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hikariale · 4 months

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kreepy krawlies!

Returning to a still room which hasn't changed since the morning you left it, everything was as it should be. Until you saw it... Hurriedly returning to the hallway and slamming the door behind you, you pulled up a familiar contact for backup.

characters: cassie cage, jacqui briggs, kung jin, takeda takahashi

content warning: bugs (cockroaches, wasps, spiders) and rats, ask to tag

You thought that Cassie may have more courage than you, but she looked just as petrified when she laid eyes on the cockroach that had besieged you. She wasn't scared, but she was definitely grossed out. It would be a close tie for which person wanted to get closer to it the least, but she didn't have her guns and you didn't have the courage to try to throw anything at it.

"So, sleepover in my room?" Cassie proposed half-jokingly.

"It's still going to be here in the morning if I do that," you protested. You both knew that you had to do something, but without any tools, the only choice was to get closer.

"Maybe it will be dead in the morning! It looks pretty old. I mean- Ohmygod ew!" Cassie's reasoning was interrupted when she saw the cockroach move again. It turned away from you both, slovenly crawling towards the furthest wall. The two of you silently looked at each other and nodded with stony expressions.

An outsider might think you guys were simulating a combat situation the way that you both took tactical stances.

Cassie tried to throw your alarm clock at it, but your last minute objection over the object she was using caused her to miss.

Both of you jump back when the cockroach briefly takes flight, eventually settling in a safe spot underneath your desk.

Your daring in starting to crouch with a handful of tissues in your hand is dashed when the cockroach crawls along the floor again.

"Just hand it over here!" Cassie demands. Even though she gets a little further, her hand recoils as soon as she she actually has it.

The moment she could feel it through the tissues, she dropped everything and backed away, face twisted with nausea.

It's not like you were going to do much, but you are a little agape at the fact that she decided to whip out her phone and take a picture instead of doing... Anything else.

By the point that you are both camped out on your bed, stuck at an impasse with the uninvited guest, Cassie is mostly there for moral support. And comedic relief as you look over her shoulder and watch her frantically text everybody else about the situation.

When you hear a knock on your door, Cassie lights up and answers without hesitation.

Standing on the other side is man of the hour, the real MVP, her father, Johnny Cage with a can of Raid.

You make sure to thank him for coming to the rescue, and he accepts the gratitude with the same humility he always has. Which is to say that he gave you both a cocky grin and said something that made Cassie roll her eyes.

"What's the big deal? It's just a- Oh." Upon seeing the tail of a large rat poking out from behind your bedpost, Kung Jin's flippant attitude righted itself. If the tail was that big, he didn't want to see the full creature. Even with that attitude correction, he still had the gall to give you a little sass when you asked why he thought you were exaggerating.

To his credit, even though he was basically wearing pajamas and clearly ready to go to bed, he pulled his hair into a loose ponytail and straightened his posture.

"Cover the bottom of your door with a blanket and let's get this over with," he ordered.

He's kind of bossy... It would irk you a lot more if you knew what to do about the current situation.

When you ask him why he seems so confident, he just gives you a funny look and says "I wanted a hamster as a kid, but my parents said no."

You're skeptical when he tells you to get food, but when you set down a plastic spoon full of peanut butter and wait, you start to see the animal move.

It was a tense waiting game, but what scared you more was Kung Jin, crouched with his hands poised.

He looks more like an assassin waiting to go for the kill rather than a person trying to catch a rat. Not wanting to break his focus, you stand by the door and try not to make any noise or sudden movements.

The way that Kung Jin scoops the rat up into his hands and traps it against his chest without any hesitation is... Kind of scary. You admire his bravery, but you don't get to say that before he starts yelling at you to open the door for him.

You follow his sprint down the corridor and to the nearest exit in case there are any other doors that he needs opened. He jogs a little further from the building before dropping the rat off.

"Did you get bit?" you ask. After huffing, Kung Jin gives you a sarcastic 'Haha.'

He takes a minute to wash his hands once you guys get back inside. When he leaves the bathroom, he looks at you blankly before saying goodnight.

"Thank you so so so much! I owe you," you say. It's reckless to say to someone like him, but you truly mean it.

Kung Jin snickers a little. "Yeah, you do. If you need anything else, I'm going to bed."

"Wait, Jacqui! What if it explodes into a swarm of baby spiders like in those videos!" before your saviour could deal a swift killing blow to the spider on the wall behind your headboard, you grabbed her arm and yanked her away in momentary panic. For a second, she didn't look like she cared, but after a moment's consideration, she grimaced and shuddered.

"That's just nasty, you know! Now you've got me psyched out. Do you want me to take care of it or not?" Jacqui turned to face you, arms crossed as she complained. Her eyes darted to the wall to keep track of her target. Though you felt a little bad for stopping her, the image wouldn't leave your mind.

"Can't we just.. Remove it? Without crushing it?" your pleas made her sigh with resignation.

"Fine. You got any ideas for how to do that?"

Jacqui's brow cocks as she watches you chug your glass of water while rummaging around your desk for something. When you produce a piece of paper, she gets the idea.

The only problem is that, in the few moments that she watched you drain your cup, the spider graduated from the wall to your ceiling.

"I think you should just let me throw something at it," Jacqui says, but you refuse again. Though she doesn't think that anything spectacular will happen, you seem pretty freaked out.

For your peace of mind, she relents again and decides to adapt the plan to the new complication.

"I'll give you a boost and you can grab it," her offer is sound, but you don't want to get anywhere near that creature. When she asks if you want her to climb up onto your shoulders, you find yourself indecisive.

Because you don't want to freak out and drop her, you ultimately decide to do the capturing. With a cup and a piece of paper to shield you, it shouldn't be too bad, right?

It's bad. It's really bad. The spider keeps moving, and Jacqui has to tell you to hurry it up in between encouragements and affirmations.

You finally capture it! Jacqui helps your awkward descent to the ground, knowing you don't have any free hands to get down normally.

Noticing your jittery state, she takes the cup and paper from you and leaves the room. When she comes back, she's carrying a noticeably different cup filled with ice water.

"You know what? I hope that spider has a big, happy, spider family," she quips.

After seeing how ready she was to turn it into a smear on your bedroom wall, you get the feeling that house spiders don't tend to survive any run-ins with her.

"I don't think I'm the guy you want," Takeda said, handle already on the doorknob seconds after he first entered, "Did I ever tell you about the wasp nest incident?"

"No?!" just the name alone gave you a good idea. Knowing that Takeda used to train with Hanzo, you thought that handling a single bug would be a cinch for him. God knows his reflexes were fast enough. Whenever mosquitoes flew too close to him, he would kill them without fail.

"Well, I was trying to hide and I hid in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it turns out that I'm allergic!" Takeda explained briefly. He ended the statement with a wry smile.

Takeda is smart enough to stay with his hand on the door, but he wouldn't just leave you to your own devices when you needed help.

"I'll be the brains and you be the brawn?" is his suggestion. Though you loathe it, your fear was a less pressing reason to not confront the wasp than his allergy.

"You're not going to like this much," was the first thing he said after you agreed. You kind of hated him for a moment.

He tells you to slowly and calmly walk to the window and open it before doing anything else. The couple of steps it takes to cross your room feels like you're trying to cross a minefield.

Once the window is open, he makes you cross back over. When the wasp's wings flutter for a few moments, you freeze like a statue and Takeda has to walk over and gently pull on your sleeve to get you to move again.

So you have to nudge the wasp into leaving through the window without pissing it off enough to attack you. Takeda makes it sound easy, but wasps always seem pissed off from your point of view.

At least Takeda is able to be a little bit more than moral support when he pulls out some folded brochure and gives it to you to use as a prodding device. It's a lot better than your foot.

He's quick to calm you down when the wasp crawls onto the brochure, putting his hands on your shoulders and halfway pushing you to the window.

He tells you to swat it off, but you drop the entire brochure and close up your window before you can even see it hit the ground.

"Sorry, I hope that wasn't important," you apologise, and you really do regret it now.

"Not really. It was just something I was going to give to Hanzo, no big deal," he teases. Your jaw drops at his nonchalant tone and you can't tell if he's joking or not.

Though you threw the brochure out to get as far away from the wasp as possible, you find yourself following Takeda outside to retrieve it soon after.

#mortal kombat #takeda takahashi #cassie cage #kung jin #jacqui briggs #mk11 #mortal kombat x reader #mortal kombat x #mkx

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songoftrillium · 4 months

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What are your opinions on the invasive species of deciduous perennial vine called Kudzu?

From a Werewolf: the Apocalypse standpoint, I believe they've greatly benefitted from the spiritual and physical destruction of the wild spaces in the southern United States, making it a formidable opponent to the Garou, and an excellent patron for the Black Spiral Dancers. If one were to look at how it destroys environments, the umbral influence would be many magnitudes worse, so I can imagine it having animated vines with many spirits ensnared and being strangled, leaving them as easy pickings for BSD Fetishes/Talismans.

W:tE's setting in the Pacific Northwest doesn't have nearly as strong a presence of Kudzu. Like the climate where Kudzu originates, it gets quite cold here, causing it to seasonally die back. Himalayan Blackberry however is equally destructive, choking out competing native plant life and benefitting from fire in ways their neighboring plants don't. This has left it to form many large brambles, and you'll be seeing Himalayan Blackberry in action in the book's opening comic: Cracking the Bone.

Here are the stats we'll be using for Himalayan Blackberry:

Himalayan Blackberry (7) Patron of Strength

“Sleep strong little seed Choke the Wyld and Weaver Berries for your grave” Ranko “Comfort-Crusher” -Takeda, Khan Histpah

Once thought to be a useful fruit, humanity’s hubris led to cultivation getting out of hand. Now this plant is throttling the common plants around its growing habitats. Sadly for the majority of overgrowth found in the western part of the Americas, this plant is highly flammable when dry but has roots deep enough to survive when other plants get flensed. Those roots help drain their neighbors by going deeper than they ever hoped. The Wyrm saw the way this Patron was denying both Wyld and Weaver, the potential for more power to drown out any rivals they had was too alluring for Himalayan Blackberry to deny. Now his children spread him to places that are sacred to Gaia and the basic human population, driving them to deal with infestations or suffer.

Individual Traits: Bastards of Himalayan Blackberry gain 1 dot of Strength even if this takes them above 5 in Homid form. They also gain 2 dots of Power renown (or its equivalent for the corrupted Fera).

Pack Traits: The group can share the Gift Falcon’s Grasp and 2 dots of Survival and Primal-Urge. Some say that those truly blessed by Himalayan Blackberry will always breed a true shifter with a Kinfolk, though the Patron himself has not accepted or denied these claims.

Ban: Whenever the pack kills an impressive enemy or one of their members falls, they must either bury the being with handfuls of Himalayan Blackberry seeds or cremate them to start a wildfire. Failure to do so brings the enmity of this Patron down upon the pack.

#world of darkness #werewolf: the apocalypse #werewolf the apocalypse #dead mountain #w5 #WTA #WTA5 #werewolftheapocalypse #owod #world building

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reccyls · 10 months

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Hideyoshi's Sequel Summary - Common Route (Ch 1-6)

This is a loosey-goosey summary of Hideyoshi's sequel from what I remember after blasting through about 2 routes in 1.5 days due to the election, haha. Some little portions may be very slightly out of order and I have probably left out some of the less plot-relevant moments/interactions but the general gist of everything should be right.

Also this is nearly 4k words I'm so sorry

Warnings:

Described gore/gruesomeness

A suicide attempt

Continuations:

Tragic End | Blissful End | Passionate End

As all Ikesen sequels do, Hideyoshi's starts out with Mai returning to Azuchi following the attack on Nobunaga's castle and her travel guide blank. As she tries to make her way to the others, worried, she is surrounded by a group bandits who look to be in the human trafficking business and taking advantage of the chaos in Azuchi. Just as she's about to try making a break for it, Hideyoshi comes swooping in and saves the day, beating down all of the bandits singlehandedly. After Mai is saved, they share a sweet reunion and moment together. However, they are being watched in that moment by spies that Kicho had planted in Azuchi...

Later, Mai sits in on a war council. Unrest is rising in surrounding territories due to the attack on Azuchi, and the warlords have their hands full dealing with them all. Although the conflict with the Ikko-Ikki is dealt with (following Hideyoshi's eternal route) and a ceasefire has been brokered with the Uesugi-Takeda forces in the meantime, not all is well. Busiest of all is Hideyoshi, who is sent every which way in order to help act as a mediator between various uneasy and discontent factions. During this time, Mai is also introduced to Keiji, who reports that Kicho was the one behind the attack on Azuchi and that he is working together with the presumed-dead Motonari. The pair appear to be distributing weaponry, especially guns, to the populace: a sample has been procured and Nobunaga looks to Mai, asking her whether she thinks she, with no training, could use this. Mai herself is very uneasy about the thought of actually using a gun to hurt someone, but she knows that a gun isn't actually all that difficult to use. She answers that she would be able to use the pistol with minimal training, confirming Nobunaga's suspicions.

Everyone gets busy. Hideyoshi leaves to go help mediate between factions in a bordering province, and Mai has a full day of seamstress work ahead of her at Azuchi Castle. They shared a goodbye kiss as is usual, but Hideyoshi jolts as if startled. He said he felt something on his lips as they kissed. Mai didn't notice anything, and suggests that maybe it was some static? After a quick explanation of what static buildup is, they dismiss it since it doesn't seem to be anything major, and go their separate ways.

As Mai works, Ieyasu and Mitsunari drop by with a request to mend their clothes too. Mai accepts, and after a moment of silence, Ieyasu remarks that Hideyoshi really was right. He'd asked them to check in on Mai to make sure she wasn't working herself too hard in his absence. But, well, the request to mend their clothes was still real. They're both so busy with riding back and forth between one potential uprising and the next that their clothes are wearing out fast. That just gives Mai more fuel for thought and worry, hoping that Hideyoshi is all right out there. Mai quickly finishes up the repairs on Ieyasu and Mitsunari's clothes, but just as she's handing the clothes back to them, something about her fingers seems to jolt them too. It's not painful, but it is startling. But alas, duty calls, and they leave soon as well.

Later Hideyoshi returns, unharmed and just as eager to see Mai again as she is to see him. They have their moment together, and spend a very enjoyable night with each other. However, come morning... Hideyoshi reaches out to touch Mai, but immediately pulls back in pain. He's frantic as he asks if she's okay, but she hasn't noticed anything strange at all. However, there's no way to brush this off anymore. They quickly call the warlords to an emergency meeting in order to explain the situation: people who touch Mai seem to experience pain.

Of course, this sounds unbelievable, so it is proposed that they test it out. Mai doesn't like the idea of hurting the others, but Ieyasu talks her into covering all their bases in order to better understand this strange illness(? if it is an illness, anyway). So one by one Mai takes turns touching the different warlords, and almost everyone displays a strong reaction, with Hideyoshi seeming the worst off. Keiji, however, reports only a slight irritation where Mai touched him. After some thought and one more experiment where Nobunaga summons a complete stranger to Mai for her to touch, they work out that the closer Mai is with someone, the more pain they feel. Keiji, who was just an acquaintance, only feels a mild irritation, while the maid who was completely unfamiliar to Mai felt nothing at all. And her lover, Hideyoshi, is hurt worst of all.

Mai is completely horrified by the idea that her touch and presence could hurt people, so she runs out of the meeting hall in devastation. Hideyoshi runs after her, but she says not to come closer and shurts herself away in her room. But Hideyoshi is there, standing just outside the door. If she wants space, that's all right, he'll give her space. But she just has to remember that he will always be there for her and that she isn't alone.

The next day, Nobunaga summons the both of them to his chambers for a meeting. Supposedly, there is a hot springs in the mountains that has some spiritual healing powers. Nobunaga tells Mai she should go there in order to recover and recuperate, and Hideyoshi should go with her. She expresses surprise that Nobunaga would believe in such things, but Nobunaga says he doesn't, actually. But this is a stressful situation for her to be in, and she's obviously distressed by the possibility of coming into contact with someone and hurting them. It may do her some good to spend some time away from Azuchi and that possibility, let her calm down in a relaxing hot spring, and give Hideyoshi some time off after he's been run ragged trying to keep a full blown uprising from starting these past few weeks. It's Nobunaga's way of giving the lovebirds some time to themselves, basically.

So they set off, with the other warlords seeing them off as they ride away. Masamune packed some bentos for them, Ieyasu made medicine, Mitsuhide shows up with water supplies, etc etc. Some requisite teasing and banter ensues, of course, but it's a relatively lighthearted departure. Mai notes that she doesn't seem to be causing the horse any pain by touching it, and Hideyoshi is careful to avoid direct skin contact as they ride together, so everything is going well.

Up until it doesn't.

Partway through the journey, they are attacked by a group of ruffians, declaring that they've found the Sacrificial Princess and to hand her over. It doesn't take long to figure out that they're referring to Mai, and that they intend to kill her, believing her to be someone who brings misfortune and suffering to everyone around her, and to the nation as a whole. They intend to sacrifice her to appease the heavens, who were angry at Nobunaga for his conquest over the lands and were thus punishing people by giving rise to all the unrest and violence as of late. Hideyoshi, of course, believes that it's all bullshit and does not entertain the thought of handing Mai over for even a second. However, their attackers are all adamant that Mai must be killed. And lo, they say, they are proven right as during the battle, Mai nearly slips off the horse and Hideyoshi has to catch her--and his arm immediately begins to start turning red and burn where it comes into contact with her. See? She only brings pain and suffering, and therefore, she must die.

Mai is yelling at Hideyoshi to let go of her, but he refuses, growing more ruthless and violent the more fervently their attackers try to get to Mai. He eventually cuts them all down, though one is left alive for them to interrogate. The remaining attacker manages to choke out in his final breaths that posters of Mai's face and her supposed crimes against the heavens have been spread far and wide across every village there is, so even if Hideyoshi kills him here, more people will come to finish the job.

Now that the fight is over, it's time to take stock of injuries. Mai is unharmed, but Hideyoshi's arms are red all over and completely scalded. They make use of the water that Mitsuhide handed them and Ieyasu's medicine, but even so, Hideyoshi almost collapses and is overtaken by a fever from the injury when they make it to an inn to rest for the night. Mai is overcome with guilt over the injuries that she caused, and when Hideyoshi slips into a fevered sleep, she has to leave the inn, afraid to be in the same room as him while he sleeps.

She takes a walk in the forest nearby, ruminating over everything. That's when she hears footsteps approaching. Panicking over the thought that it might be more people who are after her, she's about ready to run, though the sight of a familiar figure stops her. It's Kennyo--whom she last seen in Hideyoshi's eternal route trying to send her and Nobunaga over the edge of a cliff-- accompanied by a young pink-haired man she doesn't know. She's still afraid that Kennyo will try to kill her, but Kennyo explains that he wants no such thing. Ranmaru introduces himself, and the two of them explain that they know about the Sacrificial Princess rumor, and that it is actually Kicho's work, and part of his plans to engulf the country in unending war and conflict. They know this because the one who saved Kennyo after he fell off the cliff was Motonari, so they had, for a brief time, worked together. But upon finding out that Kicho's plan involved the prolonging of senseless suffering and war, they could not bring themselves to keep working with him, and cut ties with both Kicho and Motonari to go their own way.

When Mai asks why they're telling her this, Kennyo says that it is his form of atonement. For wrapping her, innocent and uninvolved, in his plot for revenge against Nobunaga. But if this is not repayment enough, then Kennyo would offer her his life. He places a dagger before her, and Mai can tell that he's actually serious. He'd let her kill him if she didn't think that he had redeemed himself enough.

Mai has absolutely no desire to hurt anyone. She can't forget what Kennyo did to her, but she doesn't hate him, and she doesn't want to see him dead. She doesn't think Ranmaru does either. But if he does feel the need to atone for it in blood, she takes that dagger and presses it lightly against Kennyo's finger to give him a light cut. Let that be the price he must pay in blood. If he is truly serious about redemption, then she asks him to live. Thanking him and Ranmaru for the information once more, she goes to leave.

Hideyoshi is there to see her, revealing that he had been listening from the beginning, but he's just glad to see her safe. He also expresses relief that Ranmaru is safe as well. They quickly return to the inn as Hideyoshi is still weak from his fever, and he almost collapses again as soon as they make it back. It's definitely time to rest for the night, so they pull apart their futons to make sure that they don't end up touching each other in their sleep. But it's hard, being apart like this when the both of them want and need comfort.

The next day, Hideyoshi is mostly healed up. A doctor has proclaimed the worst of his injuries dealt with properly, so the burns won't even scar. And that is when Mai, who had spent the night thinking about what Kennyo had revealed, tells Hideyoshi her plan: she wants to talk to Kicho. Nobody was supposed to know about Mai's touch bringing pain and burns to others; heck, she didn't even know about the burn part until after the people who attacked her did, even. So what does Kicho know, and how does he know about it? They need answers, and the only way to get them is to speak with Kicho directly. Hideyoshi wants to disagree, but he acknowledges that she's right, so he says that he'll go with her to Sakai after sending a letter to Nobunaga and the others to update them on the situation.

Back at Azuchi, the other warlords receive Hideyoshi's letter explaining the situation. They've been growing more and more tired with the unrest seeming to grow more and more out of control with every passing day. Hideyoshi had excelled in mediating disputes and keeping everything balanced, and without him it's hard for everyone remaining to keep things under control. And they've all been hearing about this Sacrificial Princess rumor as well, and everyone's worried about how the two of them are holding up. Nobunaga then says that he has a letter to write, and Keiji also asks to send a letter since he had infiltrated Sakai before and may have some useful information.

In Sakai, Mai and Hideyoshi are, for just a moment, taking a break. Mai is wearing a cloth over her head and face to disguise herself, because on the way to Sakai they'd been chased out of town and attacked by people who had recognized her face as the Sacrificial Princess. Hideyoshi, knowing how hard and stressful this has been on her, decides that they're just going to enjoy themselves out in town for a bit. They go to a tea shop and have sweets, window shop all the rare foreign goods like textiles and accessories that Sakai has to offer, they just let themselves enjoy things for a bit. Hideyoshi just wants to see Mai smile again.

And then night falls, and it's time to put their plan into motion. While Hideyoshi had genuinely wanted Mai to enjoy herself and be happy for a while, he had also been keeping an ear to the ground as they had gone around town, and he had found out that Kicho was going to be heading out of his merchant house that evening. If they wanted to ambush Kicho, now would be the time. So they track down Kicho, Hideyoshi knocks out his guards, and he says that if Kicho wants to live, he'd better do everything he says.

Completely unflapped, Kicho says that actually, it should be the other way around, and promptly summons dozens more underlings to take on Hideyoshi. Mai is taken away by Kicho as the guards keep Hideyoshi busy. He spirits her away to his merchant house, and we get the usual explanation of Kicho's plans and the reveal that he knows of the future as well, as with most other routes. (Meanwhile, Kennyo and Ranmaru show up to lend a hand to Hideyoshi, who was not having trouble with the guards per se, as none of them were strong enough fighters to really put him in any danger, but there was a lot of them to get through. Ranmaru and Kennyo buy him the time to break away and go after Mai)

And, like in other routes as well, Kicho is also affected by the changes in the timeline. Like Mai, he is unable to touch people he knows without burning them. It's how he knew about the symptoms to spread the Sacrificial Princess lie. As for how he found out... he did some experiments, you see. He picked a random one of his underlings and pretended to take a deeper interest in the man, cultivating a relationship of admiration and (assumed) trust. As expected, Kicho's touch began to hurt and eventually burn the man, with the injuries worsening the deeper that relationship became. Eventually it reached the point where meeting Kicho's gaze blinded the man, which was when Kicho decided to end the experiment.

However, at that point, it was too late. Kicho had left the room and ordered everything stopped, but just hearing Kicho's voice through the walls was enough to kill the man. Witnesses who were in the room at the time reported that the man's skin had eventually begun to actually melt, and he died in agony.

With this vision of what lies in store for her and Hideyoshi, Mai is completely shaken. Kicho lets her leave unharmed, seeing as how he has no particular reason to kill her at this point in time, and it in fact behooves his plan to have her live. The whole reason he spread the rumor of the Sacrificial Princess in the first place is specifically because he knew it would provoke Hideyoshi the most. Hideyoshi is a balancing force and mediator among the Oda forces, and throwing Hideyoshi off will throw the Oda off as well. The impacts of it can be seen already: how the Oda are having trouble managing the unrest without Hideyoshi... and also how Hideyoshi himself gradually grows more brutal and less and less prone to trying to convince the people after Mai's life to stand aside with every ambush.

Hideyoshi meets up with her soon after and after making sure she's okay, they leave for a safe place and to recover for the night. Mai tells him some of what she learned: Kicho's goals, his reason for spreading the Sacrificial Princess rumor to disrupt Hideyoshi and the Oda forces. But she keeps the extent of the effects on her hidden, too overwhelmed and upset to think about addressing that right now.

On the journey back to Azuchi, they stop at a seaside inn to spend the night. One morning as they're having a meal together, Hideyoshi tries to reassure her that everything will end up all right, and Mai almost allows herself to believe him. But at that moment, Hideyoshi winces in pain and holds a hand to his eye. Did the sun's rays hit him in just the wrong spot, he wonders? But Mai, with the knowledge from Kicho about how her symptoms will progress, immediately begins wondering if this is the start of the end, and makes a quick excuse and dashes out of the inn.

She spends some time by the seashore, worried and afraid and stewing in her own thoughts. However, she's soon approached by a man who once again recognizes her as the Sacrificial Princess and attempts to kill her. Hideyoshi, who had grown worried about Mai intervenes just in time, keeping Mai close to him to protect her even as she yells at him to let her go so he won't burn himself. He tells her that there's no way he'd do that, that this is nothing in order to make sure that she's safe. The man lashes out in anger and fear, asking why Hideyoshi is protecting Mai: she's the Sacrificial Princess who's the cause of the suffering in the world. Does he want the world to destroy itself? Is that it? Hideyoshi responds back: Mai is his treasure, and he will not let anyone lay a hand on her.

After some skirmishing, they manage to make it to a safe and isolated section of the beach. Hideyoshi says it's a good thing that the guy gave up relatively soon and that Mai wasn't hurt. But Mai has just about hit her breaking point after this latest attack and the knowledge of what is to come in the future. Walking past Hideyoshi, she walks straight into the ocean, and keeps going.

She's submerged up to her calves; Hideyoshi yells at her to stop. She ignores him.

Up to the waist now. The currents are growing strong. And still she keeps going, defeated step after defeated step.

Alarmed, Hideyoshi runs after her and grabs onto her to stop her. But she yells at him to let her do this, she doesn't want to do this anymore. She reveals to Hideyoshi what Kicho told her about the progression of her symptoms. What she really wants is to live together with Hideyoshi and everyone else. But how can she do that if her very presence hurts them and will eventually kill them? This is for the best, she says. For everything to end so no one can be hurt by her anymore.

Hideyoshi just holds onto her more fiercely. He insists that even if Mai thinks that the best thing is to throw her own life away, her life has value and meaning and he is so so grateful for every day that he can spend with her. The words ring familiar: their positions are reversed now, compared to Hideyoshi's eternal route. When he was willing to die, believing it to be the only way that he could be of use, Mai was the one who convinced him that even if he thought the only person he would be hurting was himself, everyone around him would bear the pain of his hurts with him too; that his life has its own intrinsic value not tied to how useful or worthy he was; that the simple truth of his existence is something worth celebrating. He's never forgotten that lesson for a moment, and now that things have come to this, he'll do the same for Mai for as many times as it takes for her to realize the same about herself.

The unconditional love and support breaks Mai, and she begins crying as Hideyoshi leads her out of the ocean. She apologizes, promising not to try to kill herself again. Hideyoshi tells her she has nothing to apologize for, and they return back to their rooms to rest for the night and recuperate from the emotional rollercoaster of the day. They can't hold each other directly, but some careful wrapping of each others' bodies around some clothes mean that they can still have a little bit of comfort from each other, at least.

The next day their journey back to Azuchi continues. Unfortunately, their path goes right through the battlefield of one of a recent uprising, and there are still some armed soldiers lingering around the area. Their conversation makes it abundantly clear that they're hunting for the Sacrificial Princess, lamenting the violence that has destroyed their hometowns and families and hoping that they find her soon so that they can put an end to everything. Hideyoshi and Mai try to stay hidden as they maneuver around the battlefield but unfortunately they are detected. Hideyoshi is left with no choice but to fight...

#ikemen sengoku #hideyoshi (ikesen)#i wasn't joking about the favoritism rambling :p #though on the whole this section is all mostly just a retelling #not so much personal thoughts in this one

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millenialfanfictionaddiction · 2 years

Text

Being Karasuno's Manager:

Manager is in the Closet

Karasuno x GN! Manager

Warnings: none

A/N: This is a pride request from Gen Z anon! I kept this request inclusive for everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community 🥰 *edit I added "cisgender and heteroromantic at the suggestion of Gen Z anon!

🏳️‍🌈 Please Like, Share, Comment to support my writing 🏳️‍🌈

Ok first off Karasuno is genuinely one of the most supportive teams 👏🏻

Seriously look at what they deal with everyday YN?

Poor Takeda, Ukai and Daichi are simply happy you exist 🤚🏻

They won't care about the status of your sexuality or gender identity

But still, there's a difference between knowing this to be fact and convincing our brains as such

Coming out is such a huge step in someone's life

There's literally a million ways 🤚🏻

Please I shared a status that said "I'm bisexual and proud" and everyone was like "we know Tiffany" and I was like "😐 cool 👍🏻"

However, you've decided to keep it to yourself

Now it's not that you are ashamed, oh no no

It's that you just haven't figured out exactly how to tell our bubbly bbys yet

But luckily, you have me to help YN 🙌🏻

Honestly tho, I'm actually lowkey high key really good at keeping secrets

But since I'm writing for YN here, we gotta make it a tad bit- well...

💥 DRAMATIC 💥

So let's just say you were talking to your friend about pride

It's June and we are all in Pride/Gemini season so it's a party 🥳

"So YN are you planning to go to the pride parade this weekend?"- your friend

"I mean, I hope I can! I'll have to see if the coaches need me but I think I can probably get it excused"- you

Your friend looks at you questioningly

"YN haven't you told the team your part of the LGBTQIA+ community?"- you friend asks

You sigh a little-

"Not yet, I'm not exactly sure how to say it. Like do I just say "hey guys- guess what? I'm LGBTQIA+??"- you

"I mean that would definitely be one way YN?"- a voice booms from behind you

Your eyes widen 😳

Soul 👉🏻 leaves you body

You slowly turn to see Ukai and Takeda

Ukai is just staring at you and Takeda is all like "🤪 Hi Yn!" 👇🏻

Your mouth is just gaping, like the shock is still hitting you

"You- you uhh you, uhh I ummm- I"- You

Please Takeda stops you from talking YN, you've said enough 🤚🏻

"YN you know we care about you and accept you for who you are"- Takeda

"This changes nothing YN. You are an excellent manager"- Ukai

You 👉🏻 really 🥺🥺🥺

"Of course YN but that being said, we won't say anything to the team. That's on you"- Ukai

"Won't say anything to the team about what??"- Kageyama

Of course 😐🤦‍♀️

Please there is always one of them lurking everywhere

"Ummm- nothing! ITS NOTHING"- Takeda 🧍‍♂️

Please he's nervous 😅

"Whats nothing?"- Asahi

Oh sweet Jesus did like like someone turn on the bat signal?? Is there like a Karasuno version istg 🙄

"It's nothing! YN will tell you if they want too"- Ukai

"Wait- YN will tell us what if they want to?"- Tanaka

Seriously this has got to be a joke

At this point you are just waiting for Nekoma and Fukurodani to show up because you are sure it's another training camp

"Idk YN's keeping a secret"- Kageyama

"Ohh I love secrets tell me!"- Noya

You 👉🏻🧍‍♂️ 😐

"Guys it's nothing, I'll tell you later"- you

"Tell us what later?"- Daichi with Suga and Ennoshita

You know those clown cars were all the clowns just keep piling out, yep that's your situation YN 🤗

"Wait- YN are you dying?"- Noya 😱😱😱

If there was a cliff, we've just basically jumped off it

No point A to B here, we go from Point A to NUCLEAR MELTDOWN

And that's all they wrote folks because it's happening and it's happening fast

"YN'S DYING???"- Asahi, probably fainting

"OMG YN DONT DIE ON US PLEASE!!"- Tanaka begging at your feet

"We have to find a cure!! We must!"- Noya

"WILL YOU DORKS SHUT UP!"- Daichi

Please it's absolutely chaos

You need to stop this YN 🤚🏻

So you decide the best way to do it is just to dive in-

"GUYS IM LGBTQIA+"- You, probably breathing heavy

"Omg is that the illness you have YN??? It sounds serious!!!"- Tanaka

🙄🙄🙄 I'm sorry you have to deal with this YN

Thoughts and prayers 🙏🏻

"Tanaka it means YN is a member of the pride community you idiot!"- Suga says yelling

"Awe YN welcome to the community"- Kiyoko says congratulating you

"You?"- you says looking at her

Come on, we all know 😏

Kiyoko 👉🏻 🏳️‍🌈 🤗

"So YN isn't dying?"- Asahi

"YN probably would be dead already if it was left up to you all to save them"- Tsukishima 😒

"No Asahi, I'm not dying. I'm just not heterosexual, cisgender and/or heteroromantic"- you 🤷‍♀️

Same YN same 💅🏼

"Oh... so like can you still play volleyball?"- Hinata, now joining in

You 👉🏻😐🙄 Yes Hinata my sexuality has nothing to do with my volleyball skills

"So what if guys hit on you YN?"- Tanaka

"We can just scream 'BACK OFF YN DOESNT LIKE MEN'"- Noya

"Please dont"- you 😐

Please Noya and Tanaka are already forming a plan

"YN we appreciate you for who you are and nothing will ever change that!"- Suga says

"Yeah YN, we'd be lost without you"- Daichi

"🥺 you guys"- you 🥲

"So YN if Oikawa hits on you will you let him down hard! And like record it for me?"- Kageyama

You 👉🏻 I'll do what I can Kags 😃

"Ain't no city boy messing with our YN!"- Tanaka

Ennoshita please 😊

🤚🏻👨🏻‍🦲💥

"Hey-" Tanaka, rubbing the back of his head

"You guys really are the best team"- you

"Yeah we already know that YN"- Daichi 💅🏼

"Omg YN can we come to the pride parade with you??"- Hinata

"I personally love parades"- Asahi

"Omg we can dress up like a rainbow!"- Noya

"I don't look good in Yellow"- Suga

"Hinata can be orange since he's basically already a tangerine"- Kageyama

"SHUT UP CRAPPY-YAMA"- Hinata

👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 this ensues

"YN seriously look what you did"- Daichi

You 👉🏻 🧍‍♂️

"I'm literally- you know what 🤚🏻"- you, going over to haul the two bbys away from each other

Aren't you glad you have the most supportive Team YN 🥰

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roppongi-division · 15 days

Text

Mireya's Thoughts on Aichi Division

Shouta Takeda

"I don't know much about this man, but I heard he works as a form of an artist, despite his current home conditions. I wonder if he takes requests. There's an empty wall in my dance studio that I've been meaning to put something on. I've seen his work and logo. It looks interesting. Perhaps he can do something with that wall I mentioned..."

Issey Nishizawa

"My husband says this young man is a frequent caller on his radio show. He almost always asks him to play a song from the 90's, which I'm not complaining about. You may not know this, but though I love today's music, it's the music from the 80's and 90's that really gets a lot of people up and moving in Gypsy's Palace. A shame that Roppongi doesn't have any good record shops that carry good, old music..."

Eiji Mizoguchi

"Like my husband, I also had to deal with people making fun of my heritage when I was younger. I don't want to say it got to me, but... well, some days, I had to wonder why I was even alive. And my mother forcing me to suck it up and get ready to participate in another pageant show didn't help matters. I don't want to say my past was harder than Kai's. After all, we both grew up without a father and had to deal with tyrannical women as mothers. ...But while he had his music and his sister to help him, I had no one. ...But like I said, I'm not here to say whose past was harder or easier."

"I've never met this young man, but he certainly has a... unique appearance. I know my husband was happy to see another Afro-Asian in the competition. What's more, he also worked as a DJ once, so I'm sure he and Kai will have plenty to talk about when they meet."

Cloud 9

"Like my husband mentioned, I've never had any need to visit Aichi. I'd say they're a ways away from Tokyo, but considering we have divisions as far as Hakodate, Fukuoka, Sendai and more, I suppose that would be a silly argument. As far as the team goes, like Kai mentioned, I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of sound they make."

#hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic #hypnosis mic oc #hypnosis microphone #private party #roppongi division #mireya quinlan #aichi division #cloud 9 #shouta takeda #issey nishizawa #eiji mizoguchi

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intheticklecloset · 2 years

Text

One Last Hurrah (Haikyuu!!)

Primary Universe

Summary: When Hinata is late to volleyball practice right before Nationals, the team deals with its worries by ganging up on Kageyama once again.

A/N: This one has been on my Wish List for a while! I wanted to progress Kageyama’s storyline further by having him learn to trust his other teammates without Hinata around to stop them or keep them in check. I’m really proud of how this turned out, considering it took me longer than usual to write. Thank you for your patience! Enjoy! ^^

Word Count: 2,118

@myreygn

~~~

This was weird.

Eleven members of the Karasuno volleyball team sat in a nearly completed circle on the floor, an obvious gap between Kageyama and Tsukishima that the former was very much wishing would be filled.

Hinata was late. Late. To volleyball practice.

And not just any practice. The last one before Nationals next week.

Tsukki glared at Kageyama for the second time that morning, as though it were his fault they were missing the redheaded menace. “Have you heard anything yet?”

“It’s not like we keep tabs on each other all the time,” Kageyama muttered back. He met Daichi’s gaze and shrugged. “He hasn’t texted me. I don’t know anything. We don’t even live near each other. How am I—”

“Okay, relax,” Daichi said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m sure there’s a good explanation. We all know Hinata wouldn’t bail on us this close to Nationals. He’s far too dedicated to this team to be late unless something was up.”

The rest of the circle nodded and murmured their agreement.

“Well, we can’t start the meeting without him,” Suga pointed out. “So what do we do? Should we go ahead and warm up and reconvene once he gets here?”

Daichi thought for a moment, glanced around the circle, and nodded. “Yeah, that might be for the best.”

Everyone split off into uneven teams to do their warm-ups – stretching, jogging a few laps, pairing off to spike and receive. Kageyama and Suga took the setter positions on either side of the net to set for the oncoming spikers. Noya was lined up to receive on the same side as the first-year and couldn’t help but notice how he kept glancing toward the door, growing more and more confused and maybe even apprehensive with each look over his shoulder.

Another half an hour went by, and still, no Hinata.

This was decidedly weird.

“Any word from carrot top?” Tsukishima asked Daichi, still appearing annoyed that their routine was thrown off because of the usually overly punctual decoy.

Daichi checked his phone. He shook his head. “Not yet. He hasn’t even read the text. If he’s still not here in a few minutes I’ll ask Mr. Takeda if the school got a call from his mom that he’s sick today or something.”

“He’d better not be sick this close to Nationals,” Kageyama muttered under his breath, having overheard the report. “I’ll kill him if he is.”

Noya laughed, nudging him in the side. “Chill out, man. He’ll be here, and even if he’s not, nothing short of death would keep him from coming to Nationals with us. It’ll be fine. Although I’m sure he’d be touched that you’re so worried about him, Kags~”

Kageyama looked both offended and like he’d been caught red-handed at once. “What? I’m not worried about that little moron! I’m just saying if he screws up our odds by getting sick, I’ll personally put him six feet under when he shows his face again.”

Tsukki rolled his eyes as he walked by. “Dramatic much, your majesty?”

“Shut up! You’re paranoid that he’s not here, too, you jerk.”

Noya stepped between the two before the blonde could whirl around and continue the fight. “All right, settle down, guys. We’re all worried that Hinata’s not here. But it’s nothing to get so worked up over.”

Daichi checked his phone again.

“You,” Noya continued, pointing at Tsukishima. “Don’t be mean. And you—” He turned to Kageyama, with an added pinch to his side. “Loosen up. We need you at your best.”

Kageyama squeaked instinctively, jumping aside and immediately covering his mouth, as if that could take back the sound that had drawn half his team’s attention with one syllable.

Noya’s eyes lit up.

“Don’t,” Kageyama said hurriedly, taking another step back.

“Hey, guys,” Daichi said, trying to get their attention.

“I have an idea,” the libero said mischievously, turning his fingers into claws and wiggling teasingly. “We all need to just chill out instead of worrying so much. How about we all tickle Kageyama again? This will be our last chance as a team, after all~”

“But Hinata’s not here,” Kageyama protested, heart racing nervously as he saw a few more smirks join Noya’s. Hinata wasn’t here to help keep them from going too far. If they started now…

“So? He tickles you all the time. I don’t think he’d mind if we had a go on our own for a change.” Noya winked at him teasingly. “Or do you just really miss him that badly?”

Kageyama glared at him. “It’s not like that! I just—”

Daichi tried once more. “Guys?”

But Noya was already moving, and so was Yamaguchi, and then Ennoshita, and then Tanaka, and soon any kind of control that may have still existed in the room was gone. Kageyama let out a shriek as he went down, yelling and protesting the whole way even as desperate giggles started to bubble up out of him at their prodding fingers.

Suga came to stand beside Daichi, glancing over his shoulder at the phone he still held in his hand. The captain tilted the screen so he could see. “Should we tell them?”

“I was trying to,” Daichi replied, pocketing the device and watching in amusement as their resident grump began to laugh in earnest, being pinned and tickled by his teammates. “But at this point, I’m just going to join in.”

Suga beamed. “Me, too.”

“Wahahahahahait! Wait! Plehehehehease!” Kageyama squealed, squirming and bucking as more fingers than he could count scribbled in his underarms, dug into his ribs, squeezed his hips and knees. He tried to kick but quickly had his legs pinned down as well as his arms, once again stuck at the mercy of his teammates as he’d been a couple of times already this season. He wouldn’t have been so freaked out about it if Hinata had gotten his butt to the most important practice of the year. “Guhuhuhuhuys! Nohohohohohot nohohohohohow! H-Hihihihihinata—!”

“Chill out, man, he’ll get here eventually,” Tanaka replied teasingly, interpreting his desperate cries as a sign that he wanted the redhead to be part of this madness, too. Which technically he did, but not for the reasons they were thinking.

Kageyama’s eyes darted to Daichi and Suga just as they knelt down to find an opening and join in on the fun. “Plehehehehehease, wahahahahahait! Dohohohohohon’t!”

When they merely grinned at him and started tickling anyway, a million old memories resurfaced, causing Kageyama to panic. In his mind’s eye he only saw his middle school teammates. They’d never once stopped when he screamed for them to, never once let up on his death spot no matter how purple his face got from not being able to breathe. It was all fun and games to them, but to the setter…

“Vohohohoholleyball! Volleyball! Plehehehehehease, stohohohohohohop!” he begged through his forced laughter.

At first, Daichi and the others were confused by his randomly yelling the word in the midst of his mirth. But then the captain realized it had to be a safe word of some kind and hurriedly told everyone to let up and give him a minute to breathe and communicate.

Kageyama was surprised when his safe word actually worked with his teammates who weren’t Hinata. He blinked and caught his breath as he looked around at their concerned faces, and all of a sudden he realized how wrong he’d been to assume that the Karasuno volleyball club would be anything other than playful and respectful.

“I…I’m sorry,” he said at last, propping himself up on his elbows once his arms were free. “I was afraid if Hinata weren’t here to stop you, you wouldn’t stop at all, and I…I panicked.”

Suga patted his leg gently. “Do you want us to stop? Are you not comfortable?”

Kageyama glanced around again. But he didn’t have to take long to know what his answer was. “No, I’m okay. It’s just…there’s one spot…”

Noya traced his own bottom ribs just above his stomach. “Here, right?”

Kageyama’s relief intensified so much he could have collapsed right back on the ground then and there. He nodded. “Yeah. I’m not ready for that spot yet.”

“If we promise not to tickle you there,” Daichi asked, “and stop when you say ‘volleyball,’ will you trust us not to go too far?”

The setter bit his lip, trying to keep himself from smiling in anticipation. “Y-Yeah. I trust you.”

“Then give these back,” Ennoshita said playfully, grabbing his arms and pulling them above his head again. “Let us show you we’re nothing like the jerks you played with in middle school.”

“I already k-knoohohohow thahahahahat.” Kageyama’s words ended in giggles when his friends gradually picked up where they’d left off, tickling his knees, hips, ribs, and underarms all at once. For several moments he allowed himself to relax and snicker openly. Then the first of what would surely be many hands slipped under his jersey to tickle his bare belly, and he choked on a snort and dissolved into laughter, squirming helplessly and elatedly on the gym floor.

“Aww, your tummy is still super ticklish, huh?” Noya teased. He must have been the first to go for the spot; Kageyama couldn’t entirely tell from his position at their playful mercy.

“Gah! Nohohohohoho, don’t t-tehehehehehease me!” Kageyama whined, though it was obvious he didn’t entirely mean it.

Tanaka grinned evilly, glancing around at everyone. “Oh? I say we should all tease you at once, just to see how flustered you get, ticklish little first-year!”

Kageyama yelped out a “no!” before suddenly being bombarded with teases from all sides. His teammates cooed and reminded him how ticklish he was and how fun it was to make him react, and the setter squeezed his eyes shut and blushed and laughed even louder, both from the effect of their words and an attempt to drown them out all at once.

“Stahahahahahap it! Guhuhuhuhuhuys! AH!! NONONO WAHAHAHAHAHAIT!!” he squealed suddenly, trying to jerk his leg out of the way when someone dug into his knee pit. “NOHOHOHOHOT THEHEHEHEHEHERE!! NOT THE KNEHEHEHEHEHEHEES!!”

Yamaguchi grinned and kept it up anyway.

For the next few minutes the members of the Karasuno volleyball team pinned and tickled their young setter with all the playfulness they could manage, always staying away from the spot he’d declared off-limits but finding ways to make him throw his head back and cackle out his harder laughter anyway. Kageyama was so caught up in the fun of it all that he lost his sense of where he was, only knowing ticklish sensations and unstoppable giggles until finally – after no one knew how long – the gym doors burst open and the final member of their team arrived a full hour late to the meeting.

“I’m here!” Hinata yelled, dropping his bag by the door and sprinting over to them. “I’m so sorry I’m late! My mom fell and hurt herself this morning and my sister was freaking out and I had to make sure they were both okay and I really wanted to be here on time but there wasn’t anything I could do about it and hey is Kageyama okay why are you all crowded around him like that?!”

Everyone had stopped the instant he barged in, staring at him as he spewed words at them that only kind of made sense for how fast they were flying from his mouth.

After a long pause, Daichi cleared his throat. “First off, is your mom okay?”

“Yeah, she’s good now. I helped her get to the living room so she’d be comfortable and then had to walk my sister to school since she couldn’t take her, then I sprinted over here as fast as I could. I’m so sorry I’m late!”

“It’s okay,” Suga told him calmly, smiling. “We found a way to pass the time while we were waiting for you.”

It was then that Hinata looked – really looked – at Kageyama for the first time. It took him all of two seconds to take in the blushing face, bright eyes, the jersey that had ridden up to expose his belly, and the way everyone else was either pinning him down or had hands on various ticklish spots.

“We’re gang tickling him?” Hinata gasped excitedly. “Is it too late for me to join?”

Kageyama whimpered, lips wobbling as he tried to suppress a giddy smile, knowing exactly what was coming next.

Everyone looked at him again and grinned.

Daichi chuckled. “I think we can spare a few more minutes.”

And Kageyama wound up laughing even louder now that his best friend had made his circle of teammates complete.

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fighting-and-drawing · 1 year

Text

Heart of the Warrior Chapter 2: Inoshishi

Fandom: Cybird Ikemen Sengoku

Previous Chapter|Next Chapter

CW: Blood, cursing

Yukimura Sanada x Male!OC

Thai tightened the strap on his handbag, the tired man now dressed in a dull red kimono and a grey hakama. He fixed his collar before running his hand through his dark brown hair. His dark hazelnut eyes scanned his surroundings as he walked with slightly shaky knees through camp. He tried avoiding any and all eye contact with the dozens of samurai and ashigaru running around him.

It had been a few days since he got here, and now the word was it was time to head back to Echigo. Luckily, with the aid of his situational friend, Sasuke Sarutobi, his wounds were quickly bandaged and healed before Thai slept for two days. Now awake, he quickly headed towards where Sasuke asked him to meet, a large rectangular formation of curtains held up by poles resembling the walls of a building, a four-diamond emblem forming a narrow diamond on each curtain.

Thai stopped himself before approaching the guards right outside, turning around to make sure he looked presentable. From the size of the formation of the curtains, he could tell it wasn't just Sasuke he was going to meet with. Again, he hesitated, taking in a deep breath. His gut welled up inside of him, yet he urged his feet to turn him around and move him toward the guards. Quickly remembering he was dealing with actual samurai, he bowed to the guards, who opened one of the curtains to let him inside. Thai muttered an "arigatou" before stepping inside.

Immediately he recognized three people inside: the samurai he saved, Yukimura Sanada, his situational friend, Sasuke Sarutobi, and the gigante, Lord Shingen. From what Sasuke told him, apparently, Shingen Takeda was a samurai daimyo who was supposed to have died long before but was saved when Sasuke came to the Sengoku. From his stern, yet admittedly handsome look, Thai already presumed that Shingen was someone who commanded respect from his men and intimidation from his enemies. The large sword beside him that was nearly as tall as Thai further painted Shingen as someone to not anger.

Other than those three, there were a few guards stationed around the curtain walls, a few samurai clad in red armor behind both Yukimura and Shingen. Both Yukimura and Shingen, as well as Sasuke, looked over a table set up in the center of the makeshift room that held a large map. From the collective looks on their faces, Thai could tell that they weren't planning more than just falling back to Echigo.

Sasuke looked up, seeing Thai reluctantly approaching the three. He didn't smile, his stoic expression like a robot, but still said, "Thai-san. I'm glad to see you're doing well." All eyes turned to Thai, making him nearly stumble mid-step.

"Uh...yeah. So far, so good," Thai tiredly said. "Er, I think I came at a bad time, I'll come back."

"No worries," Sasuke said, approaching Thai. "We were just ending our discussion."

As Sasuke said the prior statement, the samurai behind Yukimura and Shingen started to break down the camp, several others aiding them. Thai scratched the back of his head, leaning in towards Sasuke. "So," Thai whispered. "What's the plan here?"

Sasuke nodded. "I introduced you as a foreigner who was accepted from the 'village I came from.' When I left, you decided to come to look for me."

Thai stood back up straight. "A...foreigner....who lives in a made-up village where you belonged to...sounds a little too on-the-nose. Has that ever happened before?"

"There are dealings with Portuguese Nanban traders, so anything may be possible," Sasuke explained. "But, considering your lack of Japanese, it was the best I could think of. I apologize."

"Nah," Thai waved off. "I-it's fine. I certainly ain't making things easy for you."

"Oi, Sasuke-kun," Yukimura called out, walking towards him. The two started to engage in conversation, Thai once again left out. He took a slight step back, waiting for someone to say something to him. Hopefully, if it was Yukimura, he would say something that Thai would understand, or Sasuke would jump in and translate. Finally, Yuki looked at Thai. "Kyō wa genkidesu,"Yukimura said.

"He said 'You look well,'"Sasuke translated.

"Y-yeah, I got that," Thai cheekily smirked. "I ain't that lost."

"Anata ga kegawosurudarou to watashi wa kakushin shite ita. Anata wa inoshishi no yō ni sorera subete o tatakatta," Yukimura continued to say, Thai's agape mouth and raising eyebrow evidence that he didn't understand.

"Um, he said that he was convinced you would have gotten hurt. You fought like...wild?" Sasuke said, the tone of his voice shifting upon saying the last word.

"Was that last part a question?" Thai asked suspiciously to Sasuke's last statement.

"Inoshishi," Yukimura said aloud. "Anata wa kare ni aubekidatta, Sasuke-kun. Kare wa kurutta inoshishi no yō ni jūden shite tatakatte ita."

Sasuke stayed silent, Thai chewing his lip. "Okay, so, I keep hearing him say, 'Inoshishi,'" Thai said to Sasuke. "What's that mean?"

Through Sasuke's visibly stoic expression, Thai could still sense he didn't want to say anything, yet, he explained, "It means 'wild boar.' He says you're like a wild boar."

"This man just called me a 'wild boar?'" Thai scoffed, shaking his head. However, he gave a self-nod of validity. "I guess that's one way of puttin' it. Don't really know how to respond to something like that, but I'll let it slide...I guess."

"Yori ōku no kunren to kiritsu de, inoshishide wanaku senshi no yō ni yori tatakau koto ga dekimasu,"Yukimura said. "Anata no shimei wa Sasuke o mitsukeru kotodeshita yo ne? Sate, kare wa watashitachi no tame ni hataraite irunode, onaji koto o shite mimasen ka?"

Even Thai knew from a few words and phrases alone that this was the hard sell. Sasuke's expression confirmed this. "Thai, he's saying that with more training, you can become a better warrior, but really he's asking for you to work for Lord Shingen."

"I figured....like you are?" Thai asked.

"Technically, I am a part of Lord Kenshin's Nokizaru," Sasuke said. "Probably, since your alias is that of a Nanban who was from the same village I was, this is Lord Shingen's attempt to hire someone worthy to train as one of his own ninja."

"And, Yukimura...sama, thinks 'I'm worthy,'" Thai asked, tapping his own sternum lightly with his fingers. "I...I thought I was supposed to, like, lay low in like a town or something?"

"That may have been the case, but since he saw you fight off seven samurai while essentially unarmed, he thinks you'll become a great warrior under his banner," Sasuke said.

"Great..."

Thai chewed the bottom of his lip, putting his hands on his hip as he looked around. As a Martial Artist himself, he was accustomed to being beaten up, fighting, and walking out of a street corner or ring with black eyes and bloodied noses. However, this was actual war and sabotage he was being coerced to accept. In war, there was no "tap out"—only death or severe dismemberment. During that fateful night, Thai was on nothing more than pure adrenaline and instinct going into that fight, but he didn't know that that would be the decision-maker for the person he saved.

"Dammit, I wish I was back in my 9-8," Thai muttered under his breath. Sasuke could tell Thai was visibly shaken, the latter pondering hard on what to say next. However, it was Yukimura who stepped over and placed a hand on Thai's shoulder.

Thai's eyes shot up to meet Yukimura's, the samurai smiling. "Watashi wa anata no nōryoku o shinjite imasu. Buki nashide wa dare mo sono yōna tatakai o suru koto wa dekimasen."

Thai gazed at Yukimura, feeling the warmth of his hand on his shoulder. He could barely look at him in the eyes, something about his soft smile easing the still-bewildered mandingueiro. He understood part of what he said, mainly about 'no one fighting like that unarmed.'

"He has faith in your abilities," Sasuke said.

"He does, huh?" Thai lightly smiled. "....okay." Thai forced himself to look Yukimura in the eyes, thinking it was either intimidation or humility that kept him from making eye contact. Knowing from what little he knew about samurai, he figured that this was a big deal for Thai to be suddenly asked to join a samurai clan. As much as he was scared, he figured it would be better to accept the offer, rather than embarrass himself any further. "Anou....," Thai said to Yukimura, trying to formulate the words in his head. "Boku wa...anata no tame ni hatarakimasuga...(anou)....aru jōken no shita de."

Yukimura's eyebrow raised, his hand leaving Thai's shoulder. Sasuke was also interested in hearing Thai's conditions for working for Yukimura, seeing as how he thought he would have to convince Thai more to become a warrior under Shingen. Thai pointed at Sasuke. "Boku wa kare ni nihongo no tetsudai o shite hoshī," Thai said to Yukimura. "Dōzo yoroshi ko."

Yukimura scoffed. "Mochiron."

"Great," Thai said. Yukimura excused himself, going over to Shingen as Thai and Sasuke moved closer to each other. "Did that sound...right?" Thai asked Sasuke, the latter nodding.

"I understood, albeit you were maybe a little too formal, but that's good," Sasuke said. "I didn't think you would accept the offer so easily. You looked ready to run."

Thai chuckled under his breath. "Well...I figured if you can do it, then why can't I? What did you train before all this?"

"Oh, I guess my only martial arts experience comes from trying to imitate moves I had seen on tv," Sasuke said. "It wasn't only until two years ago I started to train."

Thai nodded. "Even better! And, you look all right, so maybe I can leave this time unscathed. Hopefully..."

Sasuke started to lead Thai outside of the small curtained room, the guards opening the curtain flaps for them. "May I ask what you have trained in?"Sasuke asked. "Obviously you must have trained heavily in military-style arts if you could take out seven armed samurai."

Thai scoffed. "Uh...well actually I was more of a...rabble-rouser, I guess. Sou Malandro," he snickered as the two headed towards a tent. "Mainly I trained in Capoeira, but other times I trained in Eskrima and Panantukan. When I was young, I got into so many fistfights out of nothing but a few insults, so I kept training so no one would fuck with me."

"Interesting," Sasuke noted. "How long?"

"Sixteen years. But, when I moved to Japan, I didn't have time for any of that," Thai said. "I guess it felt a little validating knowing I could still put up a fight."

"Then, I could see how Yuki believes that you can become a great warrior, although, I have to warn you that what you will be facing is far more different than what you probably faced," Sasuke explained.

"I could tell. Can't just go 'Lateef Crowder' on 'em all," Thai said. "God....what did I just accept?"

"Don't worry," Sasuke said. "Most ninja operations are strictly no-contact. Fighting should be the last thing one would have to do."

"If only..."Thai muttered. "....I won't have to kill anyone, right?"

"I avoid it," Sasuke explained. "Much to the disappointment of—"

"SASUKE-SAN!!!"

A booming voice froze the camp, Sasuke's eyes widening as a gasp escaped his throat. The two turned around, seeing a blonde-haired man with heterochromatic eyes donned in armor with light blue, gold, white and black accents, white fur draped over his left shoulder over a blue garment. In his hand was a razor-sharp katana that shone in the sunlight, a murderous gleam in his eye. A sense of dread filled the two as they just stared as the man kept approaching them.

"Oh no...."Sasuke said. "(Akuma ni tsuite hanasu...)"

"W-w-who the hell is that?"Thai frantically coughed.

"Sasuke-san..." the mystery man said as he approached them with deft steps. "Shine...."

Sasuke pushed Thai away, the first thing Thai seeing as he fell was the blade of the katana where he and Sasuke were just at. Ignoring the felled Thai, the man quickly lunged at Sasuke with his katana, Sasuke avoiding every swipe and slash with both the grace of a dancer and the franticness of a crazed lunatic.

Thai jumped up to his feet, his hands shooting up to the side of his scalp. "Ah crap! He's gonna kill 'im!" his mind screamed at him.

Thai, in order to save his only chance at surviving the Sengoku, quickly ran towards the two as the man chased Sasuke around the camp. This man was faster with his sword than the men he had fought earlier, Thai wondering "what in the hell he was thinking running at the crazed swordsman?"

Nearly out of breath, he finally caught up with them, just as the swordsman cornered Sasuke against a few wooden shields, the ninja splayed against them. Thai bolted towards the swordsman, throwing caution to the wind. He quickly shot his foot towards the back of the swordsman's knee, kicking his knee in and directing the swordsman's murderous attention back towards Thai. Thai hopped back, barely evading a quick slash to his neck before spinning around to his right, his heel barely missing the side of the swordsman's head. Wasting no time as his heel landed on the ground, he quickly rolled away, ducking under another slash before hopping into a quick cartwheel and evading two more cuts.

As Thai got up, he pivoted to his left, evading the tip of the sword as the swordsman thrust it at his head. Thai ducked, swinging his left leg around that of the swordsman, using his other leg to quickly take down the swordsman with a scissor-kick tesoura. However, as they fell, the swordsman slashed at Thai again, Thai ducking under it in a low bridge before rolling away again, the swordsman gracefully getting back onto his feet.

Thai readied himself again as the swordsman raised his katana above his head, getting into a traditional stance as Thai tried maneuvering around him. The two were about to fight until they both heard Shingen calling out.

"Kenshin-sama!" Shingen called out. "Yamete!" Behind him were both Yukimura and another white-haired samurai Thai hadn't seen before.

The swordsman growled, lowering his sword. Thai, still keeping his guard, slowly lowered his hands, keeping his left hand plastered on his chest. Both Sasuke and Yukimura ran toward Thai, Thai catching his breath.

"Thai-san! Daijōbudesu ka?"Yukimura asked. "Uh..." Thai mumbled, "Da-Daijōbu. Arigatou." Thai turned to Sasuke. "What just happened?" Thai asked Sasuke.

The three looked towards the other three, who were seemingly arguing. "That," Sasuke said. "Is my current Master, Lord Kenshin."

"Your Lord?" Thai asked. "Are you sure? 'Cuz he just tried to murder you."

Sasuke sighed. "I call it a... 'reflex test.'"

"Sono otoko wa riyū mo naku tatakau no ga sukida,"Yukimura angrily said. "Kare ni kiwotsukero, Thai-san."

"Um...he said that 'Lord Kenshin likes to personally see if the samurai around him are skilled enough to react quickly to ambushes,'" Sasuke said. "He says to 'watch out for him.'"

Thai nodded. "I think he said 'he just likes to fight for no reason,'" Thai said.

"Yeah...that, too."

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen fanfic #fanfic #ikesen shingen #ikesen yukimura #ikesen kenshin #ikesen sasuke #ikesen #Heart of the Warrior

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scorpiun · 4 months

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For his first gift Johnny is giving him a bag of ice ----

for his second gift, well, let's say he took a sneak peek at the remaining archives and had someone recreate one of the atrifacts that had been lost when his clan fell. ❛❛ it's not the real deal but, think of it as a contribution to the new Shirai Ryu. ❜❜

the bag of ice... how typical of johnny cage. the flat expression detest this ' gift '. it shows in his brows how they go from bars to pinched upon his features. hanzo shows his gratitude for the gift swiftly. his hand lighting in a small inferno turning the ice into water and plastic bag into nothing. thank you for this, johnny.

it seemed his friend was only leading with a joke as his antics demanded. ( annoying if you asked the grandmaster ). to be quite honest, hanzo would of wholeheartedly believed a bag of ice was his actual gift and simply got on with his life. that was the cage he knew, after all. but - that wasnt it. there was more. of course there was. his glamorous friend needed to be true to himself and that was by being over the top. hanzos attention was engaged ( for now ). he looked upon what was handed him and in that moment creamy yellow eyes widen. for a moment - it almost was real to him. hanzo took the gift between both hands. it was a blade. but not any blade - a replication of the blade that of grandmaster takeda. the original founder of the clan a great many years ago. hanzos eyes seemed fixated upon the steel as if awe and nostalgia had taken him over. it looked just like it to the near smallest detail. all that differentiated this blade from the original was this one was new while the former held wear from the years it was ever used. his fingers glided down the steel in appreciation of its craftsmanship.

this was... endearing. no one in the new shirai ryu had ever seen this blade. lessons of takeda he had shared were only from his mind and nothing tangible for them to show. but now it almost felt like something from the ash of the past clan was recovered. his excitement grew to show everyone this back at home. until then, his eyes returned to johnny.

❝ this is extremely thoughtful, johnny. things like this from my clan only ever remained in my memory. and i thought that is where they all would stay. but even if this only a replication it feels as if something i've lost has returned to me - thank you, johnny. ❞

late hanzo birthday reply / @cagcd

#THIS WAS SOOO CUTEE AND NICE :( thank u johnny #‛ * 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄.̲ ⟩ " ⅋ .̲ script.̲#cagcd

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selenacosmic · 2 years

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Romance in the office.

Chapter 5- the decision.

The meeting took place for at least two hours, I was actually expecting it to be longer than that. To explain exactly how it went…

“You must be insane if you want us to accept these terms!” I have come to know how my boss is when he is angry, it seemed like Mr. Oda didn’t need to do much to actually infuriate him. Of course, he wasn’t going out of control, but he was very clear in showing what he felt.

“Think about this rationally, Takeda Shingen. Our companies may have their differences, but we have the same goal. With this new company rising, our rivalry will only damage us both and give our competitor a chance to overpower us.” Ah, I believe it would be better to summarize what this meeting was about. Both Mr. Oda’s and Mr. Takeda’s companies are rivals, they both sell sweets that are quite well known in Japan. Some people even compete between themselves when arguing which company produces the best candies. However, recently there has been a new competitor in the market.

From my research, they have been focusing on selling chocolate bars of all varieties, and their popularity has increased quite a bit. It makes sense why Oda Nobunaga would want to form an alliance again, to make sure their products aren’t overshadowed by this new rival. However, some of the terms to agreeing on a partnership limits our company quite a bit. These limitations could affect us.

“I can think perfectly fine, unlike you. I can agree without problem to an alliance against a common foe. However, it’s clear that you are trying to keep my company in line with this partnership.” Mr. Takeda didn’t raise his voice, but it had a disapproval tone that made me surprised.

“To join hands, we must be willing to make sacrifices. If we don’t, both our companies will get even more affected.” Ah, I know what the sacrifices he mentioned are about. If we agree to join forces, our company might have to end a few partnerships that are linked to this new rival. The Takeda Inc. has stayed neutral so far ever since this company appeared.

“I will agree to this deal once it has become truly fair. If you are going to make demands from me, then so will I.” Mr. Takeda made that very clear through the meeting, I was organizing everything and taking notes, making sure to assist my boss whenever he needed, but I didn’t say a word. It’s not that I was scared to say anything, but it felt wrong to speak yet. I was still gathering the thoughts in my head and wondering if this deal was worth it. I could tell that Mr. Takeda was doing the same.

In the end, we didn’t come to an agreement. Yet. Mr. Oda decided to give our company time to think on his offer, I looked over to my boss and noticed his eyes were conflicted.

This meeting left me with an anxious heart, this decision could change the fate of our company tragically.

………….

Honestly, I didn’t think I was already going to handle this type of uncomfortable situation when I just started working for this company. But I was willing to do my best at work.

Right at this moment, I was together with Mr. Takeda in his office. He was busy handling paperwork, clearly stressed from the meeting we just had. I was taking care of a few things that needed his immediate opinion on, I figured it was going to be better to just work from his office. I was busy working in front of the monitor of my laptop, but sometimes I would shift my gaze to him. His eyebrows were furrowed as he looked over some documents, he had taken off the coat from his suit, rolled the sleeves of his white shirt and loosened his tie. Perhaps he did that to make himself more comfortable while worked, but I couldn’t help but blush at the sight.

I couldn’t turn my gaze away from him, his shirt clings to his body well, so his muscles were showing clearly. Specially since he rolled up his sleeves, I could see just how strong he was, and that serious gaze he had towards the documents made me- wait! I don’t have time for this!

It was at this moment that i mentally slapped myself to focus on work. Rather than droll over him, I got more worried. I knew that Mr. Takeda was going to keep thinking about the deal and wouldn’t be able to focus on work. It was then that I made a decision.

I got up to catch his attention, and thankfully his gaze shifted towards me.

“I will go get something for you, sir. I imagine that you need to distress to work better. Any requests?” It was also a good opportunity for me to clear my head so that i could focus only on work. Not gaze upon my boss!

“Ah, I am truly lucky to have you here. Bring me the sweets from the cafeteria, you should get something for yourself too.” Even though he had a serious face a minute ago, he suddenly smiled when asking me those things. It always surprised me how… considerate he could be.

I gave him a nod and exited the office, the thoughts about the deal kept coming into my head as I made my way to the cafeteria. My mind was a mess because of it, there were a lot of pros and cons if we accept this partnership. But there were also a lot of pros and cons if we don’t.

As I made my way to order the sweets that Mr. Takeda needed, someone behind me spoke. “Is he already asking for sweets? You know, you should learn how to say no to him.” And I recognize that voice immediately…

Taking a deep breath to not stress myself, I turned to look at Yukimura.

“I know he shouldn’t eat too much sugar, but on this case… he might be needing it.” I remembered how much he frowned when working, he needs to think for this company and his workers after all.

“What about the amount you are ordering?! His sugar level will hit the roof!” It’s not that i didn’t understand Yukimura’s worry, but if he doesn’t stop complaining, he will catch these hands-

… I am really stressed out too, I can see why Mr. Takeda told me to get something for myself.

“I know, it’s just for today. Just trust me, I will keep his sugar intake under control.” I tried reassuring Yukimura, which didn’t seem to work. But he didn’t look like he wanted to argue, so he just changed the subject.

“So… is this because of the meeting?” His voice took a more serious tone, I nodded as I took the sweets that Mr. Takeda wanted to bring back to the office and a coffee for myself, I was needing it.

“He needs to make a very important decision. It feels like we are making a gamble because of this deal.” Yukimura was following me back to the office so that we could continue talking. And I imagine he had some things to discuss with our boss too.

“I figured that would be the case. The Oda are always giving us trouble. It isn’t the first time he has to make a difficult decision, you will get used to it. So don’t worry too much.” I guess that was his way of reassuring me… somehow.

“I know that, but…” I trailed off, sighing as I thought of the meeting we had. “It’s not good for his health if he keeps thinking about this deal. Neither will it be good for his work, he can’t focus on other documents very well.”

That made Yukimura wear a worried expression too, I figured he would also be worried over our boss.

“He might stay up all night if he keeps stressing himself like that.” Wait, stay up all night? Wasn’t Mr. Takeda the one who told me that workers shouldn’t work overnight? Don’t tell me he doesn’t apply that rule on himself…

“But we can guarantee that he doesn’t do that. Come on, you will help me with this. We can’t let him work until morning!” He didn’t seem confident about my words, seems like this type of thing has happened before, then.

Well, I might as well stop it and make sure our boss gets to rest. I will be a good secretary!

……….

“Mr. Takeda, we are here.” He looked up from the piles of documents when he heard my voice, spotting Yukimura just behind me.

“Ah, I see Yuki came along with you. That’s good.” He gave us a casual smile, Yukimura didn’t look that happy though.

“You know, you can’t just use Selena to bring you all the sweets you want.” He crossed his arms as he begins scolding Mr. Takeda, this kind of exchange was actually pretty common here, and I was already getting used to it.

“But I didn’t make her bring them to me, she was the one who offered to bring them. Isn’t she sweet and considerate?” Ok, he is clearly teasing Yukimura with that fact, so I decided to step in.

“Well, that’s true. But today is the only day I will bring you as many sweets as you want. From tomorrow onwards I will also make sure you don’t eat that many sweets.” I gave him my best serious face I could do, crossing my arms as if I was scolding him too.

He gave me one of those sexy smiles- I mean! Flirty smiles he had, most likely trying to weaken my firm posture.

“Don’t be like that. If you bring me this amount everyday, we can certainly share.”

“There you go again! What did I say about flirting with your secretary?” Yukimura huffed, seeing that there was no point in arguing. “Anyway, I got some things that I need to discuss with you. It’s about one of our partnerships.”

“Ah, that. I was waiting for you to come.” I took a seat at my desk that was close to Mr. Takeda’s desk, listening to what they were talking about as I drank my coffee.

“Well, they most likely know about the meeting you had with the Oda. So they want to also have a meeting.” Oh, I know what that is about. Yukimura must be referring to one of our allies that is linked to this new rival of ours.

If I understand this correctly, they must want to know what choice our company will make to know if our partnership will continue or not.

“They heard about it pretty quick, I guess we will need to solve this before I imagined.” Mr. Takeda didn’t look well, he frowned as he thought about it. “Yuki, prepare everything. I will stay in the company a bit longer to settle this.”

What?! Oh no he won’t! It was at that moment that I decided something. I will make sure Mr. Takeda doesn’t work alone!

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikemen sengoku shingen #ikesen shingen

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becomehaikyuu · 2 years

Text

Haikyuu Chapter 9: Combo Formed

REFLECTION:

With that last point, the boys only need one point to win the set! Tsukishima tries to block them but Tanaka scores a point right under their noses! Tanaka and Hinata react to winning the first set with all the sportsmanship they can muster:

(Woo! Why did Hinata and Kageyama get kicked out again?)

The next sets were close but our boys pull through and win! Tanaka asks Sawamura and Sugawara if they were secretly helping the newbies but the seniors deny, saying that the two betrayed their expectations in the best way possible. To simplify, they were expecting to be doubleteamed but Kageyama ended up using Hinata as a fucking bazooka against them. The two honestly bring out the best in each other.

Hinata walks over to Tsukishima and demands a handshake, since that's how you be professional on the court (A-heh-heh-hem...) and they're gonna be teammates so they should at least respect each other. When Tsukishima just stares at him, Hinata reminds him that Kageyama and Hinata were booted out for poor sportsmanship. Tsukishima says, "No...you two weren't booted out for not working together. You were booted out for being destructive assholes who ignored the captain, started an unsanctioned match and knocked off the vice principal's toupee." Hinata forces a handshake on him anyway so it's good.

Sawamura approaches Tsukishima about the match and asks what did he think. Tsukishima, lovable dickhead that he is, downplays his own defeat saying that he was up against such a powerful opponent that he didn't really expect to win (makes that whole "offering to throw the match" thing a couple of chapters already weird in hindsight, huh?). Sawamura doesn't buy it and points out that, regardless of what he says, he got serious in the match. Then, Hinata and Kageyama hand in their club slips. Then, Shimizu Kiyoto makes her official debut to...hand out the team jackets. Oh! And tell them to come to her if there's any trouble with the sizes...woo! But enough about that! True new addition! Meet Takeda Ittetsu, the faculty advisor for the Karasuno Volleyball Team who has no experience with Volleyball! But what's really important is that they have their first practice match! And it's with one of the Prefecture's Top 4! Aobajousai High School! Get there!

Disappointed that we didn't know what Tsukishima's whole deal is but I can wait. Glad the boys won though. Looking to their first unofficial official match.

Chapter Rating: 9/10

#haikyuu!!#combo formed #review

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yeonban · 1 year

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Send my muse “👀 + a question” and they’ll have to answer with 100% honesty.

Anonymous asked: 👀 + Soma: Why do you dislike Naotora so much? Is it really just because of Tsubasa?

❛ No, ❜ Oh how he wishes he could stop there and refuse to elaborate beyond the bare minimum required of him. If only the question hadn't specified a "why". ❛ Tsubasa choosing the little wimp back then was annoying, but I'm not petty enough to keep a distance from him only because of something that happened almost two decades ago. There are plenty of other things that piss me off about Naotora. ❜

Although reluctantly (he certainly isn't afraid or embarrassed to vocalize his opinions on the matter, but he would much rather not stain Naotora's reputation any more than the man himself already has). ❛ It's like he hasn't grown up at all. He's still the same wide-eyed hopeful kid from when we first met and he's always off somewhere into his own world instead of being present here, taking a good look at the reality we actually live in. He's fixated on whatever fantasies he has in his head, and he's trying to force everyone else to believe in them, too. ❜

The myth of the Obsidian Goddess, a world of true equality... Naotora's beliefs seem to be entirely founded on wishful thinking, and while they're nice to envison, Soma cannot find it in himself to see eye to eye with the other on the likelihood of even one of them. They only have one or two things in common in total after all, in spite of the abundance of years they've spent in close proximity to each other.

A ghost of a frown emerges on his features as Soma ponders on the other reasons for his dislike, and he all but snorts in displeasure at the subsequent point on the list. ❛ There's also no respectful bone in his body. Naotora's younger than both Tatsuomi and I, but thinks he can boss us around as he pleases. He doesn't even have respect for himself, letting people walk all over him without doing anything to defend the Takeda name... what's he thinking, seriously. ❜

It would be far easier of a task to compile the traits he doesn't dislike about Naotora, and therefore Soma decides to give it a rest, lest he spends the next couple of hours attempting to exhaust each of the motives at hand. ❛ I don't hate the guy, and he's definitely gotten better on some aspects over the years, but I have yet to hear talk of him doing any one thing the way it should be done. We have enough problems to deal with as is, without him trying to add more of them on our plate. ❜

#muse: date soma.#Anonymous #* date soma. / ic.#long post /#Soma vc @ Naotora: Can you be Normal.

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czenzo · 2 years

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nobody loves you like I do

[ao3]

summary: Oh, God. He likes Tsukishima Kei.

Navigating having a crush on someone is already hard enough. Navigating having a crush on your best friend of many years, however, is considerably harder. Tadashi Yamaguchi is struggling, to say the least.

A collection of moments in which Yamaguchi has to deal with his complicated feelings toward Tsukishima.

words: 5617 rating: G

note: title from ‘Nobody Loves You - Similar Kind’

It was after the start of the second half of their game against Nekoma when things quickly began to go downhill for the Karasuno boys’ team. Up until then, things had been going fairly well, in Tadashi’s opinion. Karasuno’s team still had some kinks to work out, of course, but their teamwork was mostly up to par, with Hinata and Kageyama working efficiently as a duo, Tsukishima blocking with the precision he always has, Daichi being the smooth, confident captain he always is, and Sugawara enthusiastically cheering them all on from the sidelines. Things were looking good. That was until, seemingly out of nowhere, Nekoma gained a sudden burst of energy as soon as the second half commenced and then proceeded to obliterate Karasuno with worrying ease—Tadashi can't help but wonder, had his team let their confidence get the better of them, and let their guards down? Had the opposition been planning this all along, to lull them into a false sense of security before securing their win in the last half? Tadashi isn’t quite sure how they had pulled it off, but one thing he knows for certain is that the loss now hangs heavy over the members of Karasuno. Afterwards, as the court is being cleared up and the spectators disperse, Hinata and Kageyama hang around one another in mutual silence, their usual energy nowhere to be seen. Not far from them, Daichi and Sugawara are animatedly discussing the match with Coach and Takeda, likely going over what went wrong and how they can improve for their next game. The rest of the team are doing their own thing, slowly trying to cheer themselves up with the same, well-practised methods they’ve all picked up over their many past defeats. Without even realising it, Tadashi drifts over to the main exit where Tsukishima stands leaning against the wall, fiddling on his phone as a way to distract himself from the goings-on around him. His sports glasses are hanging off of one wrist, and the small locks of hair that usually lightly brush against his forehead are now clinging to his skin, damp with sweat. “Tsukki!” Tadashi beams, cranking up his cheeriness levels as far as they will go and pushing down any and all thoughts about his team's loss. “Yamaguchi,” is Tsukishima’s simple reply as he continues tapping and scrolling on his phone screen. Tadashi half-wonders if he’s doing anything meaningful on it, or merely trying to keep himself occupied. “Shame we lost, eh, Tsukki?” Tsukishima nods, slowly. “I bet we’ll do better next time, though,” he says, maintaining his grin. It's slowly becoming unclear to him whether he’s trying to cheer up Tsukishima, or himself. “There’s no need to put on a pretence, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima says bluntly, seeing right through him. He looks up from his phone, and Tadashi feels his grin fade as Tsukki’s eyes lock with his. “We lost. It’s fine.” “Right,” Tadashi says after a short pause. “We lost.” “We lost.” Tsukishima shrugs. “And it’s fine.” “Exactly.” Tsukki glances at his phone one more time before switching off the screen and sliding it into the pocket of his shorts. Tadashi feels his shoulders deflate. “We were doing so well, too.” “C’est la vie, or however the saying goes,” Tsukishima says, and Tadashi feels his smile returning—Tsukki knows full well he said the phrase correctly, Tadashi knows that much, but it seems he’s trying to appear unconcerned and casual for his sake. “Yeah. C’est la vie,” Tadashi repeats. He's painfully aware of how he somehow managed to butcher the pronunciation. Tsukishima coolly folds his arms across his chest; he’s still leaning to the side, one shoulder propped up against the wall, and Tadashi wonders if his friend was being a bit hypocritical when he scolded him for putting on an act. The defeat must be eating Tsukki from the inside, he just knows it—it's probably gnawing at his mind and demanding attention, but Tsukishima appears to be ignoring it (or at least, trying his best to). A small voice in the back of Tadashi's mind dares to wonder if he's pretending for Tadashi’s sake. Though he quickly shakes the thought off; it's so ridiculous he doesn't allow himself more than a second to ponder it. “You were great at blocking today,” he says, nudging Tsukki’s arm with a meek smile. “I clearly wasn’t,” Tsukishima scoffs. “We lost.” “Yeah but,” he shrugs. “It was still good blocking.” Tsukishima is quiet for a moment, before eventually murmuring a quiet, “Thanks.” He’s no longer looking at Tadashi, clearly having found something much more interesting on the floor. “You weren’t so bad yourself.” Tadashi feels his grin increase tenfold in intensity. He’s beaming brighter than the sun, and it’s taking every bit of his willpower to stop himself from bouncing off of the walls. Tsukishima seems bashful, somehow—it’s not like him at all, but for now, Tadashi is too overcome by his joy to ponder what it means, and how that makes him feel. It’s later that night as he lies in bed, willing sleep to wash over him, that Tadashi thinks about it with a clearer mind, and isn’t sure how he feels about the revelation that hits him. Oh, God. He likes Tsukishima Kei.

—◦—

It’s a bright, sunny day, unusually warm for this time of year, and Tadashi’s opened his bedroom window as far as it will go. He’s sat on his desk chair, absentmindedly spinning in lazy circles with his head tipped back and eyes half shut. Not far from him, Tsukki sits on Tadashi’s bed, back against the wall and laptop on his long legs that stick out over the edge of the comforter. He’s tapping away at the keyboard, finishing an assignment that Tadashi himself had completed with minimal effort the other day. “So warm…” he mumbles to himself, for the fiftieth time that day. “How’s the homework going, Tsukki?” “Alright,” is his friend’s response—the same response he gave the last five times Tadashi had asked him. Tadashi nods and contentedly hums, then wonders if there are any leftover ice pops in the freezer. His shirt is beginning to cling to his skin uncomfortably, and Tsukishima must be suffering in the same way, because he keeps pausing from typing to fan his collar. It takes all of Tadashi's willpower not to let his gaze drift over to him whenever he does it. Tsukishima's collarbones become visible whenever he pulls away the collar of his t-shirt, and there's just something about them that sends Tadashi's brain cells haywire. Time ambles by, and to occupy himself (and distract him from a certain boy doing schoolwork on his bed), Tadashi finds himself half-heartedly scrolling on his phone. He inwardly reassures himself that once Tsukki’s done with his assignment they’ll get to head out somewhere instead of staying holed up in Tadashi’s room, and he can breathe in the fresh air and revel in the beauty of nature in the beginnings of summer instead of ogling his friend's anatomy. Until Tsukishima's done, though, they're stuck. “How’s it going?” Tadashi asks again, then waits for the usual response to come, but it never does. He frowns and looks up from the volleyball article he’d been reading on his phone. Tsukki’s still on his bed, laptop resting on his long, long legs, but his fingers are no longer clacking away at the keys, and his eyes have drifted shut. His head hangs slightly to the side, not far off resting on one of his shoulders, and his lips are parted ever so slightly. His breaths come slow and soft, and it’s clear he’s been asleep for some time. “Oh,” is Tadashi’s short response, because he’s too stunned to be more articulate. Tsukishima rarely ever looks this peaceful. He resists the urge to take a picture. Quietly, he slides off his chair, tip-toes across the room, then gently closes Tsukki’s laptop and carefully moves it from his lap. The casing’s uncomfortably warm. He places it on his desk. Tsukishima’s chest softly rises and falls. His hands are sat in his lap, fingers barely touching, frozen in a way that says he was still trying to type whilst fighting off sleep, but eventually gave in. His glasses are crooked on his face, and, holding his breath, Tadashi slowly reaches out and carefully pries them from behind his ears, before folding them and placing them beside Tsukki’s laptop. He is the picture of peace and contentment, and Tadashi can’t help but stare. People shouldn’t stare at their friends in such a way, he knows that, he's repeated it to himself over and over, but he does nothing to try and avert his gaze. Tsukki likely wouldn’t be pleased if he found out about how he admired him in his sleeping state, but Tsukki’s asleep, so he won’t ever know anyway. It's merely a bit of staring, Tadashi tells himself. What's the harm? He continues to drink in the sight in front of him, letting his eyes roam the length of his sleeping friend and taking note of every little detail. Tadashi feels his face become warm and tries to ignore the heavy feeling of guilt that forms in his stomach along with it.

—◦—

Sharp spikes of pain shoot up Tadashi’s leg as he curls in on himself and clutches his ankle; his face is scrunched up tight and he knows he must look completely stupid, but his ankle burns, oh god, it hurts so damn much. Practice had been running as normal that day in Karasuno’s gym, with serve and blocking practice, technique refinement—‘all of the usual jazz’, as Sugawara had put it at the start of the session, but barely halfway into their small practice match to wrap it all up, Tadashi misjudged a step and rolled his ankle in such a way that made everyone in the gym simultaneously wince and hiss through their teeth. Immediately, he was on the floor, holding back a cry of pain. Seconds later, through the film of tears that cling to his eyes, he saw Tsukishima by his side. He vaguely wonders how on earth his friend got to him so fast—he was on the opposing team, he was so far away—but another spike of red hot pain shoots up his leg and cuts off his train of thought. “Damn, Yamaguchi, that was a harsh fall,” Nishinoya says, but Tadashi can’t tell where his voice is coming from. Tanaka says something back to him, some witty quip that Tadashi can only dream of being able to think of on the spot, but their playful bickering fades into the background on account of the faint ringing in his ears—he must have hit his head when he dropped to the floor, and if he weren’t so preoccupied at the moment, Tadashi would roll his eyes at the realisation. How stupid, to injure himself over something so simple. “Give him some space,” Tadashi hears Daichi call out, and everyone—aside from Tsukishima—obediently takes a step back. He can feel tears dripping down the sides of his face and pooling on the cold floor; he wants nothing more than to just stand up, to stop embarrassing himself and get back to the game, but he’s sure if he tries to stand his ankle will just buckle in on itself. God, he really can’t believe he managed to injure himself so easily. How humiliating. “Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima says, soft and quiet as if trying not to startle him, “can you stand?” Tadashi’s sure he won’t be able to form a coherent sentence if he opens his mouth, so he simply shakes his head instead. “Can I help you up?” Tsukishima says. After a short moment of hesitation, Tadashi nods. Slowly, gently, Tsukishima’s arms snake around and under his torso, his touch feather-light and cautious, and Tadashi can feel his heart pounding in his chest as his friend carefully lifts him up and away from the cold, harsh floor of the gym. Tsukishima takes on most of his weight, and the relief it provides his injured ankle is euphoric. After exchanging a few quick words with Daichi, Tadashi half-limps, half-hops his way out of the gym, leaning heavily against his friend’s side. Tsukishima’s warm; it’s hard to tell if he’s still recovering from practice or if he’s actually struggling with Tadashi’s weight, but he doesn’t let on either way. Tadashi steals a glance up at him. It's clear Tsukishima is trying to keep his face carefully blank, but Tadashi knows him well enough to notice the subtle downturn of the corners of his mouth, the slight crease in his brow, and the way he’s pointedly avoiding looking at him. He’s concerned. Tadashi’s chest feels light, though he’s hit with a twinge of guilt for making his friend worry. “Thank you, Tsukki,” he eventually says as they near the nurse’s office. Tsukishima half-shrugs with the shoulder not currently taking on most of Tadashi’s weight. “It’s fine,” he says, nonchalant. Tadashi wants to say something else, but before he can open his mouth again, the door to the nurse’s office is in looming front of them. “Here we are,” Tsukishima murmurs, before knocking on and opening the door. Tsukki makes casual conversation with the nurse, clearly used to being in this part of the school on account of his chronic illness. He knows the whole procedure of being sent here like the back of his hand. Tsukishima stays with him as he gets checked up. Tadashi’s pleasantly surprised; he had half-expected him to head straight back to practice after dropping him off. The nurse gives him a thorough once-over, and he hisses and winces and makes a horrible range of embarrassing noises as she turns his ankle this way and that, but Tsukishima never reacts, and not a single mocking remark slips past his lips. Once she’s done, the nurse leaves the room to grab some forms that need to be filled and signed, leaving the two of them alone for a short moment. “Thanks again, Tsukki,” he says. He full-well knows Tsukishima doesn’t like being bombarded by thanks, especially from him, but he’d feel wrong if he didn’t say it at least once more. “It’s fine,” he replies, just like the last time. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Tsukishima pauses for a moment, before adding, “To see if you’re fit enough to continue with practice.” Tadashi simply smiles at him, and Tsukki clearly isn’t pleased with the knowing look he's being given, because he playfully scoffs and looks away. The nurse returns soon after, and Tadashi can’t help but feel disappointed when Tsukishima’s bashfulness fades and he resumes being a responsible, concerned teammate. They finish up with the nurse, who advises him to take a few days off practice, and soon they’re back outside in the hallway, an air of quietness surrounding them. “You should go back to practice,” Tadashi says, “I’ll head home.” Tsukishima immediately shakes his head. “I’ll take you home.” He reaches for Tadashi before pausing and asking for permission with a silent look. Once Tadashi nods, his arm is wrapped back around Tsukki’s shoulders, and his leg is flooded with relief again. “Thank you, Tsukki.” “Stop saying that,” Tsukishima says, looking away. “It’s fine.” Tadashi beams at him.

—◦—

The locker room is never a particularly pleasant place to be; it starts getting uncomfortably hot and stuffy just minutes after you enter, and being surrounded by sweaty, rowdy, hormonal teenage boys is only fun if you’re just as sweaty, rowdy, and hormonal as they are. Which Tadashi is not. (Most of the time.) He likes to stick to the far corner, minding his own business and allowing him a safe distance from the carnage the team creates. Tsukishima always joins him. As the two of them are quietly changing out of their horribly-damp-with-sweat gym clothes and pulling on their refreshingly clean uniform, Tanaka takes to trying to set a tightly scrunched up t-shirt around the locker room. Soon enough, he coaxes the others to join him, and Tadashi hears Tsukishima scoff at their idiocy. Once Hinata and Kageyama realise cotton isn’t a good material for setting and spiking, they begin simply throwing it around and seeing if they can get it to land or stick in ridiculous places. When Nishinoya throws it and makes it land perfectly on the door handle, collar neatly hanging off it as if someone had purposefully placed it there, the group goes wild, cheering and yelling like they’ve just won a life-changing game. Tadashi holds back an amused smile. Tsukishima stays silent, though Tadashi would bet half of his savings that he’s internally mocking their energetic teammates. Tsukishima pulls his shirt off, determined to ignore the chaos unfolding behind them, and out of the corner of his eye Tadashi can see him grimacing at the dampness of his sweat in the material. Tsukki’s never been one for ‘gross’ things—he’s always been clean, tidy, and downright disgusted by things that wouldn’t make other people bat an eye. Germaphobe was the word that came up in Tadashi’s search engine when curiosity got the better of him and he decided to look it up. As he sees Tsukishima reach for his clean, crisp shirt, Tadashi hears Hinata ask for the t-shirt ball (or rather, he hears him grab it from mid-air and cheer when he succeeds), and seconds later the shirt goes flying across the room, soaring straight towards his and Tsukki’s corner, and lands directly on Tsukishima’s head. Tsukishima, along with everyone else in the locker room, goes rigid and silent. Slowly, Tadashi looks over his shoulder towards Hinata, whose face has drained of colour. He drags his gaze back to Tsukishima, who still doesn't have a shirt on. Tsukishima still doesn’t have a shirt on. He’s seen his friend shirtless countless times, what with being on the same sports team, but Tadashi is constantly realising that doesn’t make it any easier to cope with. This is, unfortunately, one of those times of realisation. He’s tall, thin, and full of lean muscle. His skin is pale and smooth—he’s a living, breathing statue; a work of art—and there’s a dusting of fine blond hair that disappears down below his waistband. Tadashi’s face goes hot. It's been doing that a lot, lately. It's irritating. Tsukishima slowly pulls the t-shirt from his head, revealing a purposefully blank look on his face. It’s clear he’s straining to hold in a rude, snarky remark or insult; his jaw is clenched, there’s a slight bulge of a vein in his neck, and he’s looking straight ahead. He slowly, silently reaches out to the side and drops the t-shirt on the floor. No one goes to retrieve it. Tadashi realises he’s still staring at Tsukishima’s midriff, and quickly drags his gaze away. Friends don’t stare like that, he’s told himself time and time again, yet can never seem to change his ways. Silently, he prays that no one else noticed.

—◦—

To: Tsukki Hey, are you gonna be in school today?

From: Tsukki No.

That’s all Tadashi needs to know. For as long as he can remember, Tsukishima’s suffered from flare-ups—for a while, he never really understood what a flare-up entailed, as his friend was oddly secretive about it all and shut down any attempts at prying, but when he finally first allowed Tadashi to visit him, he had revealed a considerable amount. Recurrent Polyserositis. At first, Tadashi had to keep those two words in his phone’s notes app so he could properly remember them, but now there’s no need. Both he and Akiteru have more than enough knowledge on the condition, seeing as they spend more time worrying about Tsukishima than anything else. Not that they’d admit that to him—he would be far from pleased. He forces himself to attend practice after his classes that day; despite every bone in his body itching to leave and see Tsukki, he knows his friend would be irritated he missed out on practice for the sake of visiting him sooner. It doesn’t take long for Daichi and Sugawara, forever the observant parental figures of the team, to pick up on Tadashi’s agitated mood, however. He’s distracted and he knows it, and it’s no surprise to him that the others have noticed. It doesn’t help that this happens every time Tsukishima is absent from practice. Takeda probably keeps a tally of how many times it occurs. “Yamaguchi,” Daichi says, approaching him as the others are finishing up drills that Tadashi started but failed to complete. “Your head doesn’t seem to be in it today.” “Sorry, Daichi,” he says, unsure of what else he can say. He’s always apologising, and no amount of scolding from Tsukishima can seem to stop him. It’s instinct. An exasperating knee-jerk reaction. “Look, we’ve only got”—Daichi glances at the clock on the wall—“fifteen minutes or so left of practice. You can leave now, if you’d like. Tell Tsukishima we wrapped up early today.” “Are you sure?” Daichi nods. “Yeah. Go and see him so you can stop worrying.” He knows the route from school to Tsukishima’s house so well he could do it blindfolded and backwards. By being fuelled by his anxiety and walking at an elevated pace, he’s there in no time. Akiteru answers the door, and it’s clear he’s been expecting Tadashi. The elder Tsukishima greets him with a smile and opens the door wide for him to enter. Together, they go about the usual motions, having done this countless times before—putting together a tray holding a large glass of water, food and snacks Tadashi grabbed from Sakanoshita Market on the way over, and most importantly, a top-up of painkillers. Each time they’ve done this in the past, Tsukishima has received it differently—the first few times were met with varying degrees of hostility and irritation, which gradually became stubborn acceptance, but even now there is still the odd time when the visits agitate him. Tadashi’s learnt how to quickly gauge Tsukishima’s mood, however, so he’s constantly alert and watching out for signs that indicate it would be better to drop off the tray of supplies and leave rather than stay and keep him company. He softly knocks and enters Tsukishima’s room. The air inside is quiet and still. Tsukishima’s facing away from him, nose close to the wall and arms wrapped around his upper body. His head turns ever so slightly at the sound of him entering, but he doesn’t react with anything more. “Hey, Tsukki,” Tadashi says softly, placing the tray on the bedside table along with the sheets of work his friend has missed that day. Tsukishima grunts in lieu of a hello. He reasons that it's alright for him to stay today, and takes a seat at Tsukki’s desk. The times when Tadashi’s been quickly kicked out have been when Tsukishima’s symptoms are at their worst, so the fact he’s able to stay calms his anxieties. “Practice finished early today,” Tadashi says, filling the silence. “It’s never the same without you there.” There’s a stretch of quiet, until eventually Tsukki slowly rolls over to face him. His cheek is squashed against his pillow, and Tadashi can’t help but notice the prominent bags under his eyes. It’s impossible to tell whether it’s the pain or his medication that’s been stopping him from sleeping. “I brought you some snacks.” Tadashi nods to the tray. Along with the water and painkillers sits a small bowl of soup—mushroom, Tsukki’s favourite—a few small strawberry-flavoured sweets, a collection of savoury snacks… he and Tsukishima’s brother had gathered a variety of flavours together in the hopes that Tsukishima would eat at least one thing. Just something, anything. Tsukki once told him that his lymph nodes would swell, sometimes. It made talking, swallowing, and even moving downright uncomfortable. Clearly, though, his hunger trumps his pain today, because Tsukki reaches out for the strawberry cake pop on the tray and gingerly nibbles at it. Tadashi settles into his usual routine of filling the air with mindless babbling; attempts at distracting Tsukishima from his pain consist of complaining about the horrible assignment he was given in second period, talking about the colourful bird he spotted on the way here from school, and how a girl in fourth period was loudly talking about a cool bookstore she’d visited over the weekend, and hey, we should visit that together sometime, eh, Tsukki? Tsukishima’s quiet the whole time. While he’s wondering aloud how he’s going to tackle that second period assignment, he notices Tsukki digging his nails into his comforter. Tadashi knows full well that if he wasn’t sat in the room just now, the comforter would have been pushed out of the way, and Tsukishima would be digging his nails directly into the skin of his leg until it breaks and bleeds. He’s seen the small, moon-shaped scars on his thighs; they’re visible whenever his gym shorts hitch up too high. Muscle inflammation. Another symptom Tsukki once told him about, albeit reluctantly. It sends shooting pains through his thighs and calves, rendering walking painful and difficult—the reason Tsukishima’s been quietly lying in bed while he rambles on and on. The nails, Tadashi assumes, are an attempt at distracting himself from it. Tadashi doesn’t comment on it or acknowledge it at all. It’s not his business, despite how much it bothers him. He hasn’t got the power to beg him to stop. Akiteru might—but it’s a question of whether he has the guts to, he finds himself bitterly thinking. Eventually, as Tadashi meanders into the next topic of the one-sided conversation, the pressure Tsukki’s fingernails are exerting on the comforter eases off. His hands relax. They both pretend nothing happened. An hour or so passes just like that—Tadashi talking, Tsukki half listening, half silently battling with the pain in his legs, head, and throat—until eventually, he senses it’s time to go. He scoops up his school bag and quietly bids Tsukishima goodbye, with a silent promise to visit him again tomorrow if he’s still feeling bad. As he’s reaching for the door, he hears Tsukishima’s voice, soft and raspy, only just audible. “Thank you, Yamaguchi.” Tadashi smiles all the way home.

—◦—

Tadashi’s ‘forgotten’ to take his meds for a while now. They had been messing with his sleep, making him drowsy and light-headed during the day, along with a slew of other horrid side effects, and eventually, he decided he’d much rather put up with his anxiety than continue taking that stupid clonazepam he’d been prescribed. He hasn't told Tsukki, though. He’d get scolded to no end. Though Tsukki’s a hypocrite, because he seldom takes his own meds as prescribed because his mess with him too. Much to his dismay, his lack of a medicated state means that when a thunderstorm hits while they’re in volleyball practice that day, Tadashi’s jumpy and struggles to focus. The rain lashes against the roof as he serves, thunder rumbles while Tsukki jumps up to block a spike, and when the flashes of lightning begin as Tadashi is carrying a handful of balls back to the basket, he fumbles and drops them all, sending them rolling in different directions across the court. He sighs irritably and drags himself after them to gather them all up once again. Luckily, by the time they’ve cleared up the court and changed back into their uniforms, the storm has settled. The thunder has almost completely subsided, and all that’s left is a heavy drizzle. Tadashi is relieved, to say the least. Out of him and Tsukishima, neither of them had thought to bring an umbrella that day, so after they’ve waved goodbye to the rest of their team they set off in a light sprint home, jackets held high above their heads in a poor attempt to shield themselves from the onslaught of rain. By the time they reach Tsukishima’s house, they are both thoroughly soaked to the bone. Tadashi’s teeth are chattering, clacking together and making a sound that makes Tsukishima grimace. After watching his friend escape into the warm shelter of his home, Tadashi slowly turns, wincing at the thought of the walk back home. Before he can take a step, however, Tsukishima calls out: “Come inside, Yamaguchi. Wait for the rain to stop.” He doesn’t have to tell Tadashi twice. Tsukishima turns on the light in the hallway and dims its brightness. The house is quiet—his brother and mother must be elsewhere—as they toe off their shoes and pull faces at the puddles of water that have formed in them. Tsukishima pulls at the hem of his shirt; it peels away from his skin and clings back to it when he lets go. Tadashi, once again, stares at it longer than he knows he should. “We should change,” Tsukki murmurs, peeling his shirt from his abdomen again and frowning at the unpleasant feeling. They leave a trail of water droplets on the floor behind them as they head up to Tsukishima’s room together. Tadashi lingers near the door once they’re there. Most of the times he’s been in here have been when Tsukishima isn’t doing well; the rest of the time they hang out outside of school is usually spent in Tadashi’s room. It’s odd to see the curtains wide open, the bed neatly made (and without Tsukki in it), and no piles of empty painkiller packets on the bedside table. Tsukishima quickly retrieves clothes for the two of them to change into, and all qualms around changing in front of one another are thrown out of the window in their desperation to be rid of their current soggy outfits, which are tossed in a pile in the corner to be later taken downstairs to dry. Tadashi’s first thought is that Tsukki’s clothes are fairly big on him. The t-shirt he was given is long, bordering on being a short dress, and the waistband of Tsukki’s joggers is ever so slightly too baggy. His second thought is that the clothes smell of his friend. He's enveloped by the scent, almost as if he's being hugged. It's overwhelming yet comforting, and as he's taking it all in, he catches Tsukishima looking at him, and their eyes lock together. “Thanks for the clothes, Tsukki,” Tadashi says with a light, perhaps awkward, laugh. Tsukishima is quiet for a short moment. “It’s no problem.” They stand in silence for what feels like years. It’s eventually broken off by Tsukki stooping to grab the pile of wet clothes, but in a moment of recklessness, Tadashi reaches out to gently grab his arm. “Tsukki,” he says, and Tsukishima slowly looks up at him. Their eyes lock again. Tadashi’s face feels warm as he dares to steal a glance at his friend’s lips. His cheeks burn when he sees Tsukishima do the same. He surprises himself when he pulls Tsukki towards him—it’s gentle, hesitant, allowing Tsukishima to pull away if he wants to, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t. Tsukki moves closer to him, and their lips brush together. It’s Tadashi’s first kiss. In the back of his mind, he wonders if it’s Tsukishima’s, too. He’s not even sure how to kiss someone; his movements are slow and unsure, awkward and clunky, but Tsukishima receives them with apparent delight, if the fervour of the kiss is anything to go by. His chest feels light, his mind is spinning and his heart is pounding in his chest, and oh my god, I’m kissing Tsukishima Kei—it’s everything Tadashi has dreamed about and more. They pull away from one another sooner than Tadashi would like. He feels his breath catch in his throat as he looks Tsukishima in the eye, and wonders if his friend—friend?—is regretting reciprocating the kiss, but all of his worries wash away when Tsukishima leans back in and presses their lips together once more. It’s a shorter, more chaste kiss, but it makes Tadashi’s heart soar. “We need to dry our clothes,” Tsukki murmurs against his lips, having pulled back just enough to speak. Tadashi nods, and slowly, they lean back, and he drinks in the sight of Tsukishima’s red, slightly swollen lips. For once, he feels like he’s allowed to stare. Tsukishima eventually breaks the tense atmosphere by stooping to grab the wet clothes once again, and Tadashi resists the urge to grab his arm and pull him back in like he did the first time. Together, they plod downstairs, feeling dazed yet refreshed, and once Tsukki’s thrown the clothes into the dryer, he turns to Tadashi and leans back against the countertop. Tadashi soon gets the impression that he’s waiting for him to speak first. “Did you mean to kiss me back?” he says eventually, voice full of uncertainty. His anxieties come flooding back, and he dreads the response, knowing their years-long friendship hangs in the balance. Regret sits dark and heavy in his stomach. If Tsukishima doesn’t say something soon, he may damn well start dry heaving. “No, I was completely unaware of what I was doing.” “Oh.” “I’m kidding, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima huffs amusedly, and relief doesn’t even begin to describe the flood of emotions that hits Tadashi. “Of course I meant to.” “Oh,” he says, dumbfounded. There’s another question on his lips, but as he’s thinking about how to word it, Tsukishima moves forward and pulls him in for another kiss. It’s long and slow, and it feels like an answer to the question Tadashi didn’t even get to ask. Later on, as they’re relaxing in Tsukki’s room—rain and storm long gone, but Tadashi can’t bring himself to leave—he asks it anyway, just to be sure. “Yes, I’ll be your boyfriend,” Tsukishima replies with an eye roll, as if to say the answer should be obvious. Fireworks explode in Tadashi’s brain. Boyfriend.

—◦—

Tadashi’s much more used to spending time at the Tsukishima household when Tsukki isn’t feeling ill, now. In fact, they hang out there just as often as they do at Tadashi’s. They’re lay side by side in bed, kissing one another like it’s second nature—it feels so good, to be able to just swoop in and kiss Tsukishima Kei, his boyfriend, whenever he feels like it—and Tadashi feels his hands roaming before his brain can fully register the movement. They drift down Tsukishima’s back, pulling his body in close, and he can feel Tsukki’s ribcage pressed close against his (he wants nothing more than for them to intertwine), their heartbeats pounding against one another's chests (they’re almost in perfect sync, it sends Tadashi’s mind haywire), their legs tangling together and lips tightly locking—it’s incredible, it’s euphoric, and Tadashi never wants it to end. “Tsukki,” he whispers, pulling him closer. “Kei,” is Tsukishima’s simple reply. “Call me Kei.” “Kei,” Tadashi murmurs, reaching up and tangling his fingers into short blond locks of hair. “Tadashi,” Kei replies, and the rest of the world melts away. Nothing is left but him and Tsukishima Kei.

#tsukiyama #tsukishima kei #yamaguchi tadashi #gift fic #czenzo.fic #haikyuu!!#haikyuu!! fic

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