Tag: writing

Shikako Nara’s Guide To Delinquency and Military Insurrection, 1/? (2018-01-28)

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(Rule One: No Dying)

Sakumo represses a grunt of pain as he drops to the ground, poorly bandaged slashes on his back throbbing to the rhythm of his own heartbeat. This sucks. This mission sucks. They might actually die this time

“Well if you think that then we’re definitely fucked,” Hozue murmurs in her own voice. Which only goes to show how well and truly fucked they are–the Kedouin clan’s identity copying techniques are flawless… within a certain duration of time.

Hozue is the clan’s pride and joy: she can maintain an identity for almost two weeks.

This mission was supposed to be five days.

“You’re both terrible,” Atsumi complains. This is not unusual. Atsumi is always complaining. She enjoys it. Especially when she hasn’t slept for nearly seventy two hours. But that’s what she gets for being one of the best–the only and true best, sorry–genjutsu user in the village, “You’re both terrible,” she repeats, “and I can’t believe I’m going to die with you.”

“You’re not going to die with us,” Sakumo says, never mind his own earlier prediction.

Hozue snorts, “Yeah, Atsumi, you’re not going to die with us,” She looks at Sakumo with the wrong eyes in the wrong face, but her voice is as clear and certain as ever, “You’re going to die with me. One of us can still complete this mission if the other two act as decoys… and only one of us has a kid back home.”

Sakumo bares his teeth–lupine habit, as if he could bite into the thought and squeeze the life out of it. Yes, he has a son at home–a son with no mother, no real pack to watch over him–but ever since their genin years he has been the protector of the team.

He cannot just abandon that. Them.

In another universe–in many other universes–he doesn’t. He will think he has found a way to win this impossible situation, to protect his teammates and return to his son. He will fail the mission, bringing all three of them home, only to find that he has started a war. His teammates will distance themselves from him, his son will be ashamed of him, and he will think there is only one way to redeem his honor.

In these universes, he will never know that their mission was always going to fail. That his team was sent on a mission designed to fail from the start because someone in the village wanted a war.

In a few universes he makes a different choice. In these few universes he still will not abandon his teammates, but he will agree that one of them could complete the impossible mission through the sacrifice of the others:

Hozue might return and take Kakashi under her wing for a brief, blessed, bizarre few months, before being sent out on yet another mission. She will not trust these people on her team, and she is right not to–Hozue dies from a sword through the back. The mission fails, the war starts.

Atsumi might return to the village terribly suspicious of all the issues that cropped up during the mission that killed her friends. For her teammate’s son’s safety, she does not get close to him but she makes sure he is cared for. She gets very close to the truth before dying of natural causes.

In even fewer universes, he makes yet a different choice to complete the mission at the cost of his convictions… only to be ambushed on the way home by shinobi in blank masks who will take advantage of his lone and weakened state. They will return to Konoha and report to their master who will send them on yet another mission to start his war.

For the most part, no versions of this story end happily. But this particular universe is not one of those versions.

“Huh,” says a completely unfamiliar voice from beyond Atsumi’s genjutsu. All three of them turn to look, startled.

It is a girl, barely a teenager, in a practical shinobi outfit and shadows across her face despite the angle of the light. She is, impossibly, staring at all three of them.

“I think this is the earliest I’ve ever been,” she says, which doesn’t explain anything but isn’t exactly threatening. Sakumo lurches into an awkward crouch between the stranger and his team anyway.

The girl tilts her head to the side, considering, before nodding to herself. “I could use a few tour guides,” it’s such a ludicrous non sequitur that for a moment the three of them have no idea how to respond.

“Well come on, let’s go stop a war.”

~

A/N: Inspired by wafflelate’s The Many Gardens of Shikabane-hime in which Shikako travels through a bunch of dimensions in a (futile?) attempt to get back home and wreaks havoc and acts of anti-Danzo destruction on par with natural disasters. She has an undeniable fond spot for Kakashi in both of wafflelate’s threads, so I figure it might extend a little bit to Hatake version 1.0.

I’m pretty sure future installments will be other teams’ near misses because of my commitment issues. Though I am weirdly fond of this team for all that I made up two of them just now: Hozue Kedouin–the Kedouin Clan is an anime-only clan of face copiers/shape shifters who I’ve tweaked to be much cooler than canon, and Atsumi Kurama of the same minor genjutsu clan that Yakumo is part of, yes.

I had considered a Nohara, but then I’d have to deal with the sudden feels that crop up of the idea that in a better world Kakashi and Rin would have been raised like cousins or something if Sakumo had a Nohara teammate.

And I mostly like the idea that Sakumo is by default the most truthful of his team because he’s the only one whose clan abilities have nothing to do with deception. And, also, him being the Kiba to Hozue’s Hinata and Atsumi’s Shino, kind of. I DUNNO?!

Ascendant (2018-01-24)

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Tobirama-sensei chooses Hiruzen and something you didn’t even know existed within you shatters.

Everything after that is just collateral damage.

—

The first is an accident.

Or, at least, that’s what the report will say.

A training accident, two wartime soldiers unable to readjust to peacetime sparring.

A misunderstanding, you say, still covered in your teammate’s blood. You thought it was a genjutsu, luring you into a false sense of security.

It’s not completely improbable, is the thing. Kagami is–was–the most mischievous of the now disassembled Team Tobirama, with a flare for genjutsu and tricks. A smile and bright captivating eyes that had nothing to do with the Sharingan.

An Uchiha that even the most stalwart Senju trusted.

The first is an accident.

Decades down the line, you’re not certain if that’s true anymore.

—

Second and third are easy, the wrong words whispered at the right time.

You are not the only one who got skipped over.

Why Hiruzen? How is he more worthy than us? Were we not all students of the Hokage?

Politics, you’ll hiss at them, a blade sliding between ribs right into their hearts.

An enticing weapon, but ultimately a trap.

Shisui’s eye is a redundancy.

—

Fourth bows out before you can do anything.

Torifu was there during the first, he remembers it as well as you do.

Better maybe.

He steps aside and for that you turn your attention away from him, from his clan, and their vassals.

In your last moments, you will wonder if that was your fatal mistake.

—

For a while, you think that is enough. Prove your worth and sweep away those in front of you, it is only a matter of time before Hiruzen’s weakness provides an opportunity.

But time does not stand still. Soon fifth through seventh arise.

Children, compared to you. Literally. Hiruzen’s students. What do they know of war? Of sacrifice? They do not have the experience.

But youth and talent–and pedigree in young Tsunade’s case–is not something so easily dismissed.

For now you can do nothing–nothing overt, at least–but they are primed to tear themselves apart.

It doesn’t take much to help that along.

—

Eighth, you almost regret.

He is the youngest, certainly, but you were once a child in war–surely if your sensei’s grand nephew were actually worthy, he would have survived.

Perhaps it’s the loss of the Mokuton that you regret.

—

The ninth was never truly a threat, a dreaming boy with no real claim.

But Konoha was built on dreams and you will not let some upstart stand in your way.

—

The White Fang of Konoha, a silly moniker that somehow strikes fear into enemy hearts.

As formidable on his own as Hiruzen’s brats are altogether.

No, this won’t do at all.

It is not enough for him to die, you need to destroy him utterly–his career, his reputation, his spirit.

You are ruthless with the tenth.

—

Every so often, you push them along–fifth and sixth and seventh succumbing to their own flaws–weaknesses that would have been exploited by enemies of Konoha.

Cowardice, fear, so quick to run away from what should be her only priority.

Obsessive and vain, so easy to distract and lead astray.

Foolish and sentimental, desperate for approval.

You are protecting your village by exposing them–what else reason could there be?

—

(You overreached with The Salamander, the man who titled Hiruzen’s students. You thought it would be a simple trade of services, a mutual extermination of brats.

But foreign shinobi are hardly worth the effort; the deal is dropped.

Konoha first.)

—

(Uzushio is a separate matter, but their lives are long and their memories longer.

Mito-sama was always biased against you.

Konoha will never be able to achieve its true potential with them forever poised above.)

—

Time marches on.

You uproot those you can, prune those you can’t, but they sprout like weeds beneath your feet.

That absolute infant that Hiruzen chooses may have made a name for himself during the war, but he is nothing more than dandelion fluff easily blown away in the breeze.

Konoha is better off without him.

—

You remember the first.

Uchiha that even the most stalwart Senju could trust.

There might as well be no more Senju, but the sentiment applies. Shisui follows in Kagami’s footsteps and the clan head’s brat has far too much potential.

You remember the first.

You remember that Konoha was built by two clans.

One is near to extinct. Surely the village can also survive without the other.

—

Hiruzen is old, weighed down by years and loss and having to put on the hat for a second time.

Or so he says.

You wouldn’t know, you’ve never worn it.

He is so completely unaware of all that you do for Konoha, so blind and soft. He walks amongst the villagers, a kindly, foolish grandfather instead of the unyielding pillar of strength that he should be.

He is a disgrace.

(He was your friend, once.

Now he is forever imprisoned within the belly of the Shinigami.)

—

(Kagami was your friend, once, too.)

—

Everything is just collateral damage.

~

A/N: … EURAGHRURH!! I’m disgusted with myself. But, okay, like. This is not meant to be apologetic or sympathizing for Danzo–I literally just wanted to experiment and see if I could get into his headspace and it… I dunno. Did it work? YEURGH, gross gross gross.

Brought about because of the massive hate-on for Danzo that’s going on in the discord, and the ongoing theory that he sabotaged every prospective Hokage candidate in the past fifty years. If it’s not clear who is who: 1 – Kagami Uchiha, 2 – Homura Mitokado, 3 – Koharu Utatane, and 4 – Torifu Akimichi were the other members of Team Tobirama. 5 – Tsunade, 6 – Orochimaru, 7 – Jiraiya. 8 – Nawaki (aka Tsunade’s younger brother). 9 – Dan Katou (aka Tsunade’s boyfriend). 10 – Sakumo Hatake. And then Minato who did succeed at getting the hat because his career trajectory was frankly ludicrous and too quick for Danzo to squash. And then Shisui and Itachi because those dang Uchiha.

I am not too keen on the ending (as per usual for me) given that I didn’t think I should end at the Chuunin Exams but I didn’t want to get into the whole Tsunade is Godaime and the whole constant undermining of her authority, even though I did kind of want to get to the point where Danzo dies? Should I have just stopped at the whole Uchiha it comes full circle thing? … maybe…

Arguably, if you ignore the line in the Torifu section, then this could be Naruto-canon compliant? But obviously I wrote it with DoS in mind. And I am hoping that Shikako is at least tangentially involved in Danzo’s downfall which is another reason why I didn’t go past the Chuunin Exams because… I have no idea what that downfall is going to look like. Fantastic, I assume.

Externality 7b/? (2018-01-21)

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She is none too gently herded into the classroom after the healing session, left to wait along with the rest of her classmates who have finished before her or who had minimal injuries.

In the light of day and the civilizing influence of four walls and a ceiling, the last few hours of the exam seems less like a thrilling midnight battle and more like a bunch of children causing a ruckus. A skirmish at best rather than the high stakes fight it had seemed at the time.

She can feel a different, embarrassed kind of fever flush across her face.

Tetsuki refuses to meet anyone’s gaze and goes to sit over in the corner that most everyone else seems to be avoiding. That it’s nowhere near her usual seat means nothing.

Naruto Uzumaki grins at her.

She gives a quick, sheepish smile in return.

But it’s a tense couple of minutes as more and more classmates are brought in–everyone silent and heavy and waiting for the other shoe to fall–before finally Yanagi-sensei and Hinoura-sensei enter with displeased and unimpressed expressions.

Well, Yanagi-sensei at least, especially as he begins lecturing them all. Hinoura-sensei instead looks somewhat amused.

Tetsuki glowers at him–if the situation was anyone’s fault, it was his!

She holds onto that righteous anger throughout Yanagi-sensei’s lecture, through the assessment of her classmates, lining up one by one and presenting their tokens or lack thereof…

… until he gets to the first student who ought to have had an armband and has nothing instead.

“Report,” Yanagi-sensei says, but instead of standing up at attention and dutifully relaying everything that happened in the past three days, that classmate faces the ground and mutters something unintelligible.

Even in the tense atmosphere, some of the other students laugh.

“Are you not a future shinobi of Konoha?” Yanagi-sensei asks. He is fond of rhetorical questions, giving a student just enough rope to hang themselves with.

There is more laughter, but with a distinctly nervous tinge.

“I said, report.”

“Rock Lee took it from me,” their classmate says finally, grit out through clenched teeth.

Yeah, Tetsuki thinks to herself, she wouldn’t want to admit getting beat up by the class dead last either.

Externality 7a/? (2018-01-19)

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Tetsuki sits sullenly, drained and yet somehow simultaneously full of fury, while a member of Konoha’s Medic Corps attends to the absolute mess she’s made of herself.

In the spirit of synergy that the village loves to espouse, the different departments are intrinsically attuned and linked to each other. In this case, the Medic Corps practical healing lessons are scheduled for just after the Academy’s trimester exams.

The medic in front of her–still a boy himself, only a few years older than her at most–clicks his tongue in disapproval, “You couldn’t figure out a smarter way?”

Tetsuki would bristle at that, but the wash of cool healing chakra on her injuries is far too soothing. She says nothing instead.

“Well, at least you’re not the worst off we’ve had today,” he continues, and she wonders if this is part of Medic Corps training, bedside manner in way of gossip. When she makes a noise of curiosity, he elaborates–no, she wasn’t the worst off they’ve had today. She got away relatively easy in the mayhem of that last battle, a broken nose and a couple of bone bruises being the worst of her injuries.

They had to bring in a Hyuuga medic to undo the Jyuuken blocks on some of the students–but that was to be expected with Neji Hyuuga in their class. What was unusual was that they also had to bring in someone from the Genjutsu Squad.

“For what?” she asks, voice a little nasally sounding despite the healing.

“Rock Lee,” says the medic with a sigh in his tone, a shrug on his shoulders, “He’s as terrible at genjutsu as ever, can’t break them on his own,” he continues familiar and exasperated.

Her first reaction is a wordless wave of guilt.

The second is a realization: the medic is younger than she previously thought

The forehead protector and the Medic Corps uniform make him look older, closer to an adult than the year separating them should provide. He has a purpose, a place in the village beyond just being a mere student.

She wonders if she might also be the same when she graduates…

… if she graduates, that is.

~

A/N: Cameo of another OC for funsies

Externality 6e/? (2018-01-18)

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In the orphanage, family is an impossible dream. Adoption an unheard of miracle, passed down as whispers from the older children to the younger in the dark of the night. The closest thing to bedtime stories they get.

But a team is more attainable and nearly as good–better, if you believe the propaganda. Good teammates will be in your thoughts and in your heart, have your back and your trust.

Together, the ideal team functions seamlessly, different parts of a greater whole. Together, the ideal team can easily defeat an army ten times their size.

They are not an ideal team.

They are not even a team.

Frankly, in all the chaos, it’s hard to tell if they’re on the same side.

Tetsuki jerks backward to avoid a hit, only to duck and get knee to the nose while avoiding a set of shuriken from the treetops. They embed themselves perfectly into her opponent’s calf–he howls in pain and she definitely takes the opportunity kick out at his other leg, bringing him down completely–but they could have easily stuck into her shoulder instead.

TenTen’s aim is perfect, but it doesn’t account for allies getting her way.

Naruto Uzumaki learned this the hard way, kunai sticking out of his shoulder until he pulled it out and used it for himself.

The both of them are absolutely filthy by this point: dirt and blood, a fair share of it their own, staining their clothes. Neji Hyuuga doesn’t have this problem–a neat pile of paralyzed bodies clustered at his feet.

There’s so much going on–so many people and weapons and other metallic knickknacks, zippers and buttons and jewelry–that Tetsuki can’t tell if any of them have tokens on them. She doesn’t have the time to more thoroughly search them, either, not when for every opponent she takes down another two pop up.

It’s no longer just the mob they’re fighting at this point–the ruckus of large scale battle attracting the more active and eager of their classmates. Only the light of the moon and the occasional flash bang illuminates the space, with clashing kunai and the scent of blood in the air, it really is like a true shinobi battle.

At this point, it barely has anything to do with the exam, hidden grudges bubbling up easily without adult supervision. Tetsuki herself is not entirely immune to the fever of battle:

“Hey you,” she says to the sensible son of a bitch Komadori. All the warning she provides before punching him right in his surprised face. But tit for tat is not the way of shinobi, grudges are not resolved by simply balancing the equation, and so what should have been a simple surprise hit becomes a prolonged fight.

This time Tetsuki uses everything she has, doesn’t limit herself or conserve energy for running away. Genjutsu falls over him in layers, shrouding his senses, but his memory and practiced motions pull him through, chakra flaring to throw off her efforts. She responds feral, brutal, and so does he.

They are still fighting when TenTen runs out of weapons, the clearing liberally sprinkled with her efforts, and she has to drop into the fray herself. They are still fighting when Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga stumble into each other–the latter’s Byakugan deactivated for some reason–and are forced to literally fight back to back. They are still fighting when the sun rises, sky blazing orange, and the exam officially ends.

They are fighting up until Yanagi-sensei and Hinoura-sensei bodily pull them apart, well-rested adult selves easily lifting their exhausted child bodies, and it’s as if she suddenly wakes up.

Her entire body throbs furiously, painfully, adrenaline wearing off and leaving her with the consequences of her actions. She squirms in Yanagi-sensei’s hold to search for Naruto Uzumaki, to meet his eyes and apologize because–she forgot about the exam. Forgot about his objective and the token. Forgot about him.

Failed him.

Externality 6d/? (2018-01-17)

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TenTen is somewhat skeptical, approaching with both hands on her kunai–Tetsuki doesn’t take it personally, she knows kunai are more akin to comfort objects than weapons to TenTen–until she reads the crumpled up objective cards:

At Tetsuki’s, she blinks curiously. At Naruto Uzumaki’s, her jaw tightens.

Tetsuki can’t help but to smile at that.

Even if they can’t convince Neji Hyuuga to help, she certainly wouldn’t mind having an expert in ranged weaponry on their side. And it’s nice knowing that TenTen is just as pissed off as she is–their personalities may be different, but their backgrounds may as well be identical.

On the streets, no one gets what they want. But that doesn’t mean they can’t get even.

“Assurance that we’re not here for your tokens,” Tetsuki says, gesturing to the pair of dark purple armbands still on the ground. “Not that we would have been able to get them anyway,” she adds after a slight pause, jerking her shoulder, her chakra-blocked arm swinging almost grotesquely.

“If your fate is to fight half the class then I’m not going to interfere,” Neji Hyuuga states, Byakugan deactivated no doubt due to how nonthreatening she and Naruto Uzumaki are compared to him.

TenTen shoots a glare at him, but stays silent.

Tetsuki can feel her heart crawl into her throat, though she doesn’t know why. This isn’t exactly a surprising outcome.

She doesn’t know what to say.

“You’ve interfered already, asshole,” Naruto Uzumaki says, lifting up Tetsuki’s right arm–so numb she didn’t even feel him grab it. “You could just say you’re too scared to fight. You think you’re great ‘cause you get shit just handed to you in your fancy clan and the teachers kiss your ass? We don’t need help from a stuck up coward like you!”

Tetsuki stares at him in open shock. In her peripheral vision, she can see TenTen do the same.

You can’t just say stuff like that to a clan member’s face!

But maybe having a last name gives him some kind understanding because instead of walking away, figurative bridge burned between them, Neji Hyuuga’s hands dart out in quick succession.

And suddenly Tetsuki can feel the grip of Naruto Uzumaki’s hand around her wrist… before a flood of static sweeps across her nerves, chakra rushing back into her arm without the Jyuuken blocks to hold it back. She hisses in pain.

“There’s not enough time for me to explain how wrong you are,” Neji Hyuuga says, briefly reaching up for the wraps around his forehead before deciding against it.

There is a story there, an open secret of Konoha–the Hyuuga clan is hiding something, but only the upper echelons know what. Even if Neji Hyuuga were the kind of person to share his burden with others, they are barely acquaintances, much less friends.

Maybe in the future.

Naruto Uzumaki twitches, head tilting one way then the other as if in confusion or–more likely, as Tetsuki picks up the sounds herself–in concentration.

Neji Hyuuga is right, there’s not enough time:

The mob is coming.

~

A/N: Whaaaaat? It’s back?

Loyal Needles, 2/? (2018-01-08)

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“No more ritual,” Siobhan says, soot streaked across her face and somewhat literal fire in her eyes.

“No more heroes.”

—

Siobhan comes from a long line of perfectionist, preparatory pessimists–also, powerful psychics.

It’s for this reason that she hates the winter solstice with a passion. The ritual is only a stopgap: it’s only a matter of time before the seal fails.

—

She heals her hand with an irritated flicker of thought, shooting quick, assessing glances around.

Some kind of pocket dimension mirroring the village, it seems.

Given the atmosphere, it’s a fairly easy guess on who it belongs to.

—

Siobhan’s grandmother was one of the original heroes–although with, perhaps, a loose definition of the term hero. She spent most of her life making cutthroat deals with spirits and lesser devils and only paused long enough to stop the greater, chaotic evil from making the world unlivable.

Only the expectations and scrutiny of the world stopped Siobhan’s mother from doing the same.

—

She eyes the other descendants, not suspiciously–she sees them at least every year, they’re idiots not evil–but definitely skeptically.

Of the heroes they may all be, but heroes themselves they are not.

As is, she’s quite sure she’s going to have to ride herd so as to ensure nobody dies.

—

When it came to psychic training, Siobhan wasn’t so much thrown in the deep end as she was chucked in river rapids with stones tied to her limbs and told that only a mere hundred feet was a waterfall.

Needless to say, it is not vanity or exaggeration when she says she’s the most powerful psychic in the world; their home world, that is.

This world is a whole other story.

~

A/N: Sorry for the lack of posting everyone! Just came back from vacation (in which I hung out with my BFF who I haven’t seen in over a year) so I was nowhere near my normal schedule.

Unfortunately(? or probably, something more neutral than that) I will probably not be AS on top of the daily posting as I ought to be because a) I’m tentatively looking for a new job and b) doing another production with Bindlestiff for their April show and so my creativity will probably be funneled more in that direction.

The structure of it is a little unusual since it’s mostly collaborative, and less “4/6 discrete short plays done altogether” and more “a jumble of scenes/stories all set in the same time/place” so I’m kind of seeing if this is something I can explore a different writing style: more specifically, I’m thinking of composing some songs of, like, background characters’ experiences as little palette cleansers in between the back and forth dialogues.

I dunno, sort of like this experimental thing  but less about depression and more about fan lifestyle? I don’t know how real musical scores are… I should probably research that.

Loyal Needles, 1/? (2018-01-03)

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“But,” Riz stutters, staring at hir own hands blindly, searching for answers. None of this past day has made any sense.

“But it was my destiny.”

—

Every year, Riz returns home for the winter solstice. It has less to do with the festive season–though, admittedly, there is some of that, too–and more to do with the whole “hir blood and presence is a vital component of an annual ritual to ward off a demon invasion.”

But there is a feast, at least, which makes it a little bit less of a chore.

—

Almost a century ago, a demon crossed the barrier between the worlds.

Its name has been lost to time, but the tale of its terrible actions have not.

Only through the bravery and skill of five heroes could the demon be defeated.

But not before it got its clutches in the fifthe hero.

—

Riz is nine decades old.

Practically ancient as far as human lifespans are concerned, but young for what zie is.

And thus zie is caught between knowing so much, but not necessarily understanding.

—

The fifth hero, in an act of ultimate selflessness, sacrificed themself to seal away the demon.

However the demon was too powerful.

In order to ensure their fallen companion’s sacrifice was not in vain, the remaining four heroes created a ritual to strengthen the seal.

—

Riz remembers every villager born in the town: what they were like as children and who they became as adults. Many of them have had children and even grandchildren of their own, Riz watching over every generation with fondness.

Zie has also witnessed as the other remaining heroes aged, their own descendants replacing them in the ritual as years passed.

In contrast, Riz is always the same.

—

Every year, the blood and presence of the four remaining heroes is used to strengthen the seal and keep the demon at bay.

For almost a century, this works.

Until it doesn’t.

—

When Riz draws hir bleeding hand away, zie looks around confused and not a little bit frightened. The village around them looks distorted, a warped reflection with all the details unnervingly off; except for the other descendants, there is no one around.

Something is wrong.

Trailblazers (2017-12-24)

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Their romance is nothing like a fairy tale–too steeped in the violence of their work–but it’s real and true and everything Tetsuki wants.

She marries a good man, solid and stable, who makes her feel like she can be a good woman, too, if she just wills it.

Every kiss from Tetsuya makes her feel like the heroine of her very own story.

—

She loves Komadori, but not the way he hopes for–still, he is dear to her, and her to him, and it is difficult to be vulnerable in a world of war.

She reaches out, accepting his touch, and lets the intimacy speak for her.

He is a good man; it’s unfortunate Tetsuki isn’t the right woman.

—

Their’s is a lost connection, a hypothetical disaster in the making.

Azula would as soon kiss her as she would gouge her eyes out–they would surely destroy each other.

Maybe, in another life, Tetsuki would even let her try.

—

Love is soft and sweet again, no longer the clawing desperate creature, thread-like bonds gentle yet firm:

Tetsuki doesn’t need to say how important Maya is when her actions have already done so, words have never been how she communicates with Hiei, and it’s mostly a joke when she threatens to shave off the fox’s hair.

—

Tetsuki gets used to poison kisses, everything growing green around her; she’s lightheaded from giddiness as much as the toxins, luxuriating in the sensation.

Or maybe it’s the sound of machinery, oil streaked across her skin; or the view of the stars from outside the atmosphere, breathless but not suffocating.

Now she’s a heroine in more than just feeling.

~

A/N: Or, some quick three sentence fic about Tetsuki being in love?

Check out the Ask Box Advent Calendar!

ShikaPOV: Shikamaru didn’t want to take his sister’s arm when his got destroyed. Shikako listened (even though she could maybe grow a new one). Shikamaru probably didn’t want to take his sister’s heart when his got destroyed. But there wasn’t time to ask. (Shikako put up a barrier dome on the battlefield and listened to no one. She’s fine. She grew a new one.) Everyone understands why Shikamaru is benched- his chest is still so fragile. (Shikako still thinks her leave is to help her brother).

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Shikamaru sits across from his sister, pushing the food on his plate round and round, sick of eating the same healthy food, sick of always recuperating, sick of this situation.

I have your heart in my chest, he thinks, staring at Shikako and silently, desperately willing her to make sense.

How do I still not understand how you feel?

—

What he’s most sick of is the way that no one will tell him what happened.

Given the way Ino’s breath hitches slightly, Chouji’s blankly guilty expression, and even Asuma-sensei looking away whenever he asks, he can make a solid guess–there aren’t many routes for one person’s heart to be made available to donate.

But he needs to know how his sister died.

—

They are playing shougi, practice for his Shadow Hand as much as it is a way to kill time, when a thought makes Shikamaru laughs–if such a dark sound can be considered such.

Shikako looks up, bewildered.

It takes five minutes for him to stop laughing and by the end of it he has tears in his eyes: he is missing so many pieces of himself it’s amazing he still counts as a person

—

“I was a brother, once,” Dad says, and Shikamaru tries not to flinch away.

It’s either that, or scream.

But Dad hardly ever talks about his younger brother, nor is he one to make such comments without a reason, and so Shikamaru waits.

“If I could have done something for Ikoma, I would have.”

It doesn’t make things better, but at least now there’s some perspective.

—

Shikamaru can tell his sister is getting restless, strained and more irritable the longer she’s stuck in the village.

But Shikako wouldn’t abandon him during what she thinks is his time of need: she thinks her leave is to help him recover.

She hasn’t even considered the alternative.

—

Mum presses shaking hands to his face every time he’s near enough. Shikamaru indulges her in this–he can tell how much restraint she is showing, how she redirects her worry by holding Kinokawa ever closer.

She’s different with Shikako, not in words or actions: her eyes are conflicted, but her hands do not shake.

He doesn’t know what that means, though.

—

If Shikako stays in denial, willfully oblivious to the reason behind her mandated leave, she will grow to resent him.

If he tells her truth, breaking that fragile bubble of peace, she will hate him for making her face it.

There is no way for Shikamaru to win.

—

He doesn’t interact with Team Seven often–mostly through his sister, but Naruto and Sasuke at least are peers if not friends. The same cannot be said of Kakashi Hatake.

Did she learn this from you? Shikamaru wonders as the man known equally for his tragedies and combat prowess slowly lifts up his headband.

What the Sharingan sees is forever imprinted in the user’s memory.

Maybe somewhere in there is the answer he needs.

—

(The maximum time for heart transplant viability after the donor’s death is about six hours. This is assuming the heart is removed without any damage and is kept at ideal conditions after extraction throughout the journey to the operating room.

Maybe with seals that window of time is longer, fuinjutsu far more reliable at storage and transportation of organs than the coolers of chemicals she remembers from before.

Which only leaves the removal.

And the donor’s death, of course.

She just hopes she doesn’t get stabbed through the chest again. It might damage Shikamaru’s new heart and that would defeat the purpose entirely.)

—

There is no winning. This is something Shikamaru must learn the hard way: there is no secret set of moves, no strategy that can undo all that has been done.

There is no winning; only survival and acceptance.

Shikako hasn’t learned this lesson yet, either.

~

A/N: Oh dona, you know just how to get me in the feels. I only hope that I’ve managed to do a fraction of the same back at you ೭੧(❛▿❛✿)੭೨

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edit: @donapoetrypassion wrote a follow up fic! check it out here