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moumouton4 · 9 months

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Tobirama, Kakashi and Itachi's reaction to you saying the safe word😆

Using The Safe Word Hc || Naruto characters x reader

Including : Tobirama Senju, Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha

A/n : Okay now this was so fun to write. Thank you so much for the idea and I really hope you'll like it ! Also @mithology-marveloholick I outdid myself for you in the first part 😎

Warnings : No mention of gender ( unless that one time I wrote "clit" ) reader feels bad about using the safe word but their partner is understanding, rough sex, mention of breeding, marking, wall sex, mating press, doggy style, 18+ READERS ONLY and wrap it before you tap it

Masterlist ⚜

I don’t give permission to repost my work, if you want to share it just reblogue it

Word count : 1791

Tobirama Senju :

He is a big softie just like his brother you can’t change my mind. He is just more talented to hide it

He only let his sensitivity express itself with you, and only during moments of vulnerability. Like in the evening before going to bed, in the morning when getting up, in the shower and well during love making

He always wants to do his best no matter what field he's in ( I see him a bit like Katsuki Bakugo )

So he'd done all the necessary research and had come across the existence of the safe word. The aim of which was to warn the partner with a word to signify that you wanted to stop for whatever reason. He found it interesting because the inventiveness of the word prevented it from being confused with another or a "stop" which could be misunderstood in a non/con intercourse

You'd never really needed to use the safe word because most of the time he was very gentle, his hips moving slowly and sensually, while his mouth sought yours out in loving lingering kisses

Except that today, soft and slow wasn’t really was he intended to do nor what he needed

And that’s how you ended up there on all four on your bed as he railed you from behind

His hand found purchases on the flesh of your hips as his finger dug in your skin. The rapid slapping sound of skin only proved the intensity with which he was taking you

A low growl came from his throat as he felt your walls tighten around his throbbing length. He pulled your hair to make your hair turn towards him. As son as he saw your fucked out expression he inched forward and slipped his tongue inside your mouth

Damn he was so hungry for you today. You wonder what had happened during his day

But your investigation could not continue as his hand left your hip and passed in front of you to make rapid circles on your clit. His touch was so much rougher than usual that it made your hips buck forward

But after some time you started to feel overwhelmed. You guessed he wanted to make it last as long as possible and for that he needed to edge you, just like he was doing for himself

You legs started to quiver and close but he kept them from closing - I mean he couldn’t really know yet

As you felt him deny you a nth orgasm though you couldn’t take it anymore “Sh- shadow” you mumbled as tears started to well up in your eye, you were this close from having drool leaking from your mouth

He didn’t lose a second to react. He pulled out and helped you lie on the bed. His eyes were fixated on you as your chest heaved and fell rapidly

But that’s when you started to feel guilty and after everything you couldn’t help the tears from streaming down your cheeks

His eyes widened “Hey hey Y/n are you okay my Love ?” he got to his knees near your lying form

“I’m s-sorry… I couldn’t hold on until you came” you sobbed as he pulled you against his firm chest

“Shhh don’t you dare apologizing to me okay ?” his tone didn’t leave any room for more words “It fucking doesn’t matter. You do, you Dumbass” he said gritting his teeth trying to stop the smile from creeping on his lips. Gosh even in this situation you thought about his pleasure first

“Here let me help you” he said while picking you up bridal style “We’re going to take a nice bath together. You’re going to relax and… if you’re still feeling bad you could use your soapy hands to help me out mmh ?” he said as the red tinged at his cheeks

You nodded softly against his chest and with that you both went off to the bathroom where he prepared a nice and warm bath for you both

Kakashi Hatake :

To day was what we can call a fucking tiring day. It’s one of those days when he wondered why the heck he became a genin instructor. Like seriously those kids put the mission above their comrades lives

Days like these would lead to two different outcomes. Either training until he can’t stand up anymore. Or fucking you dumb until you’re both completely spent. And today training wasn’t his main priority

That’s how you found yourself pressed against the nearest wall not only 2 minutes after he arrived home. And we all know you like that kind of surprise you naughty little sausage

You were half dressed, your pants discarded somewhere on the floor. While he only pulled his pants down his legs

His strong arms were supporting you against the wall as he kept thrusting his frustration out. This position allowed a deep penetration that made your eyes roll

But as time passed you grew aware of the roughness of the wall. With each thrust your body went up and down and it started to burn

You decided to wait a little bit though. Maybe it’ll go away by itself or his thrusts will become less rough and the burning sensation will disappear. But it didn’t

You also knew that if he acted like that it was because of pent up frustration he couldn’t let go during the day. His pace didn’t decrease in fact it slightly increased as he neared his climax

You couldn’t stand it any longer. Your fingers that were playing with the hair at the nape of his neck suddenly pulled the hair a little - making him moan - as you said “Protection… mmh Kakashi protection” you moaning

At first the words didn’t hit him, his hips continued to work as he kissed your jaw “You’re exquisi- wait what protection ?!?” he stopped right away

Your legs were trembling as your body totally slumped over his.. He held you close ensuring you didn't fall “Are you okay ? Did I do something wrong ?” he was extremely worried despite his usual nonchalance. His mouth, now free from his mask, hung agape as he waited for you answer

“I-I'm fine... it’s just the wall… it burned slightly-” you didn’t even finish your sentence that he pulled you flush to his chest so that your back was off the wall “I’m sorry I got distracted.. it’s just ugh” he sighed

“I know” you said, kissing his cheek “Maybe we can continue but in a more comfortable place ?”

“Are you sure ? I don’t want to impose myself-” He looked at you softly

You tightened the hold of your arms around his neck “Please” you said tightening your inner muscles, knowing it was going to drive him wild

“Ghh ah… in this case” he smirked “Who am I to deny you ?” and with that he brought you to your shared bedroom where he could have his way with you, knowing would be comfortable and eager to take him as much as he wants

Itachi Uchiha :

He actually was the one insisting on establishing a safe word. He knew that as an Uchiha he could easily lose control while mating with you ( yes in my hc Uchiha don’t have sex but mate )

He just needed to be sure that he wouldn’t do anything that could overwhelm you unpleasantly or harm you

A word that would help him ground himself in the present

“What about kitty ?”

“Y/n… this is supposed to ensure your well-being. Please focus”

“Okay fine” you chuckled “What about Mangekyou ?”

His eyes lit up “Yes. That would do. Good job” he said patting your head lovingly

And it was only some time later, when he entered that period in the life of the male Uchihas when having offspring became a real urge, that the safe word was used for the first time ( don’t mind if you aren’t aware of this, it’s part of my own Uchiha hc )

You were pinning against the bed as he held you in a mating press. His length sliding in and out of your at an almost desperate pace. His mouth was hungrily kissing you, nipping at your shoulders and neck in attempt to mark what is his

It felt heavenly. Well the 20 first minutes. Because at this pace you wondered how he didn’t already light a fire between your legs

You didn’t want to use the safe word at first. You knew he would panic and blame himself for hurting you even if he didn’t - yet. But you also know he wouldn’t want you to neglect your well-being for him

You tried to caress his cheek with a trembling hand, thinking it would coax him out of this state. But it didn’t. The depth of his gaze was enhanced by the swirling tomoe pattern in his eyes. Okay you had to use the word

“M-mang-mange- mphf kyou” you tried. You didn’t know talking through this would be so difficult. You couldn’t help but marvel at the balance between pain and pleasure that prevented you from saying the word clearly

Though he did hear you. And as soon as the words hit his brain, he blinked rapidly. His Sharingan faded. His hip rhythm had slowed considerably.

He then took a deep breath and used all his willpower to gently, completely stop all his movements.

He was totally out of breath, but that didn't stop him from focusing all his attention on you: "Are you all right? I didn't hurt you?" he cradled your face in his hands

You could feel him inside of you. He was still hard and throbbing. You felt bad, as if you were denying him pleasure

But as soon as he saw your teary eyes he kissed your forehead “Shhh you did great Y/n. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. I’m proud of you” His words were a soothing balm for your mind and you finally relaxed in his arms

He told the truth. He didn’t mind at all having to stop even if he is in the middle of an urge. He could still take care of his throbbing need later

He slowly pulled out and gathered everything that was needed at the moment. A towel to clean you up, a cup of water - in which he added a bit of sugar just in case, unless you have diabetes.

Then he left you a bit to take care of himself. When he came back to bed he made sure you drank enough water before slipping into bed with you. he pulled you close to his chest, reaffirming how proud of you he was

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pupkashi · 9 months

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congrats on your milestone!! ^^ :3 Could i please request "why are you staring at me?" "you're pretty..." with naruto? i've been having naruto brainrot lately :<

thank u friend !! I’ll happily write for our sunshine boy :3 this is my first time writing him so i hope this isn’t too ooc </3 let me know what you think :]

join the party!

“should i cut my hair? i feel like it’s getting a bit long” naruto huffs, running his hands through his golden hair and ruffling it a bit, smiling when you smooth it down for him.

the konoha sun is beating down on the two of you, y’all blades of grass surrounding the small blanket you found yourselves on. you can’t help but notice how the way the golden rays of the sun look on naruto’s honey skin. his eyes seem to be a bit bluer than usual in this lighting, it makes you fall for him even harder.

“think it looks good a bit long like this” you smile, kissing his cheek and relishing in the way his cheeks turn pink, “you’d look good with shirt hair too though” your words causing him to pout, throwing himself backwards and laying on the blanket, a pout on his face.

you only stare at him as he rambles on about his hair, not completely sure what was saying. you could only focus on how pretty he looked. his pink lips moving as he spoke, nose scrunching adorably when he described how bad he’d look with his hair completely up.

“- what if i tried kakashi-sensei’s hairstyle? is mine long enough for it?” he asks, staring at you expectantly, his eyes sparkling as he smiled up at you, a confused expression on his face before he speaks up again.

“why are you staring at me?” he’s laughing a bit at the way you giggle at him, laying down next to him and brushing his soft hair out of his eyes.

“you’re so pretty” you sigh, a love struck smile on your face as his cheeks heat up once more. “you could cut your hair short as you want and i know you’d still look just as pretty” you mumble, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to his cheek.

“wha- so suddenly?” he laughs nervously, still trying to get used to being complimented so often by you.

“cant call my pretty boyfriend pretty? what has the world come to” you frown, propping your elbow up so your cheek rested in the palm of your hand.

naruto didn’t say anything, his brain too fried from the amount of times you’d called him pretty while looking like you were heaven sent yourself. he only managed to scoot over a bit, arms snaking around your sides and easily moving you so that you were cuddles close to him, your head resting on his chest.

the two of you were quiet for a while, watching the clouds pass overhead. you soaked in the moment, trying to memorize the way the sky was painted in reds and pinks, your eyes fluttering shut and smiling as you got a whiff of Naruto’s cologne.

it was peaceful, listening to the distant voices of people in the village, hearing the wind rush past the two of you, birds singing as they flew by. you wished the moment could last forever, not being interrupted by-

“so should i cut my hair?” his voice was louder than he anticipated, a sheepish smile on his face when he apologized for making you jump a bit.

“nah, i kinda like it like this” you mumble, face still resting on his chest. naruto didn’t say anything, humming in agreement and smiling. if you thought he looked pretty, he wasnt gonna change a single thing.

#naruto uzumaki x reader #naruto uzumaki fluff #naruto uzumaki drabble #uzumaki naruto x reader #uzumaki naruto drabble #uzumaki naruto fluff #naruto uzumaki x reader fluff #naruto x reader #naruto Drabble #naruto fluff

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uh-oh-its-bird · 18 days

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There are so many naruto time travel fics out there but what I need SPECIFICALLY is an ANBU era team of Kakashi, Tenzo, Itachi, and Shisui getting flung into the founders era.

Like. Ok just looking from the political side of it that's;

A) 2 very young and VERY powerful Uchiha's (one of which is the future clan head!! Politics!!)

B) A very fucked up baby mokuton user who's still in the middle of being deprogrammed and can totally pass for Senju

C) The free wild card that is Hatake clan lore on top of having a stolen sharingan. On top of *that* him being the team leader of a team of kids who, in the time period context, should both be at eachothers throats and probably not be expected to obey the commands of someone not only from another clan but a way smaller one

Theres SO much potential there!! So many political implications in virtually ALL of the directions!!!!

Yk what as I'm typing this out I'm having ✨️ideas✨️ so let's make some story points to sort those out:

• I think itd be neat to have this happen like. A year? Ish? Before the massacre? So age wise, and full disclaimer I'm referencing Google and Wikipedia rn so I could totally be wrong, I think that's :

Kakashi (18)

Tenzo (17)

Itachi (12)

Shisui (15)

Could be wrong about the ages but honestly it's my world you're just living in it, so.

Then me going totally purely off of my own headcannons, were going to say they came in a about a year before Izuna died and place the founders ages as:

Madara (23)

Hashirama (23)

Izuna (19)

Tobirama (18)

Big fan of Tobirama being the youngest between the 4 but projecting the aura of someone as old as like. Idk, however old Madara is. Very funny to me, 10/10

• I'm personally a big fan of dogteeth kakashi so we're running with that all the way home. Also a huge fan of the "Hatake's are a distant, more feral cousin of Inuzuka clan" hc along with some sprinklings of "back in the day they had a bit of a Reputation(tm) for being a 'lill wild, and everyone generally tries to avoid them. Which isn't too much of a problem because theyre a very small out of the way clan from Iron, they just have a big reputation in contrast to their size.

In more modern times tho, along with (obviously) having dwindled down to a single depressed teenager, they've become a lot tamer over the years due to village life. Kakashi is a Hatake, 100%, but he is NOT up to the standards of this time. Which becomes a bit funny when people see him, go "oh FUCK it's a Hatake" and then start edging slowly towards the door like he's about to rip their throat out with his teeth. Meanwhile he's standing there like 🧍‍♂️"am I that ugly."

Give me a scene where, finally used to this reaction to him from the general shinobi population, the team starts to use it to their advantage.

"Give us the scroll or we'll let the Hatake off the leash to have his fun with you. He's been awfully hungry latley you know, hasn't had fresh meat in days"

Kakashi, feeling kind of stupid, gave his best growl.

It caused an almost immediate, embaressed flush to rise to his face, but he didn't let up. It sounded more like an almost pathetic puppy growl than anything to his ears, but apparently it was enough to convince the trembling enemy nin because he slowly lifted the scroll up in offering.

Wow. Now he couldn't tell if he was embaressed for himself or for this guy.

Probably both to be honest.

• So like. Itachi is the clan heir. That's big. That's important. Let's do something with that.

First off, I had a great time reading this one fic (tho I don't even remember what the fic itself was about now, oops) where a plot point of it was how Sasuke is just a walking stereotype of main house Uchiha. Like people look at him and they don't just go "oh that's an Uchiha." They go "oh fuck that's an UCHIHA Uchiha." He's so fucking painfully, obviously related to the very tippy top of the clan that anyone not blind can tell. It's in the way he looks, it's in the way he talks and treats those around him, it's in the way he fucking holds himself. You look at him and every other stereotype about the Uchiha clan is there in big, bold letters. (On top of that he's also a dead wringer for Izuna, which I'm such a sucker for and desperatley wish people would do more with)

So like let's give that to Itachi here because it's so fun for several reasons.

First off; Sasuke in this is like. Straight up a doppelganger of Izuna, just a few generations apart. They could be twins. Itachi, as I'm sure you are aware, is Sasuke's big brother. So let's take some liberties and say that Itachi could absoloutley pass as a blood sibling to Izuna and Madara.

He is however 12, so we're also going to say that the only people who get to make this connection is anyone who's seen the siblings when they were also at a similar age.

On top of that however he has the 'walking amalgamation of all the stereotypes of the main Uchiha house' so anyone who isn't blind will look at him and assume he's somewhere in the sphere of 'important main house person' tho who really knows how distant the relation may be exactly. No one !! That's who !!!

Second; He's the fucking clan heir!! What the fuck!! This bit would have the most impact after all the messy time travel reveals when things have settled down a bit, so it'll sit in the back pocket for a bit. Save it for some fun shaking up later down the line so we don't run out of all the fun reveals too fast and bore the readers, yk?

When it is brought up tho it'd be fun to maybe have some fucky Itachi and Madara mutual understandings of the way things work.

• So. Madara is like a bit of a scary bed time story to Uchiha children, right? Like. "Ooo make sure you don't get too obsessive or fall too deep into your grief and always stay loyal to the village or you'll end up just like Madara!!"

Something something Uchiha-Village relationships are tense as hell, something something Madara fucking over a lot of the clan with his whole. Everything., Something something scapegoat and old stories, something something 'people have probably been talking a lot more about how "god dammit this all started with Madara" in recent years.'

Now with that in mind let's take a look of what our time travelers think of Madara:

Itachi is a good Konoha soldier. Itachi (as has been very much fucking proven) would rather beat a possible problem before it even exists with a hammer till it dies an ugly bloody death than even RISK it blossoming into a proper problem. Itachi does not like Madara. Itachi personally, quietly thinks they should maybe wait till the village is formed then carefully arrange a little accident for him before he goes off the rails. He, even more quietly, maybe even thinks it would be a kindness. Allow him to be remembered well by the village instead of scorned.

Shisui I think is cautiously optimistic about him. He's the kind of guy who gives the benefit of the doubt, who weighs the options, risk and reward, but includes things like hope and compassion in his calculations. Yes, Madara was a uhh. Thing. That happened. But in every story his big blow up always come from one specific event; Izuna's death. So if they stop that from happening, wouldn't it secure both a better future for them and Madara? The history books never went into detail about Izuna, he doesn't know what he's like, but maybe his involvement in the future, on Konoha's side, could lead to even more profits for them long term. At the end of the day he's not against killing Madara (though to be clear, they are at first operating on trying to avoid all interactions with historical events and return home without touching things) but it'd be nice, to manage to get a happy ending for everyone. Unrealistic maybe, but nice.

Mmmm hear me out actually, maybe Shisui, after interacting with him a bit, finds that Madara reminds him of Itachi too. They definatley both have that "I would do unspeakable things to even dream of my loved just one more time" energy, if you know what I mean

Anyways; Kakashi and Tenzo are both neutral on Madara. Yes, they learned about how he betrayed the village when young just like everyone else, but they weren't getting the bed time stories and "do this and you'll end up just like him" warnings like the Uchiha's. They're possibly leaning into negative but are detached from the situation enough to just go "well he hasn't done it yet and his brother is still alive so he won't any time soon" and be done with it

• Now, on the the total opposite side of the spectrum you have Hashirama and Tobirama. People are brought up in Konoha to fucking IDOLIZE these guys. You can not tell me our team of time travelers wouldn't be at least a little awed to speak with them.

I think Tenzo would be the most wide eyed about Hashirama, both for the baseline "holy shit that's the Shodai Hokage" and also that fun juicy mokuton user imposter syndrome he has going on for him. That guys DNA is inside his body!!! Holy shit wait does that mean if someone did a blood relation test with them he might read as being related to him?? Fuck were gonna pocket that for now but like. Mmmmm potential.

I'd say Itachi is the most hesitant about Tobirama but again, village loyalist, so.

You know what tho maybe Shisui is the most hesitant about him (though still largely positive) he both def grew up looking up to him but can also see the anti-Uchiha policies people inact now with the implications that Tobirama would have approved of it. He doesn't know if he would, but like, he has to wonder.

Kakashi is probably the most normal about them (and also has experience in being close to a hokage (Minato) to know that at the end of the day they are painfully human) Don't get me wrong, he's still in some sort of awe! He might get a little lightheaded at the thought of seeing the God of Shinobi in proper battle, or the possibility to see the famed genius of Tobirama with all the different jutsu's he's invented. You can't tell me Kakashi didn't spend a little extra time reading about him when he was trying to make Chidori. Honestly I'm gonna roll with that and say he had a bit of a phase as a kid where he was a total fan boy. Maybe sprinkle in the good old HalfHatake!Tobirama hc to add some faint daydreams a lonley babykashi had after his father's death, about getting to meet him as family. Like cmon, little genius idolizing and projecting on some big history figure only to find out they're actually related? Can you say potential?

Anyways he did eventually grow out of the phase, probably got unattached to it all and lost interest after the whole "losing everything he loved" bit of his life. And at the end of the day, he doesn't have any real complex personal hang ups on the founders like the others do. Thus, most normal.

• And then my favorite most special boy, Izuna !! He's for sure the one they're all most neutral about. He's not actually taught about in the academy? There's probably some throw away line about him in some history books somewhere, but he died young and was quickly buried by the looming shadow of Konoha. The only real knowledge had about him in modern times is just a vague "Yeah he got killed by Tobirama which lead to peace being made but also lead to Madara losing his shit"

Poor Izuna he's the linchpin for it all but was left an unremarkable footnote of history. My boy deserves so much better

Tenzo doesn't actually even know who he is, that boy got bare minimum education under Danzo and Izuna was NOT included.

Itachi and Shisui mmmaybe have some small little fun fact here or there buried in stories from the older members of the clans but like. It's gonna amount to just "yeah he had a great katon" and thats about it.

I WILL SAY HOWEVER. Itachi sees him and instantly is that one PTSD dog meme. Sasuke is a BABY but holy shit Izuna looks exactly like he'd expect him to grow up as and it's making him FEEL THINGS. Also he's so bratty little brother coded !! He's an entire 7 years older than Itachi but Ifachi keeps fucking up and trying to big brother him it's embaressing.

And ofc Itachi didn't go into the first meeting thinking he'd see some weird older mirror version of his beloved baby brother who he misses and worries about very very much. So like. There's for sure going to be some conflict there. If their first meeting is a scuffle (which it probably will be) I think Itachi would keep hesitating to attack. On full run away mode. Which is probably for the best bc he shouldn't try to fight Izuna anyways honey he's like double your bodyweight and you're strong but you aren't THAT strong.

• Pointing back at both the 'Itachi does not like Madara and has quiet thoughts about how it'd possibly be in everyone's interest to just kill him' and the 'Itachi and Madara quietly bond over being clain head/heir during stressful times (w pressure from the elders especially)

I can see 2 outcomes of a potential bonding conversation with them:

1) They come to understand eachother better.

Madara wants to be on good terms, he looks at this kid and sees one of his brothers eyes and the others quiet determination. He can tell Itachi doesn't like him for some reason, and it's frustrating because he doesn't know why. He wants him to like him. He wants to be able to offer his hand and have it taken. It hurts, to be looked at with such suspicion from a face that has traces of Izuna's.

Meanwhile Itachi . . . Itachi looks at Madara and he sees someone who gets it. Gets it like no one ever has. It scares him. He looks up at this man, this horror story he's been told to fear becoming, and he sees himself. And this realization shakes him. It makes him think, makes him wonder. He's so, so sure of his loyalty to Konoha. More sure than he is of anything else in the world. But . . . But if something happened to Sasuke, if he had to choose—

And maybe it softens something in him too, along with the (honestly healthy) dose of fear. It forms a little crack in his shell, just enough to maybe, maybe let Madara through. Just a hair.

Or 2) we pull one of those "The conversation ends with them agreeing verbally but mentally they're on 2 VERY different notes."

Madara, nodding and looking at Itachi meaningfully: "Yeah it can be hard, but all we can really do is try to make the world a safer place for the ones we love. (To create Konoha, to keep my clan safe. Izuna safe. And now to keep you safe too.)

Itachi, nodding slowly: "Yeah. No matter how hard it is (even though I think I understand you more than anyone else Ive ever met) we have to try to make the world a safer place (by killing you in your sleep once Konoha is formed) for the ones we love (My clan. My village. Sasuke.)"

• Also pointing back at the 'Hatake warring clan era reputation,' the 'Tobirama is half Hatake' and also now pointing at Tobirama's title as the White Demon. Small thing but it'd be neat if there was some small throw away line that the nickname lowkey started in part because of the absoloutley terrifying reputation of the Hatake combined with Tobirama's own Everything(tm) like it just had some influence on how some view him. Give me Uchiha's making dog jokes ab him it'll be funny

• Ok but now the actual plot thoughts. Yeah I know I kept you waiting sorry about that.

So time travel! Probably due to a mission gone wrong. Some ruins or some ancient crumbling scroll that wasn't even supposed to do fucking time travel but was so old and corroded that it somehow managed to transform into a whole other seal by pure bad luck. Or good luck I guess, considering it could have just turned into a nuke.

Our favorite team of disasters are very very alarmed !!! What the fuck !!! Obviously they don't default to thinking time travel, but they immediatley know something is wrong. The landscape has changed, though the big landmarks are still there. The mission was complete anyways with no injuries so they just retreat to Konoha. Only oops !! It's not fucking there!!!

Queue alarm.

Shisui is the first one to suggest time travel because he's quirky like that. And there's a very easy way to confirm this theory.

(Also we're going to say that Konoha's location is a valley a few miles out from the Naka River that borders the Senju / Uchiha territories.)

This is convenient because that verification method involves checking in on where Itachi and Shisui know the old Uchiha compound should rest.

They do it in full stealth mode, the second they saw Konoha was missing Kakashi as team leader decided they'd treat the land as enemy territory. They all agreed ofc, for all they knew this WAS enemy territory now.

And, ofc, yeah!! There's the old Uchiha compound!! Being active!!! There are people there!!!

"What are the odds Fugaku-sama decided to have the clan return to their homeland for ahh, cultural enrichment?" Kakashi asked weakly.

"Time travel." Was the only reply he got from Shisui, whispered reverently as the boy vibrated with excitement on the branch.

Itachi just gave him a look, radiating a level of dissaproving disbelief that no normal 12 year old should be able to make. Kakashi would know, he was that not-normal 12 year old once.

From there they decide a no interference policy. Hands off guys!! They probably debate it tho, like, a good amount. They all have ✨️opinions✨️ except maybe Tenzo who's lowkey still in the middle of trying to learn how to be a person and is following Kakashi's lead 99% of the time. Especially since they're still in mission mode and this is like a super serious discussion and he really does know the least ab the founders overall.

They probably debate the merits of going to Uzushiogakure bc seal help but it's really far and they don't actually have like, just any leverage with them. They already decided not to fuck with the future so it isn't like they can trade secrets and warnings. At least if shit happens here they have some plausible deniability, being, yk, 2 uchiha's and a senju-passing guy with Mokuton. Kakashi's kinda fucked tho in that regard but he isn't going to be doing the party ANY favors with his clan heritage.

Which means it's time to potentially get desperate enough to interact with Tobirama !!! Which will inevitably lead to them bumping into a Uchiha patrol or something!!! I don't know honestly

• Anyways want Hashirama and Tenzo to interact. He has so many issues like holy shit. Let Hashirama give him the hug he deserves. I want him to violently adopt him. New brother acquired!!!

I said before but Tenzo is still reprogramming from ROOT. Let Hashirama impact that! Let him help! They can make flower crowns and photosynthesize together idk

Hashirama would be so happy to have another mokuton user, I think they should be able to sense eachother extra strong and like 'ping' off of eachothers chakra, it'll be fun

▪︎ I'm not thinking toooo hard about power scaling and this is fanfiction so a) don't quote me on this and b) for the love of all that is holy don't take my words as gospel

But for this fic specifically I'm ranking the founders and Team Ro, weakest to strongest (in a clean, fair fight head on w no time to prepare) :

Itachi (he's fucking 12 guys. But also he is like. FRACTIONS under Tenzo and Shisui. If he were 13 I'd let him be above or at the same level but like. He's 12. Cmon.)

Tenzo - Shisui (they're like JUST under the next 2 tho like seconds behind)

Izuna - Tobirama

Kakashi ( by the skin of his fucking teeth and the advantage that is his stupid amount of jutsu's and lack of self preservation)

Madara - Hashirama

And again that's not counting like. The specific situations, time given to prepare, potential dirty tricks they could play (I think the Konoha tricks would play a fraction dirtier than the others, who are slightly more used to big open battles vs the ANBU squad who does all sorts of shit in all sorts of places) plus like. Mental state and team ups.

Tenzo or Shisui couldn't take down Izuna or Tobirama but if they teamed up I'd allow it. Kakashi would get his ass kicked by Hashirama or Madara but he could survive a minutes longer than the others would

Itachi is doing his best

But like

He's 12 guys

I love him and he is terrifyingly competent but he won't win 1 on 1 with anyone unless he has some sort of advantage. Minus Shisui and Tenzo who he does have the advantage of regularly fighting, so.

• I think they do get to go back home in the end. It takes a ton of work tho and they probably do need to get Mito's help with it, Kakashi can show them the seal they got brought here with but it's an ACTUAL one in a trillion miracle it didn't fucking atomize them. So it needs a lot of touch ups

Anyways !!!

I have a little more rattling around in my brain but I'm really tired and also starting to think about other things now so I'm gonna stop here. Might come back and add to it later so stay tuned if you're into that

Full disclaimer I'm not gonna write this. I don't have the proper energy and it'd probably end up being too ambitious of a project if I tried. I'd love to see it happen tho, so like !! Big open invitation to absoloutley anyone who might want to take even a fraction of the ideas I've listed.

@ me if you do tho I wanna see the final product

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kidsinsaturn · 4 months

Note

OMG HIII! I'M SO GLAD TO SEE YOU HAVEN'T ABANDONED THIS BLOG. YOU'RE LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE CREATORS HERE.

I hope that your life has been well so far and sorry for my little outburst of joy.

I'm really looking forward to your new posts but please don't stress yourself about it.

Have a lovely day

boyfriend obito headcanons

[🗼] just because I've been feeling a bit silly about this little guy, and I know I already have hcs of him but,,, it's not enough

and YESS I may have been off for a year but i'll always have that annual Naruto brainrot that lasts like six months lool but thank you lots anon love yaaa

character: obito uchiha

genre: sfw; fluff; nsfw

warnings: gn!reader; established relationship; silly obito; everyone happy au bc uwu; mention of insecurities; slight size kink

-god, obito has been in my mind lately, and how could he not? he is sooo boyfriend material, he created the basic rules for a relationship to work, he is basically the creator of love

-he is just so silly at the beginning of your relationship!! like!! as if kakashi wasn't the reason you two got together because obito couldn't just go and confess to you!! are you nuts?? he'd lose it

-speaking of which, his confession was probably so messed up, but!! he didn't want to, wouldn't allow you to confess because he has that idea that it should be him who brings the relationship to a start

-"may I have the honor of being your boyfriend?" type of guy

-he literally asks everyone for advice and that's probably how you ended up knowing his feelings. obito told everyone and his friends just passed the word until it landed on you

-regardless of that messy start--obito will remember it and feel bad about it until the day he dies--, obito is a great boyfriend, like I said, he is a bit silly and the thing is, he may have idealized relationships too much

-obito may have watched all those stupid cliche movies in secret and thought that's how relationships are supposed to work!!

-would get into a fight for you, write you love letters, plan a secret date. any situation that appears on the kissing booth movies he is so willing to recreate them lol

-obito believes there is no such thing as the "3-month honeymoon phase" LIKE all the time, all the months, all the SECONDS he is with you should be honeymoon phase. only to be reinforced once you two get married

-of course it is beautiful and everything he does makes your stomach flutter with joy-- he is a gentleman ALWAYS, he holds the door for you, steps in first if it's a new place, and goes behind you everywhere

-and ok this is a bit angsty im sorry but this silly dude right here is very insecure okay:( I gotta be real here

-he didn't have a lot of recognition when he was a little boy and that may have messed him up a little. he will always feel like he is not enough for you, and that may cause some arguments sometimes

-he just says that you are too much for him and that he doesn't provide you that much and you're just like obito please go to sleep it's 4am

-and that's the tiring part probably: that he has these random bursts of self-consciousness at the most random times. you two are just eating and talking about some things your friends did, and oh obito just got this tight tug at his chest the second he thinks too much about your or his male friends. or even if he just saved you in a mission or whatever and it takes him like three business days to realize that he could have done a better job at rescuing you

-just be thoughtful with him ok because he seems the kind of guy that goes to sleep thinking about everything you said, nice or rude. overthinking king

-aside from his little insecurities heheh obito is giving you princess treatment like always and duhh if he doesn't do it, he beats himself up. obito has some "traditional ideas" about boyfriend and girlfriend, such as the woman should always receive flowers, never go alone in the street, and always have something of him with her (like a picture hahah silly boy)

-if you're into something like a sport or ballet or just something that's similar to a performance, he will be there at EVERY show or game, he will not miss any of them, and the day he is not there, that's probably because he is dead

-he is there holding the largest and most obvious poster with your face on the middle and the most Tumblr phrase he could think of. he blocks the view from the people in the back but he does NOT care

-if you are into something more private, obito will always be so happy providing your with materials and just his sweet time watching you as the most marvelous creature the gods ever created

-he always has the best intentions for everything. if something goes the wrong way, he is so devastated. say that you have too much work/paperwork/homework lately and he just wants to relieve some stress off your shoulders!! poor baby just made things worse: everything is on the wrong place and just his help wasn't helpful. obito feels stupid and dumb. he ends up cooking you something

-obito has all the love language because mmm his partner should feel loved in all the possible ways. just give him quality time and that's enough for him

-but overall, great boyfriend, he is your number one fan, admires absolutely everything you do and when you're not looking, little hearts form in his eyes when he looks at you, he is just so smitten he might as well just ask you to marry him after three weeks of dating

nsfw ->

-man gets hard just by hugging you

-please do not make fun of his condition okay:( he was just sexually restrained as a teen, and just overall shy about anything that had to do with sexy times

-my own hot take but obito probably stayed virgin by choice. like he was desperately waiting for the one to lose his v-card with because otherwise he feels like he is betraying his true love

-and ohhhh obito has NO idea of the beautiful, marvelous, oozing body he possesses. he is big, strong, tall, thick, and just mmmmm

-the first time you mention somehitng about his physique, he gets all flustered!! if you were in the middle of the act, he would need two minutes to calm down or he will cum by just hearing sweet words

-beautiful dick OBVS, he doesn't know how to use it, lets be reals. if you are his first time, he is so messy. his movements are so asymmetrical and have zero rhythm. after a few times, he learns

-I can only dream about obito's cock PLEASE. large, thick, curved just the right way to make you squirm. just BIG. his dick just springs up every time he takes his pants off and it hits his abdomen in the most sensual way posible. cock possible as large as your head whaaat

-his pre-cum is so bitter!! the first time you tasted it, you made a face. his cum is even sourer. obito feels a bit bad but he understands and doesn't say anything

-you are literally what matters during those sexy moments. he does not allow himself to feel any pleasure before you. it takes you a lot (just kneeling) to give him a head

-please all your sounds should be moans, or whimpers, or small screams of satisfaction, because if he SEES, or hears, or just senses that he may have hurt you, he stops completely and doesn't touch you until you convince him you are fine

-king of aftercare

#obito uchiha #uchiha obito #obito x reader #obito #naruto #obito uchiha x reader #obito headcanons #obito uchiha x you #obito x you

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deebris · 1 year

Text

Melancholy

Kakashi Hatake x wife reader

Synopsis: You and Kakashi were never passionate, but you got married and developed an affection for each other. You had two children together and your life was peaceful. But a single winter night destroyed you two forever.

Warnings: trauma, misscariage, blood.

Words: 3.5k

Observation: part II here.

Kakashi Hatake is a good man. A skilled ninja, with an exemplary character and an admirable reputation. That was enough for you. You never demanded he be a loving husband, his calm and patient nature was already a huge comfort in your 9 years of marriage.

Many women weren't as lucky as you were. Some poor women suffered at the mercy of violent and cruel men. But few others were much luckier than you and were blessed with a marriage filled with passion and warmth.

You were fine with the way things were. You lived in squalor and Kakashi gave you a home, you had no dreams and he gave you purpose. He graced you with two wonderful children, and you repaid him by taking care of him and being a good wife. You never wanted to be a ninja, but in the midst of poverty this was the only thing that got you a little bit of money. He was a stoic man most of the time, and he wasn't a father who showed much affection with words either, but he had action. He was always there for you and the kids.

You two loved each other, that's for sure. It was impossible not to grow fond of someone like him after years of marriage. Coexistence created a bond between you. But it was never passion. Your relationship with him didn't take off because of passion, which never existed. To be clear, it just wasn't reciprocated. You were head over heels for the man, but he wasn't.

"I made dinner earlier today, I hope the food is to your liking." You said receiving him after hearing his voice announcing that he was home. You noticed the deep circles under his eyes, the day had obviously been exhausting. Being Hokage was difficult, there was a lot of responsibility in his hands. He had already mentioned to you his desire to pass the position on to someone else. Everything indicated that the next Hokage would be Naruto, the boy deserved it after everything he went through to get the title.

"Thank you. Your food is always good, don't worry." Little affirmations like that cheered you up, although you never let on too much contentment so as not to make him uncomfortable. Kakashi didn't handle affection well.

You immediately returned to the kitchen and placed a plate for him on the table. As soon as he finished taking off his shoes at the entrance, he went into the kitchen to wash his hands and sat down, waiting for you to sit down with him so he could start helping himself.

"Where are the boys?" He asked you, finally finding the silence in the house strange. The kids always jumped on him as soon as he walked through the door.

"Katsuo is feeling bad today. He had a bit of a fever, so I put him to bed to rest."

"Is that why you made dinner early?"

"Yes" You gave him a slight smile as you also sat down at the table and helped yourself along with Kakashi.

"But what about Kenji? Where is he?"

"Hinata took him, he and Boruto wanted to watch a TV show together tonight." You were a little nervous about revealing this to him, as you had forgotten to let him know that his son was going to his friend's house. When Hinata showed up at your door this afternoon to take Kenji away, you felt silly, but you let the boy go. You gave your word that he would go to their house. Kakashi was very worried about his children, always wanting to know what they were doing, where they were and who they were with. But it was Naruto and Hinata's house, everything was fine and you would deal with your husband later.

"I'm sorry for not letting you know, I just forgot to-"

"All good." He said it simply. Kakashi trusted Hinata, unfortunately he couldn't say the same about Naruto taking care of a child. It wasn't as if the son was in a stranger's house.

You and Kakashi were married shortly after the Ninja War in a simple ceremony. You met him in the preparations for battle. He found you a beautiful, intelligent and good-natured woman. You went out a few times and got closer. Coming from a very poor village with no family to go back to, you wanted to settle down in Konoha. And thanks to your contribution as a ninja, you were more than welcome. At first neither of you thought your dates could result in marriage, but you both saw that it would be a good thing. It was convenient.

You expressed your feelings to Kakashi after a while. He was sincere and said that he wasn't in love, but that he saw you as a good person, that he admired you, and that he wouldn't mind getting into a relationship with you. You should have been sad, but you felt hope. Maybe you could make him fall in love with you over time. But these days, you're pretty sure you never made it happen.

"Thanks for the meal." He told you as soon as he finished eating and put his plate in the sink. "I'm going to sleep now, I'll wait for you in the room."

"No need to wait up for me, you look tired." He looked you briefly in the eye and nodded as he walked up the stairs. Really a man of few words, you thought.

Kakashi checked on Katsuo when he got upstairs before going to bed. He placed his hand on the boy's forehead and saw that he had a very high temperature. His breathing was also hampered, making it take a lot of effort to pull air in and out of his lungs. He adjusted the blanket a little and smoothed the boy's hair, white like his and his younger brother's. Kakashi's genes were definitely dominant, but the eyes were still yours.

He turned his thoughts from his son to you. It was common for Kakashi to think about his wife during the day. He wondered how you were doing, maybe the boys were too much trouble. He was strict with his children when they threw a tantrum or disrespected you, he would not accept any kind of bad behavior from them towards you. Although you sometimes covered up their bad creations out of pity for their cute faces.

You are a good mother and a good wife.

When you finished cleaning the kitchen, you went to your shared room to sleep and finish the day. You opened the door carefully so as not to make any noise, figuring that Kakashi must be sleeping. You took a shower to remove the unpleasant onion smell from your body. You put on a satin nightgown and lay down on your side of the bed slowly so as not to wake your husband. But Kakashi moved as soon as you laid your head on the pillow. He hugged you from behind and buried his head in the crook of your neck.

"You smell good." He said after a few minutes in silence enjoying the new scent the floral soap gave you.

"Thanks." You said placing your hand on top of his which rested lazily on your belly. You didn't dare say or do anything more and just appreciated his rare gesture. It wasn't common for Kakashi to hug you, let alone hug you in your sleep, although he always said when he thought you were pretty on occasion. But on strenuous days, it was notorious that he got a little clingy on you at bedtime. Like a child clutching his teddy bear to ward off the fears of the night. He said nothing more than the brief comment about how good you smelled and drifted off to sleep.

You had been debating with yourself for a few days now about how you were going to tell Kakashi that you were pregnant for the third time. You have noticed your intense mood swings, becoming more emotionally sensitive. Nausea would come and go, and since your husband was working all day, it would be hard for him to notice any change in your behavior. You weren't gaining weight yet, but cravings for certain foods had already kicked in, plus your breasts were starting to feel sore and slightly larger.

You planned two children when you got married, a boy and a girl. Well, two boys came, but you two didn't care, because you were happy with the children you had. A third wouldn't be a problem for you, but maybe it would be for him. It was stupid to be afraid to say something like that, you two were an adult couple not teenage sweethearts. Now would have been a perfect time to tell if he wasn't so fatigued. A week from now it would be Katsuo's 8th birthday and you didn't want to take away your firstborn's special moment with the news of another child. So maybe it would be better to wait a little longer, then you would tell.

Katsuo was angry when he found out that you were pregnant with Kenji. He was only 3 years old at the time, how could a boy be so aware of his age as to be jealous of his parents? Pregnancy hormones made Katsuo's attitude hit you harder than it normally would. You were worried, imagining that he wouldn't accept his brother, but Kakashi assured you that afterwards he would be excited about the idea of being a big brother. And he was absolutely right.

You couldn't sleep, it was already 2am and you just couldn't fall asleep. Then you can get up to check on your son who was sick in the next room. You thought your insomnia was related to worries about your newfound pregnancy, but as soon as you sat up in bed ready to get up, you felt warm liquid leak between your legs.

You lifted the hem of your nightgown to see a dark stain spread across your thighs and sheets. But how? You couldn't be menstruating, you were sure you were pregnant. Was it all psychological? You had all the symptoms. You weren't feeling any pain, it couldn't be a miscarriage, could it? You didn't really know how these things worked, or why they happened, but you were aware that before 3 months there was a risk. But there was no pain, it should hurt if it did, right?

You immediately burst into tears not understanding what was happening to your body and you shook your sleeping husband for help.

"What happened?" He carried himself drunk with sleep and worried at the desperate tone in your voice. His fears soon led him to think of Katsuo, who perhaps had deteriorated due to the bad situation he was in when Kakashi visited him in his room.

"Kakashi-" you stumbled over the words, not knowing what you were going to say. What needed to be said? What if it was just your time of the month coming up? But there was so much blood, and this had never happened to you. He didn't even know you were pregnant, how to throw all that at him at once?

Not knowing how to express yourself properly, you just turned on the bedside table lamp and showed him the stain. Kakashi saw it and froze in shock. The scene was unpleasant. You crying frantically and the red stain underneath you only made everything darker.

"What is wrong?"

"I-I…" You started moving your hands nervously gripping the dirty sheets, further staining your fingers with the sticky liquid.

He decided not to waste any more time. He gave up waiting for an explanation from you and took you to the bathroom. You wouldn't be able to say anything with the panic taking over your nervous system.

"Do you need medicine?" Kakashi asked you for guidance. He didn't know what to do, damn it, he didn't even understand the situation right. You didn't answer but he insisted "Do I have to take you to the hospital?"

You just nodded your head quickly after his last question.

"Take me to the hospital." you said clinging to his arms. He gently let go of you as he walked back into the room,

He went to put something on and as he hurriedly put on his shirt he called Naruto asking if he could come watch over Katsuo. He got you a set of clean clothes, but you refused and just accepted that he dressed you in a long coat. In Kakashi's head everything was in slow motion, but it only took him 7 minutes to do everything and get you to the hospital

Arriving there you demanded that Sakura assist you, Kakashi knew that she was on duty today keeping an eye on some jounins who were injured on a mission two days ago, so the nurses quickly went to call the woman seeing that it was the Hokage himself who was asking, or rather, ordering.

How could this be happening? you wondered. You were a healthy woman, you always took care of your food and kept in good shape. You were concerned about your well-being.

After half an hour, Sakura confirmed that you were indeed pregnant. It was, in the past.

Even though she explained to you that this could happen, that it was normal, you couldn't accept it. You couldn't care less about how Kakashi was reacting to the news. All you could think about was your little baby, who would never see the world. You think you've never felt such a pain in your heart, loneliness and sadness dominated your mind. So that was what grief was like. You had never become attached to someone to the point of mourning their death. But you already loved your child, you still love. Why did life take your baby away from you?

Kakashi wanted to be selfish and suffer alone after the crushing news. But you didn't look well, either physically or emotionally. You were blaming yourself for what happened, he knew that.

"But I take care of myself and I've had two healthy pregnancies. I barely have cramps when I'm-"

"Y/n-senpai, these things happen regardless of us. It's our body working, and we can't consciously stop it." Sakura tried to get it through your head, to see if it comforted you, but the sadness of a mother who lost her child wasn't easy to deal with. You shut up, which made Kakashi take matters into his own hands. Sakura explained what was needed for you to recover physically, and she emphasized that you might need some psychological support.

"Kakashi-sama, are you okay?" Sakura asked quietly just for him to hear, the woman noticed his melancholy state.

The truth was, Kakashi was broken inside. More broken than ever. Finding out he was going to have a child and losing the baby within such a short time shook him. But he just maintained a calm pose and thanked his former student. Sakura gave you some painkillers, cleaned up what your body had put out, and promised to visit you at home during your recovery, but for now you would spend the night under observation and being cleaned up.

Kakashi worried about his two young children. They were with Naruto and Hinata now, but he couldn't get the bad feeling out of him. He imagined losing the two boys, and tried to push the dark images out of his head. While he didn't know how to act to make you feel better, you cried and cried. It hit you both hard. Neither of you two have spoken directly to each other yet.

When you returned home the other morning, Kakashi felt guilty. He needed to work, but how could he after tonight? He tormented himself for a while and decided to leave things in his counselor's hands for the day. You saw Hinata giving Katsuo soup and Kenji on the sofa playing. The youngest was excited by the arrival of his parents and ran to jump on your lap. But Kakashi was quick to catch him in his arms before he jumped on you.

"Daddy!" The boy yelled in surprise at Kakashi's sudden attitude. He rested one small arm on his father's shoulder and looked at you. "Mommy!"

"Hi, little angel." You tried to make a happy face for him and planted a kiss on his cheek. You were feeling weak and dizzy. You wanted to feel pain just to distract yourself from sad emotions, but painkillers still did not allow you to suffer physically. Perhaps being in pain eased the mental suffering, perhaps made it worse. You didn't know right.

You thanked Hinata for looking out for the boys, and asked her to tell Naruto that you were also grateful for his help. Kakashi walked with her to the door while still holding Kenji. Both waving her goodbye.

"If you need help, or anything else, don't hesitate to ask. Sakura informed me, I'm sorry for you." She said before walking away.

You looked away from the door to a still sick Katsuo sitting at the table, the soup was almost finished and you started to feel worse than you already did. You had lost a child, you were a horrible mother, and meanwhile your other little boy was sick and you weren't there to take care of him. You couldn't take care of any of your children properly. If you had been more careful, Katsuo never would have gotten sick. He would be fine.

You began to feel a terrible fear of losing yet another child. You feared that his illness would get worse and take him away from you too. Was Kakashi feeling how you felt?

You went to him and hugged him tightly, shedding tears for the thousandth time.

"Sorry mom, my love." The boy didn't understand your apology, but he hugged you back anyway. "I won't leave you again." You tightened the hug leaving the boy scared.

"Mom, why are you sad?"

"I'm sad because I was away from you, that's all." you kissed his hair brushed a few strands off his forehead "I missed you."

"But you saw me yesterday, Mommy." he let out a cute little laugh, typical of a child.

"What about me, Mom? Did you miss me too?" Kenji slipped off his father's lap and placed him in the middle of the hug. Kakashi watched his interaction with the boys silently at the entrance to the kitchen.

"I missed you very, very much." You said finally showing some fun grabbing your youngest. Kakashi saw that his children did you good, it improved your mood a little. Though he had thought the boys might overwhelm you, they eased your pain. So he thought he could finally suffer his way while the children comforted you.

Kakashi went upstairs and locked himself in the bathroom in the room you shared. He finally showed the sadness he was feeling to the walls of the cold room and started to cry. He tried to cry silently, stifling some of the sobs that came out of his mouth with his hand. His legs gave out and he slid down the wall until he was in a crouch. Kakashi started to feel his chest get tight and he forgot how to breathe. He tried to scream and no sound came out.

No, not now.

He couldn't have a anxiety attack right now, locked in the bathroom. And he didn't want you to have to come to his rescue, you didn't need another problem to deal with. He forced himself to be calm and managed to breathe again, fast, but breathing. Her body begged for the air it was deprived of for a few seconds. He quickly unlocked the door and sloppily wiped away a few tears. He was going to come down to find you, he wasn't going to be able to be alone this time. He has dealt with many losses in his life, and in all of them he has suffered alone. But now he wanted his family.

He was going to go downstairs again, but he stopped abruptly in front of Kenji's open bedroom door. He saw you sitting on the floor watching the boy play. You should have put Katsuo to rest. You noticed his presence at the entrance to the bedroom and when you saw your husband's red eyes you somehow knew what had happened. You've caught Kakashi crying a few times, but he's never let you see much beyond a few tears. He always isolated himself when he was sad.

You got up and let your child play. When you entered the hallway, you carefully closed the door and immediately hugged Kakashi. He dropped his head onto your shoulders as you both cried. Your tears and his fell together in sync. Both grieving the loss of their son.

"I'm sorry" you said to him softly.

"No. It's not your fault." He lifted his head to look you in the eyes. Kakashi cupped his cheeks, wiping away the tears with his thumbs.

"We'll get over this, won't we?" You asked with hope contained in the words.

"We will." He leaned his forehead against yours as he closed his eyes. "You need to sleep."

You nodded, knowing he was right. "I love you so much" you declared giving him another hug, this time more intense, tighter. Kakashi kissed you on the side of your cheek, and you understood that this was his way of saying he loved you back.

#kakashi x y/n #kakashi x reader #kakashi hatake #kakashi hatake x you #kakashi hatake x reader #hatake kakashi #naruto #naruto x reader #naruto shippuden #anime imagines #anime #imagine #oneshot #x reader #wife reader #one shot #kakashi x you #naruto uzumaki

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panharmonium · 5 months

Note

Hi! I love your Naruto thoughts and meta posts with all my heart and I want to ask your thoughts on something that has been on my mind literally since I was 13: what do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura? I went from being a hardcore shipper when I was a teenager, to being against any romantic relationship in Naruto after finishing the anime when I was in my early twenties. Nowadays I'm very into platonic love and depictions of friendship and I think the anime's obsession with forcing the "romantic interest" curse upon the main female character robbed us of... so much. There are a few wonderful moments in the anime where Sasuke and Sakura acknowledge each other, but because she's always "the girl with the crush", her actions are so often interpret as irrational or selfish by the fandom.

Hi @riemmetric! It's great to talk to you again! Sorry it's taken me so long to answer this; RL has been making demands of me lately and it took me way longer to finish writing this up than I wanted it to (then again, I knew from the minute I read your original ask that my reply was going to get long, so I suppose I should have predicted a delay XD)

It's funny, my sister once asked me to choose between Sasuke or Sakura for an “unpopular opinion” meme, and I ended up doing Sasuke solely because I think the negative fandom opinions about Sakura are so unhinged and divorced from the actual text that I wouldn’t even know where to start. People are entitled to dislike whatever characters they want, obviously, but there are some fandom takes that are, for me, so obviously rooted in bad faith viewings/readings that there’s no urge in me to discuss them. That said, since you asked, I’m happy to go into my own thoughts on this a bit, with the disclaimer for other potential readers that I only write about fandom things for my own personal enjoyment, not as a contribution to The Discourse. If you don’t like Sakura, great! I have no interest in changing your mind. Please consider this a sincere invitation to scroll on by and go enjoy whatever parts of the fandom appeal to you.

In general terms: I love Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship as much as I love all of the relationships in Team 7. If we’re talking about them specifically as a romantic couple, then I probably fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, because I do like them together in a post-canon (to be clear: non-Boruto) setting, after time has passed and they’ve continued to develop individually and reconnect with each other, but I also wouldn’t exactly call myself an intense “shipper,” in the sense that I have no interest in pulling things out from the text and incorrectly citing them as evidence that Sasuke has hidden romantic feelings for her during the canon period. He cares about her in the canon period, just like he cares about Naruto and Kakashi. That’s not up for interpretation; it’s the text. But Sasuke during the canon time period does not demonstrate specifically romantic interest in anyone.

[A note before people who might ship Sasuke with Someone Else emerge to rail against this statement - please just scroll past and continue enjoying fandom in whatever way is most fun for you. It is cool to ship whatever fanon thing you want; I think that’s great! But earnestly citing any loving or emotional thing Sasuke does re: various characters in this story (yes, Sakura included) as indicative of specifically romantic love isn’t supported by the text. I know there are always going to be enormous subsets of any fandom who insist that it is, and I'm certainly not going to barge into anyone else's space to complain about that (because other people having fun together is harmless and none of my business), but I'm not obligated to indulge it on my own blog, either.]

Anyway, that said - the reason why I love Sakura and Sasuke’s relationship (from here on out I’ll use “relationship” in a general, non-romantic sense) is precisely because Sakura isn’t just “the girl with the crush.” Sakura has an arc when it comes to Sasuke, and its trajectory moves in the exact opposite direction of “irrational” or “selfish.” She specifically goes from “the girl with the crush” to “the girl who steels herself and tries to put her personal feelings for Sasuke aside for the greater good” to “the girl who knows she can’t put her feelings aside, but who also knows full well that Sasuke doesn’t reciprocate them, and who still wants to save him regardless, because he matters to her as a person and a friend.”

[I'm putting the rest of this under a cut to save everyone's dash, and also to emphasize once again that this is a personal post on my personal blog which I wrote in response to a question from a personal acquaintance, the full content of which no one is obligated to read. I am not sending this post to random strangers and forcing them to look at it. I'm not even putting it in the character tags. I'm typing it up on my own blog and putting it under a cut. If you already know that you don't like Sakura, but you still click the link/read the post and then feel an urge to comment and complain, I am going to copy-paste this disclaimer and remind you that I specifically recommended that you scroll past and go have fun with fandom in your own way. Thanks in advance for responsibly curating your own fandom experience!]

So, from the top:

1. the girl with the crush

Sakura is, obviously, completely obsessed with Sasuke at the beginning of Part 1. She’s also deeply clueless about him and his history (bizarre though it is, the story seems to indicate that she initially doesn’t know what happened with his family, the same way young!Obito is initially clueless about Kakashi’s father). But what I like about Sakura and Sasuke’s Part 1 relationship is how this changes over time.

The critical scene that kicks this off happens right at the beginning of the manga, when she and Sasuke are talking by that bench - she complains about Naruto and blames his behavior on him being all alone/having no family to scold him; and even says she’s jealous that he doesn’t have parents to nag him all the time. This obviously triggers an outburst from Sasuke, who tells her she has no idea what loneliness means and that she “makes him sick”/she’s “annoying” (importantly, the exact same thing Sakura said to Naruto in anger earlier that day), which in turn prompts Sakura to reassess herself and wonder whether she’s been making Naruto feel this terrible all the time, too:

From that point on, it’s a process of her putting little pieces together. She still has a MAJOR crush, and she still acts like a twelve year-old, but as we approach the end of Part I, Sakura actually has a more accurate grasp on Sasuke’s current state of mind than Naruto does. Naruto is initially excited to fight Sasuke on top of the hospital, because he feels like Sasuke’s finally acknowledging him, whereas Sakura is the one who immediately recognizes that something is wrong about this situation. She is also the one who, after this fight, is concerned that Sasuke is really unwell and might do something drastic like run off in pursuit of the power Orochimaru promised him, but when she communicates this to Naruto, he assures her that this would NEVER happen:

(Sakura isn't convinced, though, because she goes to monitor the exit out of the village anyway.)

I’m not criticizing Naruto for his response here. I ADORE hearing him say that Sasuke is too strong to need Orochimaru, with such perfect confidence - I love seeing how much respect and admiration he has for Sasuke underneath all their fighting, because that’s the whole reason he’s always baiting Sasuke and yelling at him and claiming “you're not so great!” He looks up to Sasuke; he wants to be like Sasuke; he thinks Sasuke is awesome! (It’s that Obito @ Kakashi behavior, you know?) But the fact remains that he is clueless about what’s actually going on with Sasuke in Part 1, and he remains clueless(ly optimistic) for a long time.

(Eg, when he catches up to Sasuke during the retrieval arc and Sasuke climbs out of that cursed seal coffin, Naruto waves at him and calls "Come on, let's go!" as if Sasuke has been successfully rescued and is now going to come running home. Even in Part II, when Naruto hears that Sasuke killed Orochimaru, he beams and immediately says, “So he must be on his way back to the Leaf Village!” And everyone else in the room is like, “....,” because they know better. Naruto doesn’t yet fully understand [or doesn't want to accept] the extent to which Sasuke has willingly chosen this path, and it’s not until after Jiraiya’s death/the Pain attack/the Five Kage Summit that Naruto really starts to understand Sasuke more clearly, which is something he himself admits.)

Sakura, in Part 1, has access to more information about Sasuke - she’s there for his first dissociative monologue during the bells test, she’s there for the curse mark’s placement, she’s there for his first violent transformation in the Forest of Death - she is, in fact, the unwitting catalyst for it (“Sakura…who did this to you?”), and her compassion is the reason Sasuke is later able to overcome the curse mark’s influence - so she has a more accurate/complete picture of “how he’s doing,” for lack of a better phrase, whereas Naruto, who doesn’t know about the curse mark in the first place, is still in the dark. This means that Sakura is able to accurately discern that Sasuke is struggling more than Naruto realizes, and specifically to predict that he’s going to run away.

(This dynamic is then interestingly flipped in the back half of Part II, since at any point after the Five Kage Summit, Sakura doesn’t have access to extremely relevant [if currently questionable and unproven] details that would in any other circumstance inform her behavior).

Of course, just because she has more info in Part 1 doesn’t mean she has some kind of miraculous insight into Sasuke’s every thought and feeling. There are parts of her attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village that are as clueless as any of Naruto’s assumptions, and they showcase the kind of magical thinking common to childhood - like when she says that if he stayed with her, she could give him happiness, she’d do anything for him, even help him get his revenge - this idea that she herself can do something to make him feel better, that she can love him powerfully enough to defeat his pain - obviously none of that is rooted in realism.

Is this part of her approach irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered? Of course it is! But it’s no more irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered than Naruto’s stated plan to drag Sasuke back to the village even if he has to “break every bone in [his] body!”

Hating on Sakura for her Part 1 attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village while simultaneously lauding Naruto for his feels like a bad faith misread of what is, to me, pretty clear narrative intention. The story doesn’t at any point intend for us to see her begging him to stay as a selfish or conniving attempt to get something she wants. She’s begging him to stay for the same underlying reason that Naruto is: she cares about him. She thinks he’s making a mistake that will only cause him more pain in the end (she’s right) and she wants to make it so he feels less pain right now (she can’t. But she doesn’t understand that/isn’t able to admit that, and she’s willing to try ANYTHING that might help).

It’s critical that this farewell scene is set in front of that same bench from their first important confrontation - she references that day and how angry he got at her, and this time she tells him that she understands his reaction. She’s learned things and she recognizes how insensitive she was being back then (“I know what happened to your clan, Sasuke”), even though she still can’t fully grasp all the complexities of the situation. She tells him that him blowing up at her back then helped her understand what loneliness actually meant (as opposed to her previous shallow understanding of it), and she challenges him about his choice right now: "So that's it, you're choosing the lonely path?" And when she tells him that she'll be very lonely if he leaves, we're immediately shown a panel of Sasuke thinking of both his friends, with the very clear implication that if he goes through with this, he will be lonely without them, too - that he's still struggling with the idea of leaving them, no matter how hard he tries to pretend:

Sakura at this point knows that Sasuke isn’t interested in her the way she is in him, but she still wants to give him happiness, however fantastical and immature her ideas sound to us (and, I’m sure, to him). “I’ll do anything, even help you get your revenge/we'll have fun every day, and...and you'll be happy! I'll make sure of it!” - of course, it’s completely childish. It’s irrational. It’s ridiculous to think that any of this would ever be effective, but no more ridiculous than Naruto’s belief that he can simply break every bone in Sasuke’s body and keep him in the Leaf by force.

Both Naruto and Sakura are children who have a deeply oversimplified understanding of Sasuke’s situation. They both still think they can fix him themselves. They both think they can save him themselves. They both think they can convince (or force) him to do what they want, what they think is in his best interests. Both of them don’t yet understand that he has to want to come back, if it’s ever going to mean anything. Their attempts to keep him in the village are immature and unrealistic, yes. What they aren’t, however, is selfish, because neither Sakura nor Naruto are doing any of this with the intention of advancing their own interests. They’re only thinking about Sasuke - how to keep Sasuke safe, how to make Sasuke happy - even when neither of them are taking an approach that will actually work.

Naruto and Sakura are children. They’re afraid of losing somebody they care about. Their attempts to prevent that from happening are desperate and messy and ultimately ineffective, but they are also genuinely felt and rooted in a true desire to rescue Sasuke from his pain, which - and this is the single most important thing that should impact our viewing of Part 1 - is something that Sasuke RECOGNIZES. He doesn’t spend that agonizingly long moment bowed over Naruto’s defeated body so we can pretend he doesn’t understand that Naruto was just trying to help him. He doesn’t take the time to murmur, “Sakura…thank you,” before laying her out carefully on a bench, just so we can discount it and pretend that he doesn’t recognize and appreciate her genuine intention to make things better for him, however clumsy that attempt might have been.

2. the greater good

If Stage 1 Sakura is "the girl with the crush," then Stage 2 Sakura is a progression to “the girl who decides to put her feelings for Sasuke aside in order to protect innocent people, including (but certainly not limited to) Naruto.” She’s driven to this decision by interactions with Shikamaru, who all too recently had to grow up fast himself (“We're not kids anymore...we can't allow a war to break out between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud because of Sasuke") and Sai, who risks his new friendship with Sakura and Team 7 in order to speak some hard truths and deliver one of my favorite lines in the whole story: “I don’t know what promise Naruto made to you, but it’s really no different than what was done to me. It’s like a curse mark.”

(INCREDIBLE. How can anybody be complaining about a season where Sai gets to say something that goes THIS HARD and Sakura LISTENS and takes DRAMATIC ACTION that actually propels the story forward in a meaningful way - )

[Okay, yeah, brief personal opinion interlude - it is just bonkers wild to me that there are people who complain about Sakura in the Five Kage Summit arc. That entire season is the greatest character arc she ever has. Literally she has never been more interesting and dynamic than in Season 10; it’s the first time she ever gets to be as deep and fascinating as the boys; what is everybody so worked up about? Oh, “she lied to Naruto that one time” - Sasuke joined infant-kidnapping baby-murdering human experimentation machine Orochimaru when he was twelve years old in order to (dare I say it????) selfishly pursue his personal goals and yet, somehow, we are still able to root for him. He abandoned his friends/allies to imprisonment and death (Suigetsu and Jūgo) or outright stabbed them in the chest himself (Karin) in order to (SELFISHLY) get what he wanted, and yet, somehow, we are still able to love him, understand him, and be on his side. Naruto is canonically not upset with Sakura about her lie after receiving context for the situation and I think we can probably take our cues from him without feeling the need to bring her up on war crimes; please calm down]

[Sorry, I just really love most of Season 10 and think it’s one of the best examples of how good this story can be when every single character gets to do something that matters (as opposed to things being all Naruto, all the time) so I get a little bit worked up over people complaining about some of the best writing Sakura ever gets. I don’t understand what certain elements of fandom want from her. People complain about her being “useless” and not doing anything that contributes to the story, but then they complain just as much when she does finally get to act decisively and have just as complex/dynamic an inner world as the boys. She’s “weak” for being unreasonably in love with Sasuke, but when she tries to be “strong” and put her love for him aside and eliminate him in order to protect Naruto and the rest of the world, she’s evil, because she should have been more understanding of his situation (despite the fact that she doesn’t KNOW anything about his situation). But then when she can’t go through with killing him after all because she cares about him too much despite the things he’s done, she’s not "compassionate" or "kind" or "a good friend," she’s “weak” again. Nothing Sakura does in S10 is more wrongheaded or rash than any of the batshit, buckwild things Naruto and Sasuke have done in the past (and will continue to do in the future), but when Naruto and Sasuke have big feelings or take bold action, it makes them interesting characters, whereas Sakura can’t breathe in anyone’s direction without being minutely scrutinized for moral impurities.]

Anyway. Back to a more measured response.

Every single piece of development Sakura has with regard to Sasuke in this season satisfies me so much. Her initial shock and disbelief at hearing that Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki? Good, appropriate. The fact that she starts to acknowledge the reality of what Sasuke’s done sooner than Naruto does? Also extremely appropriate, very in-character for both of them. Her taking Sai’s words to heart and deciding that the promise she asked Naruto to make when they were children is causing him to suffer and she has to relieve him of that burden? Juicy! AND thematically significant (promises!!!! the burden that a promise places on a person, especially when it can't be kept - we've seen that before in this story and we'll see it again). Her anguished pivot from wanting to protect Sasuke to realizing that she has a responsibility to protect the countless innocents who will die because of the war he’s trying to start? HELLO THIS IS INCREDIBLE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Her knocking out the classmates who agreed to help her so they don’t have to share in her burden (and so the only person Naruto will hate when it’s over is her)? BRUH. Her being so committed and focused on her goal of saving innocents and protecting Naruto (not just from being harmed by Sasuke/the Akatsuki, but by the possibility that Naruto will someday have to hurt Sasuke himself) that she tries to take everything on by herself and walks into a confrontation that she absolutely cannot win?? INCREDIBLE. (Literally the first time I watched this, I said, “Finally!!! It’s Sakura’s turn to go off the rails!” I laughed with my sister about how Kakashi isn’t even mad, because Naruto and Sasuke have been pulling stunts like this for years and Sakura was way overdue for her own meltdown.) And then, after Kakashi intervenes in the fight - Sakura barreling back into the battle when she realizes he’s going to take on the burden of killing Sasuke himself in order to spare her and Naruto the horror - “I can’t let Kakashi-sensei bear this burden!” I love her for that.

And then, of course, in the end - her not being able to do hurt Sasuke after all. Despite committing herself to the act, despite forcing herself to put her feelings for him aside, despite resolving to stop him from starting a war and killing innocent people, she can’t harm him. She cares about him too much. This, too, is thematically significant - think about Itachi’s “you don’t have enough hatred” - she doesn’t have enough hatred to kill someone she cares about, even if it seems like he deserves it, even if would be the right thing to do to protect others. She can’t do it, and Sasuke almost kills her for her compassion.

I love the dynamic this sets up between her and Sasuke, for a few reasons:

1) Personally, I think Sasuke respects Sakura much more for trying to kill him than he would have if she’d just tried to talk him out of his behavior or beg him to come home (a la their original confrontation in Part 1). This is the first significant interaction he’s had with Sakura in years, and the fact that she does something SO contrary to his memory of her is an important demonstration of the fact that she’s not the same girl she used to be. Sasuke spends a lot of time after his defection declaring to his old team “I’ve changed; I’m not that person anymore,” but this is one of the moments where he’s forced to acknowledge that his teammates have changed, too. Time didn’t just stop for them when he left. While he was turning into someone new, so were they. They grew up without him, and his old memories of them can’t encompass the whole picture of who they are now.

(This is a little tangential, but in general, I love the spectrum of reactions that Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi have in this sequence, and the way that all of them are ultimately messages Sasuke needs to hear. Sasuke - who we know textually regrets what he did here, who apologizes to Sakura for it later - for “everything,” in fact - needs Naruto’s aggressively optimistic open-arms policy, yes, needs that potential, that unconditional possibility of return. He also needs Sakura’s refusal to let him hurt her friends and start a war that will kill thousands of people, needs her surprisingly ruthless attempt to take him down; needs just as much her failure to do so, because it shows him that she still loves him too much to kill him even as she condemns him. And he needs Kakashi’s grim line in the sand, needs someone who very possibly won't hesitate like Sakura (despite the horrifying personal cost), someone who will try to reach him but also won't let him escape and become the next generation’s Orochimaru, who won't let him cause untold suffering to untold numbers of people just because a teacher loved him too much to stop him when he had the chance.

(And then even Kakashi chooses not to deliver a killing blow when he has the opportunity -)

(I know that in fandom people are more likely to be all, “oh, Naruto Good, everybody else Bad,” but I don’t think the narrative frames Sakura or Kakashi as “worse” than Naruto in any way. The story goes out of its way to make it clear how desperately they don’t want to hurt Sasuke and how much they care about him. And [this is just my interpretation, so obviously I won’t claim it as fact], I personally think that Sasuke - Sasuke, who, looking back, can see how lost he was then and how tortured he would have been if he’d gone through with many of his plans - would be grateful to Sakura and Kakashi for making an attempt to stop him when he couldn’t stop himself.)

2) On the other side of this, the fact that Sakura wasn’t able to deliver the killing blow means a lot. Sasuke was incapacitated under that bridge; he was completely at her mercy - but she stopped with the kunai an inch from his back. She couldn’t kill him, even though she knew that he was completely willing to kill her (because he'd attempted to Chidori-assassinate her from behind just a few minutes ago). That’s huge! Sasuke is too out of his head right now to process this or understand it, but later, it's going to matter. She stayed her hand. She spared his life. She loved him too much to hurt him, even when he’d given her every reason to take him down. She hesitated, and he almost killed her for it, but her inability to strike him ultimately gave him yet another chance to come home, another chance to get better, another chance to have a life outside of his pain. Despite everything, some part of her still hadn’t really given up on him, and that knowledge will matter later, when he’s finally able to acknowledge it.

The point of all this is to say that I really have no complaints about Sakura and Sasuke’s dynamic in their S10 confrontation. This season is the point where Sakura fully grows past her “girl with a crush” stage and into her “shinobi must make very harsh decisions” adulthood, but it never means that she doesn’t care about the person she’s trying to take down. Her ultimate inability to deliver the killing blow remains a dangling lifeline for her relationship with Sasuke, an open door that Sasuke is able to walk through at the end of the story (literally, in fact, when Sakura opens that portal for him and saves him from Kaguya’s desert prison, and figuratively, too, when Sasuke apologizes to her).

3. she only wants to save you

The last stage in their relationship is what Sakura settles into during the war arc. She started off Part 1 being just a girl with a crush, then tried to harden her heart and put her feelings for Sasuke aside in service of the greater good, but she was unable to actually follow through and kill him, and because of that, what she’s come to accept by the war arc is actually two things: that 1) Sasuke truly is willing to let her die if it furthers his goals, and 2) she wants to save him anyway.

She has no intention of pursuing Sasuke romantically. She knows full well that Sasuke isn’t interested in her. She even knows that Sasuke isn’t really on their side (there’s a great scene where Sai questions Sakura about Sasuke’s return, and she reassures him that everything is fine, and Sai sadly thinks to himself “even I can tell your smile is fake”). She’s well-aware that Sasuke didn’t try to help her when Madara stabbed her. She’s well-aware that he left her to die in the lava pit. She’s also well-aware that none of this is enough to make her stop loving him. He doesn’t have to care about her - she still cares about him. She still wants to help him. She still wants to save him.

This is not hidden, hard-to-parse character development. It’s explicitly articulated on the page:

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers! She only wants to save you.

I’m not sure if people look at this last confrontation and unquestioningly take Sasuke at his word (as if we haven’t just read 71 volumes/watched 700 episodes showing us how how painfully distorted his thinking is), or if they stop reading/watching before the end of the scene, or if they don’t understand that Sasuke saying something doesn’t make that statement an accurate representation of reality. The entire point of this scene is to show us how deeply mistaken Sasuke is about Sakura (and, by extension, the rest of Team 7). He’s locked into a false pattern of thinking. His single-minded focus on revenge and destruction has blinded him to the unconditional love his friends feel for him; he’s become so accustomed to using others and being used that he can’t understand or accept that someone would care about him without needing a reason, without needing him to love them back, without needing to receive something from him in exchange.

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers! She only wants to save you.

Sasuke matters to Sakura as more than a love interest. He always has. She does love him romantically, yes, but she doesn’t only love him romantically, and her desire to help him is not and has never been contingent on him returning her feelings, romantically or otherwise. Sasuke isn’t able to acknowledge that in this scene, but that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to just sit back and agree with his warped perspective. Kakashi is the one who’s explicitly positioned as the voice of the narrative here. We, as the audience, are supposed to recognize that Kakashi is the one telling us the truth.

[tangential thing 1: You don’t have to love Sakura's last plea to Sasuke here. It’s not my favorite, either - the best part, other than Kakashi’s speech at the end, is the moment after Kakashi collapses when Sakura’s expression changes from pained uncertainty to pure rage, when she grits her teeth together - when I first saw that, I almost leapt out of my seat like “Oh my god. She’s finally going to let him have it. It’s finally happening - ” I wanted that so badly, and I still think it would have been a more effective writing choice for Sakura’s last words to lean more into her anger at the suffering Sasuke is causing all of them (himself included!) and less into yet another of Kishimoto’s “let me have Sakura articulate what a shame it is that she can’t do as much as Naruto despite the fact that I literally just went through a major reveal sequence in the war to show that she’s caught up to the boys; I can’t make up my mind about whether I want her to progress or not” - it’s extremely frustrating (and it's something he does at the very end of the S10 Team 7 reunion, too, which is the ONLY moment of S10 that falls flat for me). But at the same time, even if there are ways this sequence could be more satisfying, it doesn’t change the fact that her plea to him is not remotely motivated by a desire to be with him romantically and not anything to condemn her for.]

[tangential thing 2: I do like how she remembers that moment when Sasuke says “Thank you.” That panel precedes her saying “If there’s even a tiny corner of your heart that thinks about me…” (which I’m sure is one of the things that people like to criticize about this scene, aka “oh she’s sooooo self-centered” etc), but that particular line of dialogue is preceded by that particular flashback panel for a reason: Sakura knows that Sasuke DOES think about her. He thinks about all of them. Sakura remembers that “thank you,” and it reminds her that despite everything Sasuke has done and said since, despite all evidence to the contrary, she knows in her bones that his expression of gratitude back then was genuine. He cared about her once. He cared about all of them. She’s trying to reach the part of him that still does, if it exists.]

[tangential thing 3: The fact that Kakashi says “she suffers from loving you,” and it triggers Sasuke to remember his own family - thinking about how much he suffered (and still suffers) from loving them - “Perhaps…those are the ties to a failed past” - the idea that it’s not worth it to have bonds if it means you suffer this much…that it’s too difficult, it’s too painful, and if Sakura and the rest of Team 7 were smarter they would just give it up (all Sasuke knows how to do now is sever potential bonds before they can hurt him; so why aren’t Sakura and the rest of his teammates doing that, why can’t they let it go, why are they making this so hard - ) << yeah, he clearly doesn't care about her/them at all.]

4. the shadow of my family

This has all been a really long way to answer the original question, but the short response to “What do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura?” is “I really care about it,” just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Naruto, just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Kakashi. And I don’t think the story ever asks me to choose between them.

I’m not sure whether it’s the impact of Boruto-era “canon” that gets in the way of other people approaching things this way (I don’t consider sequel material when I evaluate the original story), or if it’s Kishimoto’s frequent disinterest in/disrespect towards female characters, which yes, does sometimes make it harder, or if it's a shipping thing (bane of my existence), or some combination of factors, but for me, taking one member of Team 7 out of the equation hobbles the rest of the story. I can’t read/watch Naruto while hating one of the protagonists and loving the other three. It doesn’t work like that for me. The story wasn’t written that way, and there’s nothing in the text that would cause me to receive it that way.

That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with disliking one of the main foursome (or any character, for that matter) - obviously we're all going to have different preferences, and everyone is free to enjoy or reject whatever parts of a story they want, or to like or dislike whatever characters they want. I know that some people have more fun disregarding canon and doing their own thing, which is fine. My own personal zone of enjoyment comes from receiving the story as closely to how I think it was intended to be read as I can, and personally, when I look at this particular story, what I see is that all the members of Team 7 clearly demonstrate their love for Sasuke in ways that he himself later recognizes and acknowledges. All of them are driven by their desire to save him and their unwillingness to hurt him. All of them make repeated choices to chase after him when he runs away, to trust him when he hasn't exactly earned it, to give him another chance when he doesn't appear to deserve it. ALL of them, not just Naruto, do these things multiple times throughout the story, and Sasuke owes his life (and thus his eventual recovery) to ALL of them, many times over. Kakashi disobeys Hokage-elect Danzō and breaks the law to negotiate for Sasuke's life with a foreign head of state. Sakura and Kakashi both have opportunities to kill Sasuke in the Land of Iron, and they choose to spare him instead. Kakashi stops Sasuke from killing his only friends at two different points in the story, which would have been a mistake Sasuke couldn't have recovered from. Sasuke would have died in Kaguya's desert dimension if Sakura hadn't saved him (Sakura, who knew that Sasuke wasn't even truly on her side yet, who knew he'd abandoned her for dead multiple times already that day). Kaguya's bone bullet would have killed Sasuke too, if Kakashi, with his intention to die in Sasuke's place, hadn't leapt in front of it (Kakashi, who also knew that Sasuke wasn't fully on their side yet, who also knew that Sasuke had abandoned him for dead earlier that day). Sasuke and Naruto would have BOTH died in the Final Valley if Sakura and a severely injured Kakashi hadn't chased after them to heal their injuries.

Remove any one member of Team 7, and Sasuke never makes it home. Without the combined efforts of all three of his teammates, he doesn't survive. That’s the way it should be, thematically, for a story whose first and most foundational premise was the importance of teamwork, and since Sakura was just as essential to that framework as everyone else, I’m just as invested in her relationship with Sasuke as I am in his relationship with everyone else. You can’t remove one leg from a four-legged stool without damaging the integrity of the entire structure, and for me, discounting any single member of Team 7 irreparably damages the integrity of the entire story.

TL;DR: I love all of the Team 7 relationships, including Sakura and Sasuke's, because despite what some segments of fandom seem to believe, the text of the story never gives me any reason not to.

#naruto #meta #replies #anyway that's that! hopefully that is a helpful answer #thank you for the question! i honestly don't think i would have ever gotten around to writing about this if i hadn't been directly asked #i love talking about the stories i enjoy (obviously; we all do; that's why we're here)#but i'm usually ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about responding to takes that blatantly misread the narrative to justify hating a particular character or ship #mostly because a) it's whatever. as long as people mind their own business and leave me to enjoy myself they can do what they want #and b) some opinions are so divorced from the actual text that they're not worth discussing #like. what's the point of responding to random internet posts saying that sakura was selfishly pursuing sasuke as a lover the entire time #when that is textually and provably not the case?#if you're that committed to experiencing things in direct contradiction to what the narrative is asking of us then just go ahead #is it mildly annoying to me? sure. but so are lots of things and it's better to just let stuff go #like - i initially planned to take this piece of meta all the way up through sakura and sasuke's last scene together #the one where he tells her 'maybe next time' and finally reclaims and redefines itachi's forehead tap (INCREDIBLE. THIS SCENE.)#but ultimately i changed my mind because everything i wrote for that last section was coming out too harsh #i generally prefer to talk about fandom stuff in a chill/friendly approachable way #but i kept thinking about the most obscenely & disrespectfully inaccurate read of that scene i'd ever seen #and i couldn't figure out how to talk about it in a non-scathing way #that scene and the one where naruto gives sasuke's headband back are the ONLY well-written things about the finale of naruto #they are SO perfectly constructed and i can't respond to people slandering either one without feeling an urge to kill #so i just deleted it. partially because again - this is fandom; it's not that serious; people can do what they want #but also because i know i get extra frustrated about people picking over the text and plucking out isolated bits and pieces #to contort into blatantly misinterpreted mutant shapes that 'confirm' whatever pre-existing judgments or ships they had #instead of experiencing the story as a cohesive whole & keeping in mind the greater context of what it's always been trying to communicate #people on this website say 'we all interpret things differently :)' as if it means no one can ever be wrong about what a text is saying #newsflash: not all interpretations of a text are valid. things can't in fact mean whatever you want them to mean.#the ***story*** persists and exists even if the author is dead to you #if you choose to ignore that then that's fine; it's just fandom; who cares. but i'm not going to pretend you're 'analyzing' anything.#(ok now i'm really done. you can see why i deleted this section XD)

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rayshippouuchiha · 1 year

Note

I've noticed you're happy when people share snippets of things they're writing, so today I want to share with you one of the scenes I'm the most proud to have ever written

To give you a bit of context so it makes sense: Time travel fuckery happens when Naruto uses almost all of Kurama's power to get back in time. What little power was left of the Bijuu merges with his body and gives him orangy-red hair the same color of Kurama's fur so he makes himself pass as Kushina's younger brother when he appears in Konoha around the time young Naruto is 5/6 y/o, going by the name of Uzumaki Kurama to avoid raising any suspicious about two Narutos. Shit happens, he and Kakashi fall in love but are idiots who don't communicate. The scene takes place after Pain's attack and Kakashi dying and coming back to life.

The dust has long settled on the destroyed village, and now the moon was high in the sky, watching over Her people in silence.

Tenzō had done an amazing job, Kakashi has to admit. It's thanks to his Mokuton that the people of Konoha have a place to sleep at until the village is properly re-built.

Not him, though. He couldn't fall asleep.

He's not too surprised by the fact that he's awake in the middle of the night. He's used to it. Usually he can fall asleep for an hour or two at some point, but this time is different. He guesses dying and coming back to life will do that to you.

He's not the only one awake. ANBU are patrolling the village. Some of them nod their head at him when passing by, but no one stops to bother him as he stands on top of a mostly destroyed building, away from where the rest of the village is resting.

Kakashi is not on duty. He hasn't been since the day the Sandaime had told him that he was to become a Jōnin Sensei. Yet, tonight he misses the mask. He feels like his head is too full of thoughts, and he needs to put on his ANBU uniform and let that part of him take the lead. The youngest ANBU to have ever been made. The only ANBU with a perfect mission score. He misses not thinking about anything but a mission, his body moving mechanically as his mind takes a step back and rests.

Alas, he can't. He had to give his mask and uniform back all those years ago, leave them in the hands of the Hokage and never take them back.

It's barely past 0300 when someone joins him. Kakashi doesn't hear their footsteps but he does feel their familiar chakra, as bright as the sun and as scalding hot and dangerous as a forest fire.

Kurama doesn't say anything as he sits beside him, and it's in that moment that Kakashi realizes he hasn't seen the man all day, not even when the fight ended and everything went quiet.

Kakashi looks at him, but Kurama isn't looking back. No. He's looking at the village with an expression that Kakashi can't decipher. Oh, but how he wishes that he could. He would give anything to be able to read this man like one of his beloved books.

"I died today," Kakashi finds himself saying, unable, for once, to stand the silence.

"I know."

"I saw my father."

Kurama finally looks at him, and Kakashi can finally see. There's a deep grief in his blue eyes, a grief that looks as old as the man himself.

"How was it?" Kurama asks. He sounds tired, even more than Kakashi feels.

"Meeting him?"

"Dying."

The question hangs heavy in the air, and after a while Kurama looks back towards the village.

"All my life I've seen people either die or leave without me being able to do anything to prevent it. While I was here, I almost forgot how terrible war was for those who survive it," he sighs, then shakes his head. "I know we didn't lose anyone today thanks to Naruto, but..."

But we could have, he doesn't say. But we did, even if only for a short while.

Kakashi finally sits down, and it hits him suddenly that Kurama was probably already around when Uzushio was attacked and destroyed. That he had to witness his home be razed to the ground. His clan, his family, his friends, forever lost. And who knows where those who were able to run away ended up. Did Kurama escape with his parents? With a friend? And where are they, now?

Kakashi already knows the answer to that particular question for sure.

"But we're still here," Kakashi says, a gentleness in his voice he didn't think he was even capable of having. "And, you know, talking with my father made me realize something important."

Kurama looks at him so intently with those deep blue eyes of his, and Kakashi wonders, not for the first time, what is it about this man that makes him want to open up. Hatake Kakashi hates being vulnerable, so why does he want Kurama to know his every secret?

"While I was with him, we talked about a lot of things. I told him about my old team, my students, my mistakes and failures over the years, and," he stops for a moment. Has to look away from Kurama's blue eyes, "I talked about you, too."

There's a surprised sound from beside him, but Kakashi lets his eye rest on the sleeping village stretching in front of them.

"And I realized that, for you, I'd-"

A hand shots out, pressing against Kakashi's lips to silence him. The way Kurama is looking at him now is pained.

"If you're about to tell me that you'd die for me, don't," he sounds even more tired, and Kakashi can see it in the way his body is positioned that he's tense, so much that Kakshi almost fears it might hurt.

Gently, Kakashi grabs Kurama's wrist to pull his hand away from his lips, but instead of pushing it away he keeps it in his.

"I would have, before," he admits. Kurama's hand is warm in his, as he presses it over his heart. He can almost sense its warmth all the way under his jōnin uniform. "But that's not what I was about to say."

He looks at him again, and for the first time in forever Kakashi feels like everything is right in this shitty world they had been thrown in. That everything will be okay, no matter what the world throws at them. And a smile, gentle and small, pulls softly at his lips, hidden under his trusted mask.

For the first time, the little wrinkles forming around his eye are genuine

"I would live for you, Kurama."

#RayRambles #Naruto #GLORIOUS

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stickywhiteash · 6 months

Text

Dumbass (Lesson Learned) || Kakashi x Reader

Takes place right after Naruto Shippuden: Will of Fire movie. Recommended to watch or get the plot of it

Warnings: death and suicide mention, bit of angst Word Count: (1,038)

One would think that coming back from an assignment your worries would be over and done with for at least a day. You’d turn in your papers, go home, rest/recover, then go on another mission.

No.

The news you heard on your way back was “Kakashi Hatake has defected. Do not go after him.” A possible war breaking out between the villages was also looming over people’s heads.

Lady Tsunade was last seen by the border of Sunagakure and Konohagakure, weapons drawn and ready to strike just in case.

Upon arriving home, you did some more information gathering. The real reason why your boyfriend had left was because he decided the best course of action was to suicide bomb the enemy. Some comrades told you that recent news said the village nearly avoided the crisis by the skin of their teeth. Details on how are still pending as neither the Hokage or the other shinobi have come back yet.

Oh how lucky the silver haired shinobi’s best friend is still out on a long mission during the whole disaster. The man would have been shaken like a cocktail while being berated with a megaphone mouth nonstop for hours.

After a long day of wandering the streets, off in the distance, you spot everyone who attempted to stop Naruto and Sakura from saving Kakashi approach the gate. Your jaw clenches. His chakra signature was missing, but Naruto’s is there. You walk up, greeting all the kids forcing a smile. Everyone looked okay for the most part, but tired. Proud, but exhausted. It was when the sea of teens parted that your smile dropped.

Kakashi once again, barely able to walk due to his chakra almost completely depleted. On either side of him are his students helping him up. When his eye locks on to yours and the fabric of his mask wrinkles, signaling the man is giving you a sheepish smile.

Lava coursed through your veins. Your hands ball up into a fist besides your hips. Every muscle screamed to have you step forward and give him a knuckle sandwich. Release your inner Sakura. As much as you want to, you hold your ground.

“You know, for a genius, a goddamn prodigy, you’re an absolute fucking dumbass to pull a stunt like that!”

He chuckles, not saying anything. Whatever you had to yell at him was justified. God it’s embarrassing to have his partner reprimand him in front of a crowd. His students and friends no less.

“You really messed up, Kakashi-sensei.”

“I told you so, Kakashi-sensei, believe it.”

“Wow senpai, you and your partner's bond is really deep.”

“Yes, yes..”

A sigh makes its way past your lips, “I can take him to the hospital from here you two.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mhm. Go on ahead. You don’t need this old fart slowing you down. And Naruto~”

He flinches from his name being sung. The blonde makes eye contact, a bit of fear present in those bright blue eyes.

“Y-yeah?,” he responds, preparing himself to be scolded as well due to disobeying orders.

“Thank you for bringing him back. I’ll treat you to some ramen once you’re feeling better”

“HELL YEAH. I’m holding ya to it, believe it!”

The crowd scatters and you’re left half carrying your beloved to the same destination as the others to get patched up.

Minutes pass by in uncomfortable silence.

Should he apologize? Explain himself? Stay silent? Tell a tone deaf joke? What to say to you in this awkward time. Unsure of what words to give you, Kakashi settles on squeezing your shoulders as tight as he can. It’s not a lot considering his current condition but noticeable.

“You know I’m mad at you.”

Kakashi grunts in acknowledgment.

“But I’m more relieved that you made it back home.”

His muscles relax, putting more weight on you.

“I gotta ask. Are you.. feeling suicidal again?”

A cold black eye looks at you. A sharp pain shoots through Kakashi’s heart.

“No,” he whispers, “I promise. This wasn’t like that.”

“I see. Then why? Why resort to that? I looked home, there was no note. Nothing. Were you just going to leave me like that? They said you walked out the village in the middle of the night without a word.”

Each word wavered as it left your lips. He could tell you were trying to stay strong. Refusing to allow your legs to turn jello in order to make it to your destination. You choke down your tears.

That’s why he didn’t leave a message.

To write the truth and have you blame yourself for not coming home earlier and talk him out of the ridiculous plan that he came up. He couldn’t have that.

It pained him to imagine you crying and holding yourself responsible for something that was his own idea and apparently avoidable.

If Kakashi had died and the plan still failed, the guilt would have eaten you into nothing.

His breath hitched upon the thought.

You were supposed to hear the same reason that everyone else would have gotten. Lady Tsunade sent Kakashi Hatake to his death to save the village. It’s not a better alternative but the burden of blame you’d put upon yourself wouldn’t be as much had it been his own idea.

“I thought there was no other options. Clearly I was wrong. Can’t really promise it won’t happen again. I do apologize that I didn't say anything. I should've left something for you.”

You sigh. Of course he can’t promise something like that. Such things just come with the lifestyle. It’s the thought that counts, you suppose.

“It’s good you taught your students well. Despite that, you know. You abandoned that lesson for the village. Old habits die hard, it seems.”

“Yeah, tried to shoulder all of the responsibility and left my comrades behind—“

“When you didn’t have to! You have people to lean on.”

“Har, har.”

“I’m being serious, Mr. Hatake.” Your head shakes in disapproval. “Well, you clearly learned your lesson. I won’t talk your ear off anymore. Gai can do that for me when he comes back.”

“Actually, can you keep it a secret—“

“Absolutely not. Face the consequences of your actions.”

#kakashi hatake #kakashi x reader #0111.doc #naruto #Yahay! finally finished this one!#cw sui mention #this one not great #I don’t like it #but I got the brain rot out #there were too many aftermath scenarios I can think of #but none really coming to a conclusion #or any Progression that I liked #cw suicide mention

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 2 months

Text

New World (7)

Itachi Uchiha x Reader Fluff

Summary: The world War has met its end and Itachi has returned to his village. He questions whether he should set down his roots here when he meets a stranger. Or rather, a stranger is forced upon him by fate.

Warnings: perverts

Word Count: I want to go on a date with someone. But the thought of having a conversation with a stranger horrifies me.

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

"Onsen! Onsen! Onsen! On~sen!!!" Naruto cannot hold in his excitement. He is all over the place. And the place is not small either. The quarters prepared for him and Kakashi overlook the zen garden in this lone property sitting on the hillside, right next to the temple. There are four quarters in total. And Kakashi has already scanned all four for any more foul play. Foul play, the phrase sounds almost comedic, given the recent events. The view of the dusky sky as the sun slowly bids farewell behind the mountains brings a stillness to the chaos that has been today. Kakashi takes a peaceful moment to appreciate it, while also wondering if his comrades were cursed or blessed. If they are cursed, they have been cursed in a rather beautiful way, he wonders. And just as another second passes, Kakashi suddenly feels the uncomfortable silence that has filled the room. His head whips around to find the menace he is carrying with him. Naruto is sitting on the porch outside, lost in a thought that reflects quite the discomfort on his face. "What's wrong?" Kakashi is genuinely curious. "Just wondering what Y/N must be going through," Naruto mumbles. "She was attacked for being a bit different than others and now her attackers just forced her into an accidental marriage. She barely got to catch her breath. Not to mention her having a nightmare last night."

Kakashi raises his brow at the boy. "And...what were you doing in the night outside?" "Looking for food?" Naruto says it like it is an obvious thing to do. Kakashi comes and sits next to him, taking in one deep breath. "Well, we can only hope she is okay. And if she's not, we are all here for her. And as far as accidental marriages go-" Kakashi runs his hand through his hair- "I am glad she is with Itachi right now." Naruto nods in agreement. The mentor and mentee look at the dipping sun for a few more minutes. "I would have punched Toge if he had succeeded in his plans to marry Y/N," Naruto declares softly. Kakashi's eyes narrow as his mask hides a smile. He pats Naruto on his back in affirmation. "You can have an hour in the onsen, as a treat."

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

Nami too is looking at the setting sun from her bedroom while unpacking your clothes even though it does not bring her any peace. A knock on the door makes her turn away from the scenic view to curse under her breath and grab the closest of her kunai in attack mode. "I come in peace," Kozuki announces, her hands raised to prove her words. "You will leave in pieces," Nami announces, not ready to take another word from Bamboo Village residents. "I swear to the Gods, Nami. I had no idea Toge was planning a quick wedding with your friend," Kozuki presses, taking a cautious step towards her. Nami raises her kunai to point at the woman. "Your people tortured her in her sleep last night-" she takes a step forward, emanating a toxic amount of rage- "sent assassins to kidnap and or kill her, and when that was not enough, your shit excuse of a ninja thought the best course of action would be to get married to her and claim her as his property." Kozuki can suddenly feel the pressure of Nami's wrath on herself. The usually composed woman is suddenly finding it hard to look into Nami's eyes and justify the actions of her village. "I'm sorry, Nami. It was all planned by Fukaboshi sensei and-" "I. Do not. Care," Nami whispers as she now stands close to her, raising the little hairs on Kozuki's back. "If I find any more of your senseis planning something for my friend that would hurt her in any way, I swear on your Gods, Kozuki, I will start from Fukaboshi's house and then burn my way to the other end of your village, with or without the people in it. I will make sure this land is turned to ashes by the next sunrise." Kozuki furrows her brows in shades of anger. She parts her lips to say something. But Nami is already pressing the tip of her Kunai on the woman's chest. "If you think this is an empty threat...or if you think I cannot do such a thing...try me." Silence. Nami leaves the room. Kozuki stands there; still as she can be. For a couple of seconds before her mind regains the grip on the moment and her body begins to shudder in fear.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

Time as a concept has lost its hold on you. You do not remember how you got to the hot springs. Nor do you recall what the ladies said when they greeted you, saw the string on your wrist and guided you to the onsen at the farthest end. It never registers inside your mind the dimly lit area- away from the usual onsen sections- that is wider than your normal spring, decorated with flowers and coloured ribbons. All your body seems to do is dump your clothes in the nearest closet, throw the towel in one corner of the bathing area and then walk into the hot waters to find a comfortable corner where you can let a few tears out. The huge mirror on the opposite wall- where you can see your naked figure crying in the hot waters- makes it a bit worse. A few minutes pass and the tears ultimately stop even though the heaviness in your chest doesn't. Wiping away the residue of your sadness from your face, you blink to bring yourself back to reality, looking around you and wondering where Nami is. Why am I alone here? As if to answer your question, there is a knock on the sturdy wooden partition of the onsen. "Y/N?" a familiar voice calls for you. Itachi's voice. The heaviness in your chest suddenly seems to swirl. "Yes?" "I'm coming in," he simply announces. Your jaw drops in horror. And so does your body; deep inside the water till it is just your face that is visible over the surface. In between the rising vapours that have developed the perfect index of a mist around you, you see him enter in a blue t-shirt and shorts that seem too big for him.

"The...uh...ladies won't let me go to the men's...onsen," he declares softly. He does not look in your direction and instead looks down at his feet and then up at the starry sky. "Oh-" you suddenly seem to recall something from your zoned-out walk to the bath- "they did not let me go to the women's side either. Because of the s-" "Strings. Yes," Itachi adds, raising his wrist to show you his golden beads studded thread still secure in her wrist. Itachi stands there, shuffling his towel in his hand while shifting his weight between his legs. And you simply watch his figure, wondering how this man was once the most dangerous ninja in the entire world. "Do you..." you trail off, looking around before coming back to look at your saviour. "Is it safe to talk in here?" Itachi looks around for a moment before his fingers summon a sound shield around the area. "I'll head back then," he announces, confusing you a little. "No, don't go!" you nearly shout, regretting not setting the right weight of desperation in your voice. "I mean-I didn't mean to...you should stay. Please stay. I'd rather have you here than..." Images of Toge standing next to you at the temple cross your mind, making your spine shudder even inside the hot water. Itachi can sense the uneasiness as he finally looks into your eyes. And he knows that emotion is not for him. Putting the towel down on the wooden bench by the wall, he removes his shirt. A soft 'oh' leaves your lips as you watch the muscles on his back move. Your first instinct is to turn around and give him some privacy to undress. Your second instinct is to smack your insides for thinking of how you want to run your hands on those muscles. Your third instinct is to push your dark urges under the water as they scream for you to turn around and take a peak at the man in his naked glory. Your ears catch the gentle sploosh of water and your skin feels the gentle wave rushing towards your end, telling you he is in the same vicinity as you now. "Is something behind the rock?" Itachi asks before his lungs let out a breath of relief. You shake your head. It's just Itachi, Y/N. Be an adult about this. He is also stuck in a situation with you. Nothing wrong with two adults in hot o-

You turn around. And forget to breathe. Itachi has taken the support of the rock on the left corner of the hot pool. The lanterns are reflecting their warm hues from his face down right to where his happy trail meets the water. Itachi Uchiha's clothes need to do justice to his sculpted body. His arms are toned, his biceps flexing as his elbows grace the rock beneath him. His chest and abs are shaped to human perfection. He has dropped his head back; his hair tied in a loose ponytail, his eyes closed, lost in the relief of the healing hot waters. Even with such a breathtaking view, you feel those soft lights not doing justice to the physical embodiment of the man in front of you. For a moment there, tiny stings of a simmering foreign emotion press inside your chest as your gaze is stuck on the yellow and orange lights of the lanterns having abundant opportunity of touching his skin and bouncing away. You do not realise how long you have been shamelessly staring at him; many times you have run your hands along his jaw before teasing his lips with your fingertips. You do not remember when you started wondering what his neck would feel like under your touch, as your fingers moved on his body inside your mind, grazing the tiny hairs in the middle of his chest, teasing them before reaching over his hard-built core. Your heat builds up between your legs when those mental images of your fingers travelling down, are slowly making their way past the belly button, reaching the happy trail and daring to walk further below the surface of the water. "Stop," Itachi's voice growls as his head whips in your direction and his eyes glow a murderous ember of red. You are frozen where you sit, not moving a muscle while your fogged-up mind is racing to come up with an explanation. But before can say something, a scream can be heard from the other side of the wooden partition that separates your section from the men's. "Aaaah! My eyes! My eyes!!!" a man can be heard screaming from the other side while a few other men can be heard panicking and calling for first aid. You have turned around by now, trying to figure out what happened when beyond the rocks you see a hole made in the wooden walls. But how did he... The mirror on the wall. You turn back to look at the wall for the mirror but it is no longer there. Rather, your body jerks back as it watches Itachi walk in your direction- till he is within four feet of you- before he swings the mirror in his hand towards the other side like a professional putter and stands there until he hears the crash and screams at the other end. You have not closed your mouth throughout the whole act, but you are thankful for the fact that he is wearing black underpants- which are doing a marvellous job of sticking to his skin- as stands in front of you, taking in a lungful of breath to ease back into his usual form while you sit there watching him in awe. A few seconds pass before Itachi kneels where he stands and shifts to the rock next to you. "Are you alright?" he asks. "...we could have just closed the hole," you declare. Itachi nods in agreement, pursing his lips. He pulls on his hair tie, undoing his ponytail before taking a dunk inside the water, wetting his hair, and coming back up. "They could have just opened another one." He finally adds, resting his arms on his knees. He's not wrong. You can no longer hear voices from the other section of the bath. The silence is comforting this time, bringing a bit of ease inside your chest.

"How are you doing?" you finally speak, bringing your knees close to your chest beneath the water. Itachi blinks at the question. "I'm sure getting married was not in your mission itinerary. Are you doing okay?" You can see the split second of the crease pass through his brow while he runs his hands through his hair to push it all back. "Nothing much has happened for me to not be okay." You chuckle, rubbing your hands on your face to stop this sudden burst of grinning spreading over it. "That's good to hear," you whisper more for yourself than for him.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

A Few Minutes Earlier "If they can try to get Toge to treacherously marry Y/N, I won't put it past them to try something foul again." Kakashi declares, taking a clean towel from the pile in front of him. "They sent her away to the last section because of the beads on her wrist," Itachi adds, as he puts on the blue t-shirt provided by the onsen workers in the changing room. "The elders had already planned to separate her from the rest of us that way." "All the more reason for you to stay next to her." Kakashi gently wraps his kunai, covered in a summoning jutsu paper, in between a piece of cloth before tucking it inside the pile of his clothes. That is not much of a job for Itachi. He has surveyed the halls of the onsen house. there are no hidden traps in this place. Just a plain old bathhouse where the far end unit is reserved for married couples. He is polite with his intrusion, and glad that you do not push him away in such a vulnerable position. He has already noticed the peephole in the wall behind you but does not say anything about it as you are already neck-deep in the water and someone would have to be foolish enough to try and take a peak at him. He chuckles internally when you turn around to bare your back at him while he undresses. His basic skill set tells how she should not be looking away from her enemy, to which his mind wonders if she trusts him enough to do so. Itachi's gaze has already studied the two moles on your back when he finally steps into the water. He makes sure you are not facing that peephole for long when he calls for you, indirectly making you turn around while his body likes the feeling of hot water over his skin, undoing all his tensed muscles in his legs and back. Even when he has covered the area with a soundproof shield, even when he has closed his eyes, his sensations are at an all-time high under his Sharingan. He can hear the sounds of men in the bath on the other end of the wall, snickering and scheming next to the peephole, wondering what 'beauty' they will see today. But that is not what stills Itachi. It is the sensation he feels over his face under his Sharingan. It is the familiar small warm hands wandering along the line of his jaw that he can feel inside his mind. Itachi does not move. And surprisingly, neither does his mind. No more calculations are happening in his head when he feels the fingers drop from his jaw to his neck, feeling the curve on his Adam's apple to the little dip down. He can smell you on him. Your redolence is seemingly bringing a positive rush inside his brain, while the sensation of your fingers grows substantially, slowly crawling down the middle of his chest. Lazily reading his abdomen, the fingers do not seem to stop, aiming right for the treasure trail.

He has underestimated the power of an empath.

And gradually, Itachi realises the boldness of those fingers is not the only thing growing. "Look at those breasts! Hohoho! We have won the lottery today!" the whispers from the other end of the bath resonate in Itachi's ears. Before the pervert at the other end can make sense, red eyes bore right into his, burning them with black fire. Itachi is trying to make sense of the unsettling rage building inside him when his body grabs the mirror, walks back into the water and throws it to the other end, aiming for the pervert. The scream and cries from the other end seem to satiate his fury somewhat, bringing him back to you. He sits next to you this time, trying to balance the remains of his sudden uproar inside him. Your presence does dilute it. But the concern in your eyes seems to create another whirlpool inside him, forcing him to take one much-needed dip inside the water. Coming back up, the fire seems to subside a bit. More so when he sees you watch him with a curious intent. Gradually, his heart feels at ease when you smile, more so when you giggle. "Y/N!!" Nami's voice calls out from somewhere outside the walls. Itachi watches you sit up before looking at him. "I should go," you state before rubbing an itch at the back of your neck, "do you mind...?" Itachi drops his head down, closing his eyes before turning a bit away from you. You get up and rush to the floor to grab a towel and wrap it around you. What you do not realise is the slight blush rushing on Itachi's cheeks as his mind can see your figure clear as day despite taking every precaution. Every fold, every dip, every mole, all those pretty stretch marks as you walk out of the water and those beads in your wrist brush past your curves. "See you at dinner, Itachi-san." You bow before leaving the bath. Itachi finally opens his eyes, his hands locked in one another, arms still resting on his knees, his gaze watching the entrance from where you just left. He sits there for five minutes- maybe more, his fingers playing with the beads- still looking at the doorway, seemingly lost in a thought. His breaths are steady, his eyes are relaxed. There are no noises inside his head. Just the resonating image of you grinning at him with unadulterated kindness reflecting in your eyes. In one collective motion, he gets up and runs his fingers through his hair and the soundproof shield drops down with a whispered pop.

"I have pretended to not notice you for her sake," Itachi announces to the wind. There is a split-second sound of one of the roof tiles shifting before the air goes back to the soothing sound of trickling water. "But if I ever get a whiff of you or anyone in collusion with you intending to harm her-" Itachi barely tilts his head in the direction of the 'loose' roof tile and holds the pause- "this village will know first-hand what Uchiha Itachi is capable of."

#itachi #itachi x reader #itachi x y/n #itachi x you #itachi uchiha #itachi fluff #itachi smut #itachi uchiha fluff #maladaptive ninja returns

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historicfailure · 6 months

Text

You just want to continue to work without being disturbed. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently, as Kakashi didn't get the memo.

~ X ~

Hey! Sorry for the longer wait for this chapter. Took me a bit as work really fucked me over. But now the fic can go on, and I try to be more punctual with the future updates ^^

~ X ~

Honestly, you didn’t expect too much to change. Even with all the new knowledge revealed, what really would stop Kakashi from continuing his bullying, just a bit more low-key? Especially as he never apologized. But when you arrived the next Monday at work, you couldn’t help but pause as you spotted Kakashi standing in the entrance at the lowest level. He looked just as comfortably lazy as always, black joggers with a dark gray shirt and a wide, loose cardigan reaching nearly to his knees in a soft, marine-blue cotton. He was looking at his phone, mindlessly scrolling, but in his other hand was a drink carrier made out of a carton with two drinks.

When you stepped inside, Kakashi looked up at the sound of the door opening. In an instant, his body straightened, and he pushed his phone into the back pocket of his jeans.

You paused for a second, only to readjust the strap of your bag over your shoulder and stepped closer. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” As you brushed past him, Kakashi turned and fell into the same speed as you, effectively making it look like you two arrived at the same time. Honestly, you didn’t want to speak with him first thing in the morning, when an entire day of having to argue with the man still ahead of you.

At the end of the entrance area, past the desk with the flirtatious secretary, who looked way too sad when Kakashi passed by her without batting an eyelash, you pressed the button to call the elevator. You refused to look at him, even though you were overly aware of his presence and the fact that he was looking at you. Right, maybe not “looking” per se, but he threw glances at you from time to time, which was enough to unnerve you already.

Still, you didn’t react, just stared at the display calling the floor numbers. As soon as the elevator arrived and the doors sprung open, you stepped past the man inside the small cabin. Kakashi followed, at a much more relaxed and lax pace than yours.

Before you could react, he pressed the button to your floor, as well as the “Close Door” button. The doors slid close just a few seconds later, which left you alone with Kakashi. You merely stared at the display of numbers, breathing out a little sigh of relief when the lights sprung from floor to floor, signaling the end of your uncomfortable stay inside a small space with him.

Suddenly, you looked at the two containers of hot beverages, both imprinted with the logo of a nearby coffee house.

“Coffee?” Kakashi asked, matter-of-factly.

You considered for a moment. Was this an honest effort on his part, or just another subtle attempt to fuck with you? But no, even against your better judgement, you reached over and accepted the coffee cup with a little nod and a weak “Thank you”.

The man shrugged. “No problem. I hope I got it right.”

Cautiously, you took a little sip. And nearly groaned in relief. “No. I mean, yes, you got it right. This is perfect.”

“Good to know. So,” he stretched the single syllable into eternity, just right before the second the elevator dinged to indicate the two of you reached your floor, “can I bring you coffee from now on? From time to time?”

You considered again. Honestly, getting coffee at the start of the day was already a great offer. But was it worth it being so close to Kakashi then, taking something from him? Being indebted to the man in some kind of way? Hesitantly, you stepped out of the elevator, acutely aware of Kakashi still on your heels.

“How much was the coffee? I pay you back.” You were already scrambling for your purse, but Kakashi stepped closer, his hand going up and stopping your every movement. “No need. Take it as another part of my peace offering.”

One of your eyebrows rose ever so slightly. “And the other times in the possible future?”

“That,” Kakashi shrugged, “you have to take up with future-me. You remember our meeting around 1?”

“Yes. I have all the data ready to go.”

“Good. See you then. And…” Kakashi paused for a second, his head tilting ever so slightly to the side. “Enjoy your coffee.”

With that, he brushed past you, leaving you with the cup of coffee, a whiff of his aftershave and lots of uncertainty inside your heart. What was he planning? Carefully, you took another sip from the cup, hummed under your breath, then turned towards your desk with a bit more vigor in your step. It didn’t matter, it was definitely time to get to work, now with an even bigger cloud hanging above your head.

But before you sat down, you spotted one of the now well-known notes, this time neatly glued to the edge of your keyboard, so you wouldn’t miss it.

A little smile flashed over your face, but you didn’t immediately open the note. Instead, you let it rest there while dropping your bag, tentatively placing the cup of coffee on the table, then peeling yourself out of your jacket. At the same time, you greeted your colleagues around with short nods and small smiles, your eyes still flittering towards the note from time to time. Only when you properly sat at your desk, sure no one was looking or busy with their own work, you reached for the note.

I hope you have a good morning. Whenever I see you come in, it sure as hell is a good morning for me.

Short, precise, sweet. You could feel your face warming due to the words, though. Some would consider it creepy to be watched this closely, but somehow, as nothing else had happened - yet - you couldn’t help but be endeared by the mysterious note-writer.

Somehow, this felt like an incredibly cheesy romance novel, the ones you kept hidden inside your nightstand and only read when you had time on the weekends. Gently, you folded the note back and placed it inside the drawer where you kept all the notes, for safe-keeping.

One day, you maybe had the time and energy to actually find out whoever the note-writer was, but now, with the Akatsuki-campaign on your plate, there was not much energy left to care. For now, you could just enjoy the kindness from the enigma of a writer and take it as a little pick-me-up for the day.

~ X ~

The days passed by like this. Exactly like this, to be honest. You would arrive at work, where Kakashi waited in the lobby, always with a coffee at hand. While the two of you rode the elevator, there would be a little chit-chat or a quick talk about work, and when the doors opened, he would casually stroll towards his own desk in his little corner, meanwhile you would walk to your own desk and find a little note there. Always a little compliment, always a little observation which would make you smile, always something positive which could make your day a little bit brighter. You did your work, tried to stay afloat, then shut down your PC at the end of the day and went home.

The rhythm was so strongly established that, when someone actually dared to interrupt that rhythm, it disrupted your entire day. But not negatively. Quite the opposite.

You were in the middle of scribbling a few notes into your weekly planner, trying to determine what task needed to be taken care of first thing tomorrow and which ones could wait a little bit longer, when a hand came down on your desk and rapped its knuckles on the surface.

Kakashi stood beside your desk. With an unusual white, crisp and clean shirt and a pair of dark jeans, as well as a leather bag slung over his shoulder, he still looked like he was ready to start the work day, not to end it, like you were. For a second, your eyes got caught at the hems of his rolled up sleeves, sitting in the crease of his elbows, before sliding up to his face and eyes.

“Yes? What’s up?”

“The ceiling”, he immediately answered, making you chuckle weakly. Though, the laughter was short-lived as his attitude switched to a more serious tone. “Listen, we’re coming along fine with the project, but I want to make sure everything is perfect. Akatsuki is one of our most prestigious clients and the follow-up campaign has to be spotless. Would you mind meeting up for lunch tomorrow to go over the details?”

Inwardly, you groaned at the prospect of having to work through your lunch break, but you kind of understood. You also understood that Kakashi wanted to make sure everything was going well, especially with the data you provided as it was a vital key for the work he had already done. So, you nodded weakly, all the while moving out of your chair and slinging your bag over your shoulder. “Sure. Any café or restaurant in mind?”

“Your choice. I don’t have any specific likes or dislikes.” Abruptly, Kakashi turned away, but paused. “Just… I don’t like sweet things.”

“So, a specific dislike.”

“...Yes.”

“Right after you tell me that you have no particular dislikes.”

“Sorry. I kind of forgot?”

“That you have dislikes?”

“That I have to actually tell people about my dislikes and not act like everyone can read thoughts.”

That sentence sounded so clearly repetitive and studied, you just had to chuckle. Kakashi even overplayed his part: the slouched shoulders, a little pout, the tired eyes dropping even lower than before. Like he wanted to make himself as small as possible, all the while his entire posture portrayed how little he cared. Really, the image of a petulant schoolboy came to mind when one looked at him, and nothing else would fit him better.

A week ago, you wouldn’t have laughed like this. No, you would have been frustrated at his careless attitude, annoyed even that he would joke around like this. Now, you were at least 50% sure it was a joke.

“Alright,” you said, “I get it. No sweets factory and no cake-exclusive café. Anything else?”

“No. That was literally it.”

“Then see you tomorrow.”

Kakashi waved lazily over his shoulder. “Good work today. See you.”

Good work today. Coming from Kakashi, could you take it as a compliment? For a few seconds, you struggled, before your mouth spit out the first thing coming to your mind.

“Good work by you today, too!”

As he was already quite the distance away, your mouth apparently saw it necessary to speak louder than usual. Several heads turned to you, which made your face grow warm, but you tried to not let it affect you. With a small wave, you apologized to the still working members of your firm, who after a few seconds of silent bewilderment went back to their work. And Kakashi? He had turned around as well, a little smile on his face, one hand again up to lazily wave at you, the other still holding onto his bag.

Good. Even though you humiliated yourself a bit, you managed to be nice to Kakashi. No big deal, moving on, and you should really try to find a nearby restaurant or café which would serve food for the both of you, all the while having big enough tables to potentially spread out some documents and one to two laptops.

~ X ~

Honestly, you were surprised that such a place like this working café existed. Each table was wide enough for at least four people, more than enough for Kakashi and yourself, plus your working equipment. There were electrical outlets at the surrounding walls, and separated cubicles for some privacy from other people working there. The young woman at the counter who took your order seemed friendly, promising to deliver your ordered items to your table in a few minutes. The atmosphere was quite cozy, friendly and bright, with big windows which let in the sunlight but also the looks of other people. Though, no one on the sidewalk cared much, as Kakashi and you selected a table a bit further in the back. As you slid into the booth, dropping the bag with your laptop, phone and purse onto the table, you caught a glimpse of the man.

He seemed to pause for a moment, your eyes meeting his for just a split second. His eyebrows rose a bit, but before you could notice more, you let your eyes fall back onto the table and slid completely into the booth. Kakashi followed after another brief pause, just on the side opposite to you. Like this, you could watch his hands carefully unclasping the thin fabric case of his tablet, a keyboard attached to it. He unfolded the tablet, securing it with the dark gray case to make it stand on the table like a normal laptop would, only for his eyes to meet yours again over the upper rim.

“So.”

“So,” you echoed back. While opening your laptop and typing in the password, you glanced at him. “What do you want to know, specifically?”

“Just the general state of you. How you’re doing, adjusting to the increasing workload, such stuff.”

“I’m… I’m alright.” Confused, you paused, hands twitching on the keyboard of your laptop. “Is this some weird check-up on me?”

“Pardon?”

“A weird check-up. Because of… I don’t know, you’re being way nicer to me than before, and you want to see how I’m doing all of a sudden? Is this meeting just a farce to see if I still have a grudge?”

“What? No, it isn’t.”

“Then why are you asking me those strange questions when you invite me to a work lunch?”

“Because that concerns work.” Kakashi looked at you like you suddenly went crazy. “You’re a new hire and Minato asked me to do an evaluation with you. He’s off to acquire a new customer, so he asked if I could jump in.”

“Oh.” Shit. That was bad news. Instantly, you felt your spine straighten out of instinct. Everything to make a better impression on someone who was impossible to impress, as far as you were aware of. But at least it wasn’t impossible to try, right?

One of Kakashi’s eyebrows rose. “Should I be concerned?”

“About what?”

“The sudden rod you shoved right up your a… your spine.”

“You wanted to say something else there.”

“I did, but then I thought that my original comment could catch a sexual harassment case.” He smiled innocently, eyes curled and lips barely raised. But fuck, even though you were all of a sudden nervous and flustered, mildly annoyed by his words and tone, you could feel a single, lone yet terribly fluttery butterfly rise in your stomach. Fuck him and his good looks.

“Anyway,” he shook his head slightly, still smiling as he did so, “no need to worry. I told him that even though we cleared the air between us, doing an evaluation on you would still be highly inappropriate. He wants to see you on Friday, 2pm sharp, in his office.”

“Oh my god. You’re… insufferable.” Breathlessly, you slumped again into your seat. “I think I have a heart attack.”

“If you die in your booth, I will say that it was an accident.”

“Of course, you will.”

“Do I hear some slight animosity? Yes, I’m pretty sure.”

“You’re-!”

Steps closed in, only to be quickly followed by a cheery voice, announcing: “Alright guys, I have your freshly brewed coffees, right here.” The cashier placed both cups swiftly on the table, with small spoons jingling slightly against the porcelain. “And I also have your hearty BLT-sandwich,” the plate with the sandwich was put into the middle of the table, only to be gently pushed into your direction, “as well as the egg-salad-sandwich.”

Kakashi’s order was placed in front of him. One look at the waitress, and you had to hide a little annoyed snort under your breath. If those weren’t the biggest doe eyes you had ever seen, then you didn’t know what else was happening there.

But Kakashi just smiled one of his usual lazy grins at her, not showing one bit if he noticed the admiration of the waitress or not. His eyes quickly returned to your face, with small creases around them telling you more than enough.

“Do you even notice the stares,” you whispered when the waitress left, “and the lovey-dovey eyes anymore?”

He shrugged weakly as he reached for his coffee cup. “Sometimes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Do you ever… react to it? In some kind of way?”

Kakashi laughed weakly. “No matter how flattering that might be, I’m not interested.”

“Mhm.” You wanted to press further, now that he finally opened up a little bit and seemed just honest enough, but you also shouldn’t press your luck here. Besides, why did it matter anyway? Kakashi was still an asshole — and you weren’t interested in him anyway.

Your secret notewriter, however…

Thankfully, it isn’t Kakashi.

With a low sigh, you pulled your sandwich closer. Even though the topic of the conversation wasn’t that appetizing, at least your food looked great. The BLT-sandwich was cut into neat triangles, slivers of the tomato, juicy yet slightly crispy bacon peeking through the green of the lettuce, just held into place by a pair of wooden skewers. Taking one bite, you sighed again, this time in deep satisfaction. Holy, this sandwich was just as delicious as it looked.

Before you knew it, one half of the sandwich you had wolfed down, and you were ready to devour the other half too, before you realized who was sitting right in front of you.

“What?” you asked, defiance tainting the words. “It’s good.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Then why are you looking…”

“Because that was probably the first time you let your guard down around me… for a sandwich.”

“Urgh, shut up.”

“If you insist…” And really, Kakashi closed his mouth, reached over to his plate with the egg sandwich and inspected it. Then, after a moment of quiet consideration, he took it into his hands and took a single bite.

To stare like this was a bit indecent. The tiniest bit. So, you turned your attention towards the laptop in front of you, pulling up some graphs and reports you had collected over the last few weeks. “Alright, I looked at the previous campaign you did for Akatsuki, what I think you wanted to achieve and who you were targeting. Also, I took a look at their goals, their customers then and their customers now.”

“Akatsuki turned from fresh newcomers to a big brand in a relatively short time.” Kakashi paused between bites, thinking for himself. “Their style in clothes changed quite a bit over the years since I worked with them.”

“Exactly. They went from creating smart clothing for any body shape to… catering a more well-paying crowd.”

“You don’t like their change.”

“True,” you admitted freely, “their Pain-series for home clothing was brilliant. The sweatpants changed my life.” That you could definitely not afford their newest line of clothing even though it looked visually appealing and comfortable at the same time, you didn’t have to add.

“Right? Those are my first choice for home office days.” Kakashi chuckled to himself. “Also the paper crane-shirts.”

You sighed weakly. “Oh god, that is so true. Just really nice looking basics with special accommodations, so everyone can fit into them and, of course, pay for them.”

Kakashi nodded. “Designing a campaign for that line was a pleasure. Designing for this campaign though…”

No way. One of your eyebrows rose. Kakashi, admitting to having difficulties? Kakashi, just opening up to anything? Kakashi, actually willing to talk with you?

He noticed, of course. Another bite, a closed-eyed smile, then he continued. “Their new line is… pretentious. They want a down-to-earth campaign, like I did for their breakthrough. But it was easy material to work with. Those clothes just don’t give me anything back.” He took another bite, chewed, then placed the sandwich on the plate. “I just don’t know how to tell them that they changed too much to be down-to-earth anymore.”

“Maybe I can help a bit there.” Your mouth was definitely faster than your brain, and definitely too fast for your own good. But the words dropped already from your lips like morning dew, and Kakashi’s entire attention focused on them.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Maybe… And that is a big “maybe” here,” you paused, breathed in and out, then continued, “if I can show them where the current market lies and that it would be stupid to insist on their previous image, we could turn it around.”

A hard task. Customer-related tasks were always hard, as some customers could be stupidly stubborn. You had seen it all: the most detailed, beautifully created marketing campaigns, pissed into the wind just because some rich dude believed to know better. But you had also seen the total opposite, people accepting marketing campaigns which ran totally against their imagination, but embracing them until they became a huge success. Everything was possible, and it was your job to make sure that it would become a success.

Kakashi nodded. “Alright. I can try to help as much as you want.”

“That would actually be really great.” And you meant it. As Kakashi managed the first campaign and had first-hand experience with the client, he could provide you with really sensitive intel. If he was really willing to work with you instead of against you, it would make things so much easier. Quickly, your fingers flew over the keyboard of your laptop, jotting down notes, so you could remember what needed to be done in the next few days. “Alright, do you still have contact with Akatsuki? If we have a direct in, they might be more willing to listen to us.”

“I know someone,” Kakashi said, “but we need a strong proposal to make this work. He’s… a bit uptight, but really smart and will be neutral, even work with us if he sees our point.”

“Great. If you can, contact him already. If we want this to work out, we need all the help we can get. Meanwhile, I will start to put together some questionnaires in order to gauge the market.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

As you continued to make plans with Kakashi’s input, you forgot about your previous inhibitions. The man proved you wrong so far, acted like he never held anything against you at all, even threw in helpful advice and comments. But that could just be to save his own skin: the Akatsuki campaign would be one of the biggest in his career, considering that his first campaign for them made them big in the first place. He showed everyone that he could make a brand big, but could he deliver once more? The infamous overhyping of a sequel, so true for movies, books and video games, and even more true for repeat performances. There must be a lot on the line for him, so of course, Kakashi had to make sure everyone was performing to the best of their abilities. Whatever he would deliver to his clients would reflect on himself and on Minato and Kushina, on his own creativity and their leadership skills.

Measured at his usual work ethic, when it wasn’t compromised with some kind of childish dislike to his co-workers, he wanted to deliver. Kakashi wanted to show that he still had “it”, and was eager to prove himself. If not to his client, then probably to his parents.

And if he leaves me alone, then maybe…

Maybe you could still somehow work with him and prove yourself, too.

A small smile tugged at the corner of your mouth as you typed away, made plans and notes to yourself. A small sliver of hope, nothing else, but it was more than enough to keep you going — to keep you working with Kakashi as long as he didn’t return to his old ways.

Though, you definitely wouldn’t try to befriend him. Not after the shit he pulled, and not after forgetting to apologize for it.

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