me too well. What gave it away?", he asked.

"You did.", she smiled even more. "It doesn't matter in the end. You have been a devoted friend throughout this. I would go with you back, or I will stay with you here."

"You would, why?", he asked now trying to compute in his head her reasoning which made only slight sense to him.

"Because I care for you, dipwad.", she said.

"You do?", he asked now going into his thoughts and trying to find anything to change the subject to avoid telling her.

"Really Sasuke?", She asked now tilting her head. She couldn't think of what to say. She didn't have the words either, so they both just sat there looking at each other. The silence became deafening. He nodded and began to stand as did she, but her foot got caught in the hem of her kimono, and she began to topple over as she did. Instinctively he grabbed for her and caught her. She was closer then she should be. His hands had a mind of their own as they stopped listening to his brain which told them to let go instead he still had a grip on her. She looked up into his face as she would her arms still in his grip around him and placed her head against his chest. He stopped breathing. She let out a tiny giggle as she was pleasantly surprised at his lanky but muscular body. He hands let go of her arms and moved to her back.

He never imagined that she could ever feel anything for him. He figured it would be one-sided the entire time and he was okay with that if it leads to her happiness. She was in his arms. He did not have any experience with a woman like this. He had dated, but that always ended up being more then he could handle. He had always been focused on his studies and work. Woman were never his thing; he didn't understand them in the least however this one and only this one had become infinitely crucial to him, and he wanted to understand everything about her like he would a science equation.

She was smiling at him; she knew he was slightly confused as his eyes were the only thing that gave it away, how he felt and even what he was thinking. Though he was attractive to her, she had overlooked all that in the beginning because of the role he held with Kenshin, also the fact he never seemed interested in her as a female only as a friend. It wasn't until she looked at him this closely that she knew he liked her, really wanted her, she might it even say it could be love.

She didn't know exactly how she felt at that second either. She could see something for them in future for both, but what whether it be as a couple or the best of friends or both she didn't know, but she knew it boiled down to this moment. She lifted her hand and brought him closer by pushing on his neck, there was no resistance from him, and she knew he wanted this also. As their lips met, he pulled her closer, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. It was everything a first kiss should be., she thought to herself.

"Well. That was unexpected.", He said as he rearranged his glasses. Then completely took them off tucking them into a pocket. He then went back in for another long and deeper kiss that completely took her breath away. When he pulled back the second time, she smiled at him and said, "But not unwelcome."

"This complicates things slightly, you know.", he said.

"Does that really matter?", she asked.

"Well, your position here in Azchui and mine at Kasugayama does complicate any relationship we might have. However, I am sure we could figure something out.", He said with a slight smirk on his face as he went in for one more kiss. Leaving her breathless again he knew he had to take his leave soon but would return for her soon. "I have to leave now, or I risk being discovered.", As he took a step back to under the ceiling tile. She smiled at him nodding as he was the last thing she wished. They both had to think on this new discovery and how exactly they would proceed. He nodded back, smiled softly and hopped up. She heard the ceiling tile move back into place as she also heard footsteps out her door. That had been close.

A week later she was growing beyond frustrated with a certain ninja or more apt the lack of a certain ninja making an appearance. She didn't know where in town he usually stayed or even if she wanted too. She was to the point of getting angry with the other warlords for simple reasons. They all noticed as well leaving her and her behaviors under a microscope as Hideyoshi believed it was from lack of sleep, Masamune because she wasn't well enough, and a whole host of other reasons from each one. No one knew the truth of course, or so she thought.

"He hasn't been spotted since that night?", Nobunaga asked.

"The ninja? No, he hasn't.", Ieyasu replied.

"Is that why the princess is so upset?", Mitsunari asked.

"In a way, yes.", Hideyoshi answered.

"She yelled at me for not teasing her yesterday; this has become too out of hand.", Mitsuhide said. "I think that we need to do something like a helping hand."

"We do not know what their relationship really is!", Masamune said. "She could be just worried about her friend."

"I think we can all say this is more than worry about a friend.", Nobunaga replied. "How to broach the subject with the Princess is another thing altogether. We need to do it carefully otherwise he could just come in and take her."

All the warlords sat thinking in this late-night war counsel with only her in mind. None of them wanted to lose her presence at the castle, and the ninja was essentially the enemy. They all knew he just showed up four years ago and according to the princess he had come through the wormhole with her, they just ended up in various places. He could very well take her back through it as well, and then they would never see her.

"Send a scout out for him, with an invitation.", Nobunaga said, "I think we find out from him what he plans to do."

"Straightforward, good thinking sir," Hideyoshi said as he started brushing out a letter for the ninja.

Sasuke woke to four scouts under the tree he was in staring at him. "Don't worry ninja; your life is not in danger. I have a message from Nobunaga for you."

Sasuke could not believe his ears. Not only he was found out, but the Lord Nobunaga Oda wanted to speak with him. He was almost so happy he squealed, and then he realized he didn't know the context of why he would want to talk to him. Was it her? Had something happened? His fears were more than his excitement now, and he jumped down as the scouts had an extra horse for him. He mounted and read the letter which was more of a formal invitation to the castle. He wouldn't send a request if something happened to her, would he?

As soon as the scouts lead him into the audience hall and left he knew he was in for it. All six of the oda warlords were sitting there waiting for him. He bowed slightly and stepped forward.

"Ninja what are your intentions with our princess?", Nobunaga asked without blinking.

"Ummm.", Sasuke had no idea of what to say.

"Your friendship with our princess is well known, ninja.", Mitsuhide said. "We have known all along about your visits even though you are extremely talented."

"Thank you. As for my intentions, I am not sure.", he replied feeling very much under an examine glass.

"What do you mean you are not sure?", Ieyasu asked.

"Our Princess has been upset for the past week because of you, and you are not sure?", Mitsunari said.

"She has been upset?", Sasuke asked.

"and taking it out on us!", Masamune replied.

"Not sure how to handle this, is what I meant. I, care for her and I believe she does for me as well, but you know this whole enemy think it won't work out that well.", Sasuke said hanging his head in almost defeat.

"You are like her are you not? From the future?", Nobunaga asked.

"Yes, but.", Sasuke started but was cut off with a look from the man sitting before him.

"Then though you have worked for our enemy you personally are not, unless you hold some hatred for me as well?"

"No, I don't.", Sasuke looked up; it sounded like they were trying to ease his way.

"Well, then you are not our enemy, and certainly not the Princess's one at that.", Nobunaga seemed in thought as he spoke, "What if you just saw her, instead of sneaking around?"

"What?", Sasuke asked.

"Instead of sneaking in, you acted like a normal suitor?"

"What exactly are you suggesting?", Sasuke asked as he couldn't believe his ears.

"We care for the Princess as well and want her best interest done. If that means allowing you to woo her openly, then we will have to make do. However, in lieu of her family, you must deal with us instead. Consider us as her protective older brothers.", Nobunaga said and abroad, yet deadly smile broke across his face.

"VERY protective.", was echoed by five voices.

"Then I would have to accept the offer.", Sasuke said.

"Good. Now go and make the princess happy again or risk our wrath."

As Sasuke walked the hallways instead of climbing on the ceiling, he noticed it was homier in this castle than at the other; it must be her he thought. As he was lead right to her door as he knocked, and she came over to open it or throw it open at the intrusion on her peace her eyes flew open when she saw him standing there. She threw her arms around him. "Where have you been?"

"Thinking princess.", he replied.

"Why are you in the castle? Why at the door? What is going on?", She asked.

"You. I am here because of you. Shockley the other warlords also care about you, and your disappointment in me this past week lead them to act."

"What?", she was seriously confused now.

"They brought me here and said I could openly court you, as long as I do it here and not sneaking around.", He said with a smile.

"They did that?", she asked.

"Yes. Your happiness means a lot to them.", he said as he moved closer to her and then reached behind them to set the door, "It means even more to me."

And as they embraced or the first time that night they lost count they each made the other breathless.

The next morning as she breezed by the warlords while doing her chores she smiled and nodded as each watched her a little too carefully. She stood up at the end of war counsel and said, "Thank you for what you all did."

"I don't think you understand fully, Princess. Your ninja must make us all happy as your older brothers.", Nobunaga replied.

"I don't think you understand dear older tyrannical brother how much of your life I can influence now. And that goes for you all. If he makes me happy, that is all that should matter to you all.", she said looking around the room with a smile.

"I think I like her better when she was miserable.", Mitsuhide said.

"I'd rather not believe she is correct even though she is. We better hope for the best otherwise she could cut my candy supply.", Nobunaga said with a shake of the head. Sasuke had been waiting outside the room and listened as they discussed her real power within the castle, and she smiled up into his face as he gave her lips a small peck as they both walked back to her room with matching smiles.

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikémen sengoku #ikésen #re-release #sasuke #courting the princess #my writing

36 notes · View notes

sparda3g · 5 years

Text

One Piece Chapter 843 Review

It’s safe to say Orochi is the guy you want to see get the worst outcome. I know this is sadist speaking, but Oda really knows how to bring out your dark side, wishing a bad person ill. At least it’s fictional, so take all your anger out. If you don’t feel frustrated, this chapter will help you.

The last chapter did in fact shock me. I didn’t think Yasuie would die, since this is One Piece; no death policy universe. It made me feel bad and sad, and the flashback here reflects that. He was always a nice guy with good-hearted intention. Sure, he was rough, but you can tell he wanted the best for everyone. It’s sad to know that Samurai always knew him yet they’re guilty to not realizing nor meeting him. Sadly, it’s too late. All in all, this was a tragic death that actually got me feeling sad again.

The reactions from every members and others are depressing. Majority of them cry and weep for their fallen friend. The town’s reaction got me extraordinarily upset like Zoro, who is ready to paint the town red. I have to remind myself that it’s all because of SMILE, so I calmed. I got to say, I really feel the pain Hiyori is feeling. You can tell the misery she has to suffer for 20 years with this insanity, calling it true hell. If not, what is? That’s heavy. I love the glare from Zoro. He’s so ready to slash Orochi into millions of flesh.

The news of Yasuie spread so far, it even reached to Udon Prisoner’s Mine. If Luffy was at town, he would tag along with Zoro and bazooka the hell out of the townspeople. The news also reached to Onigashima, where Kaido is at. The fact he actually called Orochi sick says a lot. This is coming from the most powerful man currently, and he’s calling Orochi a twisted guy? Translation: Orochi is the garbage tier worst.

As emotional ride it was, the main focus is the most interesting piece so far in this arc. I won’t go over every detail, but the explanation behind SMILE is very interesting because of how it ties up everything since the first mention of SMILE. One user brought up a mention from DoFlamingo a long time ago before Part 2 about “the World of Smile.” I wouldn’t bypass it since Oda is really good at world building, even if it asks for your full attention every time. Either way, kudos for bringing it up because that’s just incredible.

The functionality of Smile Fruit is frightening as hell, but explains a lot behind the clans or groups. The fruit was designed for Kaido to strengthen the ranks of his followers to become the most dominant group to reckon. As if Kaido alone wasn’t enough; goodness gracious. It sounds like a wishful thinking, but the gamble is severe. If lucky, you will be granted with power. If not, you will lose the ability to emote anything but smile, which ties to SAD. The crazy part is the chance is pretty slim, like 10% chance with ten people.

I was overwhelmed with the functionality alone, Oda goes into explaining the factions of Kaido. Waiters are those for who are in line to try, Gifters are those who are rewarded, and Pleasures are those who have failed. The astonishing part is how this information explains the characters’ design. Usually, fans just accept them because it’s One Piece; there’s always a wacky design. While that is true, who would have thought they have a meaning to the plot itself; from beast to forever-happy pirates. Seeing Caesar there made me hate him again. Supposedly he had this redemption arc I think, but knowing him being fault behind this needs tons of repair.

If you are somehow, someway still neutral about Orochi, the explanation behind the town Ebisu will convert you. Oda knows how to make the worst scumbag that you would absolutely love to see them get the worst treatment. Orochi is one of them. He is the sole reason that corrupted the town, all because he was tired of the leftover’s sorrow. He thought, “They have been sad for too long. How about I put a smile on their face!” That he did by deceiving everyone there for believing he was saving them. That piece of shit.

The worst part is he knew the people were hungry, yet he treated them with a failed fruit. That’s why the explanation went long as it did; brought you to understand the damage and how much of a scumbag they are. As a whole, it was very interesting with an informative detail that not only connects everything, but gave us a taste of these damages. It’s downright cruel, but since it is designed to hate Orochi, mission accomplished with a lot of bonuses of hate.

I have to admit, the Toko scene is painful to watch. Imagine seeing a child trying to express sadness but could only smile at her father’s demise. Imagine seeing a child denying the reality, believing the toad oil will cure him. Imagine seeing the piece of shit ready to kill a child in front of forced-smiling audience. That’s Toko’s scene. It’s horrific, quite disheartening honestly, and nothing has set off yet. I even felt the intensity of a murder about to take place. This series doesn’t kill characters off that often, but the emotions are well presented.

The ending got me incredibly hyped for two reasons. One is Zoro, saving Toko and is seriously ready to kill Orochi. I actually want him to fight Orochi; that is if he is truly good at swords. More importantly, Sanji enters as well. The crazy part is, they haven’t seen each other in a long time, both real-life and in-story timeline. I heard it’s been nine years, so this reunion feels remarkable. What I’m interested is their teamwork, clearly the unusual team since they both detest each other. How is that going to work out? Don’t know but paint me excited.

This was a very interesting and gripping chapter. The sadness of Yasuie’s death continued to spread, now with more reasons to feel bad. The story behind SMILE was very interesting, compelling, and frustrating because of its use. The artwork lies on the tension and it had me floored. The last page is interesting with the unfriendly pairing. I should note that Sanji was very pissed at Orochi for using the fruit to “help” the people. Never pissed off a chef. Next chapter, please!

#one piece #chapter 943 #review #spoilers

26 notes · View notes

frywen-babbles · 5 years

Text

Sounds of Silence pt5

A/N: TW: mentions of assault and violence, stalking

They stood awkwardly in the aisle, watching Oichi find her way through the clothing racks, picking up clothes here and there. After what felt like hours (but was probably no more than 20 minutes) Oichi wandered back to them with a huge pile of clothes in her arms and took her arm to lead her towards the fitting rooms. She looked helplessly at Mitsunari while being dragged away and Mitsunari couldn't help but follow.

Almost as soon as the door to the fitting room closed after her, Mitsunari felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

Mitsunari glanced at Oichi who looked like she was eagerly waiting for her to come out of the fitting room.

Several pairs of pants and skirts later Oichi handed her a sleeveless dress a wide smile on her lips.

“I’m sure it’ll look amazing on you. Go on, try it on!” Oichi ushered her back to the fitting room, but it took way longer than it should have for her to come out.

Slowly she opened the door and stepped out. The dress looked good on her, but it wasn't what drew his attention. There were faint finger marks on her neck and bruises on her arms.

Neither he or Oichi said anything. She turned her head away from them, hugging herself, but just when she was about to step back into the fitting room Oichi reached for her.

"It's a little cold for sleeveless clothes yet, don't you think?" Oichi draped a cardigan over her shoulders and offered her a smile. A smile she returned after a few seconds before bowing at her gratefully.

"I'm sorry," she said to him, "I didn't mean for you to see this..." She bowed to him as well, but he shook his head annoyed.

"It's not your fault what he did to you. Don't apologize."

"Sorry..."

"What did I just say?"

A silent laugh lit her face up. "Sorry, sorry!" she said again before she turned to Oichi and mouthed 'thank you'. "The dress really is nice, isn't it?" she asked, turning around in front of the mirror. All he could do was nod.

Somehow, Oichi managed to get bags filled with clothes for her, the poor bodyguards rendered to shopping assistants, their arms filled with shopping bags.

They were heading outside when he noticed she wasn't following them anymore. His heart made an uncomfortable thump before he spotted her at the electronics department, fingering large headphones excitement clear on her face.

He touched her shoulder to get her attention and she jumped a little bit, a sheepish smile replacing her surprise.

"People leave me alone when they know I can't hear them," she explained and was about to say something else when her eyes fell on a display a bit further down the aisle. "No way! They have the kitty ear headphones! I've wanted them as soon as I saw them!"

"Kitty headphones? Those are so cute! Do you want them?" Mitsunari was startled when he heard Oichi's voice next to him. He had been so mesmerized by her excitement he had completely missed Oichi’s arrival.

"Ahaha, I see this is the department I should have brought you for some stress relief shopping!"

The blush colouring her cheeks was so cute Mitsunari wished he could watch it all day. And the unguarded joy in her eyes when she finally held the headphones in her hands and tried them on was something that made him smile like an idiot.

***

The apartment she managed to find was already furnished. Something Mitsunari was sure Oichi had her fingers in but thought better of telling her about it. She felt bad enough already about all the things Oichi had done for her despite the fact it hadn't even been Oichi's idea to have her stay at the Oda residence.

The more she seemed to get her life back together, the lonelier Mitsunari felt. She had dragged him here and there to do some shopping, to her apartment to help her settle in, but now that everything was finished she mostly focused on working as much as possible.

His phone buzzed in his pocket in the middle of a lecture. He glanced at it to see who the message was from.

He didn't usually message anyone back but it was unusual for her to message him during the day.

He nearly dropped his phone in his haste to get up. The whole class turned to look at him when he collected his stuff and rushed out of the lecture hall.

The wait for the bus seemed like forever. And the trip didn't go any faster, the minutes ticked slowly by until he finally reached the bus stop closest to the store she worked at and ran inside.

When he found her, she was with a coworker, her face red from crying. As soon as she saw him she stood up and hugged him, burying her face on his shoulder. His first instinct was to crush her to his chest and hold her tight, but somehow that turned out as an awkward pat on her back.

Her coworker motioned he needed to get back to work and slipped out of the break room. Mitsunari pushed her away from him to get a good look at her face.

"Tell me what happened?"

"He..." she started but her hands stopped as soon as she had started. She looked at him searching his face for something.

"You can tell me," he tried to encourage her to speak.

"He has been waiting for me outside. Every now and then. For three weeks now."

"Three weeks?! And you didn't think to tell me?" Mitsunari closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. Now really wasn't time to lose his temper.

"I didn't want to worry you!" she tried to explain, biting her lip.

"This is exactly why I worry. You never tell me anything!" He ran his hand through his hair irritated before he continued. "So, what was different about today?"

"He came inside. He..." Her hands begun to tremble, but still, she continued. "He cornered me when I was alone. He asked 'did you think I wouldn't find you'. Here, I recorded it."

Mitsunari took her phone but looked at her sceptically.

"It translates speech into text." She held a small break before she continued. "I didn't want to read it."

He put the phone to his ear.

"-you, I know where you work. I have been very patient with you and given you plenty of time to return home now. How long do you plan to make me wait? Don't even think you can disappear. You know I'll find you no matter what, don't you? Hm, no, there's no problem, I was just talking to my wife. See you at home, darling!..." At the end of the recording, Mitsunari heard what he assumed to be her coworker's voice, asking her if she was okay.

It was clearly a threat. A threat his brain should have focused on. Instead, the words 'my wife' played in his head over and over again like an error code you couldn't get rid of no matter how hard you tried.

A touch on his arm rebooted him out of his momentary blue screen of death.

"Can you take me home?"

"No. We need to go to the police."

She shook her head, "No police. Just take me home."

Mitsunari closed the door behind him when they reached her apartment. She flopped on her bed face first and let out a deep sigh. Mitsunari sat next to her and tapped her shoulder.

"I think we need to talk," he said when she finally turned to look at him.

"Yeah..." she covered her face for a moment before she continued, "I've been meaning to ask. How did you find out my address?"

"I asked the librarians."

"And they gave it to you? Just like that?"

"No, they needed some convincing. But I told them I needed to return a book to you."

"That's like the lamest excuse ever." She sat up and crossed her legs before she continued. "Thank you for coming for me. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"You're married." It came out more like an accusation rather than a question like he had meant it to be. She stared at him her face blank.

"How did you know?" she finally asked.

"He called you his wife."

"I see." She stood up and turned her back at him. He stood up and tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But-"

"I'd like you to leave now." She walked to the door and held it open for him.

"What-" Mitsunari started baffled by this turn of events.

"Leave. Now." She pointed at the door and turned her eyes away from him.

Why was she being so difficult? Did she think this would change something between them? Sure, he was surprised by her being married, but nothing he'd done warranted such a cold behaviour towards him. The door slammed shut behind him leaving him alone in the hallway.

When he returned that night tired from training at the university dojo, he fell down on his bed. Maybe it would be good to retire early from time to time.

Except when he closed his eyes sleep refused to come. After an hour of twisting and turning in bed, he went to knock on Hideyoshi's door.

"Hideyoshi, can you talk?"

"Uh... sure... what is it?" Hideyoshi opened his door rubbing his eyes, a red pencil impression on his cheek. "Is this about her?"

Mitsunari didn't need to guess which 'her' Hideyoshi was referring to.

"Yes. She's married."

"She's what now?"

"I didn't realise your hearing comprehension was so terrible. She's married. To the man, she claimed to be her boyfriend."

"Uh... yeah... okay... Just... give me a moment." Hideyoshi rubbed his eyes again and yawned, "So she's married. What's the problem?"

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"Did you ask her?"

"... No."

"Well, there you have it. It really isn't that surprising considering her situation. She might be worried people try to push her to get back together with him."

Mitsunari stared at Hideyoshi in shock. Somebody would actually do something like that? Hideyoshi let out another big yawn.

"Look, if that was it, I really need to get some sleep. Good night, Mitsunari." he closed his door and after a few minutes, Mitsunari could hear soft snores.

Two days later he was at the library, trying to concentrate on reading. But his thoughts kept going to her again and again until he picked his phone up.

He stared at the message for a while before he pressed send. Her reply came after a few minutes.

<I’m not. I just want to know why you were lying about it.> <What?> <the mngr dnt wnt 2 get into trbl> <dnt wrry i found a nw 1> <and they paid me a mnth slry> <How can they just fire you?> <mde me resgn. didnt wnt mre trble> <I'm so sorry.>

He cringed as soon as he sent the message. How did apologies sound so bad in text.

He was so relieved she still wanted to see him. He hadn't even realised how worried he had been until he felt the tension leave his body.

***

The next day he hurried to the cafe after his lectures were over. She was already sitting there, headphones on her ears, her nose in a book.

He was only relieved Oichi's annoying friend and his fellow student wasn't on shift today. He didn't need her "encouragement" on his... non-date. Definitely not a date. Just two friends meeting over a cup of coffee.

He sat his cup down on the table and tapped her shoulder gently. She jumped a little bit and put her book down. Only then he noticed she had put some lip colour and his eyes were drawn to her lips. To her beautiful and very kissable lips.

"Sorry, I didn't see you at all. I was just getting at a good part." She took her headphones off and put them on the table.

"It's okay. How was your day?"

"Boring." Her phone on the table buzzed with a new message. "Except for that."

"What's 'that'?" he felt his brows furrow and he looked at her phone which buzzed with a new message.

"I ran into one of my friends and gave her my new number. Now she and my other friends keep messaging me."

"It's... nice they want to be in touch." Did that mean she didn’t need him anymore? Was that why she hadn’t been in touch for the last few days?

“I wish...” She unlocked her phone and pushed it towards him. The screen was filled with messages.

His mouth felt dry as he read the hateful messages that seemed to go on forever.

“How long... how long have you received messages like this?”

She poked at her cake with a fork and sighed.

“About two weeks now. Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal.” The way she pursed her lips and the angry poke her cake received told him it was a big deal. To be betrayed by the people you thought you could trust the must hurt. Did hurt.

@masamunesmistress @you-mass-effect-my-dragon-age @han-pan @dreamfar628

#slbp #slbp fanfic #ishida mitsunari #oda oichi #toyotomi hideyoshi #voltage fanfic #frywen writes #sounds of silence fic

24 notes · View notes

mahkaria · 5 years

Text

Of novelists and stray dogs - CHAPTER 4

Inferno

In a dark alleyway, not too far away from the shopping district, a crowd had started to form. Most of them were men in their twenties. Dark tattoos covered their arms and their neck, as if they took pleasure in looking like stereotypical villains. They didn’t say anything.

Finally, a woman taller than the other arrived. A deep, unpleasant smirk almost cut her face in two and as she moved forward, her subordinates parted to let her pass.

No respect could be seen on their face. Only fear and regret. This woman : Katou Misao, but she was more often called The Puppeteer ; the leader of The Black Warriors .

“Boss, one of our men managed to find the list.”

“Well? Don’t make me wait and give it to me.” She ordered.

A small book was given to her. On it, the list of all the businesses under Port Mafia’s protection.

“Perfect.” She purred. “Hana, I believe you can take care of it?” She asked to one her lieutenants.

“Of course, boss.”

“Then get to it.”

The teenager took it. Who would have thought she would use her ability this way?

His whole body hurt. He could feel his muscles contract and relax at regular intervals as they pressured his bones.

Atsushi groaned.

The mornings after a transformation were never a pleasant experience. Never.

Good thing he had finally sent his most recent short story. He didn’t want to move even a finger away from his futon..

His phone rang.

A new groan from Atsushi.

He stood up as slowly as he could his whole body cursing him for this decision. He picked up.

“Hello, Atsushi-kun. How are you?”

“Good morning, Tanaka-san. I’m fine and you?”

“I wanted to talk about your new work.” He explained.

“It’s not good enough, is it ?”

“Of course it is. I told you not to worry about it. Just, my superior read it and wanted me to pass a message.”

It’s never good when a sentence starts like that.

“He finds your style extremely dynamic and thinks it would be better for you if you were to - how do I put it? - write about different themes.”

“What? But -”

“It would sell better and be more attractive to new readers, don’t you think?”

Atsushi didn’t know what to answer.

It was thanks to the said editor in chief he had been able to find this apartment. A friend of his had agreed to lend him the place as long as he kept working for them. He was a nice forty-nine years old who had greatly encouraged Atsushi. He owed him more than he could ever pay back.

If that’s what he wants I can’t go against him but -

“I’m sorry I -”

“Atsushi-kun, you do want to keep having a job, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then, you should do what I say. Stories about mythology and historical events are fine but they get boring with time. You won’t keep earning a lot if you only focus on this.”

“Yes but-”

“I’m your editor, don’t you trust me?” Tanaka asked.

“Of course I do !”

“Then do as I say. Write about more modern subjects. I know you’re a kid and can’t totally understand it but I’m only here to advise you. Listen to me or you could really regret it.”

“I see, thank you very much.”

“Glad we understand each other. I’ll wait for you next story then. I’m sure you’ll do great, it won’t be too hard for you to change, right?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Cool, have a nice day.”

“Good bye.” Atsushi stuttered.

A soft bip and the young boy was alone with his thoughts. All hopes of a peaceful morning had vanished with one conversation.

What does writing about more modern subject even mean? He wondered.

Until now, Kunikida, his grandmother and Sensei had always praised his writings. Did they only do it by mere politeness? No, they weren’t this kind of people. Kunikida was as blunt as an uppercut; a trait he shared with his caretaker.

Sensei firmly valued honesty and had never hesitated at criticizing Atsushi when it was needed. He wouldn’t lie.

He trusted them more than anyone but at the same time…

Maybe he should go to a bookshop see which were the best sellers?

He fell on his futon once again.

I’ll do it later.

As his eyes were about to close once again, another ringing disturbed him. From his door this time.

He didn’t expect anyone. It would either be publicity or one of his neighbours. They could wait. Atsushi threw his pillow over his head. Only a hurricane would prevent him from resting.

After a moment, no sound came.

One minute

Two minutes

Three minutes

They had probably left.

“At - su - shi - kun ~” A giggling voice whispered next to his ear.

A deep shriek shook the whole building.

“Wow, so energetic when you just woke up? I’m envious !”

“Da- Dazai-san?”

“Yo! Atsushi-kun ! How are you in this fine day?”

The said boy looked left and right. Then left and right once more. No, there was no mistake on his part. It was indeed still his apartment. So it only meant one thing.

“Dazai-san, please stop picking my lock !” He screamed.

“But you weren’t answering.”

“I could have been absent.” Atsushi protested.

“You only go out in the afternoon. In the morning, you just work.”

“How do you know that?”

“That’s a secret!”

I haven’t seen him in three days and I already can’t deal with him anymore. Atsushi sighed.

“Ca- Can I help you?”

“Odasaku and I are going to explore the city.”

“Have fun, then.”

“Want to come with us?”

“My apologies but I really can’t come with you right now.”

“Do you have something to do?”

“No, but -”

“Then, there is no problem. Come on!”

A hand sneaked inside his warm bed covers. Its temperature could compare to an iceberg’s. Not something pleasant to come upon when you wanted to relax.

Before he could screech in outrage, he felt it pull him away from the comfort of his futon. Atsushi clawed at his futon in the hope to stay protected but in vain. For such a thin person, Dazai had more strength than it first appeared. Stubbornness too since no matter how hard Atsushi’s other foot kicked him, he refused to let go.

“Good fighting spirit but I won’t lose !” Dazai proclaimed.

And with one final push Atsushi’s face met the hard floor.

“Now, get ready, Atsushi-kun, for we are going on a great adventure !”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“No, you don’t.”

Dazai’s smile had widened so much he could have passed for the Cheshire Cat. He patted Atsushi’s hair softly and with one more smile he went out of the room but added before :

“Get dressed, Atsushi-kun. Stimulating your mind from time to time is a good thing.”

Once fully clothed, he found Oda outside. The older man sent him a sorry smile as Dazai complained about how long he had taken to get ready.

“I’m sorry if it sounds rude but shouldn’t you be at work?” Atsushi wondered.

“He is working.” Dazai said while pointing at the cast around his arm. “Odasaku is my bodyguard for the day.”

Once again, he felt shivers run through his body. Few jobs necessitated to have this kind of protection.

Without wanting to, he had fallen into quite a troublesome situation.

“Now, gentlemen, let’s go.” Dazai cheerfully said.

“Are you sure it is safe to bring him here?” Odasaku whispered as they walked toward the shopping district.

“It will be fine, nothing should happen.”

His friend nodded as the worry in his eyes faded.

You shouldn’t trust me this much, Odasaku. I’ll end up disappointing you.

A hand caught his arm. His head rose up and met an intense stare from his friend.

“I know you’re planning something.” He said. “But I also know you’re not actively trying to hurt Nakajima. Don’t worry, Dazai.”

“I’m the epitome of calmness, Odasaku.”

Nakajima Atsushi was a strange kid, Dazai quickly realized (again).

As they travelled through the city, he would often stop and write in his notebook as he stared with wonder at whatever was in front of him. When he had looked over his shoulder, he had seen nothing but gibberish which didn’t make any sense.

It didn’t seem to faze Odasaku. When Atsushi had done it for the first time he had merely watched and hadn’t said anything as if it was perfectly normal.

Was it some weird habit of writers he couldn’t understand?

Another strange habit was how he had tried to escape when Odasaku had proposed to buy him a drink. Why would someone react so violently because of a bottle of green tea?

This, associated to what he had discovered at the orphanage told him enough about the kid than he needed. Only one last information and he would have enough datas.

As they entered a bookshop he saw Atsushi stiffen.

“Is there anything wrong, Nakajima?”

“No, not at all. Do you mind if I take a look around?”

“Of course not, we have time.”

Odasaku followed him. Protectiveness or curiosity about his favorite author? Good question.

Dazai looked at his best friend as he talked with the kid about literature. It had been a while since he had looked so happy.

Romance. Thriller. Pseudo Psychology.

Nothing which went well with his style or which really interested him. Great.

Atsushi forced himself to read the summary of the best seller of the week, a book titled : A mysterious Girl . He had read a few books of this particular writer. They always followed the same pattern which after a while destroyed the novelist’s style. Solid writing was important but remained superficial if the plot didn’t follow.

I’ll never be able to write something like that.

He liked thriller, even loved it sometimes but he didn’t want to write them. Romance by itself was often boring (apart from a few exceptions) and psychology, well…

At twelve years old, how was he supposed to give life advice? He didn’t know enough to really help this way.

“I didn’t know you liked this kind of story.” Oda commented behind him.

“They are not my cup of tea.” He admitted. “But it’s never too late to broaden your horizon, right?”

The uncertain look he got perfectly mirrored his own thoughts.

He didn’t like those books or even worse, he was indifferent toward them. Yet, Tanaka wanted him to write something like those?

“You don’t seem well.” Oda said.

“I feel-”

As he was about to keep talking, a smell interrupted him. It reminded him of a dying fire, when the last sparks of red faded away in the dark. A mix of smoke and burnt wood.

He turned around. Where did it come from?

A few meters away, a young woman was busy reading a poetry collection. Tears came down her face as she closed it and put it away.

For a moment, their eyes met. She -

“Nakajima?”

“Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts.”

“That’s okay. Are you going to buy it?”

“Y- Yes, I am.”

They came out after this. Oda had bought a book from Robert Louis Stevenson. Atsushi wasn’t drooling over it. Not at all.

“I’ll lend it to you once I am done.” The older said.

“Thank you.”

Outside, an unexpected awaited them. Dazai kept jumping from right to left as a red haired young man kept trying to kick him.

“Will you remain still, you damn bastard?”

“Chuuya is getting slower. Must be old age.” Dazai singsonged as he avoided a nasty strike which would have robbed him from his front teeth.

“I’m going to show you “old age”, you fucking jerk.”

Passerbys watched them with a mix of amusement and displeasure as the two young men kept wreaking havoc in the street.

“Is Dazai-san okay?”

“Don’t worry, they’re always like that.”

It didn’t really make him feel better.

The newcomer jumped forward and barely missed Dazai. HIs fist met a wall. When he took it away : a hole as big as a football.

“He didn’t forget to hold back this time.” Oda commented.

That’s holding back?

“I said stop moving !”

“Oda-san, why is he so angry?”

“I don’t know. Probably because of something Dazai said.”

“You’re my dog ! You shouldn’t be trying to hit me every time.” The young executive whined.

“I’d rather die.” Another wall fell victim to his fury.

Some people had started to film the whole fight. Did they not see it wasn’t a joke?

Dazai burst into laughter.

Okay, he understood why no one was taking the situation seriously.

“They’re attracting a lot of attention.” Oda noticed.

“Is it bad?”

“It’s not something Dazai would do without a plan.” He conceded.

Instinctively, his body moved toward Atsushi so the boy would be closer. If something was to happen, he would need protection.

After a moment, the two teenagers calmed down and came toward them. A deep flush of exasperation could still be seen on Chuuya’s face.

“Nakahara.” He saluted.

“Oda. Still dealing with the mackerel’s bullshit?”.

“Well, someone has to.” He said lightly.

No teasing could have sounded fonder. It was another proof of how much Dazai and Oda shared a strong bond. As Dazai’s fake hurt exploded, Chuuya and Oda exchanged a silent conversation. Atsushi would have been unable to interpret it.

That’s when the new boy noticed him. Scrutinizing azure eyes fixed him. If seeing him fight was terrifying, it was nothing in comparaison of having his whole attention.

“Who are you?”

“Na-Nakajima Atsushi. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Nakahara Chuuya. You took another charity case?” He grumbled to his partner.

You would have had to be deaf in order not to hear Dazai’s laughters.

“Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Soon, you’ll regret your words and I’m waiting for this moment.”

“You make even less sense than usual. Congrats, I guess.”

However, discomfort and suspicion had appeared. Dazai often liked to provoc him without any reason. Seeing Chuuya worry about nothing had some kind of interest he could quite fathom. But, it seemed different right now.

Suddenly, his conversation with Prof Specs came back to his mind.

"for such a young kid to be a writer"

“Please, tell me I’m wrong.”

“You know I’ll never lie to you, Chuu-ya ~”

“I hate you so fucking damn much.”

The two last days, the two of them had had to deal with a rival gang. It would have been easy had they not put their hands on high level weapons. A dozen of their subordinates had been killed. Dazai got a broken arm and Chuuya a very strong need to hit the wall with his head.

He had collapsed and had been woken up by an annoying buzz from his phone. The text received was the following :

Hello, little hatrack ! How is the weather down there?

Have you faded out of existence yet? If you haven’t, go to this address [position] as soon as possible !!! You’ll see something interesting. No I’m not talking about poor quality hats. Get your mind out of the gutter. Something really interesting !!!

If you have indeed faded out of existence well… see you in hell! I’ll be allowed to annoy you for the rest of eternity. Can’t wait (ᗒᗨᗕ)(＾▽＾)(◕⍸ ◕✿)

In his exhaustion, Chuuya had written a very eloquent answer :

Fuck you. Seriously how can you be so fucking annoying?

Dazai, always the same, had replied :

(∩^o^)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

Killing him would be too nice of a punishment. Chuuya had a ten pages long list of things he would do to him before achieving him.

Despite his foul mood, he had exited his room and went to the place indicated. They were partners but didn’t communicate more than needed. If Dazai had written to him, it was important.

Right now, as he stared at a too thin and scared kid, he wondered if he hadn’t done it just for this to happen. If he hadn’t woken up so early he would have never been so rough and Dazai knew it. The jerk.

Words refused to get out of his mouth.

“Chuuya looks like a fish.” Dazai snickered.

“I don’t want to hear that from you.”

Oda and Atsushi were still watching them. The older had a small almost invisible amused light in his eyes. Of course he would find the situation funny, he wasn’t friend with the bastard for nothing.

“Listen…” God, those scared purple eyes. Hello, guilt, nice to see you again. “Hum…”

“Wow, you’re terrible at it.” Dazai commented as Oda nodded.

“You, shut the trash hole you call a mouth !” Chuuya tsked.

“Rude. What is Atsushi-kun going to think?”

At this moment, Chuuya realized two things :

Firstly, he’d never be able to have a real conversation with the author if Dazai was still here.

Secondly, he had always been more focused on action rather than thoughts. He wouldn’t change today. Brawn instead of brain.

He put Atsushi on his shoulder and ran.

Mad cackles shook Dazai’s whole body. Oda waited for his friend to calm down and then asked:

“You knew this would happen?”

“Well, of course ! Chibi’s actions aren’t exactly hard to anticipate. When in a strenuous situation he’ll either attack or run away. Since Atsushi-kun was here he couldn’t allow himself to traumatize him even more since he respects him.”

“You wanted Nakahara to meet him.”

“Maybe.”

“It’s nice of you.”

“Why?”

“Well, thanks to you he met someone he admires.”

“Do I look like such a kind person?” He wondered aloud.

“You do, why?”

Warmth invaded his face but he managed to hide it.

Seriously Odasaku, don’t say this kind of thing…

“Because what just happened is only a part of my plan.”

Chuuya ran until they reached the central place. In its middle, a fountain stood surrounded by multi coloured flowers. It would have calming had he not been on someone he barely knew’s shoulder.

Why is it my life?

He was put down carefully which allowed him to have a better view of his kidnapper (?). His azure eyes didn’t look at him, his embarrassment obvious.

“Sorry for that.”

“T-That’s alright.”

“Stop looking as if I’m going to murder you. I just wanted to talk.” He ordered before sighing. “God, this stupid mackerel is right I’m terrible at this.” Then : “Don’t tell him I said that.”

“I won’t.”

A moment of silence. This whole situation couldn’t have been more awkward. Chuuya had never lived worse and he had once gotten his hair dyed by Dazai. Having almost rainbow hair for two months had been a nightmare. No enemy took you seriously when you looked like a cartoon character.

“So, you’re Tsukishiro Ren?” He asked after a moment of hesitation.

Now, that wasn’t a question he expected.

“Yes.”

“Didn’t think you would be a kid.”

“I know it is disappointing.”

“That’s not what I said. It’s just surprising, I guess. The subjects of your books made me think you were older.”

Atsushi thought about the scars adorning his back and his ribs. Decorations which wouldn’t leave him until his death.

“Experience and age aren’t as related as people like to think.”

“I won’t argue with you on that one. Can I buy you something to drink? It’ll be an apology for dragging you here.”

“There is no need to.”

“ ‘Should have known you’d say this. You look like the kind of person who won’t accept anything because they think they’ll be a burden. That’s stupid. Follow me.”

Nakahara Chuuya, Atsushi understood quickly, was like fire. He could both warm and burn but what he did he always did it with a passion no one could relate to.

As he talked to the young writer about his stories, about small details even he had started to forget, he felt joy blossoming inside of him.

Maybe I’m worth being read.

After a moment, the feared awaited question came :

“What are you currently working on?”

“Nothing for the moment. I’m still looking for ideas.”

“No inspiration?”

“My editor wants me to change what I write about.” Atsushi confessed.

“But why? Doesn’t it sell well? I checked how many of your short stories collection you sold. It’s good enough, right ?”

“For me it is, but he doesn’t seem satisfied.”

Chuuya stared at him for a moment. He bore the same bewildered expression that Atsushi had carried sooner. But more than this, pain could be read on his face. He didn’t want this to happen.

Considering his line of work, I didn’t expect him to be as affected as he is by this.

Yet, Atsushi couldn’t deny a part of him liked this turn of event. Sensei, Kunikida and his grandmother then Oda and Chuuya.

Having people who cared was nice.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll manage somehow.”

“No way, I’m not letting you deal with it by yourselves. Don’t worry, I’ll-”

Before Chuuya could finish, a deep unpleasant smell came to his attention. Something was burning.

“Nakahara-san, we should-”

He didn’t manage to finish his warning.

The world burst into flames.

Red and oranges tongues were eating away at one of the closest building. From what remained of the front windows he could see it used to be an antiquity shop. Now, it only served as combustible for a fire which had no intention to stop.

“So interesting things are finally starting to happen.” Someone commented.

“Did you follow us?” Chuuya snarled.

“As if it was complicated. You can hardly be called discrete, chibi.” Dazai mocked.

“Is that what you wanted to see?” Oda asked as he pointed to the fire who was starting to spread to other shops.

“The boss wanted me to investigate. Some of our “associates” have found themselves in troublesome position. Most of them live around this street.”

“They should still be around. Let’s find them.”

“Is the hatrack giving orders now? How bold for someone who isn’t an executive.”

“Want me to punch you again?”

“O please, you didn’t even manage to-”

“They are going to get away if you keep fighting.” Oda commented.

“Shit, you’re right. Atsushi, you should stay here. Or maybe go- Wait, what are you doing?”

In front of them, a little girl stood. She looked lost and kept walking backward and forward.

“Are you alright?” Atsushi asked her softly. Her face was covered in tears.

“Daddy is still inside.”

Insi- O no !

It had been a few minutes since everything had started. Soon, the building would collapse, his foundations too damaged to maintain it. If he wanted to do something it had to be now.

I can’t do it. It’s impossible.

Someone like you can’t do anything.

The tiger growled.

“Mister?”

“Yes?”

“Is he gonna be okay?” She had to be around three or four years old. Maybe a little bit older.

Someone like you can’t do anything , the headmaster’s voice repeated. We’ll only know that if I try , he retorted.

Atsushi knew he didn’t have the confidence to do it but…

Many people had believed in him and in his capacities. He knew he would survive this. The tiger and he didn’t get along but the beast was still protective of him no matter what.

He could do it.

“Yes, he is.” Atsushi said to the child.

“Nakaji-”

Atsushi ran.

It felt like being inside the strange mix between a volcano and a nightmare. Everything was searing and suffocating. Around him he could see the remnants of objects which could have been beautiful before but which just looked downright terrifying at the moment. Stuffed animals and porcelain dolls didn’t look better when fire was devouring them.

Walking had never been this hard. Each step was painful. Most of the time, he didn’t even know where to put his feet in order not to get burnt.

Another problem was to find the man. Fortunately, his eyes had never betrayed him. When he opened them once again, white had turned into yellow and his human pupils became cat-like.

He is in the back shop.

His skin burnt and his lungs hated him. Smoke filled them and no matter how much he healed, it hurt. Tears fell down his face and with each of them it felt like a part of his life was leaving him.

Opening the door turned out to be a trial. When he finally managed it, his skin had taken a dark red colour. He brushed it away. He had endured worse.

“I have nothing against you, sir, but I have orders.” A soft voice whispered as he entered the back shop.

How could she be so calm at an instant like this?

Big brown eyes stared at him when she finally noticed him. It was the girl from the bookshop.

“What are you doing here?” She panicked.

He didn’t have the strength to answer back. He bent down and caught the man in front of him. Consciousness had almost left him.

“And he’s just a kid ! I can’t kill a kid ! I’m in trouble, so much trouble.” She was so lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t budge when he left.

He had better things to do than listen to a pyromaniac.

Carrying him would be an almost herculean task but he could manage. Slowly, he brought him to the exit.

No air in his lungs, no real path to follow which wasn’t covered by burning ruins and a heat so violent it was as if he was being cooked.

Each part of his body had been strengthened by his ability. Thanks to it, he was able to reach his goal. Relief flooded in his body. That was until he heard it.

The building will not hold for much longer.

He only had a few meters left. Only a few meters and he could see the sunlight again. Real warmth instead of this inferno. Atsushi tried to move quicker.

It wasn’t enough.

He perceived with extreme clarity the moment when the place gave up. Cracks turned into snaps and that was it.

Stones were raining on them. Had he been alone, he might have a chance to avoid it but right now?

Would his healing even work if he was crushed like an ant? It was something he was probably about to find out.

Closer and closer. Nothing could stop them. He could already feel his bones break under the stones’ weight.

Closer and closer. He still remembered the little girl’s words.

Closer and closer. Maybe it would end quickly and not be painful..

“After all, she only asked me to destroy this place. It’s not my fault if you don’t die.”

A tornado of flames went over their head and projected the debris away from them. He turned back.

The young woman was watching them. Her brown hair flew behind like an imitation of the fire she had caused.

“Leave, now or I won’t be able to protect you this time.”

“T-Thank you.” He whispered. Talking was close to impossible.

“It’s my fault if this is happening. Don’t thank me, please, and leave.”

He tried to answer but his throat refused and he decided to nod toward her instead.

The smile she gave him was one of the saddest he had ever seen.

When he finally exited and joined a cooler, less painful world, someone was waiting for them. Oda’s hair was going in all sort of different directions and a strong agitation had invaded his eyes. He went as far away as possible from the former shop, delicately put the man down and once he had checked the man was still breathing, he walked toward Oda.

“Are you alright?” Atsushi inquired.

The man opened his mouth as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You- you…”

“Maybe you should sit. You’re really pale, Oda-sa-”

A pair of arms engulfed him and stuck to a muscled chest. It didn’t feel uncomfortable. Quite the contrary but Atsushi couldn’t understand why he was doing it.

“Is something wrong?”

“You’re probably the stupidest, bravest kid I have ever met. Don’t you ever do that again.” Oda ordered.

“I can’t apologize for what I did.”

“I knew you were going to say that.” Oda chuckled.

The same strong hands were holding him as if he was an anchor. As if he didn’t want him to disappear. Fingers ran through his hair. They were shorter now, the fire had latched onto them and if the tiger hadn’t helped he probably would have faced far worse consequences.

“We need to bring you to an hospital.”

“It’s not necessary. I’m fine.”

For sole answer, Oda moved away, took Atsushi’s arm and brought it in front of his eyes. His skin had taken an almost crayfish shade. Most of his hairs had darkened and he could see a rather nasty burnt on his leg now that he paid a real attention. His lungs were also tightening painfully in his chest which didn’t predict anything good.

“Adrenaline?” He wondered.

“It’s going to start hurting soon. Someone called an ambulance. It should take too long to arrive so stay as still as you can.” Oda acquiesced.

As Atsushi was about to protest - he was fine , in a few minutes most of his wounds would have disappeared - Chuuya and Dazai joined them.

“She ran away, the bitch.” Chuuya complained.

“That’s because you were too slow, chibi.” Dazai explained. “At least now we know what she looks like.”

“Say that again, you damn bas-”

“You’re still alive, Atsushi-kun, I thought for a moment we’d have to find you a nice green spot to bury you. That’s surprising.”

“Shut up, mackerel. You alright here?”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s quite the stunt you pulled here.”

“I had the ability to help.” Atsushi said, his voice oddly resolved. “So I did.”

A moment of silence and then his interlocutor’s face contorted with distaste.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Chuuya kept cursing. “You managed to find the only person more suicidal than the mackerel.”

“I am offended.” Dazai smiled as his hand started messing with Atsushi’s hair. “He behaved like the perfect suicidal maniac without any of my influence.”

Coughs climbed up and Atsushi’s whole body started protesting as he felt his whole blood boil.

It hurt. Why have I stopped healing?

The tiger was no longer present in his head. He had disappeared like flowers during winter. Only fear and panic remained. The taste of copper invaded his mouth and his mind blurred. Without the strength of the beast, he couldn’t manage to stand any longer.

“Nakajima, are you al-”

His legs gave out as his mind disconnected from reality. Falling into the dark didn’t take more than a second.

#bungou stray dogs #Dazai Osamu #atsushi nakajima #Oda Sakunosuke #Nakahara Chuuya #dazatsu

14 notes · View notes