Walking Around (Glancing Through Windows), (2016-10-01)

(UJK-D01-K00*: Sakako Uchiha)

In a corner of Sakako’s medical file is a series of numbers and letters in print so fine that it can’t be anything but important. After all, in a world of shinobi and bloodlines–where peace is only very recent after centuries of international conflict–why advertise the newest generation of Konoha’s most powerful and vulnerable clan?

Of course, given Sakako’s full name is on her file anyway, the fine print of the tag is hardly a deterrent to would-be bloodline thieves, but hers is mostly for uniformity.

(UJK-D01-K01: Sarada Haruno)

Sarada sits next her brother and, without warning, jabs an elbow into his side. Inojin, understandably, flinches away and curls a protective arm around his ribs.

“What was that for?” he hisses, trying and failing to shove at her while keeping his distance. Shikadai, seated on his other side, shifts his chair decidedly away from the siblings.

“Don’t make this weird for me,” Sarada hisses back through a threateningly sweet smile.

Inojin also scoots his chair away from her–or tries to, at least, but she hooks an ankle around one of its legs and he’s not the one with daily super strength training with Kaa-chan.

“I wasn’t doing anything!” he protests.

Sarada rolls her eyes, gestures at him, “You’re my brother,” she says, then gestures at the table two rows in front of them, where a certain Uchiha heiress sits closest to the window, “She’s my sister. You were making googly eyes at her. Don’t make this weird for me.”

“I-I wasn’t!” he lies, poorly. He can feel a blush creeping up his face, and given how pale his skin is it must be obvious.

“Mhmm,” Sarada hums, unconvinced.

Shikadai chooses to get involved for this part, the traitor. “That’s my cousin, Inojin. Don’t make this weird for me either.”

Beset on all sides, Inojin chooses to go down swinging: “I don’t say anything when either of you make googly eyes at Boruto!”

Shikadai rears back, glancing around to see if any of their classmates overheard, while Sarada narrows her eyes and leans in slowly.

Inojin is honest enough to admit that he’s more than a little afraid.

“We’re clear,” Shikadai says over his head to Sarada, who leans in even further.

Inojin blinks.

“Good,” Sarada says simply, sitting up in her chair as if she hadn’t just nonverbally exerted dominance over her brother. “Let’s not talk about any of this again.”

Her table mates nod, just in time for Shino-sensei to enter and begin the day’s lesson. Which is great: maybe if she’s lucky she’ll forget about it by the time class is over and won’t accidentally blurt it out at her sister during the Uchiha clan meeting today.

Why did Inojin have to go and make things weird?

(UJK-D01-K02: Aki Mitarashi)

Aki is singing a strange, tuneless, rambling song, happily swinging their joined hands back and forth. Ami smiles down at her son who, effortlessly, smiles back up at her as they weave their way through the streets.

She doesn’t understand where he gets his cheery personality from, given that–she’ll admit–she was a total brat as a child and Aki’s father… well.

Sasuke wasn’t exactly known for his bright and shining personality.

“What are you going to do with your father today?” Ami asks. She’s been invited to stay for the weekly meetings Aki has with his father and half-siblings, learn more about the other side of his heritage and the traditions of being an Uchiha, but she never felt it was appropriate.

“Going to learn fireball,” Aki sings in response, “A giant one, not small.”

She stifles a laugh, but lets the smile bloom across her face. Her kid is so weird and she loves him so much.

The crowds around them have petered out the closer they get to the Uchiha complex, still so empty after the years. That’s what the program is about, after all, but it’ll be a long time until its filled.

Sasuke had offered her and Aki a house there, but she applied for the village gate guard position to be closer to her family. The Mitarashi are minor, nowhere near as prestigious as the Uchiha, but Aki is her son first–Sharingan bloodline be damned–and she’ll give Sasuke one day a week but not everyday, not everything.

The silly little brat she used to be would have been over the moon at the idea of having Sasuke’s child. The adult she is now knows that her son is in danger because of the other half of his genes.

But it’s not as if she didn’t know that going in. She doesn’t begrudge Sasuke that–she wouldn’t have volunteered for the program if that were the case–and while they may not be wedded in bliss, they’re far from the strangers they used to be.

Friends, almost, if she’d admit out loud to being even the slightest bit fond of those weirdos from her class, instead of just merely tolerant.

In the Uchiha complex training fields, Ami lets a squirming, excited Aki go to run and join his half-siblings.

Sakako and Sarada both have their father’s black hair, but Aki has the Mitarashi violet if a bit darker than her own. Ami stifles another laugh at the idea of a pink haired Uchiha, before meeting Sasuke’s eyes.

They nod to each other, between strangers and friends, parents to the same amazing boy who sings made up songs with one breath and will create fireballs with the next. She could stay, if she wanted, but for now, in this space, Aki is an Uchiha and she’s got a shift at the gate.

(UJK-D01-K03: Keishin Yuuhi)

Keishin stays quiet as his mother lectures him on proper behavior–yet again–when they encounter Mitarashi-san leaving the Uchiha complex. The smile his mother wears is demur and false, the one Mitarashi-san wears is equally false but toothy and sharp.

“Ami-san” his mother says, using first name only, overly familiar in a way she’s told him not to do. He’s supposed to call his half-siblings by last name only–except for Sakako-san, of course.

“Kaneko,” Mitarashi-san returns, even more familiar with the lack of a suffix.

They smile at each other in a moment fraught with silence, before Keishin’s mother says, “Another shift at the gate? It’s unfortunate that you’re unable to spend more time with your son. My son and I are truly blessed, and it’s always a joy to see him interact with his father.”

Mitarashi-san’s smile grows tight around the eyes for a moment before it relaxes–but doesn’t get any less sharp. She looks to him, and Keishin freezes, uncertain, “Maybe ‘true heir’ would enjoy some time to himself every now and again,” she says, almost wondering, before turning up to Keishin’s mother. “Enjoy your blessed time, Kaneko. I’ll see you next week.”

His mother gives a sound of protest, but Mitarashi-san leaves. A chakra enhanced leap taking her from street to roof, kitted out in a somewhat dusty Konoha uniform.

Keishin’s mother never comes to the Uchiha complex in an outfit less than immaculate, and he’s certainly never seen her do some of the shinobi tricks he knows she can do.

During the weekly Uchiha clan meetings, his father will join the madcap playing that they all eventually devolve to–and the one time Sakako-san and Haruno-san’s mothers were there, they did, too–but Keishin’s mother never joins in.

She sniffs, turning the both of them back toward the Uchiha complex, resuming her lecture once more. Keishin follows.

~

A/N: So the eldest three of the Uchiha no Jinkou Keikaku. Not really feels-y, as I said yesterday, but I just wanted to write these head canons down before I forget them. So here are three random snapshots of the next gen Uchiha clan.

Ami is in fact the childhood bully from the Ino vs Sakura preliminary tournament flashback fight and she is distantly related to Anko–purple hair, brown eyes, and names beginning with A? It’s about as canon as Kishimoto gets so… Also, if the Mitarashi own teashops and dango stands it would kinda make sense that they’re a small clan (if they can even be called that).

The Yuuhi family I figure is also kind of a small clan but ones who have historically been trying to bank on the Uchiha coattails (given their coloring and all) and REALLY want Keishin (継信) to officially become clan heir. If it weren’t for Aki being a few weeks older, they might have had an argument since Sakako and Sarada are both girls and the Uchiha were super traditional. But given that this is the Uchiha 2.0 and Sasuke knows better than to be a sexist asshole, Keishin wouldn’t really have much of a case even if he were older than Aki.

Seeing as how Keishin is only seven, though, there’s still time for him to grow up and tell off the Yuuhi clan elders for trying to make him usurp his half sister.

Stars Also Dream 7/? (2016-09-29)

You and Ibiki and Obi-Wan Kenobi: a strange combination for a tea party, but that’s what life is throwing at you, apparently. Two jedi and two shinobi, but only three people around the table.

Seki Hijiri has gone to talk to the other prisoners–only one of them is a Wookie, thankfully, because your Shyriiwook is rusty and still way more than anyone else on this planet has–no doubt she’ll have them talking in seconds. She was in charge of your and Ibiki’s training when you first joined T&I, and as much as you’ve learned from her, she didn’t teach you nearly everything she knew.

Also, she’s part of the Yamanaka clan. Married out of the name, but not out of the family or the abilities, and there’s something about Yamanaka that not even the Force can trick.

“Master Kenobi,” you say, because even in this bizarre tableau of prisoners and interrogation, the man deserves respect.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been called that,” he says, taking on an air of nostalgia that does little to hide the roiling wave of regret, “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

You smile. “Many years ago, yes. I was much younger then.”

He laughs, a quiet and dry thing, a dusty relic almost forgotten, “We were both much younger then, no doubt.”

Ibiki is silent, listening and observing and never letting on that he doesn’t have all the answers. Or any of them, in this case.

“A strange world you’ve found yourself on, Yoshino,” he says, and even you are surprised by that, “Bant’s only padawan. I told her she was being picky for waiting so long, but when she found you… it was a good match.”

Your smile turns genuine now, though, a little watery and wobbly, too. For a long time, you were the only one left to know her name.

“How did you end up here?” he asks, and at that you blink and steel yourself, pack away the starry-eyed padawan and bring forward the tempered kunoichi.

“I’d like to ask you the same, Master Kenobi. This is not an easy planet to find–I would know.”

You feel a flicker in the Force, or maybe you see it in his eyes–as if he’s considering lying for a second. But hero worship or convoluted family ties or not, you are a shinobi of Konoha now and you will not tolerate it. He gets the message and tells you the truth.

Ibiki is silent through the entire thing, which is good–it’s quite the story.

A jedi, a farm boy, two smugglers, and a pair of royal droids off to rescue a rebelling princess from the evil empire.

And true, this is a mission where time is of utmost necessity, but on their way the strangest Force signature explodes from an Outer Rim planet that would otherwise pass beneath notice.

The only lingering trace of that energy matches the stardust crystal your daughter thinks she’s keeping secret.

But you are her mother and you were keeping secrets long before she was born. Perhaps its now time to share some of them.

Somewhere, buried below crop fields that have long since gone to seed, inside a shuttle that will never fly again, is a box.

That box contains the physical evidence of your life before this one. Of your world before this one. Of metal and power and light that had nothing to do with blood on your hands.

(But that’s not quite true, is it?)

When you first came to this planet, the Kinokawas were kind. Farmers, civilians, who lived close enough to Konoha to enjoy its protection but far enough not to learn its lessons. They saw a young girl, alone and scared and heartbroken, hurt and in need of a place to stay.

You buried your shuttle beneath their fields–buried your past within their home–and wiped their memories of it.

Everything else was their choice.

They took you in, adopted you, and you became Yoshino Kinokawa–a normal girl from a civilian family trying to make it as a shinobi.

But you know the truth:

You’re not normal. You never were, certainly not after you crash landed onto a Force shrouded planet in a medical shuttle, your master and your life taken away from you forever.

So you buried that shuttle under your new parents’ fields, with a box containing your jedi robes, your lightsaber, and your thin padawan braid that you had to cut off yourself.

A lifetime later, sitting across from Obi-Wan Kenobi, over steaming tea and Force signatures tentatively greeting each other, you remember that his master died, too. That he had to cut off his own padawan braid, too.

And maybe, in these decades gone by, he tried to bury his past, as well, but now he’s dug it back up. Robes and lightsaber and Force flaring bright, metal and power and light.

You were never normal.

Jutsu makes unearthing the shuttle easy. The robes don’t fit and the braid is forever cut, but the hilt of your lightsaber somehow still fits perfectly in your hand.

~

A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAGH PLOOOOOOT? O_O

… help me…

Stars Also Dream, 6/? (2016-09-28)

Once, when you had been a padawan for only a few weeks, you met Anakin Skywalker.

Master Bant and Obi-Wan Kenobi had been friends during their initiate years–which, for Jedi, is the closest thing to siblings you will ever have. Or, at least, you always believed so.

And if Master Bant and Obi-Wan had been almost siblings, then in a way that made you and Anakin Skywalker cousins.

Back then, that had been something to be delighted by, to be proud of. You and the Hero With No Fear the same, almost, connected: like maybe one day you could be a Jedi just as great.

When you met him–them, really, the Negotiator and the Hero With No Fear always side by side–you had been shy. You could barely say a word, had all but hidden behind Master Bant’s robes, face aflame.

But they both had spoken to you–actually to you, not just an extension of your master–and had congratulated you on becoming a padawan.

And you thought, then, that maybe you were looking at a reflection of what you and Master Bant would be someday:

Heroes, together, saving the galaxy.

Of course, that’s not how it turned out.

Not for any of you.

The second time you meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is going by Ben and calmly sitting in one of T&I’s interrogation rooms.

He knows you’re there as soon you walk in, two way mirror hardly a barrier for the Force, but he politely continues his conversation and his tea with Seki Hijiri.

They didn’t call him The Negotiator for nothing.

You say as much to Ibiki. Also, “I thought he was dead.”

Ibiki would never do something as overt as raise an eyebrow at you, only because he knows you can read him as well as he can read you and you can sense his curiosity emanating the way others can feel his killing intent.

“He probably thought the same of me,” you add, because why just hand Ibiki the answer when it’s more fun to give him clues and let him work it out himself.

Ibiki hums, offers his own information, quid pro quo as per usual, “We found him with two odd metal puppets and three other… men.”

“You sound confused about that, Ibiki.”

Ibiki mutters, “Some kind of blood limit, probably.”

You pause, considering, “Big or small?”

“Big and… furred.”

Wookies? Konoha is out of its depth here.

“I should probably take point on this one.”

The second time you meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is an old sand-weathered man with a life of regrets and you are far from the child who hid behind her master’s robes.

But he is still a master Jedi, strong in the Force, and you’re beginning to remember how it feels not to be alone.

He is, after all, one of the closest things to family from your past you have left.

You only met Anakin Skywalker once.

But one day–you know this with a wave of dread and such utter certainty that it can only be true, a warning from the Force, a premonition–you’ll meet Darth Vader, too.

~

A/N: Small installment which took me a while because I wasn’t sure which route to take for this series and whether or not I wanted to derail Episodes IV-VI or move alongside them.

I guess I’m going with the derailing route.

Well, we all know that Shikako is uninterested in romance but I think it’s worth considering Surprisingly!Smooth!Shikamaru? After all, Shikaku stealth romanced Yoshino pretty fiercely, according to the sidestories, and Shikamaru was the only one of the rookies to actually be shown *dating* in canon. (As far as I remember, anyway.) Uh, so prompting for contrast!twins in which Shikako is totally oblivious and Shikamaru is the master of the (lazy) date.

Hahahaha, I actually think Shikako comes off as a lot more charming/smooth to those who didn’t grow up with her (ie Team Ten and Sakura) but she doesn’t actually do it on purpose/know what to do with it. So Shikako accidentally-flirting-with-people-and-not-knowing/intending-to-follow-up is how I headcanon her properly in DoS, while Shikamaru is way suave in all aspects of dating in comparison.

It’s definitely a cool idea, but I’m not sure how I’d implement it. Like, does Shikako finally get asked out and she has no idea what to do so she turns to her brother for help and she’s over here planning it out like some kind of battle while he’s just like… no, Kako, that’s not how it works. Or is it Shikamaru’s POV of the trail of admirers his sister leaves behind–and possibly having to carefully screen through his own dates to make sure not to go out with someone who once had a crush on his sister because that would be weird?

But I’ll put it on the list, anon, and hopefully something will come to me. 🙂

In DOS, the night of the festival: Tenten: The stars look beautiful tonight. Shikamaru: Yeah. You know what else is beautiful? Tenten: *blushes* What? Shikamaru: Shikako. (When she’s in Konoha and NOT DYING AND NO GUYS ARE APPROACHING HER EVEN WHEN SHES IN THAT KIMONO. He’s done his job well)

Oh, no! Did Shikamaru spend most of their date making sure Shikako wasn’t getting hit on (literally or figuratively)?

No, he’s not that ba–

… well…

TenTen knew what she was signing up for, surely?

Different person: I keep coming back to Sakako being called “The Conjurer,” since, to her enemies, it would seem like she’s conjuring vengeful spirits and letting them attack her foes.

jacksgreysays:

I think I have a different understanding of what the word conjurer means because for me it means something more like conjuring as in creating things or like stage magic where they pull a rabbit out of a hat. Conjurer in Japanese is either Kijutsushi (奇術師) or Majutsushi (魔術師) which is kind of like conjurer as I understand it–magician/juggler/illusionist or mage in a high fantasy thing.

I think maybe “Summoner” is more what you’re going for–not the Kuchiyose of summoning animals in Naruto, but more like the summoning of spirits like in Final Fantasy. That is Shoukanshi (召喚士) or Shoukansha (召喚者) which maybe might work better in terms of accuracy? Also the shi (士) of Shoukanshi is warrior which is kinda cool.

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Ah, I don’t really watch many horror movies, so I only vaguely know that movie exists. No worries, anon! Conjurer does sound pretty damn badass, even if it’s not quite the thing we want. 🙂

Different person: I keep coming back to Sakako being called “The Conjurer,” since, to her enemies, it would seem like she’s conjuring vengeful spirits and letting them attack her foes.

I think I have a different understanding of what the word conjurer means because for me it means something more like conjuring as in creating things or like stage magic where they pull a rabbit out of a hat. Conjurer in Japanese is either Kijutsushi (奇術師) or Majutsushi (魔術師) which is kind of like conjurer as I understand it–magician/juggler/illusionist or mage in a high fantasy thing.

I think maybe “Summoner” is more what you’re going for–not the Kuchiyose of summoning animals in Naruto, but more like the summoning of spirits like in Final Fantasy. That is Shoukanshi (召喚士) or Shoukansha (召喚者) which maybe might work better in terms of accuracy? Also the shi (士) of Shoukanshi is warrior which is kinda cool.

Hope I don’t throw you off your Sakako or DnD vibe or anything, but: Tokyo GhoulxDoS! In any way you want. I was specifically thinking of ghouls being actual lurkers in the DoS world That’d be an interesting mission, with a high chance of death.

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I don’t know if you’re the same anon, but I checked these asks at the same time and they kind of fused together into a cool idea so… here’s a brainstorm:

I don’t really know much about Tokyo Ghoul except for the basics and what I could glean of the wiki page, but I kind of feel like the mass Edo Tensei would have some repercussions that could very easily be ghouls/half-ghouls existing alongside living humans and eating them for power etc. etc.

If anything, this seems like a pretty good premise world for next generation to live in.

Because, if you think about it, Naruto’s generation basically created world peace amongst the Elemental Nations so… why do shinobi still exist? Like, sure, civilians still want them to assassinate their enemies/kill off bandits/protect them from wildlife/do their chores etc. etc. But, you know, a good amount of the reason behind the Hidden Villages is a sort of cold war/collect more power thing, so maybe now instead of other villages they’re raised to hunt down ghouls and other creepy undead creatures that are the fallout of the mass Edo Tensei.

Which, I mean, Sakako’s ability to see ghosts would be helpful somehow? Like she can see un-enhanced ghosts easily, and while ghouls look like normal humans to other people they look a little off to Sakako. Like… they’re double layered or glowing weirdly or something that she can immediately spot if a person is a ghoul or a human.

It definitely ups the stakes for shinobi since ghouls are canonically faster/stronger/etc than humans so even the chakra-enhanced shinobi are maybe about on equal footing as ghouls (unless they’re like Lee in which case, no, he’s definitely faster than a ghoul). And maybe ghouls do prefer to eat shinobi–maybe chakra gives them more power/sustains them longer or something?

As for the title thing… I’m not very keen on Sakako inheriting her mother’s title as opposed to making one for herself, but when I tried to find a badass name for Sakako that was as punny as Shikabane for Shikako the only thing even slightly cool I could find was Sakarau (逆らう) which means to go against/oppose/defy and that’s not as on the nose as Shikabane-hime.

The “big bads” in next gen appear to be ~aliens~ via the Otsutsuki clan which… okay… and Shin Uchiha. Which is very next gen Team Seven problems considering the Otsutsuki clan seam to have a strong connection to the Hyuuga clan and Shin Uchiha was one of Orochimaru’s experiments with the Sharingan and that accounts for all three members of the next gen Team Seven.

But, again, that’s all inherited big bads from their parents which… I dunno, I kinda want them to have their own enemies/obstacles to defeat? So maybe there’s also a big bad who is gathering up ghouls or somehow responsible for producing more or SOMETHING so that this generation can have something to fight that isn’t just “sins of the father” because I do not support the parental complexes all of canon next gen seem to have, apparently.

Anon(s?) those are pretty cool ideas and I think I’ll incorporate it as a DoS next gen headcanon so I’ll make a Walking Around ‘verse note to myself to write something about how becoming an expert ghoul hunter gives Sakako a badass name? Or makes people have awful flashbacks to the carnage that her mother inflicted against zombies during the Fourth World War?

Something cool, hopefully. 😀

Team Medic, DnD Fantasy Edition Picture (2016-09-21)

A/N: Playing around on Rinmaru’s Ascension Doll Maker (as per usual) while watching High Rollers and somehow a DnD Fantasy Team Medic shook out. @kuipernebula, you might be interested?

Pics under the cut.

I’m still pretty new at DnD, but only a few classes can use healing/divine abilities but even then I wasn’t sure which one each member of Team Medic should be so…

Masumi – Healer/Paladin
Sakura – Monk/Spirit Shaman
Youbirin – Druid/Cleric
Jiro – Bard/Favored Soul

love all your dos stories! who do you think is the hardest character to write? I know you find kakashi pretty hard… anyone who’s harder to write than him?

Thanks, anon! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

The hardest character for me to write besides Kakashi? Hm… of the characters I’ve actually written, I presume you mean…

Surprisingly? Naruto is pretty difficult for me to write. It’s why Quest for the Queen gave me so much trouble (and why I was so surprised to actually finish it). If he were easier for me to write, I’d probably have him way more involved in Down Every Road or, I mean, if I could form a proper headcanon for a Team Seven OT3 I’d probably have a series for that.

It’s hard to get into his headspace. I admire him as a character, but as a person I just can’t relate at all. Shikako and Sasuke I can easily understand–part of what I love about DoS (and the reason why I went on to do the podfic) is that I empathize with Shikako so much. Sasuke is… well… his motivations and reactions adhere to an internal logic that, while not my own, is still realistic.

I have no idea what’s up with Naruto. He’s basically the direct opposite of myself–he forgives easily (instead of holding grudges forever and a day like myself), he’s excited about life (somehow without also being curious about the world), he’s generous and loving and he empathizes with everyone but it’s not tactful or sensitive: he doesn’t understand the consequences of his or other people’s actions. He doesn’t understand that there are some lines that should never be crossed.

And I know some of that is because most Shounen Protagonists are walking talking cliches of HEART and OPTIMISM, but it’s just so… I just can’t do it for some reason.

Like… this is also a part of the reason why I’m reluctant to write Boruto yet. Because my brain already can’t really wrap my head around Naruto, and then a Naruto who ends up with Hinata (I’m not ship bashing, I just honestly don’t understand they had so few interactions? It’s not even like Harry and Ginny where people were discontent with the epilogue definitively making them end up together, I’m like honestly baffled. It’d be like if Harry ended up with… er… which Creevey brother survived? Like… the fraction of “screen time” Hinata got in which she actually interacts with Naruto is probably the same as the Creevey brothers with Harry.)

And then there’s the fact that I’m like 90% sure that the Naruto in next gen canon has depression despite having achieved world peace and his childhood dream. And I’m not saying people can’t be depressed even though they are successful in life. But it just… it’s a very tricky thing to maneuver even though I myself also suffer from depression. There is this huge gap between teenage Naruto and adult Naruto that I can’t quite understand, and given that I already can’t grasp teenaged Naruto’s thought process it’s basically impossible for me to jump to adult Naruto and Boruto as his son from there.

Erm… sorry about that–hope it didn’t sound too much like complaining. Uh, but I can still occasionally catch on some points when it comes to Naruto (it’s more miss than hit, unfortunately) whereas Kakashi is meant to be opaque and it’s like… I can’t crack open his mystery. That’s who he is. He’s a carefully crafted construct of heartbreak and coping mechanisms and I just cannot do that to him.

I can get his external voice (like what he’d say to other characters), which is why it’s super fun to have Team Seven react to the occasional cameo, but his internal voice is just ??????

I also sometimes have trouble with Gaara… and also Temari. But that’s mostly because in comparison, Kankurou is waaaaaaay easier and my brain is just like–if you’re going to write about one of the sand siblings, why not Kankurou? He’s great.

And I’m usually like: sure, brain, you’re the boss. Let’s totally give Kankurou more lines than Gaara in the ShikakoxGaara series, that makes total sense.