#while sakura get TWO boys that thinks shes cool

[lemon-wedges]

Jocks on a walk  🏃🏃‍♀️🚶‍♂️

[teamsasukes]

ok in my opinion, many things are wrong with the idea that sakura viewed sasuke only as a prize to be won to boost her self-worth; that when it comes to sasuke, she's forever frozen in time as a 12-year-old girl who can't see beyond his good hair and great grades. this post is my attempt at thoroughly unpacking and refuting that notion

when we meet sakura in part 1, she is obsessed with societal standards and her admiration for sasuke is almost entirely rooted in that. he's the ideal future husband -- from an ancient clan, stoic, intelligent, skilled, and by sakura's own description, "cool" -- these are things that she has been conditioned to want! so this is the sasuke that she envisions, until...

until they get put on a team together, and sakura gradually comes to realize that perhaps sasuke is not what she's made him out to be in her mind. he talks about crying, about being afraid. he's paralyzed with fear in their first mission. naruto may very well be stronger and more capable than him! oh, and sasuke gets into silly fights with naruto all the time. none of that is "cool." suddenly he seems less like the ideal future husband and more like a real person with flaws and baggage of his own.

that sakura's view of sasuke changes is so apparent through how radically her behaviour around him shifts between the early formation of team 7 and the chunin exams (and any point after). sakura goes from being unable to listen to a bad word about sasuke (maybe even the ones that are deserved) to defying him when she deems fit. she even praises naruto at his expense, because societal views are not at the forefront of her mind when it comes to the two boys anymore -- they're just naruto and sasuke. they're her friends! she goes from calling kakashi out for bad-mouthing the uchiha clan because she's doesn't want to risk sasuke getting mad at her, to calling naruto out for a similar statement, not due to personal involvement in the equation, but simply because it's not right.

and people typically agree with me up to here. it's when we get to sakura cutting her hair in the forest of death that opinions diverge, and some people tend to think that sakura should have "gotten over" sasuke to propel her character development forward. i don't necessarily find this reading invalid -- it's certainly a more straightforward direction for her character to take. sakura's goal was sasuke, now sakura's goal is to be strong. the problem is that there was always more nuance to her goal of winning sasuke's heart than people afford it in fandom discussion, and similarly, i don't think that the progression needed to be as clear-cut as "sakura gets over sasuke" to still be meaningful. in this case, i feel like people's expectations about what should have happened following this scene might preclude them from seeing the growth that this moment did produce.

sakura cutting her hair in the forest of death is the critical point her arc built up to for all of part 1. sakura is insulted by the sound nin for pouring so much time into her appearance when her training is clearly not up to par, and she cuts her shiny and perfect hair in a declaration that she will no longer derive her self-worth from the validation that would come from romantic attachment (to sasuke, or anyone else). instead, it will be from standing shoulder-to-shoulder with (or even ahead of) her teammates in battle -- so that she can protect them rather than the other way around. then the flashbacks during her fight with ino make it explicit that sakura has wanted to become a skilled shinobi -- one who could match up to ino -- all along, but since that is not a socially acceptable goal from a girl, she instead declares them rivals over sasuke's heart. the boy is not important here (haha, it always sticks out to me that when she asks him out before the chunin exams, sakura is more bummed about sasuke's assessment of her skills than his rejection). she doesn't even think of sasuke while fighting ino, lol -- she grandstands about how only she can "get him," but that's for the purpose of riling up ino, so that there's no chance she'll go easy on sakura. sakura wants to know, definitively, that she can match up to ino. and she does.

in light of all of this, people often say sakura had "no reason" to like sasuke -- after all, i did spend the entire last paragraph establishing that sakura's pre-series crush on sasuke was an immature infatuation that had nothing to do with sasuke and everything to do with ino. but, again, team 7 spent months together on a team and sasuke and sakura became actual friends! he was a good teammate to both naruto and sakura, if a little rough around the edges. i don't think it's implausible for sakura to develop real feelings for sasuke during this time. and if that is not enough, if you need deeper, thematically fulfilling reasons -- well, i sort of object to that on principle. i think friendship, having fun with one another, being at ease around each other -- these are all perfectly good reasons to fall in love with someone. and you may say that naruto also fulfills this criteria, but if sakura was physically attracted to sasuke and not naruto -- well, i think that's fine too, and it certainly doesn't warrant any moral judgment. people say often that sakura should have ended up with lee or naruto -- the first of whom stated outright that he loved her because she was beautiful, and the latter who introduced her as a "pretty girl" -- but whether their feelings are shallow is not endlessly dissected. (it's not narusaku or leesaku i protest to here, just the double standard)

but for the record, i think kishimoto did write in enough for us to understand why sakura would fall for sasuke in particular. i discussed this in another post, but alongside ino, sasuke sparked the most significant character growth for sakura. he was the first to make her reevaluate her treatment of naruto (and by extension, her rose-tinted view of the world), he was the first (and only) of their teammates to express disappointment that she wasn't investing in her own skills, he figured out when she felt insecure and reminded her of the areas in which she was more proficient than the rest of the team. sakura's initial idealized view of sasuke does not endure for a number of reasons, one of which is that the real sasuke actually expects her to hold her own and sees potential in her. for sakura, whose main motivation as a character is to become stronger for her teammates, this must mean a great deal! we mostly lose track of this element of sasuke and sakura's dynamic in part 2, which is a shame, but when she cracks open the earth with only her fist, naruto and kakashi are utterly astonished, while sasuke just smiles -- like it is no surprise, like she's been capable of it all along -- so there is that, i guess.

(and for more on thematically fulfilling, see this post on what i think could have played out if sakura were not relegated to a side character in all but panel presence in part 2. but really, i find it so interesting that sasuke and sakura both repeatedly have a lot of trouble suppressing their compassion to do what is expected of them as shinobi. apart from sasuke, i think sakura is also the only character to express that human life has inherent value -- at least, she says something along those lines when she fights sasori.)

anyway, post-forest of death, sasuke version 1 has pretty much dissipated in sakura's mind -- the only place he ever existed -- and sakura's treatment of sasuke changes further. she stops intruding on his physical boundaries, stops flirting, stops asking him out -- she's there for him, but as a friend first. she hugs him in the hospital, but that's not necessarily a romantic gesture (she's physically affectionate by nature, which is why she ambushes naruto with a hug in the same manner at the end of the pain arc) and sasuke finds it comforting (signalled by many things, chief among which is that naruto leaves the room after observing sasuke's face). and yes, she confesses to being in love with him twice afterwards, years apart, but that is only because she is extremely stressed and panicked and wants him to stay for his own (and the second time around, add in naruto's) safety. her first confession is too centered on her own feelings, while the second is just woefully oblivious (through little fault of sakura's -- she doesn't know why sasuke is so intent on destroying the shinobi world), but neither of them come with the condition of sakura wanting sasuke to stay only so he can be with her. sakura wants sasuke to be safe! she wants him to be mentally sound! she lets him know that she cares about him!

i absolutely need to reiterate: at no point in part 2 does sakura display any sense of entitlement to sasuke. she always pleads with him to stay, rather than demanding anything of him. and even in the privacy of her own thoughts, sakura ponders bringing sasuke back in a few contexts: she wants sasuke to be okay, she is so sorry for burdening naruto, she needs to help naruto, and if sasuke comes back, they can all be a team again. romance does not even enter her mind. it is such a willfully egregious misread of the text to say that she only wanted sasuke back so they could be together.

moreover, it is honestly just nonsensical to me when people say sakura wanted sasuke as a prize, because it laughs in the face of her entire character arc and completely ignores why her pre-series crush existed at all. back then, sakura wanted sasuke as a status symbol. as of part 2, though, he is decidedly not what konoha's society would see as the ideal man. in the eyes of the state, he is a wanted criminal. sakura, meanwhile, is a student of the hokage, one of the most skilled medics in konoha at the ripe age of 16, and one of the most powerful shinobi of her generation (a feat achieved entirely through her own labour). she has stood next to her teammates in battle and helped take down a literal god. she does not need sasuke to feel fulfilled. nevertheless, she chooses, every day, to care about him, even though it would be infinitely easier not to. and if sakura wanted to haul around a status symbol in the form of a boyfriend, if only to bolster her already impressive profile (which she would not. that's the point!) -- naruto, konoha's new favourite traumatized teenager, is like. right there. but sakura loved naruto before he was proclaimed a hero by konoha, just like she continues to love sasuke even though he is very far from the coolest boy in their class.

my feelings on chapter 699 are... mixed, because the way things resolve for sasuke is just so sad, but what we see play out between him and sakura is: 1. sakura asks to come with him 2. sasuke is 100% comfortable saying no (how do the "sakura forced sasuke to be with her" truthers reconcile with that one, lol) 3. sakura appears mildly disappointed but like. she'll survive. that's it. then he thanks her, taps her on the forehead (but promises he'll see her soon, in an inversion of what that gesture meant from itachi), and we leave them in a pretty hopeful place, all things considered. there's room for reconciliation, for growth, for love. (and i don't want to hear about post-699 because i don't care. i don't consider it canon, and pretty much no one on tumblr does either, except to occasionally shit on ships they don't like)

this ended up being way too long, but i want to say: if you don't like sasusaku, that's your prerogative. i'm not here to change your mind. i certainly think they should have been written better in part 2 (but i'd argue that, like, 99% of those issues are just a natural consequence of sakura being continually sidelined by the narrative, rather than problems inherent to the relationship itself). regardless, i think too often people let their opinion of a ship impede character analysis. to claim that sakura relentlessly propositioned sasuke and that she saw him as a prize does such a huge disservice to how much she has grown and what she has accomplished over the course of the series.

[tigergirltail]

Seeing a fair number of posts lately from transfems wishing they had known a trans person who would have told them when they were younger that they're trans, and it's been bothering me. First of all because it puts the onus of responsibility on this mysterious, cool, older, wiser transwoman to break the egg out of their shell, which I thought we agreed was a toxic ideal back when we called them Manic Pixie Dream Girls.

Second, and more importantly, because in the ideal scenario, in which the egg is very definitely a closeted transgirl, and the more open transwoman is genuinely just trying to help the egg find her true self, being forceful about it can set that discovery back years, even decades.

Source: It literally happened to me.

In my late teens, I played an MMORPG called City of Heroes, and my best friend in that game would later reveal to me that she is a transwoman. As I aged into my mid twenties, we got to meeting up IRL and going to anime conventions together, and she'd inevitably broach the topic of me trying more feminine presentation. Not even telling me she saw signs, just subtly trying to steer me in the right direction. She was particularly enthusiastic about seeing me in a skirt.

Every single time it happened, I'd get mad and shut down.

There's a psychological phenomenon in which, when someone holds a set of deeply held beliefs, and those beliefs are challenged by verifiable evidence, the cognitive dissonance causes the person to double down, and hold to those beliefs even harder. That's why right-wingers are Like That, but it applies just as much to all of us. I'll get back to this concept in a bit.

When I was around 15, an anime aired in Canada called Cardcaptor Sakura, or Cardcaptors as it was localized. Something about the exact stage of development I was, and seeing Sakura getting to set aside her mundane responsibilities to dress up in cute costumes and go out on magical adventures, it called to my closeted little girl heart. I have a vivid memory of staring in the mirror, holding my hair to look like Sakura's and imagining myself as her. As a girl. I have many more memories of looking at feminine characters and thinking "gods I wish I could look/dress like that", but Sakura was the first.

I kept it fully to myself, because I had grown up in the late 80s and 90s - before the word 'transgender' was commonly known, before media depicted us as anything but objects of mockery or horror. It was a deeply ingrained and societally reinforced belief that Boys Are Boys and Girls Are Girls, and never the two shall cross.

So when my best online friend tried to convince me to be more feminine, that cognitive dissonance would kick in and I'd shut down. Even though she was objectively correct that I was a closeted transgirl, it was her word against the word of my entire upbringing and societal viewpoint.

What actually helped, what actually put a dent in my egg, was the fact that she simply existed as a transwoman, she was visible and proud. That existence challenged my preconcieved notions in a way that could not be resisted.

From there, it was a matter of time and continued exposure.

Another friend who explained to me what 'cisgender' meant, and who eventually started leaning into transmasc presentation. A romantic partner who came out as genderqueer and helped me understand the concept of 'nonbinary'. Transgender content creators who posted about their experiences online - special shoutout to demilypyro and assumptionprime, two of the most influential voices for me while I was figuring this out, but far from the only ones.

The shields of my egg were down. It was primed for hatching.

On April 22, 2022, I was looking up some fanart of Hex Maniac from Pokemon X/Y, who I had cosplayed at a convention three years before, and thinking of how good it felt to wear that dress. How good it felt to look like her. How good it felt… to be a girl.

-CRACK-

…Later that day, I went to my old City of Heroes friend, practically begging her for help. How do I know if HRT is what I want? How do I know if I should transition? How do I know if I'm really a girl?

She knew. She always knew. She tried to tell me, but I wasn't ready to listen. Not yet.

The point of all of this is that one transperson telling an egg they're trans is not a solution to the problem. The problem is that society has tried very hard to make us the outliers, to make us the weirdos, but society is losing that war. If you want to help the eggs of the world, be visible, be proud, and treat being trans as something normal and beautiful. Don't tell them unless they ask, just… be there.

Eggs hatch when they're ready, and not a moment sooner.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Oh, and by the way… She got her wish in the end. I wear skirts now.

[mochinek0]

Beautiful Boy

Marinette sank into the hospital bed, as the nurses checked over her newborn son.

"You did so well, M'Lady." Adrien whispered in her ear, "Our son is finally here."

Marinette smiled as the nurse brought their son over to her. She looked down and could see the little tufts of blonde hair. When he blinked, she could see blue eyes. From the corner of her eye, she saw the nurses leave to give them some privacy.

"A mix of us." She spoke.

"The world better watch out." he stated, making his wife giggle.

"He's so cute Adrien." Marinette declared, "What should we name him? I had some ideas, but I want your opinion, too."

"What were your ideas?" he asked.

Marinette blushed, "I sort-of....always liked the names Hugo or Louis."

"Hugo Agreste. Louis Agreste." he spoke, looking down at their son, "What about Naruto Agreste?"

"N-Naruto?" Marinette questioned.

"We-We don't have to!" Adrien immediately backtracked, "I liked your names, too!"

Marinette looked down at their son.

"Naruto Agreste." she smiled.

'It must mean something in Mandarin.'

"Wait. Really?" Adrien questioned.

"Yes." she replied, "Little Naruto Agreste."

"So, did you guys pick a name?" Alya questioned, over the phone.

Nino shouted, "Yeah, tell us!"

"I gave Adrien the two suggestions I liked, but he wanted a different name. I like it. It sounds nice and I think it's in Mandarin." Mari answered.

"Cool." Nino smiled, "What did he pick?"

"Naruto." the new mother answered.

"Naruto?" the other couple shouted.

"Yes?" Marinette replied, "Is-Is there something wrong with the name? Is it too weird?"

Alya just laughed and walked away. Nino smiled and took his phone out of his pocket.

"You do know you married a weeb, right?" he questioned.

"Don't tell me." Mari sighed, closing her eyes.

"Meet Naruto Uzumaki." Nino chuckled, as Alya continued to die of laughter in the background.

Marinette opened her eyes to see a blonde haired boy with blue eyes, similar to their newborn son.

"I'm gonna kill him." she answered.

Adrien walked back into the hospital room with some food and drinks from the hospital cafeteria. He wasn't expecting to see his wife so upset. She looked scarier than his father ever had.

'Had something happened to their son while he was gone?'

"M-Mari?" Adrien stuttered out.

"You can choose Hugo or Louis for our child's name." Marinette declared.

"What about-" he began.

Marinette turned her phone around and showed him Naruto Uzumaki.

Adrien winced, "Oh." and then smiled, "Middle name?"

"Hugo Naruto Agreste?" Mari questioned.

"Louis Naruto Agreste?" Adrien offered.

Marinette sighed, "Louis Naruto Agreste."

Adrien smiled happily and brought the food closer to Marinette.

"Your father drives me crazy sometimes, but I love him." She spoke, picking up their son.

"And I love you, M'Lady." Adrien replied, kissing her cheek.

"Dork." Marinette giggled.

"Still yours, though." He answered.

"Yes, you are." Marinette smiled, "Adrien?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You are not doing that ever again and if I find out that you went behind my back, I'm changing my name back to Dupain-Cheng." she growled out.

Adrien gulped and quickly nodded. Marinette smiled sweetly up at him.

"Good. That includes video game characters." Marinette continued.

"Aw, come on!" the new father whined, "Imagine having a girl named Zelda!"

"Adrien." she spoke.

"Or we can name it Link, if it's a boy again." he continued.

"Adrien." the new mother called.

"But they'll be so cute!" Adrien defended himself, "Emma Zelda Agreste! Hugo Link Agreste!"

"Adrien!" Marinette shouted.

He pouted, "It's unique."

"Aren't all of those for blonde children?" she questioned.

"Maybe." he answered with a smile.

"What if they get my hair or are brunette like Papa?" Mari asked.

"I'll come up with names for those, too!" Adrien exclaimed, "Oh, Maybe Hinata or Neji. There's Rikka, Rimuru, Levy, Asuna, Tomoya, Yui, Haruhi, Kaname, Tai, Lucina, Sakura, -"

Marinette looked down at her son in her arms and smiled.

'Why do I feel your father is going to be more of a handful than you?'

TAG LIST: @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus

[chaewandz]

ROSE — chapter 11: mc sakura ftw!

synopsis: after she turns 18, y/n’s parents arrange a competition for young suitors in her town to compete for her love, a family tradition that brought about her parents’ marriage. twelve men are selected, but who will win her heart?

“this round was a terrible idea.” y/n whispered, her hand placed fearfully on her forehead.

“relax! it’ll be funny!!” Sakura said elbowing y/n and giggling.

“no it’s going to give me the ick.” y/n declared, making the other girls burst into laughter.

“you know y/n… if all else fails I’m still single!” joonie announced, earning a jab to the side from y/n.

“oh I don’t know if I can watch.” y/n whispered, peeking between her fingers as the first group of suitors began posing.

“oh please don’t make us suffer alone!” isa interjected, prying y/n’s hands away from her eyes.

the purple team composed of heeseung, sunghoon, jay, jungwon, hueningkai, and soobin went first.

as the 6 suitors stood in dramatic poses, jungwon signaled towards a guard, cueing him to play the music.

the music in question, was super shy by new jeans. upon hearing the first note, the girls all gasped.

“oh god this is…” youngeun whispered, laughing.

the five girls sat there with their jaws dropped, giggling as the boys started dancing.

“I’m super shy, super shy, but wait a minute while I make you mine, make you mine, y/n ur so cool!” heeseung sang, pointing to her and clutching his heart.

“man I forgot he could sing…is there anything this man doesn’t do?” isa whispered, defeated and shocked.

“I’m not really sure how to react to this.” y/n whispered, lips pressed into a thin line as the boys all shot her finger hearts.

“come on y/n! aren’t you swooning? aren’t they seducing you!!!” sakura teased.

“oh shut up.” y/n laughed, shifting her focus back to the performance.

the suitors had stopped singing along to the music and instead all broke into their own dramatic monologue.

“ah princess. you are so pretty!” jungwon yelled, dancing around the field.

“this has to be some form of medieval torture.” y/n mumbled, making the girls giggle.

“Ah but it’s so cute!!” isa leaned forward grinning.

“princess, your smile lights up the room!” soobin yelled, making a heart with his hands three different ways, earning an embarrassed chuckle from the princess.

after each suitor had their mini declaration of love they sang the chorus of super shy again, except this time they freestyle danced all over the field in circles, making the girls fall over laughing.

once they finished, Sakura stood up and clapped.

“well purple team, you definitely weren’t shy about your admiration for our princess! we will take that into consideration when judging. thank you for such a wonderful performance! now please welcome the blue team composed of jake, sunoo, niki, beomgyu, yeonjun, and taehyun!!” sakura cheered into her mic and then sat back down with the girls.

“do we think it will get worse from here?” joonie whispered, giggling.

“are we sure that’s possible?” youngeun replied, trying to mask her giggles.

“the sooner you two shut up the sooner it ends!” isa giggled, glaring at the two.

as the five girls quieted down, the second team signaled for the guards to click play on the speaker, twice’s “what is love?” bursting through the speakers.

“NO WAY??” sakura cackled.

“oh this is deranged.” y/n snorted.

“BUT I LOVE THIS SONG!!” joonie whined.

extremely excited for the performance, the girls leaned forward in their seats and eagerly watched the boys.

instead of singing “TWICE!” as the intro of the song usually sings, the boys all shouted y/n’s name instead, earning laughter from all girls.

“this is like your favorite song ever???” joonie announced, shocked.

“OH THATS RIGHT!!” isa agreed, now enjoying the performance even more.

“It won’t be for much longer…” y/n whispered, causing the girls to burst into laughter.

the suitors began to strike different “cute” poses around the grass, even choosing to make hearts with each other. then they all ran around in a circle and instead of singing the beginning verses of the song, each started talking about y/n similarly to how the first team did.

“our princess y/n, have I mentioned you look stunning today? you’re making my cheeks blush as pink as your outfit!” sunoo declared, making the girls gasp.

“princess, I need sunglasses to shield myself from the brightness of your smile! truly mesmerizing!” beomgyu, stated, pretending to be blinded by the sight of y/n.

“THAT WAS HORRENDOUS-“ sakura said through laughter.

“it was so silly it’s cute!” youngeun defended.

four declarations of love later, the chorus of the song arrived and all six suitors began dancing to the song’s chorus in a heart formation with niki at the center. this was because the other suitors had voted him “best center” upon seeing his dance moves during practice.

the girls sang along, isa and joonie even stood up and began dancing along with them, mainly to make y/n laugh.

as cringey as y/n thought the challenge was, she couldn’t hide the bright smile painted across her face as she watched the suitors dance. it was comical and also unironically good at some points.

once the song finished the boys all ran together and formed a heart with their arms, all doing their best out-of-breath ending fairy pose.

the princess couldn’t help but stand up and clap for the boys for dancing to her favorite song so elegantly and humorously.

“oh my goodness… blue team you gave us the answer to the grand question ‘what is love?’. your stage presence did not go unnoticed. now if you will excuse us, we must now fulfill our duty as judges and decide on a winning team!” sakura gleefully announced into her microphone. “reminder: the current score is 1-0, blue team, BUT! this round is worth double points meaning it’s anybody’s game. once again, the winning team will be invited to a special party tonight at the castle with our lovely princess while the losing team will have to return to their rooms alone. good luck!”

sakura handed her mic off to one of the guards on the stage and the girls all stood up and made their way to the benches behind the stage to discuss.

“I feel like we have a clear winner here…” isa confidently stated.

“I agree!” joonie announced, smirking at isa.

“y/n, what do you think?” sakura asked.

“i want to hear your guys’ thoughts first!!” y/n laughed.

“okay on three we will all say what team we think deserves to win…” youngeun suggested, earning nods from the rest of the girls.

“three… two… one… BLUE TEAM!”

“BLUE TEAM!”

“PURPLE TEAM!”

“PURPLE TEAM!”

the girls all yelled at the same time creating a jumble of words.

“wow we really never agree on anything.” joonie giggled.

“blue team IS the obvious winner!!!” isa replied, defensively.

“you’re only saying that because you love twice!!!” youngeun argued.

“who doesn’t??” sakura countered.

y/n couldn’t help but laugh.

“I was the only one who didn’t vote!!” she revealed through laughs.

“come on y/n!!! who in your heart deserves to win!!” isa encouraged.

“I mean both teams picked very good songs…” y/n thought.

“yes but who performed their song the best?” joonie interjected.

“I guess… if i HAD to choose..”

“which you do.” sakura laughed.

“be quiet!!!! SINCE I have to choose… the better team was… blue!” y/n declared.

isa and sakura cheered, while youngeun and joonie jokingly shook their heads.

“alright well we better go tell them!” sakura grinned.

the five girls stood up and made their way back to the stage, y/n in front of course. sakura once again picked up her microphone and cleared her throat.

while the girls were judging the boys began playing around and talking to the opposite team, complimenting and also teasing each other. now that the princess had returned they all quieted down and pretended as if they weren’t just running around and giggling with each other.

y/n caught a glimmer of mischief in heeseung’s eyes and sent him a small smirk, used to his antics. he of course returned a very shameless smile.

“hello again everyone!” sakura began. “now after a heated discussion over which team had the best performance… we have come to a consensus. it was a close call! the losing team only lost by ONE person’s vote!!” sakura turned and teasingly stared directly at y/n. “with that being said… DRUMROLL PLEASE! the winning team is…”

the suitors were all quite nervous and excited. some were confident in the fact that they won and others were a little nervous, not wanting to lose time with the princess. as the drumroll intensely increased, sakura raised her hand as a signal for it to stop.

“congratulations to the BLUE TEAM!” sakura yelled, grinning from ear to ear.

those in blue jerseys immediately began cheering and high fiving each other while the purple team looked slightly disappointed but also understanding.

“good job to both teams, you worked incredibly hard and your efforts have not gone unnoticed! do not fret purple team, there are many fun activities planned for tomorrow! but as for tonight… those on the blue team better get a move on if they want to be ready for this party! dismissed!” sakura announced, almost too gleefully.

as the suitors made their way off the field and into the castle followed by guards, the girls turned to each other smiling.

“you enjoy being an MC way too much for my liking…” y/n giggled.

“she thought she was dumbledore during the sorting hat ceremony…” isa teased.

“its called CHARISMA!” sakura defended herself, earning more laughter.

“cmon y/nnie, we need to get ready for the party!” joonie winked, linking arms with y/n, the other girls doing the same.

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author’s note: hey guys… I KNOW ITS BEEN A WHILE!!! my bad yawl. please I’m sorry I’m terrible at updating bye. I just rlly wanted to post this so here <3 love ya !! Also since I haven’t updated in FOREVER my taglist has gotten saur messy bro idek what happened … plz my apologies if ur not there and ur meant to be just comment and lmk if u wanna be readded 😭

taglist: (open!!) @dahyvnz @emoworu @strwberrydinosaur @flwrsforriki @deafeningballoonnacho @faiirybread @captivq @bigtoewinwin @yeletbz @palajae @sd211 @shinsou-rii @nomurahayami @viagumi @sfthyuka @byvrn @hyunsllvr @sickandtired129 @2kool4yu @geniejunn

send an ask to be added :)

synopsis: after she turns 18, y/n’s parents arrange a competition for young suitors in her town to compete for her love, a family tradition that brought about her parents’ marriage. twelve men are selected, but who will win her heart?

[team7-headquarter]

It would've been really, really funny if Shippuden had a trans character happen without mentioning anything, you're so right about that!

Which character do you think would be the best choice? Mine would've been….. Kabuto, maybe? He just has the range for it I think and saying Orochimaru feels too cheaty lol! Like, why can't we have another villainous female scientist like Karin y'know? I feel if that did happen we'd get to see more than one interaction between the two, at the very least.

Second choice would be Itachi, because like Kabuto, he'd be a prime candidate for World's Worst Eldest Daughter Syndrome™.

Honestly any option can be super funny, imagine you reach the time skip and everything is the same with Rock Lee except she got eyelashes and she/her pronouns and that's like all that changes. Even the crush on Sakura stays the same.

Gai would be the most supportive adoptive dad of a trans kid like you know he'd give entire speeches about Rock Lee blooming or The Power of Youth.

I agree with Kabuto and Itachi, because it would be hilarious yet so angsty. It'd add extra flavor to Itachi's many issues as an Uchiha heir and it'd be totally expected from a disciple of Orochimaru, in Kabuto's case.

If we're talking about canon, then the best option is probably Naruto. He was so fond of his sexy jutsu, I think making him more visibly genderfluid would have been amazing. Totally horrendous in the sense that it implies Naruto figured out his gender identity while traveling with pervert Jiraiya but well, it makes sense if he changed changed on his journey.

Ino would have been cool too. Maybe he never had a crush on Sasuke, maybe it was all gender envy. It'd have been cool to explore because then Shikamaru would have to face the fact boys can act crazy too, it'd totally erase the "boys like girls better when they are skinny" argument and it'd give an extra twist to Ino's rivalry with Sakura. I'd prefer Ino's design to go back to the short hair era, so it wouldn't look too much like Deidara.

Tsunade would be interesting, but only if they revealed in Shippuden she was born a boy and that's why she constantly uses chakra to change her appearance. Listen, she's figuring out a way for top surgery and implants, medical ninjutsu is not quite there but she will find a way, okay?

Idk, I think there's a million ways to play it out with almost any character... I kinda can't decide on a "best option" dkjekdjfjfnfn

[depressedhatakekakashi]

7/9/10/12/19/20/23

Hit me :3

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Itachi and Minato.

Just… *sigh* i’m so sick of ‘they’re perfect and can beat everyone’

worst part of canon

Sasuke’s story because he never gets some actual closure. I would have loved it if they had just given him something instead of the Massacure just being dropped cuz ‘itachi asked Naruto to keep it a secret’

worst part of fanon

The part of Fanon that wants to paint Kakashi as this big perv who’s shamed by everyone around him as being this big ol perv with no idea how to act normal.

Oh, also the part of Fanon that make’s Sakura perfect at everything and better than everyone else. I can and will fight someone, cut it out. Or at least don’t try to force it down other people’s throats as if it’s canon. I like my character’s imperfect and capable of getting their ass’ beat once in a while

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Ohhh this is hard cuz i am kind of unsure? Shizune. She’s not a hated character but she’s definitely not as loved as i think she should be.

Girl lead the entire medical division during the war and helped TWO hokage’s during their reigns. Plus she’s super close to Sakura and Sarada, having helped Sakura with raising Sarada while Sasuke was away.

She’s basically part of the family. The cool auntie.

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Hmmmm Yukio/Danzo? 😂😂😂 but i did that to myself gdi.

Ok, a little horrified i like Tobirama/Izuna because i don’t really like Tobirama but the thought of having them be Sakumo’s grandparents and Kakashi having no connection to the sharingan even though he’s related to an Uchiha is hilarious.

part of canon you found tedious or boring

It’s anime only but that whole thing with Kakashi training Kiba. Kakashi had more important things to do gdi.

But if that doesn’t count i’ll go with the dumb mission bee and Naruto got sent on. There had to be a better idea then sending them to fuck around determining animal’s gender’s. Also never needed naruto saying ‘if its born a boy it’s a boy’ or whatever it was he said that had been being trans ally #1. I prefer Naruto as trans and badass

ship you've unwillingly come around to

Yamagai might be the closest i have to an answer to this question. Usually if i don’t like a ship i stay not liking it

Another good option for this answer might be Kakashi/Obito 😭😭😭😂😂😂

[righteousness-and-tea]

Heya! Can I have the thh girls with a male s/o who is a juvenile delinquent? Like he'll break the school rules constantly and get into fights?

Of course, anon! This is my first time writing a whole slew of characters from the cast (I included the ones that aren't on my list as well!), so I hope it's enjoyable and in character. Before we start, I'd like to add that I've omitted Chihiro because I know people interpret this character's gender differently-- but if you'd like I will add Fujisaki as well! Just let me know. Please have a wonderful day :)

-Mod Celeste

THH Girls with an Ultimate Delinquent male! s/o:

Sayaka:

-She worries for you, mostly because she doesn't want you to get hurt. You're on her mind constantly.

-However, she's one of those girls who secretly enjoys when a boy fights for her (cue "Fight for Me" from Heathers the Musical).

-If you're in a bad mood, she'll sing to you! She knows all your favorite songs and knows you'll join in eventually.

Kyoko:

-She is the greatest backup you'd ever have. In trouble with the principal? She'll defend you. Fights with rivals? She will scare them with her intellect before you even begin.

-Kyoko doesn't necessarily condone you getting into trouble, but will at least show you how to do it without being caught.

-She actually helps you with cuts and bruises, putting bandages on you and the like. You've never seen such a caring expression on her before.

Celeste:

-She wouldn't ever say it to her face, but she thinks you're incredible. A talent like yours is full of action and drama, and she couldn't be happier to be a part of it.

-The two of you make quite the intimidating couple. If you cross one, you will definitely face the other's wrath.

-Sometimes she plays an active part in your shenanigans. "Let's make a bet, shall we?" She'll say, with a devious yet haughty grin.

Hina:

-Like Sayaka, she worries about you frequently. The only difference is she'll try to get herself involved to prevent you getting hurt!

-She does admire your spirit, though. Your determination is something she'd love to learn herself.

-Hina, when she knows you're feeling blue about something, will make dozens of donuts for you and bring them over to share. It does the trick every time, just like she says.

Sakura:

-Sakura does not condone needless violence or chaos. However, she understands that you usually have good intentions about it, so she tries to understand-- sometimes she'll even have your back in a tough situation!

-This is another true power couple. When each person will do anything to protect the other, it's a sight to behold.

-She will spar with you on occasion, and always has ice packs and cold drinks when you need them.

Junko (non-despair):

-Honestly, she thinks it's cool that you break rules and cause trouble. She'll help you sometimes, if she thinks it'll be fun.

-She has a way of persuading people, so she is ready to get you out of trouble. Though, she'll joke "Jeez, where would you be without me?" Before giving her trademark smile.

-Junko may like to cause trouble but she also wants you to be okay. As her partner in crime, you're incredibly important to her!

Mukuro:

-Unlike her sister, she doesn't like to involve herself in other people's problems. Though, she has a soft spot for you.

-Every once in a while, she'll suggest her tips on how to win a fight. She's a bit of a scary girlfriend, really.

-She's the protective type, but also loves to feel protected herself! It's why she loves being with you.

Toko:

-Initially she's a bit skittish around you, but she soon realizes that you're like all those bad-boy love interests she's read (and wrote) about.

-She loves that you're a rebel, and will talk you up to all of her classmates. You're the only thing she brags about!

-Toko will absolutely find inspiration from you. Her next novel features a rough around the edges but sweet on the inside mobster who falls for a quiet, unassuming journalist. How subtle, Toko.

[dawnjaco22]

Just binged pacific rim: the black and I got a few comments to get off my chest this fine morning.

*SPOILER WARNING *

I don't hate it but I definitely don't love it. My only favorite character is the sassy AI and somehow boy who literally has zero lines. I also like the little spider dude cause he's kind of adorable in his little hoodie. Other than that and the mystery of the plot to keep me entertained and the semi good animation is good.

BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS STRAIGHT SHIT. Like the main characters pissed me off the entire time. Except for mai because I shared her sympathy for being pissed at the kids dumbass decisions and caring for their idiots butts. But the two main honchos can literally kick rocks like they could die and I would probably enjoy the show more. Let me explain my annoyance tho in detail.

First Haley this girl from the jump made me want to drop kick her. Like this is suppose to represent actual siblings. I don't care how much I love my sister I'm gonna tell her when something is dumb and slap her when she losing her marbles. This girl MURDERED AN ENTIRE VILLAGE?! Cause she was fucking bored and nosy. Like did she completely forget the entire reason they are hiding in the first place?! I mean I'll give the writers a pass because someone gotta be stupid to get the plot to roll. BUT NOT THIS STUPID?! In more than one spot she has almost gotten her brother killed by being just dumb. From banging a glass tube while surrounded by monsters to literally putting everyone in jeopardy by growing attached to boy beyond reason. I can't blame her tho I would've saved the kid and gotten attached too but like she like Sakura from Naruto just in convincing everyone.

Like did he come in clutch later yes he did revealing some big secrets. My thing is tho majority of the situations were her fault Or her brothers by sharing one braincell at a time. For example, when the sisters came for them instead of doing a convoy stand off or thinking of strategies she whined... THE.ENTIRE.TIME! Like girl you are the main one that wants this dude so bad at least be convincing cause everyone around you has lost sympathy for your crocodile tears. There were some parts where she was cool but majority I wanted to smack her.

Now we on to her brother which is a whole other set of can of worms. He was likable in how focused he was on the priority. But this dude is a simp for his sisters to the point it messes up his character. She would cry and my dude would suffer agreeing even if he was right. He would be more likable if he disconnected from his sister. Not to the point that he like mean but he gotta put his foot down. He eventually did just not in a smart way.

[narhinafan]

Hinata is a damsel in distress. Can't even remove spider web from her face, tripped over a rock chasing after Naruto kun, can't control chakra on her feet in the last, couldn't destroy tenseigan even tho she has op power Hamura's chakra, never helped Naruto in any way, went up to fight pain just to confess her romantic feelings when Naruto literally told not to interfer, wanted to help Naruto cheating in chunin exam at the risk of disqualifying her own team, send her 12 yo old son to fight a god

It's not that she can't, but that Naruto did it for her for the spider web.

Also how many times did Sakura get hit from a rock and that was without being tired from fighting in a way none stop for over a day. Sakura got knocked out by Kabuto crashing into her of all things, like what kind of ninja can't even dodge or brace themselves from somthing that wasn't even a attack and knocked out.

You do realise Toneri sealed Hinata's chakra at point in the movie and not that she can't wall walk right. Also without her infiltrating the castle they would have never located the tenseigan in the first place and without her chakra destroying it is impossible.

Naruto would be dead if not for Hinata and in the manga Hinata is the only character to land hits on Pain and push him back when his jutsu wasn't on cool down.

So you wanted Hinata to abandon Naruto when he was about to face certain death, really you hate Hinata so much you would rather the MC dies and the bad guys win just so she doesn't get the spotlight and save the day.

Did you not pay attention to the Chunin exams rules, You only have two points deducted off your total score if you are caught cheating and only get disqualified if a person is caught five times. Hinata has the Byakugan and the plant was right in front of them she can get the right answers without getting caught while also checking Kiba and Shino's. So Hinata would have a perfect score and makes sure her teammates score are with in passing range. Even if she gets caught passing the answers to Naruto that only counts as getting caught once meaning both teams wouldn't get disqualified and would have the above average score needed to move on to the next test. Please think before you give BS like you complaint is invalid as neither team was at risk of being disqualified if they cheated.

It's ironic that you complain about Hinata the only character who raised some issue with Boruto going, but completely ignore that it was Sasuke's idea to take Boruto and him and the five kage were all right sending a 12 year old boy to fight a god. At least Hinata did have qualms about it and did hesitate to let him ago unlike everyone else.

[moonchild-things]

Chapter Thirty-One: Let’s Go To Tokyo!!

Summary: Shōyō Hinata loves volleyball! There is no doubt that all he really thinks about is volleyball. His sister, however, isn’t the same way. Sakura is ready to start her first year of high school at Karasuno with her twin brother and doesn’t really want to do anything, unlike Shōyō. Though she can’t help it when she gets dragged into the antics of the volleyball club.

Word Count: 3438 

Blog Masterlist | Red Herring Masterlist | Last Chapter | Next Chapter

---

THE DEFEAT AGAINST SEIJOH WAS STILL FRESH in Karasuno’s mind. While it was disheartening, it was also inspiring. The team was fired up to face them once again and beat them! So they were starting their practice with just a bit more fire under their feet. They still had another chance to win against Oikawa and his team. That meant there was plenty of practicing to do until then.

Currently, they were having a short game between each other. Endo stood off to the side as he watched his teammates go through a practice game with each other. He had already played a short game while playing against Nishinoya, which was certainly tiring. That boy could never let a ball hit the ground if he could help it. It made things frustrating for Endo, which is why he was more than happy to have a short break besides Kiyoko.

“So who do you think it would look best on, hmm?” 

Kiyoko pursed her lips, “Suga.”

Endo stared intently at the gray-haired setter and tilted his head back and forth in consideration. “I suppose,” he clicked his tongue, “though my vote would be for Daichi. I really think blue is his color.” The two were discussing the newest designer outfit that he had just gotten the day before. It was quite a pretty and elegant suit that was a nice navy blue. Though it  just reminded Endo of what it was for. After all, his father had gifted it to him in order to wear it to his first official meeting when he joined the company under his apprenticeship. Oh, how Endo was so ecstatic with that.

The two pictured Daichi in the suit and considered it. Daichi definitely would look good in a suit, both of them could agree on that. Or maybe even a uniform, who knows? Oh, they can dream. Shaking out of their thoughts, Kiyoko continued to scribble some notes down as they observed the others.

All throughout the practice, everyone was challenging each other. They were blocking, passing, spiking, and diving to their best ability, and it seemed like everytime they missed or succeeded they were more than ready to do better the next time.

The last few points were played, the white team was the one who ended up winning. 

“All right.” Ukai called now with the game being over, “That’s it for today.”

“Let us play one more set, please!” Shōyō shouted as he ran up to Ukai.

The coach blinked, “Huh?”

“Please!”

“Guys, playing until you drop isn’t the answer. Captain, you need to tell these guys-” He turned to Daichi, only to see that all of the other boys had the same expression(sans Tsukishima). It appeared that they weren’t going to be stopping just yet. “You guys…”

So they played one more set, to all of their agreement. By the end of that one, the boys were tired. It was one thing to have the motivation to keep playing to get better, but exhaustion was going to catch up eventually. The only ones who seemed to defy that were the troublesome duo. 

“Kageyama!” Even while letting out small puffs of breath in fatigue, Shōyō turned to the setter, “You can still go, right? Give me some tosses!”

Of course, Kageyama was up for it, “Right.” 

Tanaka sighed as the two raced over to the net to try some more, “You guys are still gonna practice?”

“Hey!” Daichi said, “We’ve still got to clean up, so that’s enough for today!”

The first-years sighed, “Right…”

So they all set up to do their stretches and clean up the gym. They put the balls away, took down the net, and paired up to do some cooling down. Endo had paired up with Suga and started stretching together.

“Ow, ow!” Asahi whined as the libero pushed down just a little too forcefully on his back. Sure, he needed to stretch, but didn’t need to be turned into a pretzel, “Hey, Nishinoya! Ow!”

“Hey,” Suga said as Endo did the same for him, “make sure you cool down properly.”

“Looks more like Noya’s trying to snap Asahi in half,” Endo chuckled at the distressed expression on the ace’s face. 

The door suddenly slid open loudly as their club advisor came barreling through. He accidentally flopped over onto the floor, concerning everyone who was surprised by the loud entrance.

Everyone came rushing over to see what the fuss was about. “Sensei?”

“Take-chan?” Tanaka asked in concern.

Ukai also asked, “You okay?”

“W-We’re going, right?” Takeda asked, disregarding their worry.

“Where?” Shōyō blinked.

Kagayama stared at him with wide eyes, “Your nose is bleeding!”

Adjusting his glasses over his bloody nose, Takeda exclaimed, “Tokyo!” That caused everyone to stare in shock. 

“Tokyo?” Shōyō asked, which earned a nod in confirmation, “Tokyo? You mean…” he blinked before shouting, “Nekoma?!” 

In Tokyo, Kenma sneezed. Yamamoto shouted in disgust, “Gross!”

“Tissue!” Yaku exclaimed, already having them ready for Kenma to use. Ever the team mom.

Kagayama asked, “A practice match?”

“Yeah! But it won’t just be Nekoma this time.” Takeda started to explain, “The Fukurodani Academy Group. It’s a group of schools from the Kanto region that includes Nekoma. Apparently, they hold practice matches all the time. This time, because of Coach Nekomata, Karasuno will also be able to participate in their practice matches.” All of the boys oohed and awed at that. They couldn’t imagine meeting so many powerful schools. Playing with them would definitely prepare them for the teams they would face going forward in their tournaments.

Ukai stepped in to explain even further, “Groups like that are created through relationships built up over years, so it’s not easy to get in without connections. We’ve got to make sure to thank Coach Nekomata. And Sensei, too, who I’m sure kept persistently asking him.”

“No, I didn’t, really…” Takeda waved his arms around, “Your name helped a lot, Coach Ukai.”

“Thank you,” the boys all bowed at their teacher in thanks.

Their teacher smiled, “Over the years, we’ve lost our connections with other schools in the prefecture that we were once close with. There are many schools where the coaches that were once close to the former Coach Ukai are now gone. We shouldn’t miss this chance!”

Everyone cheered at that, “Yeah!”

Fire started to burn around Kageyama as he thought back to the cat's setter, “I’m going to be able to see that set up in person again.”

Elsewhere, Kenma shivered, unknowingly being mentioned by Kageyama, “Maybe I caught a cold… I’m getting chills.”

“Hey!” Yamamoto shouted, “We’re right before a match!”

Nishinoya jumped in the conversation, just as fiery as usual, “This time, I’m going to protect us ‘til we win!”

“Yeah…” Yaku shivered alongside his setter, “It might actually be a little cold today.”

Yamamoto turned to his upperclassmen in worry, “You, too, Yaku-san?!” There had to be something going around if both of them were saying that!

Tanaka joined in on the shouting, “We’re gonna take down that City Boy Alliance!”

“City Boy…” Tsukishima tried to keep his snickers to himself.

Yamaguchi was doing the same, “...Alliance?”

“I’m feeling hot!” Yamamoto shouted, seemingly tearing his uniform off, “I’m burning up!”

“Yamamoto, shut up,” Kuroo said boredly.

From his spot, Shōyō was just about bursting with energy at this news. He pumped his fists, “This time, I’m going to break through for sure!”

“Um, the only thing is, their prelims for the Inter-High start this weekend, so it won’t be right away.” Takeda pointed out, “Also, at this point, we’ve only received the invitation. There are some agreements we have to work out, but I’ll tell you all about the details another time. But it seems that all of you are…”

“Of course!” Daichi nodded.

All the boys jumped up happily and chorused, “We’ll go!”

“I’ve got a staff meeting,” Takeda said while looking down at his watch, “so I’ve got to get going. Ukai-kun, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Ukai nodded, “Sure.”

“Thank you!” They all called out as Takeda took his leave.

“It’s going to get busy.” Asahi chuckled lightly. He already knew that everyone was going to put in even more work just so they could compete with the schools at the camp.

Daichi grunted, “Yeah.”

“You’ll be busy, too, Shimizu.” Suga commented and looked at their manager, “This’ll be your first long trip with us.”

Endo clicked his tongue, “don’t worry, I’ll keep those pesky guys away from you, Kiyoko.” Ah, what a gentleman.

“Don’t say something like that, you’ll start sounding like Nishinoya and Tanaka!” Daichi laughed.

Endo stuck out his tongue, “I’m not a perv like them.”

Kiyoko just smiled cutely, “I’ll do my best, too.” The boys just stared at her and her adorable nature. Obviously quite taken with her at that moment.

“Come on!” Ukai called, breaking them out of their trance, “Hurry and clean up, then go home!”

“Right!” They all called out before doing just that.

---

Sakura walked through the halls of the first-year classrooms. Everyone was buzzing around, going to eat lunch with their friends or get some studying done in their free time. She was heading to find her brother with her lunch held in hand. Apparently, they mixed up their bento boxes that morning. She would much rather have the lunch she packed herself that morning, instead of whatever Shōyō had thrown together. He always packed some of the strangest things for his lunches, and she didn’t want to imagine what he had for himself today.

As she headed down the hall, there were whispers and murmurs all around her as she headed closer to Shōyō’s classroom. Something must be going on, she thought to herself. She got closer and found that it was Kiyoko who was the center of attention. The goddess of a student was standing in front of a tomato red Shōyō. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the scene since she never would have thought of Kiyoko coming down to this part of the school. Wonder what she’s doing here, Sakura thought.

As she approached, Sakura could hear the angelic third-year ask her brother, “Do you know any first-years who aren’t in a club?”

Sakura came up to her star-struck brother and her senpai, “You’re looking for a new manager?” Shōyō just about jumped at his sister's voice, still a bit in awe of Kiyoko’s appearance at his classroom. Though that changed when he saw that she had his lunch in her hands.

He seemingly brightened at the sight of his packed lunch. “Imouto, ah, thanks,” He said as he took his lunch from her, “I have yours here!” He went into his classroom and went to grab hers as well.

The older girl nodded her head, “Yes, after this year, I want to make sure that there’s a manager to take my place."

That was understandable, Sakura was well aware that the team would not be managed correctly they had the possibility of falling apart. Especially with the likes of the troublesome duo. Not to say they couldn’t take care of themselves but… they just needed quite a bit of help. She pursed her lips while standing in front of Kiyoko, "Hmm, have you found anyone?"

"No, so far everyone I've asked already has their own commitments to other clubs." That was a bummer. Time was running out on finding a successor for the position.

Sakura pursed her lips in thought. Did she know anyone that might take up the offer? Her blonde haired friend then popped into her head. She had been talking about trying to find a club to fit in, after all… "I may know someone who may be a good candidate."

"Really?” Kiyoko brightened at that, “Do you mind introducing us after school?"

She nodded, "Sure. I'll bring her to your classroom sometime."

"Thank you, Sakura.” Kiyoko bowed towards her, “I appreciate this."

Growing hot at all the attention that the action was garnering, Sakura scratched her cheek in embarrassment, "No need to bow, really senpai. It's fine, besides it's not like I'm saying she's going to agree. All I'm saying is that she's been looking to join a club, and being manager might interest her."

Kiyoko smiled, a flowery aura surrounding her, "Still thank you."

More than red-faced at her senpai, Sakura muttered, "Yea, yea."

“Here, Saku!” Shōyō came bounding back out with his sister’s bento in his hands. “I might have eaten a bit of your rice, but everything else is in there.” He smiled widely, as if proud of himself for not eating her entire lunch.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, “uh huh, I’ll be taking your rice as compensation.” 

---

Changing into his workout clothes, Endo listened to the boys as they talked about the magazine that he had brought in. As soon as he caught a glimpse of who was mentioned in it, he knew he had to show them all. Not only would it be interesting to read what it said, but it would no doubt be funny to see the team's reactions.

Tanaka shouted out at the sight of the arrogant photo presented to him. “Oikawa’s featured in Monthly Volleyball, and it even has his picture.” It just wasn’t fair!

Endo chuckled, “I know, right? Honestly, it isn’t even that good of a picture,” he nudged Shōyō’s shoulder, “paparazzi-chan could definitely take better pictures than that, doncha think!”

Shōyō nodded his head rapidly, “yea, she definitely could!”

“Well, he’s good enough to play in a national league.” Suga said from over Tanaka’s shoulder, “So, what does it say?” 

“Um…” Tanaka started to read from the magazine, “‘Oikawa’s favorite food is milk bread. His favorite saying is, ‘If you’re going to hit it, hit it until it breaks.’”

“What the hell is that?” Suga

“That’s so… I don’t even know what to say to that,” Endo blinked, not knowing what to think about Oikawa’s favorite saying.

“Who cares?” Nishinoya growled, obviously irked, “That’s completely useless!” 

Tanaka continued on with the article, “Looks like Seijoh wants to take down Shiratorizawa, so most of the third-years that were regulars are still there.” He became fired up while nearly tearing the magazine in half, “Come on and bring it, Seijoh!”

“Bring it!” Shōyō echoed him just as worked up as ever.

Suga then came in and wacked Tanaka away from the magazine, “Hey! You’re gonna rip it! For crying out loud…” He picked it up to a random page and perked up, “Hey, it’s Ushiwaka.” It was a professional photo of Ushijima Wakatoshi, and on his uniform was the Japanese flag. 

Shōyō blinked in surprise, “Japan?” 

“Hey!” Diachi said from the doorway with Asahi behind him, “Get out here already. We’re going for a run.” 

Endo plucked the magazine from Suga and presented it to his captain, “you’ll never guess, Daichi!”

He pointed to the photo of their ultimate obstacle as Suga explained, “Ushiwaka’s in the Youth World.” 

“What?” Daichi and Asahi said in shock.

“Youth World?” Yamaguchi asked.

Tsukishima was the one to explain it to him, “Simply put, he’s representing Japan in the under 19 age group.” 

“Only one high school can represent Miyagi in the spring tournament.” Daichi started to explain to everyone. “For us to go to nationals, we’ll have to defeat Ushiwaka and Oikawa.” Everyone was now determined after hearing news like that. It was no doubt going to be a large obstacle to get over, but they weren’t going to go down without a fight. “All right! Let’s go running!”

The boys all shouted, “Right!”

---

Gathered around at the bottom of quite an infamous hill, the volleyball team were lining up to get through their run for the practice. “Here we are.” Tanaka said as they all stared up at the road they were about to run up. “Karasuno’s famous Heartbreak Hill.”

Endo groaned loudly, “do we have to do this? Can’t we just… not?”

“Don’t be such a baby

“All right! Ten dashes uphill to the halfway mark! Two at a time! Ready…” First to line up was Ennoshita and Tanaka who took off after Daichi clapped. “Ready…” Next was Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, “Tsukishima! Run like you mean it!” He scolded and continued on with counting the boys down. Next was Kinoshita, Narita, and Endo. Though Endo did not look at all pleased with having to do this. He certainly hates running. “Ready…” Daichi clapped and the trio was off, “Ready… Ready…” Eventually it was time for the troublesome duo to go, since they were second to last. Just like everything else between them, Shōyō and Kageyama turned it into a competition between each other. So once they were told to go, they took off like rockets.

At the mid way mark up the mountain, all the boys who had gone first took a breather. Some were more winded than others, but they got the exercise they needed, so that was good. 

“Hey, good job, Tsukishima.” Ennoshita encouraged the first-year as he came up to the group. 

Endo was leaning over his knees, trying to take in large gulps of breath. He sure likes playing volleyball with his friends, but the exercise that comes with it was always so tiring. Why couldn’t he just sit on the sidelines, be a benchwarmer and sit there while looking pretty? Was that so much to ask for? Breaking through his thoughts was the obnoxious yelling of Kageyama and Shōyō as they came running towards them. Then they ran straight past them as well, not even slowing down a little bit. 

“Hey!” Tanaka shouted after them, “Where are you guys going?!” Though they were too invested in their race that they didn’t even see or hear them and just continued on running.

“Pretty sure we can just let them go.” Tsukishima commented bordley, watching the duo run off on their own. What complete idiots.

Endo huffed and puffed through his words, “T-They… really need to… stop making everything… a competition.” He held the stitch in his side as he did his best to stay upright. Though the ground was looking quite inviting, maybe even comfy enough to lay on.

Enoshita patted his upperclassmen on the back, “you okay, Endo?”

“Yeah, just give me a second.” The blond nodded his head and took one large breath,“I… I hate running.”

---

Shōyō and Kageyama were found eventually. It was quite the scene once they got back. The two were chewed out by Daichi for not listening and such, which earned chuckles from the likes of Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Endo. They were taking some delight in seeing the terrified expressions on the two’s faces. Daichi really was scary when it came to things like this. A terrifying father, one that you would never want to anger.

Though Endo found it more than interesting that they talked about meeting the Ushiwaka while on their detour. He certainly wasn’t surprised to know that the pair had challenged the star ace after only a few minutes of talking. Their big mouths were going to get them in trouble so much. Endo wasn’t sure if he loved or hated that about them. Time could only tell which.

After that though, the team was all sitting in a half circle around their coach and teacher. They had a few things to go over about the camp and anything else it seemed. “Ahem…” Takeda cleared his throat. “As for our series of away games in Tokyo, for the time being, it’s planned for next month. Because they are away games, we will need permission for your parents or guardians, so I’ll hand out those forms later. We also have tentative consent from the school, as well. However, as you are aware, you have final exams starting next month. Right?” A few of the boys froze up at that reminder. Looks like they didn’t seem to remember about them, oh no. “So, I think you know what I’m getting at, but if you fail any subjects, supplementary classes will be held that weekend. Which means you won’t be able to go to the away games.”

Endo took in the expressions of Shōyō, Kageyama, Tanaka, and Nishinoya and snickered lightly. “Looks like some of us are going to have some difficulty,” he, not so quietly, whispered to Asahi. He wouldn’t say he’s the best student around, but he could confidently say he could pass all of his classes and tests in order to go to the camp. Did he have faith that these four would be able to? Maybe. Though it will be more than entertaining to watch them try.

---

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[ap-kinda-lit]

For the NejiTen Story Ask Game, 3 and 5, please? 🥹🥹

You got it!

Hanabi exposes Neji

Neji dug his grave when he ate the last sugar cookie, now it was time Hanabi put him down. And she knew exactly how. As soon as she saw Neji and his team take a break from their training session, she snuck in under the guise of wanting to have her lunch with company in the outdoors. From there, she made friendly conversation with Tenten, the key to her revenge against her traitor cousin. "You know, Tenten, I think you're a pretty cool ninja. Really." Hanabi said. "Oh! Thanks!" Tenten said. The older girl stole a glance at Neji, who was sitting close by, indifferent and aloof as usual. "Wish I could hear the same thing from your cousin just once." Tenten grumbled to herself. Hanabi grinned deviously. The girl had unknowingly given her the perfect opening on a silver platter, and Hanabi wasted no time or energy sinking her claws in. "Oh, don't worry about that. He thinks so too. He thinks you're wonderful." Tenten's eyes widened. "W-what?" she stammered, caught off guard. Next to them, Neji froze and the younger girl could see the tips of his ears turning red. Hanabi continued. "I know he does, because I read his diary." That got Neji to turn around. "I do not have a diary. The closest thing I have is a training log." he tried to correct her. Hanabi didn't let that spoil her fun. No, she kept going. "For a training log, you sure talk an awful lot about subjects that aren't related to your training. Like, for instance, Tenten." Both Neji and Tenten were bright red. Hanabai was having the time of her life. Turning back to Tenten, Hanabi said, "Really, he does write quite a bit about you. Like your weapons, what you guys do together, and how much he likes you. He's fairly clear about it." Neji looked like he was living a nightmare and Tenten was on the verge of passing out. "He also thinks you're smart and really nice and very pretty." "Hanabi-sama..." Hanabi thought she saw Neji's eye twitch. "H-he...said t-that...?" Tenten said. Hanabi nodded. "He certainly did. He was very specific about it. He likes your eyes and your smile, he thinks your hair buns are cute, and, if I recall correctly, he at one point admitted that he thinks you have a really nice bod-" "Hanabi-sama, I'm terribly sorry, but we must get back to training. Let me take you back inside." Neji wrenched Hanabi up and practically dragged her inside. The little girl was kicking with sadistic joy whilst Neji came to the re-realization that his vengeful rage should have never been directed at Hinata, but at her evil, nosy, blabber-mouthed little sister.

The birth of Neji & Tenten’s twins

She screamed bloody murder and writhed. He suffered in silence as his hand got crushed, though he was more worried about her and the babies. You probably get what’s going on here. "You're almost there, Tenten! Just a few more pushes!" Sakura cheered her friend/patient on. Tenten only screamed more, and let out several expletives here and there. Still, she panted and pushed and screamed. Panted and pushed and screamed. Pant, push, scream...pant, push, scream...pant, push, screa- Another cry pierced the air, only it wasn't Tenten's. "We've got one!" Shizune announced as Sakura handed her a small, pink form. "It's a girl." Sakura added. Neji almost leapt to see, but Tenten screamed again. "One down, one more to go!" Sakura reminded. Some more panting and pushing and screaming came, but only for a few minutes. In the blink of an eye, there was another cry. "And two! A boy!" Tenten slumped back and Neji held her. They both heaved in relief and joy. Two babies, one son and one daughter. Both theirs. The new parents eagerly waited as Shizune cleaned up the two newborns and swaddled them. After what felt like hours, she returned, smiling, with a blue bundle and a pink bundle in her arms. Neji was given their daughter while Tenten got their son. Tenten, as exhausted as she was, gushed nonstop over her babies, even though they had almost killed her, which they made up for with their adorableness. Neji didn't really say anything. He was rendered speechless looking in awe at the two tiny faces looking at him and his wife, with eyes remarkably like his. A throat clearing broke them out of their revery. Sakura stood with two forms in her hands. "We're finishing up on the birth certficates. All we need are the names. Have you chosen any?" she asked. Neither parent said a word. They looked at each other and back at Sakura in awkward silence. Sakura smiled. "It's okay. We can just write down Baby Boy Hyuga and Baby Girl Hyuga for the time being." After that awkward moment, the visitors came. Hinata fawned over her precious niece and nephew while her father just smiled in approval. Gai-sensei and Lee...reacted as expected. Gai sobbed waterfalls of pure joy as did Lee, who ranted over the twins' cuteness and fresh, unbridled youth and how he looked forward to teaching them as their devoted Uncle Lee. More crying followed, this time from the Hyuga twins and no theirs weren't from joy but more from startlement over the two large, green, noisy strangers handling them. A striking death glare from the children's protective papa made it crystal clear that that visit was over. As soon as their teacher and teammate left, the couple fell asleep with their little ones comfortably settled in their own cots in arms-length of their parents. When the following morning came and went, the name debacle was resolved and the birth certificates were changed. Tao & Hanako Hyuga were born on January 23rd.

[theunrealinsomniac]

If the Naruto and Sakura in your canon met 12-year-old Naruto and Sakura, what would the adult Naruto and Sakura say to their kid selves, and how would 12-year-old Naruto and Sakura react?

(I'm glad to know you appreciate my asks)

Oho ho ho ... this is a bigger haystack then I think you realise.

Now we've established that you mean my version of Canon, so we'll stick to that. But it does depend on which version of my Canon!AUs we're talking.

But that's a whole essay worth of wondering and we're not here for *every* single version of Canon!AU!NaruSaku ... we'd be here all week. I do have something of a multiverse after all lol.

So we'll go with the broadest strokes, the versions of NaruSaku that are the most common. Let's say they're in their late twenties, married and parents to at least Sachi and Ichika. Cool? Cool.

(Btw if you want more info on my NaruSaku kids, cos I don't use Shina etc, I am *more* than happy to wax lyrical about my four Uzumaki brats lol.)

So, for a start? Twelve year old Naruto and Sakura would be goddamn stunned. Naruto wouldn't be able to look away from adult Sakura of any age and Sakura would be struggling to pick her jaw up off the floor with how Naruto looks as an adult.

We are talking instant crushes on the adult versions of the other without even realising it for Sakura. Naruto's already there of course but seeing Sakura as a grown woman? Boy would fall so deep he'd never stand up again.

There would be incessant questions and a whole lot of fawning, to the point it might actually get a bit annoying. And when the younger versions of NaruSaku find out about how they got together, made PG-13 of course, and how they're married and have kids ... Naruto gets all starry eyed and tries to hide just how happy that makes him from Sakura.

Cos Sakura? Sakura's not taking it as well. She does ask the fateful 'what about Sasuke-kun?' question. And Adult!Sakura does see the wince in young Naruto's face and rest assured she apologises to Adult!Naruto later.

Even after marrying him and having children with him, she still feels a lot of guilt for how she treated him when they were kids. Not that Naruto was entitled to her love as he tells her, but we all know how guilty Sakura feels for her treatment of Naruto in the early days.

For his part? Adult!Naruto actually takes the time to hang out with his younger self, distracts him while the two Sakura's have a very long talk. About self-worth and not letting your feelings for someone overshadow their wrongdoing.

We must remember these versions of Naruto and Sakura are parents. They know how to talk to kids. If they're in their late 30s/early 40s? They know how to talk to teenagers.

It does however end in shouting lol. For Naruto.

The two Naruto's are getting boisterous in a fun way, especially when Naruto informs his younger self about how much stronger he's going to get and younger Naruto does start a sparring match that older Naruto plays along with for funsies.

The Sakuras, with an annoyed and fond look at the boys respectively, continue their conversation and Sakura has to restrain herself from flat out telling her younger self things that she desperately wishes she could tell her. Major things yes, but also about men not to waste her time on, friends to hold closer, little silly embarrassments to avoid at work for example.

But she doesn't. Because anything she could tell her younger self could change everything Adult!Sakura has. And she won't risk that for all the saved secondhand embarrassment and heartache in the world.

TL/DR? Adult Naruto and Sakura from my Canon!AUs would parent the shit out of their younger selves and the younger versions of themselves would have massive crushes on the older version of their teammate to the point of deep, deep cringe lol.

Hope this earned a chuckle lol. I certainly laughed.

Ta ra!

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 11

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed, twisting her hands together cutely. 'He's so strong and cool!' She blushed when her teacher slowly glanced at her and pretended to be very focused on getting an even coat of white paint down even though her shoulders were starting to ache from the work.

Across the yard, his eye twitched and Sasuke pretended not to hear his painfully pink and red peer, hefting another load of the wood he was carrying for a fence that had been destroyed by some academy students. Just looking at …that person… was difficult. He couldn't catch her in the corner of his eye without thinking that Valentine's Day had found something too sickeningly sweet and thrown it up. 'This mission is probably Naruto's fault,' he glowered, trying to ignite the other boy with the force of his irritation. No one else ever made as much trouble as Naruto did- he was a bad influence on the younger kids.

This mission was their third D-class, and it was even less satisfying than the others because the client was the village itself- Sasuke didn't mind hard work. He did it all the time in the uphill struggle against the decay of the nearly abandoned Uchiha complex. Work that served a purpose or helped someone was a logical and acceptable contribution to the good of the village. But work caused by fellow nin (or nin in training) was stupid. They shouldn't be creating busy work and wasting other people's time. He could be training instead and getting stronger, now that he actually had someone willing to help with skills beyond the stupid Academy standards.

With a clatter, the boards fell to the dirt in a pile behind where Naruto was hammering away. "Thanks, bastard," he said distractedly.

'He's actually good at that,' the brunette allowed grudgingly. Aloud, he just grunted and turned away. There was something galling about being relegated to hauling heavy things like an animal while his teammate did the skilled labor, but he soothed his ego by remembering that woodworking was hardly a ninja skill anyways and it didn't matter.

His male teammate's surprising usefulness was balanced out by how much Sakura was a complete waste of space. He carefully didn't look at her- giving her attention only seemed to feed her frightening delusions about him. Even now, she was working harder to keep her nails clean than she was at painting what the boys had finished fixing.

The older two teammates were no help. Kakashi was currently leaning against a tree in the yard reading with one hand in his pocket. He looked as though he might be asleep on his feet. Privately, Sasuke despaired that this was his teacher. Aiko, on the other hand, had mumbled something quickly about having paid her D-class dues and vanished. He couldn't entirely blame her, either.

The redhead rejoined the group as they walked back to the tower to report that they had finished the two D-ranks for that day. Naruto eyed her grumpily. "Where were you all day?"

She rolled her eyes. "Naruto, I'm a Chuunin grounded in-village until my team is fit for fieldwork," she reminded in an exasperated tone. "I'm on the gate duty roster now." Aiko made a face and affected a high, simpering voice. "Why hello there, are you lost little girl? Could I speak to someone about approving my papers?"

Sasuke very carefully did not react while the blond buffoon pointed and laughed and Sakura gave a huff of rather smug amusement. He would have been angry beyond belief if someone had condescended to him like that. Kakashi seemed to radiate cheer, however and casually ruffled her hair. "Aa, that's what you get for moving up in the ranks early."

She smacked at his hand, missing completely. The older man was already fifteen feet away from the group, looking back at them. "Come come, do you want to keep the Hokage waiting?"

That bit of hypocrisy made the three genin see red. Aiko was used to it.

In a separate line from her team, Aiko handed over her yellow bordered scroll with a smile and a bow. Maybe if she was lucky, she wouldn't spend two weeks in a row on the Chuunin gate roster. It was only a thirty hour time commitment per week to give nin plenty of time to train, but it was still annoying. The room was a comforting bustle of polite conversation, rustling papers and the gentle trickling sounds coming from the tiny fountain separating the nin and civilian sides of the room.

"Old man, I'm tired of these crappy missions!" Naruto burst.

All other noise but the fountain stopped. She slowly turned her head, hoping against hope that she'd been mistaken and that loud voice had been someone else. 'No such luck.'

The rest of the room was a tableau of unsurprised but displeased expressions. Kakashi slowly put one hand to his forehead. "Thank you, Naruto, for screaming at the Hokage when he walked past the missions room. Thank you so very much," he mumbled lowly. Though he'd pitched it quietly, the blonde should have heard. Aiko did from ten feet away, after all.

The Hokage just looked amused. "Well, Naruto, you're a genin," he began.

"I don't care what my stupid rank is, we're ninja! We should have better missions than weeding and babysitting. And don't try to tell me those are essential skills for infiltration or adulthood. That's a lie. They're just busywork to shut up fat, lazy civilians who don't want to do their own chores."

The thick-set man in silk at the front of the line filing mission requests turned an interesting shade of purple.

Sakura had gone from an embarrassed pink flush to hiding her face in her hands and eventually ended up bright red and shaking with rage. "Naruto," she growled warningly. The damage was done, however. Some of the curious civilians gave her a look. Sasuke, on the other hand, had used the substitution jutsu on a potted plant so that no one realized he came in with Naruto. Aiko spotted him leaning against a wall and pretending to be deaf on the other side of the room.

"Kakashi-kun, do you think your team is ready for a C-rank mission?" The Hokage turned to the Jounin to make his point.

The man shrugged. "Do you have one an idiot can do? Between the three of them…" Aiko was just glad she wasn't included in that count. The leaves of the Sasuke-plant standing next to Naruto gently swayed, as if in agreement.

"Quite right," the Sandaime muttered, raising one eyebrow at the way Naruto was straining to attack his teacher and being prevented by the hand on his head holding him at arm's length. "All right. I think I have a C-rank mission you should be able to do. Come back tomorrow morning to meet your client, be prepared for a long escort mission. Would you send the client from Wave Country a message? I believe I had originally decided that mission would be given to Gai's squad when they get back in a few days, but no matter." He puffed on his pipe while the secretary he'd addressed made a note. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm with what was obviously painful force and dragged him bodily out of the building, where she proceeded to tear him a new asshole for embarrassing his team like that in front of the village leader and a room of their superiors and prospective clients. Aiko sighed, not feeling up to interfering. She'd hoped to avoid this mission. Granted, she didn't actually know that the client was Tazuna, but how many missions to Wave country would there be at any given point in time?

'Just one, apparently', Aiko noted tiredly the next morning. It wasn't luck so much as paranoia that had caused her to pack especially well for this mission, but she took a moment to be thankful nonetheless.

Knowing as she did that this mission would be long- months longer than it was billed as- she'd brought more than usual, and had splurged on two of those fucking expensive storage scrolls for extra weapons and high-calorie prepackaged food (it wasn't a good idea to mix comestibles with anything else). The rest of the space in her pack was filled with four changes of clothes (an indulgence her teacher would laugh at if he saw it at the gate, but he'd be jealous later when he was wearing the same nasty pants for a month), the waxes and oils to care for her weapons, boots and gloves, and the notebook she was currently working on filling. Her notebooks were messy indulgences, filled with half-remembered stories in English, a diary, and doodles of people in pretty clothes.

"I can't believe this is the ninja I hired," the old man mumbled rebelliously. "I paid good money. The short one looks like a total idiot." The two gate guards didn't say anything, but one of them rolled his eyes and stamped the foreigner's papers with an efficiency that got the group moving as quickly as possible. Naruto, on the other hand, turned an ugly red and clenched his fists. He was a second away from opening his mouth when his sister spoke up.

Aiko gave their client an impassive stare, tilting her head slightly to catch his eye. "Looks can be deceptive. For example, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were an unemployed drunk." Sasuke gave one of those funny restrained twitches that seemed to mean he was surprised (or amused, or hell, for all she knew it meant that he was hungry. He was a hard kid to read sometimes).

"Now now, children." Kakashi clamped one hand firmly down on Naruto's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Behave. And don't worry, Tazuna-san. They may be a genin team, but the redhead there is a Chuunin, and I am an elite Jounin of this village. You are in good hands."

Tazuna eyed the group dubiously, but let the matter drop.

Now that she was the one observing genin chomping at the bit to go faster than a civilian's pace on their first trip outside, Aiko had to fight the urge to smile. No wonder Kakashi treated them like a pile of naughty puppies. They had calmed down a bit into a routine characterized by occasional bursts of violence or excitement about seeing a plant or animal that they had learned about in lessons but never seen in real life by the third day when Aiko noticed the glint of sunlight off a puddle in the center of the road.

She winced and exchanged a look with Kakashi. His amused expression indicated that yes, she really did look that ridiculous when she practiced hiding-in-the-water in Konoha. He flashed two subtle handsigns telling her to wait.

The genin hadn't noticed a thing, which was a little embarrassing. She slowly drifted to the front of the group with them, turning only when the Chuunin burst from their hiding spot and viciously took down a log cloaked in genjutsu flesh before turning to attack their client. Sakura had the presence of mind to dash between the nin and Tazuna –good girl—but Naruto seemed frozen when Aiko and Sasuke moved to the attacking Chuunin in a burst of motion. 'Holy hell, he's fast for an academy fresh genin,' she noted. Fast or not, he didn't have the killer instinct to actually take down his opponent on the first blow, so after Aiko ducked under the spiked chain and disemboweled her opponent with a kunai she flicked the resulting mess off her hand and forearm in one sharp movement and moved to intercept the second enemy Chuunin. He made a yowling sound of outrage, quickly cut off by the blow Kakashi delivered to the back of his neck. The surviving nin crumpled at his feet.

"Good job, minions." Kakashi turned a pleasant smile to their client. "Tazuna-san, I believe we need to have a talk about lying to foreign military powers and endangering children. I stayed back to see who the target was- it could have been a case of ninja attacking ninja. But they moved for you after they had eliminated the greatest threat."

Aiko spat up a stream of clear, clean water to rinse her hands while the adults talked (really, it was more 'while Kakashi intimidated the living hell out of that idiot'). Sakura, bless her simple soul, had the presence of mind to make an 'ew' face. The other kids hadn't managed to slip back into routine yet, but they were quietly listening to Tazuna's sob story of an oppressed nation living under the thumb of a despotic moron. Sasuke was almost shaking with excitement and adrenaline. Away from the rest of the group, looking stunned, Naruto was standing silent in a way that was totally unlike his usual behavior. Aiko frowned at how forlorn he looked.

"Are you alright, Scaredy-cat?" Sasuke gave an uncharacteristically sassy smirk along with the jab.

'Well, that'll perk him up.' Aiko shook her head and took a moment to secure their surviving prisoner with wire. They were probably going to kill him, but Kakashi might want to get some information first. 'Demon brother my ass.' She checked his hands again- making sure he couldn't move or make handsigns.

The conversation drew her full attention again once Naruto started talking. "We took this mission! We can't go back on our word."

Sakura looked uncertain, eyes flicking between her companions. Kakashi just hmm'd.

"Is everyone alright with that?"

'Is it really a choice? We could abandon him and back since he lied, and I would if we weren't toting bright-eyed, idealistic Academy baby genin. They'd figure out that we'd be leaving him to die. Harsh lesson for their first mission out, I think.' When they looked at her, she reluctantly agreed. "I'll be fine with going on." Sakura agreed last, a faintly determined smile flickering over her features. For the first time Aiko had noticed, Sasuke looked at the chit with something resembling approval.

"Alright," Kakashi agreed easily. "You three set up camp. Aiko, supervise. I'm going to have a talk with our friend here for information." She didn't envy the 'Demon brother'. Even if he shared information, he wasn't going to be let go.

Even at the civilian pace, there was less than a day of walking left until they crossed the border to Wave. Aiko felt twitchy all day—she knew that Zabuza was out there somewhere. Waiting around for an A-class missing nin to attack a genin team was a terrible, rotten no-good idea, but she didn't have any other options. Well, she could pretend to have a spontaneous vision and turn around, but it would be more likely that her team would think she was crazy. 'This whole mission is stupid. If finishing that bridge is so important, what the hell was this guy doing in an entirely different country in the first place?'

"Tazuna-san. Why were you so far away from Wave country if you're hurrying to finish that bridge?"

The old man's blood shot eyes slid over to her for a second before focusing back on his long-empty flask. "I was meeting with someone who was supposed to help." His expression twisted into something bitter. "Coward changed his mind, and left me high and dry in the middle of Fire country. At that point, it was too risky to try to go home alone, so I asked for an escort. After I made it to Konoha, I realized it would be a good idea to have protection while I actually worked. I'm a very important man, after all!" He puffed out his chest.

"Ah." 'This man is an idiot.' What little she caught of her teacher's carefully blank expression indicated that he might be having similar thoughts. Naruto gave a twitch and frowned slightly, looking around the underbrush. They were still in a lightly wooded area, but that would be ending soon. Shadows were just starting to peer over the horizon, but tonight they were going to walk past nightfall since they were so close to their destination. She might have relaxed if she wasn't so damn sure that they'd be getting attacked at any minute.

That suspicion was confirmed when Naruto flung a brace of kunai into a bush and bounded after them, shouting. Sakura's hand was suddenly boasting four kunai for claws and Sasuke balanced a shuriken between two fingers. Aiko herself slipped into the calm state of mind that characterized her fights.

"Just a bunny rabbit…" Naruto held the poor shaking animal up, cuddling it apologetically.

Sakura flushed. "You idiot! You got us all worked up over a rabbit?" Sasuke slumped in disappointment before giving the rabbit an odd look.

"He's right, someone is here," Aiko supplied. "That isn't a native animal."

As she spoke, an unnatural fog crept around her ankles, pulling gently into swirling eddies. It was a jutsu that she personally was very familiar with… and the size of it indicated that there was a decent source of water nearby. The three genin rustled uncomfortably as their vision was blocked with shocking speed and ease, going on the alert. Kakashi took up point, closer to the group than he usually favored. "Get down!"

Aiko didn't sense the large blade hurtling through the air at all, but she had already reflexively responded to her sensei's commanding tone. Sakura had been the one to drag their client down- she had a decent head on her shoulders, that one.

'Fuck, I'm glad sensei is here. I knew he would do that and I still had no idea it was hurtling towards us.'

She kept her focus on attempting to discern the enemy's position without her eyes. Zabuza must have been using some sort of distortion genjutsu, because pin-pointing his location from his voice was impossible. Instead, she tried to resort to a crude chakra sense- it didn't help in this case. His presence was monstrous- all she could tell was that he was too close, he was far too close and there was no way she could fight him on even terms.

'But ninja don't fight on even terms. Should I get rid of this fog? I could turn it into puddles or even evaporate it, given a moment, but he may react strongly to losing what he sees as a tactical advantage. Is it to my benefit to try to let this play out by formula? And even worse, I can't sense Haku at all, although I'm certain he's lurking about. Is Zabuza obscuring his signature, or is he just that good?'

The gravelly voice that she had never heard before but knew intimately had moved on to using scare tactics on the group—making the genin sharply aware that to him, they were just a cluster of targets. The calm cadence of his voice was assisted by a generous helping of KI. While Kakashi flashed away into the fog and began to clash steel, the three genin bristled with drawn weapons. Aiko merely stood in the deceptively casual 'waiting' stance of her modified taijutsu, ready for an attack on their group. She wasn't disappointed.

With a dark grin, a figure that she knew was probably a water clone was behind Naruto. She knew a clone could kill just as thoroughly as the real deal, so she felt no compunction about spitting a spray of water bullets at the figure. It dodged easily- but into the path of Kakashi's water clone. A third clone took him out and what turned out to be the real Kakashi slashed that clone into nothingness. Her head hurt from trying to keep track but her teacher seemed to know exactly what was going on when he spun to intercept their opponent from a different direction. After a brief exchange, the tall figure faded back into the mist.

"Aiko! Get rid of the mist."

'Well, if the decision is out my hands…' Bringing her hands together so that her fingertips touched, she closed her eyes for just a second to infuse the mist with her own chakra—and tried not to jump or dodge at the sudden murderous presence behind her, trusting that her sensei would take care of it. Sure enough, when she opened her eyes a millisecond later and took a deep breath in, she felt the light splash of a remarkably efficient water clone dash across her back and sensed her instructor taking off immediately after where he must have sensed the real Zabuza. With smooth efficiency she neutralized the lingering chakra that Zabuza had apparently not been maintaining –'makes sense, Kakashi is keeping him busy' – and exhaled a burst that forced the mist to condense and spray out in the same move. It fell harmlessly to the ground, but she maintained her grip on it so that he didn't use the now-soaked ground to his advantage.

"I didn't know that Kakashi of the Sharingan eye was babysitting brats nowadays," the now-visible man taunted, casually slinging his enormous sword over his shoulder. Kakashi merely shrugged, watching the other man warily. Before now, Aiko had thought her sensei was tall. But this guy… She took advantage of her first opportunity to study him—Zabuza of the Bloody Mist was fucking scary looking. He was a solid 7 feet tall and had the muscle of a linebacker coupled with a more than slightly sinister grin. As the whole package was wrapped up in pointlessly eccentric clothing mostly consisting of bandages, he didn't look like an opponent she would want to fight herself.

'They just don't make them like that in Konoha.'

"Like what you see, brat," the man she'd been staring at growled, boasting a shit-your-pants-terrifying grin with – yes, those teeth were actually pointed.

She looked at his eyes for the first time. "No," Aiko admitted honestly. "I suspect you're a crazy person and a really bad dresser to boot."

"Moving on," her teacher muttered as he swung into action again, ignoring the water clone that she'd been staring at for a moment while he intercepted the real assassin's swing with that scary ass sword. The fight seemed to be nearly one-sided and her teacher easily drove the enormous man backwards, away from the client and genin. It took a long moment for her to realize why that observation made her feel uncomfortable, but by that point the trap was set. The instant her teacher stepped foot onto the lake surface, she remembered. 'Oh, crap. The water prison.'

The horror and self-recrimination on her teacher's face when he realized what she had was something she'd never seen before. It was a stupid mistake to force him towards water, born out of arrogance in what seemed to be an easy fight and his desire to keep the three 12 year olds out of the fight.

"Sakura, protect the client. Naruto, Sasuke, disrupt that water clone. He can't make another one and he can't move without letting go of sensei," she barked, flipping through a quick series of handsigns." It didn't even occur to her to look to see if the genin obeyed.

"No!" Kakashi roared. "It's over, this fight is lost. You four need to get out of here. He can't go far from here while he's holding me."

"I don't abandon comrades!" Naruto shouted. The determined looks on Sasuke and Sakura's faces seemed to agree. Aiko couldn't help but smirk lopsidedly, hearing some sort of scuffle between the boys and the one water clone left to harass them. 'I've got a much better idea, sensei dearest.'

"Sorry sensei. You're just going to have to deal with the embarrassment of being rescued by your students." She released her attack into the water ten feet away from Zabuza, who had been preparing to dodge as best as he could without losing his grip on the water prison. The look of confounded surprise on his normally sinister face was downright comical when he realized she'd just electrocuted the entire lake, her teacher included before dropping into convulsions would have fueled a fit of giggles in another situation. "Sorry about that too," she muttered, leaping onto the water the instant that the electrical current had died down to grab both men. 'I didn't want to warn Zabuza, so I couldn't really say anything.'

As he was still stunned from her stupidly logical attack – really, why was it so surprising that she would use the one enormous weakness of his surroundings against him? – it was easy to hit the pressure point on the back of Zabuza's neck and put him out of commission temporarily before changing her grip to his arm so that she could pull both him and her ailing teacher out of the lake before they drowned.

When her teacher managed to pry his dark eye open, he seemed to be glaring reproachfully at her. "You're a horrible child," he wheezed, quickly recovering. It had been a relatively weak charge, meant more to stun than damage. She gave a pleasant smile and let him fall to the ground with a wet slop beside the unconscious criminal.

"You're welcome, sensei. I've gotten too fond of you to lose you now to a fashion disaster like that." Though he couldn't be fully recovered, her teacher regained his feet and looked his usual self except for the way he was leaning on her by the time she'd finished the sentence.

"Be on guard," she said quietly, more to the kids than her sensei. If she could sense Haku, no doubt he did as well. Kakashi may have been too tired to do so in the original fight, but this hadn't descended into a Sharingan-aided pissing match, so his chakra reserves should be fine. "There's someone else nearby—an accomplice of his no doubt." Aiko wouldn't have sensed him if Zabuza hadn't just slid off the map with his trip into sleepyland and if she hadn't known to keep looking for a second partner, but now that she had sensed Haku it was fair game to say something about that. Sasuke (who looked uncannily like a soaked and angry housecat) bristled, all sharp angles and tense muscles ready to explode. He didn't disappoint- when the senbon attack flew to their incapacitated enemy he deflected all but one with a kunai, scanning for the interloper. The lone senbon Sasuke wasn't fast enough to get planted itself into the side of Zabuza's neck. Naruto turned slightly green.

A figure about Sakura's proportions appeared in a flash of shunshin, crouched fifteen feet away. "My apologies. I have been hunting that man for quite a while. I will take his body back to the village for identification now."

"Bull," Aiko spat, using her free arm to force him to dodge a kunai. "That's no hunter-nin." Though all four kids were in ready stances and Haku instantly tensed for a fight, the next thing Aiko noted- well, she noted two things at once, really. The first was that no one was leaning on her anymore, and the second was that her teacher was standing behind the fake hunter-nin. The altercation was brutally short. The boy went down with one blow and no chance to fight back.

'Annnnd that's why he is an elite Jounin and I get to guard the gates from foreign merchants.'

"You know, I'm starting to think that someone wants you dead," Sasuke said dryly, giving their quivering client a scathing look.

"We may be out of our league," Sakura added nervously, creeping up and gently toeing the fallen boy, eventually taking off his mask after she got a 'go-ahead' nod from her sensei. She sucked in a breath. Whether that was from surprise, jealousy, or something else entirely was hard to say.

"Wow, she's prettier than Sakura-chan," Naruto breathed. Said girl flushed an unbecoming shade and clenched a fist. Aiko put a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder to hold her back from pummeling the idiot.

"Easy there. Naruto, that was rude. Sensei, are we going to continue? I mean, it was one thing to continue when we knew we were up against someone willing to hire two Chuunin missing nin. But this is the second group they've sent, and this guy is no Chuunin." She gestured carelessly at Zabuza. "Besides, isn't this Momochi Zabuza? I don't know about the kid, but there is definitely a bounty on this one and he probably has information about what is going on in Mist."

"You're looking at this the wrong way." Kakashi easily knelt to check for a pulse… and found none. Aiko tried not to shudder, being relatively certain that Haku had played his temporary death trick, but she had no evidence she could point to that indicated the man was still alive.

Kakashi was probably going to burn the bodies- standard procedure. If the man was still alive… It didn't bear thinking too much about.

"This Gato has no reason to know that his team has failed. The fact that we encountered four missing nin from the same village implies they were working as a team and Zabuza only stepped in when he confirmed the Chuunin failed. Gato probably won't have more missing nin on hire- he'd have no need for more than a Jounin and three Chuunin to run errands. Anyone else he has on staff will likely be just civilian thugs."

"Therefore, the mission is within our abilities," Sakura concluded easily, sounding relieved. "But sensei, doesn't that mean Tazuna-san is safe now?"

Sasuke gave her a condescending look. "Even untrained thugs could be enough to prevent the bridge from being built." The girl looked embarrassed and twisted her fingers together.

"So we could go with him and either just keep him safe or take care of the root of the problem. If Gato is dead, he won't be sending anyone else after our client." Aiko pointed out casually. Their teacher remained silent, clearly letting them work through the problem on their own. Tazuna, on the other hand, was staring at the four children with open-mouthed horror. 'What, never seen pre-teens blink off a few life-or-death battles in a day?' The thought was a bit silly. She knew full-well that the genin weren't as unaffected as they looked.

Naruto scratched his nose. "So, what are we going to do with her?" He pointed with his customary lack of finesse at Haku. There was a moment of awkward silence where everyone but him seemed to come to the same conclusion.

Sasuke shifted his weight, not quite managing to look at Haku. "We can't take them with us, and we can't let them recuperate and attack us again." He didn't seem able to conclude the statement, but Sakura turned green in a way that conveyed she knew what had to be done as well.

"But she's helpless!" Naruto protested indignantly. "We can't just kill her there while she's knocked out."

"Naruto, being a ninja means doing some unpleasant things. That person is far from helpless." Kakashi put uncharacteristic seriousness into his voice. "Any one of the ninja we encountered today would have killed you without a second thought. That's part of our world."

"But!"

"Stop. Now." The boy fell silent, defeated. "If you can't bear to watch, then you can start hiding the signs that there was a fight here. That goes for you two as well. Aiko, take care of the bodies. I'm going to run a perimeter check." With that, he gave them all a considering look and flashed out of sight with more urgency than his tone had indicated.

"You can't just.."

Aiko met her brother's whisper with a calm, firm gaze. "Don't look." She drew a kunai into her left hand.

Omake from time skip

Aiko ignored the irritating raindrops against her bare upper arms, parrying a blow from her opponent's short blade. Short or not, it was long enough to be a big pain when all she had were stumpy little kunai.

'I'm going to make sensei teach me how to use a sword soon. This shit gets really old.'

Her lips thinned as she pressed them together, feeling the wind whistle through her short hair when she spun under the man's guard in a maneuver that planted one of her feet with her heel touching his sandaled toes for just a moment before she whipped away to position herself behind him and savagely jab at his unprotected kidney with the handle of her kunai.

An ugly sound escaped through his teeth, and she could see that the cloud nin's face was strangely red under his long curly hair when he turned to face her and pushed her backwards with a rib-cracking kick.

She hit the dirt, rolling a few times before she regained her feet.

"Tough luck, kid," he drawled, looking genuinely sympathetic at the game-changing injury. Not sympathetic enough to let her live, though. Being a missing nin was tough. He couldn't indulge sympathy for a child who had been sent to take him in for his bounty. If he let her live, the next team would be full of kids ordered to take advantage of the supposed weakness.

Aiko put one hand to her ribs, trying not to gasp. "Funny, that's what I was about to say to you." As her chakra control flickered, so did the artificial rain. The man clearly noticed—he paled and leapt backwards, away from her and tried to escape from the reach of her jutsu. She followed at an easy lope that didn't bother her breathing too much, knowing there was no need for speed. His face had been exposed to her contact poison for at least two minutes. The increased circulation from the delaying fight and his frantic run would spread her poison all the quicker once it made it into his veins.

Surely enough, she found him collapsed and panting weakly. He attempted to glare at her through eyelids that fluttered and flirted with unconsciousness. "Bitch," he managed to gasp. She nodded in agreement.

Her teacher found her some time after. Aiko was perched precariously on a rock outcropping, keeping one eye on the man who was immobilized by her paralytic.

"Lazing about, I see," Kakashi called out, idly inspecting her catch. He had taken the more difficult opponent, of course. The head was already sealed up, the rest ashes in the wind.

"I almost got my butt kicked," she offered up as he drew closer. "I think I have a broken rib."

"Let me see."

The hint of concern in her teacher's voice made her smile, even as he prodded at her torso with two warm fingers in a way that fucking hurt.

[atossofthedice]

A thing I noticed

Beware of Spoilers x_x

So er- Hi! I'm new to Tumblr, and uh... that's it, lol. I join cuz this place seemed cool, and after browsing for a while I liked it so a made an acc. (My grammar's way worse than this, I swear :P)

But anyways, there's something I noticed while watching Naruto with my family at 11 pm yesterday. And that particular something has to do with this:

Now, I'm sure many awesome people have already commented on this before, but I wanted to have a take on it too(plus it's good first post material xD)

So, for context, Sakura and Obito(most people that haven't finished Naruto don't know him so- he's a villain turned good after some Talk-no-Jutsu from our fav blond bi boi Naruto :D) have been ripping open holes in Kaguya's dimensions using Obito's Kamui to find Sasuke, who's been trapped in there so he can't help save da world. Obito's very fatigued, not to mention his eyes are crying blood at the moment, and while Sakura keeps pumping chakra into him, they are both obviously overstained. (The wounds on Sakura's arm are from a boiling acid dimension)

And I think that's it! Now we can move on to the real stuff lol

Obito and Sakura rip open another hole and- finally! Sasuke's there! Sakura shouts "Sasuke-kun" to get his attention(making me groan on how annoying she sounded), Sasuke notices them, and starts running over-

And Obito, exhausted, can't stop the portal from closing despite Sakura's efforts. So Sakura watches the portal close and falls over, tired from expanding her chakra and thinking that she'll never see Sasuke ever again...

Only to be caught by Sasuke.

Now, as much as I would like to go, "Oh, that's really sweet, Sasuke caught Sakura! What an rare sight, to see Sasuke romantically help her!" I can't. Why? Well, take a look again at the photo. Studio Pierrot drew Sasuke's face so weirdly I noticed right away. ("He doesn't look like that at all! He's much cooler than that!" -sleep deprived me screaming at my tv)

So instead of using the anime version, let me show you the manga version of this.

Look at his face!!! He looks hot like Sasuke! Indifferent, stoic, cold. And since I don't read the manga (I was strictly an anime-only person until like a month ago) I was a bit confused on who he was thanking(don't kill me because I dunno what's on the next page TwT)

Enough of that, maybe I'll rant about it later, but this is a side-by-side comparison of the two images.

Look at his face in the anime compared to the manga!

(Not to mention how the acc I found this from on Twitter called his manga look 'loving'. Please-)

In the manga, it's a "my teammate, while annoying, needs help and I'll help her so she doesn't fall"

In the anime, it's a "I'm going to help my teammate right now, Studio Pierrot softing my facial features so it looks romantic at the cost of my face looking not hot not like mine"

I really don't like SasuSaku, I think it's a very blatant and unhealthy relationship, and I wish that Sakura got a better man than Sasuke. Because, let's face it, Sasuke only has eyes for another man- Naruto. And Sakura is just a roadblock for him if she keeps chasing after him. I personally actually like/tolerate Sakura. Despite how crappy her character is, I like her because I myself behave like her sometimes, minus the fangirling and the crying and the screaming. So I can only feel sorry for her, like I did when I was watching the anime yesterday. When Sasuke held her, she must've felt like: "oh my goodness... Sasuke-kun is so sweet!" but later, this happens:

Which just kills the whole 'rOmAnTiC' thing here.

So yeah. That was my random rant + first post on Tumblr xD I look forward to post more about SNS in the future! Have a good day :D

[dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3]

Top 5 Dr Characters. Not exclusively to Triggrr Happy Havoc and characters are good

Oooh, this one is hard! I have a ton of characters I like, but favorites? That one is tricky. Well, obviously it's clear who my two favs are, but the rest, ha.

Here is a tentative list, though only the top three are my all time favs. (Note: There will be mild spoilers for DR 2 here, since I've finished watching the Game Grumps playthrough. Just saying. Oh, and DR, but I figured that'd be a given, ha.)

I'll put this under a read more, since it's a bit long. ^-^

Ask me my “TOP 5/TOP 10” anything!

5. I'll go with Sakura. I really like her character design and her personality. I like the strong and stoic types, the ones who look like they'll be tough and closed off but are actually really gentle and kind. I don't have too much to say about her, but overall I just really like her vibe.

4. I think this one would be Fuyuhiko, since I like how he started off angry and closed off from the group, but after what happened with Peko he began opening up and was actually a contributing member of the group. It's kind of like what I had wanted to happen with Byakuya in the first game, ha. I had considered putting Hina, but while I do like her character, I honestly wouldn't call her a favorite... She definitely is up there, though.

3. Now this is a legit favorite. Gundham Tanaka, Supreme Overlord of Ice!!! HA, I LOVE this dude. If not for Taka and Mondo, he'd be my favorite. I have two guinea pigs, and while they're definitely not hamsters, I've taken to calling them my Two Dark Devas of Destruction. They like it, I'm sure. ^-^ But he's super cool, and he acts all tough but gets flustered like any teenage boy, ha. I still have to watch all his FTE and see his dialogue for the Island mode, so I don't know too much about him other than what was in the main game, but even still. Love this dude. I also think his motive for what he did was a lot more noble than most.

1 & 1: Both Taka and Mondo are split for my favorite, since I really like them both for different reasons.

I love Mondo because even despite his flaws, he is still shown to be a good, somewhat righteous character, following his own moral code religiously. He also seems like he's gonna be this cool, tough, aloof character, but he's actually a huge f-ing dork. And while yeah, he did kill someone, I do like how the game had him acknowledge it and own up in the end. I think he was the only one in the first game to have someone else do his Bullet Time Battle/Panic Talk Action (whatever it's called), which I do kind of like. There's a lot more I love about Mondo, but if I talk about it all, we'd be here all day, ha.

Now, Taka, on the other hand, I really like because his sense of morality is not absolute. By which I mean, he is willing to accept that he does not know everything and accepts when something he believed in is not actually right. Like when he's talking to Makoto in one of the FTE and Makoto tells him that the purpose of watching TV or playing games is to relate to other people. While he accepts it in his own, weird way, relating it to things he already knows and is comfortable with (studying), he still is willing to acknowledge his failings and learn from his mistakes. A lot of characters like Taka I've seen are portrayed as the authority of righteousness or something, rarely backing down from their position, even when confronted by something that counters their belief. Taka, however, was shown to be the kind of person to fight strongly for what he believes in, but will back down and correct himself when proven wrong, like with Mondo. I really, really like that in his character. Honestly, I never would have thought I'd like Taka when I first started watching the game, since like I said, I'm not usually the biggest fan of overly stuck up, moral characters. But Taka is different, and is very sweet in his own way.

But the main reason I have Taka and Mondo as a joint number 1 is because I like them both more because of their dynamic together. If they didn't have each other in the game, I don't think I'd like either quite as much. In fact, I definitely don't think I'd like Danganronpa nearly as much either. I certainly wouldn't be here, almost two years later, still posting about it. But having them start off as seemingly opposite, only to learn that they actually have way more in common than you'd think? It's such a great dynamic to me. Even if it were only platonic, it's still such a good relationship to one another. They balance one another out in such a great way, and I kind of wish we could have seen their dynamic more in canon. Oh well, that's what fanfic is for, am I right??? But that's why I always have them be parallels to one another in my writing. It's a great dynamic that I adore.

Also! An honorable mention would have to be Nekomaru and mini Nekomaru. He's such an awesome character, ha. He's very similar to Sakura to me, though less stoic and more loose. His dynamic with Akane is so sweet, I love it. Also, mini Nekomaru is hilarious, I love him. I also... kind of like Kazuichi?? I dislike how gross he is with Sonia, but otherwise he's kind of a fun character, ha.

Thanks for the ask!! This was fun. :-D